Another beautiful week, and cooler fall weather is approaching! Yippee! I appreciate all of you already working hard on your musical journeys :)

Grace

To a Wild Rose – Today we received clarity by playing the voices separate (especially m39 onwards). Be sure to ensure you’re using the best fingering for achieving maximum legato feel. Focus on not splitting the notes, even if it means you have to play a little louder, that’s okay. Aligning your wrist to the fingers that are actively playing will help with splitting.

Chopin Prelude – Nice! Practice leaps at m17 and 18 with LH to gain kinesthetic memory. Isolate and practice 3 against 2 rhythm in measure 18 slowly.

Liam

River Dance – really good reading! You now know how to play the entire piece. Begin adding the dramatic dynamic swells and careful articulation.

Aria by Mozart in Bastien lesson book – This piece is in Eb and uses familiar triad shapes in the RH.

Metronome chart – Begin at the slowest tempo so you can ensure a strong foundation of accuracy across the keys. Then, some keys will naturally be easier to play faster than others, so this chart will help to highlight which keys are your strengths and which are weaknesses. Place a check mark in the box when you can reliably perform that scale multiple times with 90-100% accuracy. Playing it once correctly at the speed does not equal a check mark, you just got lucky ;) You can tape it inside the front cover of a book if you prefer.

*NEXT POSSIBLE BOOK: Here’s some ideas, look over them, and we can make a plan together!*** Also, I will continue to supplement whatever book we choose with other fun resources and pieces.
I really am intrigued by Supersonics, but the ones at Liam’s level are behind their subscription model paywall unfortunately :(
Piano Pronto Movement 4 
Wunderkeys Intermediate Pop Studies 2
RCM Level 2

Jadon

Your method book has been ordered and will arrive at L&M within the week and I will bring it next lesson.

Endgame m1-24 – Whenever there’s 8th note rests or any dotted rhythms, count carefully. Awesome job reading this today!

Katarina

Men from Mars – RH plays first line, then LH second. Both hands are in C position. 

Ode to Joy – LH plays first line then RH plays second. Both hands are in C position.

Parental involvement: Draw her attention to what direction the notes are going (up or down) and help to foster the connection between Up on page = Up in sound = to the right on the piano. Down on page = Down in sound = to the left on the piano.
Also, either you, or herself as she’s playing (or both!) can say the note names aloud to create the connection between keyboard note and note Name.
Play along tracks can be found here to accompany your playing and they have full orchestras! Super fun!

*I gave Marita a laminated Practice Prompts poster to put up near the piano for both the girls*

Sara

*New* Maple Leaf Rag – just LH. Practice this in small chunks and be sure your arm does not have unnecessary tension in it. Tempo is not important yet, neither is getting through all 3 pages. Instead, prioritize building fluency and comfort within small sections.

Air in B flat major – Notes that are stepwise can be played legato, but notes that skip or leap should be detached. Explore how this sounds on your harpsichord/clavichord setting!

Sonatina – as a whole, go slower. Choose a tempo slow enough that nothing trips you up so you can build fluency of getting in and out of trickier sections

Victress Session – Nice! Start thinking about if you’d like to use pedal throughout. Also try to play the RH louder than the rest so the melody floats on top.

Marco

What Lies Ahead m1-20. Great job playing hands together, I knew you could do it! Keep it up! I highly encourage you to see if you can learn past measure 20, because it’s a lot like the beginning, but with the hands rocking back and forth.

All grade 1 triads – these are all white key triads. Practice them solid AND broken. Your physical apprach is great – your hand should look like a crab walking up and down the keyboard.
*You don’t need to bring this technique chart to lessons. It should be accessible at home. You could tape it inside the cover of a book or just set it on the keyboard at home*

Daniel

*New* Final Countdown page 1 – this arrangement is in the real key of the recording, F# minor. But you know all your major scales so this key signature is just your A major scale. This does include rhythms that aren’t in your usual pieces, but you know how the song goes, so you can make the connection between the visual and how it sounds. If in doubt, think of 16th notes going throughout the entire piece, and compare them to the written rhythms to figure out what gets played, and what is silent.

Zum Gali Gali – nice! The legato lines (3 and 6) need extra attention. Be sure they are very smooth and syrupy, as the contrast between that and the short percussive staccato sections is part of this piece’s charm. Good evenness on the RH 8th notes.

Grade 2 harmonic and melodic minor scales – Dm, Em and Gm. Harmonic minors have the stereotypical “Egyptian sound” that is created by using a raised 7th (the 7th that belongs in the major scale). So a harmonic minor scale is a normal plain minor scale until the 7th note, which is the major 7th.
Melodic minor is the only scale that is different going up than going down. Going up both the 6th AND 7th are raised (like they would be in the major scale) and then going back down they are lowered (like in a normal plain minor scale). Remember to use your classic scale fingering!

Marita

*New* On Your Mark – This piece is in G minor. This is below your reading level so this is known as a “quick study” piece. Use a careful eye to notice patterns or familiar shapes that will make reading easier. Your goal is page 1 hands together SLOWLY next week.

*New* Crazy Comics m1-4 – Practice super slow and controlled hands together, as the RH needs some LH downbeats to bounce off of. The beginning of the 2nd measure can be thought of as L R L R Together, and they’re all 8th notes.

Atacama Desert – If you have access to this book this week, please practice this one. This piece is absolutely beautiful, I’d love to explore its full potential with you.