Hope everyone’s Thanksgivings were amazing! Thanks for the hard work <3

Liam

Fur Elise (Lesson) – Count carefully and keep your eyes on the page because you already know how to play pieces of this, we want to make sure we are as accurate to this arrangement and details on the page as we can.

Rainbow Rock OR Tijuana Trolley (Performance) – Have fun with whatever you choose! Watch the key signatures.

Formula pattern – great job. Maybe I can hear E major next week? And then we’ll focus on another technical exercise.

Photocopy any of Randall’s pieces in his book that you like. Both sound awesome.

Jadon

Over and Out – good job with the finger over/unders. I’ll be listening for your legato/staccato contrast next week.

Under the Sun – another lyrical piece, but without phrase markings… Using your ear, decide what is the melody and what you want to hear and what should be connected. Even though the notes and rhythms are simple, no beauty is lost.

Reminder about $16.50 charge for the method book at your earliest convenience :)

Katarina

The Spook RH and LH version – I loved hearing your RH play this today. I like your steady tempo! I coloured our RH landmark note, Treble G, green on your RH copy. Perhaps you have something small and green that you can temporarily place on your keyboard so your brain can fuse the G on the staff with the one of the key. Either way, your notereading skills are growing with everytime you keep your eyes on the page while playing :)

Parental involvement – ask to hear the LH play The Spook. It should sound exactly the same as the RH one (an octave lower though) and her left hand pinky will be on D.

Note reading game – here is an awesome online resource for note reading to gamify it.

Sara

*New* A Frightening Experience (Etude) – lots of accidentals in this one! We heard two very different tempos in recordings, so see what feels right to you throughout this week.

*New* Happy Birthday – you’re going to really enjoy the chords in this arrangement. Have fun and watch your key signature.

Arpeggios – looked good today! Your technique is solid. Now you can start thinking about feeling the arpeggios in 8th notes, not in triplets which they often try to become (since they are groups of 3 notes ascending). See below for an entire chart of your technical requirements at this level.

Marco

*New* Totoro – first 3 lines. Please play hands separately, we want to develop both hands at the same rate. The fingering we wrote in today is super super important to your success, stick with it. In the third line if you struggle with the rhythm, prioritize on getting the G in measure 10 on beat 3.

Goblin Party – Yes! Great work! You should record this this week, but with even 8th notes for the opening.

Zum Gali Gali – Awesome! Your staccato are very crisp and your rhythms precise. Learn the last two lines and you’re all set.

Warm up with any of your scales – C, F and G major. A, D and E minor. 

Daniel

*New* Entree in A Minor – a recording can be found here. Remember how specific we must be with detaching notes in Baroque pieces. If there are not legato phrase markings over pieces, do not connect them! They are not staccato, but detached. Remember your accidental rules (stays for the whole bar). Ignore the trills for this week and we will work them together next week.

Happy Birthday – You read all the notes right, great job. Keep working at it in smaller chunks to build fluency.

Final Countdown – good job. If you are interested in continuing to learn more/the rest of the piece, page 2 can be printed here. I would continue in the same fashion of bass notes and then melody notes in RH.

Zum Gali Gali – get it playable again because we’re going to overlap slightly next week with Marco to try it together.

Rhythm website – Just found this amazing website! It has a variety of activities, most benefical to you would be “Fill the Gap” and “Call and Tap”. But genuinely the entire website is educational and fun. You can even create your own rhythm loops and stuff, I highly highly encourage you to explore. Here is another option that is even more simplified.

Marita

Haunting – uses your G minor harmonic scale notes. Strive for even notes and light repetitive notes. There are some huge dynamic ranges used in this piece, so it should sound anything but monotone.

Breezes – count carefully and double check your accidentals. This piece features “grace” notes (the little notes beside normal notes), you can either ignore them for now, or try them, but they go before the beat and the normal sized note is still on the beat. It creates a messy jazzy sound.

Greta

*New* Bouncing Ball – this piece is in 5/8 with some bars in 3/4. The tempo for an 8th note stays the same the entire piece. You can count 123 12 for the 5/8 bars and count 1+2+3+ at that same tempo for the 3/4 bars. Nice work noticing the patterns.

Epic – Nice questions about the LH dotted rhythm. I’ll hear this next week.

Video Games – great work with the melody and the chords!! I gave you the lead sheet so you can better see how the lyrics and chords fit together, as well as check any notes as you lift by ear.