Gergely Szabo

Hello everyone! Great lessons this week. Your lesson notes are as follows:

Eva

What we learned/reviewed in lesson: 

• Reviewing hands and finger numbers, played through Walking Song and the I Like Song!
• Great composting! It was so enjoyable to listen to “The Song That Never Ends”
• Reviewed quarter notes (one beat), half notes (two beats), and whole notes (four beats)
• Anchor points on the piano (finding D, C, and F on the keyboard)

Recommended minutes to practice: 10-15 minutes, 4 to 5 days a week

What to practice:

• I Hear the Echo, Old MacDonald Had a Song, 
• Play through new Finger Exercises page 
  • Try with just Right hand, then Left hand
  • Try with different dynamics! Could you play through the exercises at a soft dynamic? What about a loud dynamic?
• Try solving some of the Counting Exercises attached
• Feel free to do more composing alongside practice

How to practice efficiently: 

• Saying finger numbers out loud, practice on flat surface, playing one hand at a time
• Double check our finger numbers! Are the fingers that are playing matching the numbers on the sheet music?

How can caregivers support practice: 

• Balance “vegetable practice” (reading sheet music, practicing rhythms/dynamics/note reading, knowing our finger numbers, and developing overall coordination at the keyboard) and “dessert practice” (playing just for fun, writing and composing own songs, exploring different sounds at the keyboard)
  • As amazing as it would be to only eat sweets/desserts, we have to remember to eat our vegetables as well! This will help us build well-rounded piano skills that involve both technical proficiency and creative play
• Do not feel pressured to have all the exercises completed/perfected by the next lesson, fine motor skills will come with time and practice. Integrate them gradually, and keep an eye out for alignment and hand position at the keyboard (Is she sitting comfortably at the keyboard? Are the hands in a relaxed “c” shape? Are the wrists supported? Ie: not drooping below the keyboard)

Chris

What we learned/reviewed in lesson:

• Played through 19, 20-21
• Talked through the concept of “seconds” (as well as thirds, fourths, fifths, sixths, sevenths, and octaves)
• Focused on how to break down a piece and utilizing a pen/pencil to make notes in sheet music
• Creating shape within a piece by using dynamic contrasts; there is no standardized “piano” or “forte” dynamic level, it’s all contextual/relational

Recommended time to practice:

• 20-30 minutes 4 or 5 days of the week

What to practice:

• Page 22 – Roman Trumpets. 
  • Continue working on fluidity of the piece (can you play it start to finish with a steady pulse?) We can add the teacher duet in our next lesson
• Pg. 25-26
• As a technical exercise: practice playing stacked notes/chords with both hands. Use this as an opportunity to play boldly using larger muscle groups (arms/back support)

How to practice efficiently: 

• Spend time at the keyboard for physical practice but also spend time mentally practicing as well. Things that can be reviewed away at the keyboard are note names on treble/bass clef, note values (quarter notes in relation to half notes, half notes in relation to whole notes), posture while seated, finger patterns on a flat surface
• Continue to question yourself as you practice; check in with your posture and hand positions — are wrists the wrists being supported? Do I feel any tension while I play? 
  • Specific things to watch out for:
    • The pinky finger — is it floating away? Are we keeping it grounded on the keyboard?
    • Tucking our “wings” (elbows) in — they do not have to be glued to the sides of our body, but we should also make sure that they aren’t sticking out and disrupting the alignment of our hand/wrist. 
• For pieces: Isolating right and left hand lines and trying different ways approach what you are reading (clapping, saying/singing finger numbers, saying/singing note names)

Greta

What we learned/reviewed in lesson:

• Scales and triads
• Approaching technique with more variety (we do not need to practice it in the same way every single time)

Recommended time to practice:

• 20-30 minutes a day, 4 days a week

What to practice:

• G major scale, 2 octaves, hands together
• G major solid triads, 2 octaves, hands together
• D minor Natural scale  2 octaves, hands together 
  • If you’re feeling extra bold, you can try playing through the minor Harmonic scale (raised 7th, C# in this case)
• D minor solid triads, 2 octaves, hands together 
• Practice playing through the left hand of Amber Moon in time (counting all the beats in each measure), begin learning and adding in the right hand melody

How to practice efficiently: 

• Focus more on playing technique hands together, this will be the goal of our technique practice
• If there’s only time to practice technique, practice it in varied ways (almost as if you were practicing a piece of repertoire):
  • Play technique at different dynamics: piano (softly), forte (loudly), crescendo going up the scale, diminuendo on the way down
  • Play with different articulation: staccato, accented
  • Play with different rhythms: swing, dotted, triplets 
• Listen through Amber Moon. A recording can help establish the melody/harmony in your ear — but be mindful not to directly imitate the recording, use it as a tool that can help you with phrasing ideas, tempo, and rhythm.

Amber Moon URL:  https://youtu.be/CPn7mXHqASw?si=nkHA5JLjAiE6l8VJ 

• If link does not work, you can copy and paste it into a browser

Have a great week everyone! Happy practicing