Hello all,

Your lesson notes are as follows:

 

Eva

Recommended minutes to practice:

  • 10-15 minutes, 4 to 5 days a week

What to practice:

  • Tub Time: finish this piece off! After reviewing notes, finger numbers, and counting, try performing the piece (playing start to finish with dynamics) 
  • Gliding Goldfish: Read the words for the piece and see if you can perform the story on the keyboard. Think of making your sound smooth and gliding like a fish

*(Pumpkin Party is a bonus piece if there’s time/interest to look through); the highlight of this piece is playing C+E in different areas of the piano.

How to practice efficiently: 

  • Remember your anchor points on the keyboard (C, F, and D in the “dog house”)
  • Approach the piece in different ways: sing the words, clap the rhythms, name the note names. 

How can caregivers support practice: 

  • Note recognition on keyboard: practice finding notes together on the keyboard, goal is to be able to recall them quickly but it will take time and practice to get locked in. 
  • Double check fingerings in pieces, make sure that we’re taking the time before we start to see which fingers are playing which notes. 
  • Hands/Wrists: reminder of how to position hands while playing (gently curved fingers, wrist is not collapsed), remember not to pop the “paint balloons” 

 

Chris

Topics we discussed during lesson (diagrams/images are attached):

  • Note+Rest values, how eighth and sixteenth notes fit into a quarter 
  • Marching the quarter note beat and clapping the rhythms (while counting out loud) 

Recommended time to practice:

  • 20-30 minutes 4 or 5 days of the week

What to practice:

  • Bartok sight reading, exercises 9-12
    • Note the title of the exercises, especially 11-12 
    • If you have the resources, cover your hands while you play through the exercise (typewriter technique!) 
  • 5 note scales and chords (out lining the fifth [1 and 5], playing the third [note under finger 3, and then the full triad [notes under finger 1, 3, 5]); C position and G position
    • As mentioned during the lesson: you can also try playing the 5-note cluster using fingers 1-5. This can help engage/bring attention to the larger muscle groups in our back
  • Midnight Ride (p.29): Elements to focus on in this piece will be your accents, legato phrasing (notes flowing into each other without “smearing”), and dynamic contrasts
  • Bus Stop Boogie (p.30): This piece is our first piece to have skips in addition to steps! Keep a close eye to what’s written on the page for note accuracy

How to practice efficiently:

  • Marching/stepping to a quarter note beat and either clapping or speaking the rhythm. Understanding the rhythm on its own will set you up for playing it on the keys
  • 5 note scales
    • Practicing one hand at a time 
    • In either a C or G position, try playing the scale in contrary motion (beginning the scale with finger one and working outwards and back in). 

 

Happy practicing! Have a great week