Sahil
Recommended minutes to practice: 10-15 minutes a day
What to practice: Thumbs on C piano warmup, Happy Birthday (playing and singing), Twinkle Twinkle (playing and singing), Old MacDonald, Night Begins to Shine (first minute).
How to practice it most effectively: In the thumbs on C warmup, we start and end on C. Play with both hands finger 1s together on middle C, then 2s together, 3s together etc. outwards then back inwards. Do your best to connect between the notes. In Happy Birthday, we play in the same thumbs sharing C position as the warmup. In the 3rd line of the song RH does what we call skips, with finger 5 on G, 3 on E, and 1 on C. When singing along, listen carefully that your voice is matching the same pitches the piano is playing. In Twinkle Twinkle, remember that “how I wonder what you are” is on F-F-E-E-D-D-C. Old MacDonald notes are in last week’s homework post – RH is in C position and LH is in D position. Please use the lyric video for Night Begins to Shine and practice singing along to the first minute. We will start with this one next week!
When getting the piano book for next week, please make sure you choose the lesson book (there are many versions that look the same except for this important title distinction).
Nathalia
Recommended minutes to practice: 15 minutes a day
What to practice: A major scale (hands together), Runaround Sue
How to practice it most effectively: When playing A major, remember that our sharps are F#, C#, and G#. Finger 3s play together on the 3rd and 6th degrees, which in this case are C# and F#. In Runaround Sue, notice how bars 1-8 and 17 to the end are essentially the same, just with LH playing in different octaves (higher the first time around, then the octave lower the second time). These two sections can be put hands together now, paying attention to the rhythms and timing. Once notes and rhythms feel comfortable, please do add the staccatos since they make the piece bouncy and fun! The middle section (bars 9-16) you can play just one hand at a time, using your sayings to confirm notes. Remember that pairs of swung eighth notes do include rests, so for example in bar 9 that first eighth rest is the long part of the beat, and the eighth note after is is short.