Hello Hello everyone ! It’s lovely to meet you all. My name is Erin Plank and I use they/them or he/him pronouns.

Isabella

You’re working on Charlie Chipmunk. If you forget the notes, a video can be found here. This piece is played on all black keys and can be played by any finger on either hand. The lyrics go “Char-lie Chip-munk scam-pers by. Climbs the oak tree way up high. Cros-ses bran-ches on the run. Chip-munk life is so much fun!” Remember not to let your wrist collapse while playing!

Recommended minutes to practice: 5-10 minutes a day

Parents can support by: Ensuring her physical approach is consistent. Knees and elbows should move form 90 degree angles. Wrist should be inline with forearm (so an eraser could rest on any part of elbow to wrist). Feet should be flat on the floor, back straight and shoulders relaxed. Nothing should feel tense or look awkward.

Jadon

You’re working on Follow My Leader. This piece is all about imitation. The articulations are very important, and more important that each hand does it the same way. Practice hands seperate to learn the notes first, then play each phrase RH followed by LH. It should sound like a teasing conversation, the staccato is there to really make it pop! Notes that have legato markings on them must be connected. Listen for a smooth connected sound with zero space in between.

Recommended minutes to practice: 20 minutes a day

Parents can support by: Referring to a solid recording of the piece like this one can be very beneficial so you know what sound to replicate. You could listen to this and compare the articulations to what Jadon is working on.

Grace

I missed meeting you today! I look forward to connecting soon :)

Marco

You’re working on Pumpkin Boogie. You can omit the inner D in the opening RH vamp until you get the syncopated rhythm correct. When you’re ready to add the D back in, practice rocking back and forth from thumb on middle C to fingers 2-3 on D-Eb until the two notes do not split.

Recommended minutes to practice: 15-20 minutes a day

Parents can support by: Ensuring the syncopated rhythm is being played correctly. You can clap it with him to enforce it, or play the LH while he plays the RH if you’re able.

Daniel

You’re working on Pumpkin Boogie and Ecossaise. For Ecossaise you’re doing great just pay attention to the articulations. Lift where I’ve drawn arrows, it makes the piece dance! For Pumpkin the most important part is the rhythm. Use the written fingering rather than creating your own. Your brain will be so confused if you use different fingers every single time!

Recommended minutes to practice: 20-30 minutes a day

Parents can support by: Monitoring his fingering to be consistent. There is a LH chromatic passage in Pumpkin that is meant to be fingered 1-3-1-3. This is universal chromatic fingering so let’s do it!