Rachel

This week, we made lots of progress in Rachel’s lesson!

We reviewed the proper piano hand position. I asked Rachel to imagine she were a cat with claws. The shape of the hand when you pretend to be a cat is very similar to how your hand should look while playing piano.

To help her with her wrist position, I told her to imagine her wrist were a tunnel and that a small train needed to pass under it. She should always have her wrist just high enough to let that small train pass underneath it.

In the lesson, we also reviewed Kangaroo Show in her playing book. Last time we met, Rachel had some difficulty with knowing where to place her hands based on the picture for the song in her book. This week, I re-explained how to figure out where to place her hands, and she understood it much better. She was even able to play the song by herself!

We then started to look at “Wendy the Whale”, and here she was able to show me where our hands needed to be to play the song based on the picture in the book! It was very exciting!

Since she doesn’t have a keyboard yet, we will review this lesson at the start of her next lesson, and then move on to the next song from there. We will also spend some time with her writing book so she will have something to do at home in between lessons.

Chantal

In the warm-up of the lesson, we reviewed A Dozen a Day, group IV, exercises 7-12. This week, I’d like Chantal to continue practicing these same exercises so she becomes more comfortable and confident in playing them. There were some that she couldn’t remember how to play them. I reviewed them with her and asked her to teach me how to play them. This is why I strongly encourage daily practice of 15 minutes each day. That way, she can remember the exercises (and also her songs) more easily and feels super strong in them.

After going through the warm-ups, Chantal showed me “Half-Time Show” in her songbook. She gave an excellent performance!

We started to look at “The Lonely Pine” at the end of the lesson. Chantal was able to tell me what notes she needed to start on for each hand. This week, I want her to start learning the notes in “The Lonely Pine.” If there are notes she doesn’t know, I strongly encourage her to write them in.

We also reviewed the sentences to remember the lines on the staff. As a review, they are:

Treble clef lines – Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge

Treble Clef spaces – spell the word FACE

Bass clef lines – Grandma Boogies Down Fifth Avenue

Bass clef spaces – All Cows Eat Grass

Tanishq

Warm-Ups: Double 3rds in C and D major. This week, single out the left hand when you do these warm-ups and play with the left hand by itself. Go really slowly and deliberately to play the LH as smoothly as possible. Since the LH is your non-dominant hand, it’s important to spend some time strengthening it!

Dragonfly Scherzo – think some more about the pedalling and how you’d like to play it. Would you prefer to change pedals after every note, or hold it down for the whole measure (like the book suggests)? Both options create a different sound!
I really liked how I could hear the left hand “crossover melody” when you played the piece this week in the lesson. It was very distinct and added a new dimension to the piece.
This week, start to work on speeding it up. Play it slowly at least once though. Then, try to speed it up just a touch and see what areas are problems when played faster. If you need to, circle your score, or put a star over problem spots. Then, practice these parts alone very slowly. After you master them slower, try to speed that small portion up a bit.I recommend just setting the metronome one or two notches faster each time you practice a section.

Ivean Polkka – Now that you have a better handle on the left hand, practice the right hand by itself several times before playing hands together. Keep reviewing the 1st section hands together this week.
Start to learn the 2nd part of the piece hands separately.

Menuet – Try to always look at the page while you’re playing, just so you know you are playing all the right notes.
This week, continue working on the first part of the piece hands separately. Start to look at the 2nd part of the piece hands separately as well. Don’t put any of your hands together just yet. We want to make sure the individual parts are really solid before we try to put them together.

Try to find 3o minutes every day to practice! I suggest practicing right after school once you get home.

Zoe

This week, we started a few new things!

Warm-Up: We started three new exercises in Group V of A Dozen a Day (#4-#6). One of these exercises features the concept of moving the thumb under the hand. This means that while her fingers are playing, her thumb is moving under them to move the hand down the keyboard in one smooth motion. We will review this this coming week as well.

In each lesson, a focus we are working on is hand position and keeping the fingers close to the keyboard. This can be really challenging to remember when learning new pieces. This week, I want Zoe to review Surprise Symphony in her songbook with her focus on trying to keep her fingers close to the keys even when they’re not playing. Since she knows the piece really well, she can spend more time focusing on her fingers and less on learning the notes.

This week, we also started to look at “Bedtime Boogie Woogie.” I want Zoe to learn the notes this week and really focus on using her strong fingers! As always, I want her to count out loud as she plays.

Zoe should try to practice for fifteen minutes every day!

Julie

Réchauffements: Double 3iemes, mains séparés, en ascendant et descendant. Jouer très lentement avec les doigts fortes!
La Majeure: continue a jouer mains ensembles lentement. Essaie une fois par session de jouer un peu plus vite. Tu peut utiliser ton metronome pour t’aider à trouver un vitesse un peu plus vite, mais pas si vite que c’est impossible de jouer sans erreurs.

 Sunset in Rio: Continue à apprendre la 2ieme page, mains séparés.
Commencer à apprendre la premiere page avec les mains ensembles.

Sonatina: Pratique la premiere page avec les mains ensembles.
Quand tu joues avec les mains séparés, essaie de compter tous les restes et notes blancs pour maintenir la même tempo.
S’il y a des sautes dans la main gauche qui sont difficiles, isole ces parties et les répètes beaucoup pour solidifier comment ces parties devrait sentir dans tes mains. Les répètes 5-10 fois.

Lied: Continue a pratiquer sans appoggiatures pour cette semaine. Quand tu pratiques, commence avec la 3ieme page, comme cette page est l’un que tu connais moins bien que les autres pages.
Continue a le jouer lentement et essaie de maintenir un tempo consistent. To metronome peut t’aider beaucoup!

Cette semaine, essaie de trouver un demi heure dans ton horaire pour pratiquer. Je suggère de pratiquer après l’école quand tu rentre chez toi.

Voici le lien pour acheter le livre de méthode.  https://www.amazon.ca/Celebration-Piano-Repertoire-2015-Level/dp/1554407133/ref=sr_1_6?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1506883363&sr=1-6 
Dans la même series, il y a aussi un livre d’études. Ils sont des pièces avec les aspects techniques, mais ils sont aussi intéressant de jouer. https://www.amazon.ca/Celebration-Piano-Etudes-2015-Level/dp/1554407230/ref=pd_bxgy_14_img_2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=1FTCYYRKMX72C5SCAP21