Hello Everyone!

Happy October! Thank you for the great first month of the school year!

Georgia:

This week we discussed how Georgia should approach practicing at home. While she is encouraged to play the whole song from start to finish when she begins her practice for the day, she should be keeping an eye out for any spots that need extra attention. Georgia should isolate and review these areas on their own without playing the song to ensure she can focus on improving just those spots. At home this week, Georgia should review The Clown. Please help Georgia by reminding her that the song starts in her left hand. Encourage Georgia to play the first two lines hands together. She can then practice the last two lines hands separate. She will need to sight-read the right hand of the last two lines on her own. Please help her by reminding her that the starting note of the third line is a B. She can figure our the rest of the notes on her own. Remember, Georgia should resist the urge to write in the notes to help challenge her memory and sight-reading skills.

Noreet:

Today we reviewed more of Ode to Joy! At home Noreet can continue to practice the first 3 lines hands together. Challenge her by asking her to play the following 3 phrases hands together this week. (6 lines hands together total). Please help her by reminding her that the 5th phrase is to be played a whole octave higher! We also reviewed intervals today and identified parts in the song where Noreet has to play a large interval (big jump between notes). She can continue to analyze intervals between any notes she is less confident in. Finally, we reviewed the pattern of the song, specifically difference between the ends of each phrase and listened to parts of Ode to Joy played by a symphony!

Eva:

Today we reviewed Classic Dance. When practicing at home, help Eva get started by asking her to show you C Position on the keyboard (both her 5th finger of her left hand and thumb of her right hand should be on C, one octave apart). Please encourage Eva to play the second phrase as well. We read the notes together in class using the flashcard game. She can review the notes with the flashcard game as well as with the fill in the blank colouring sheet for Classic Dance. We will correct this next week. If Eva is feeling really confident, once she has played the second phrase, you can tell her the third phrase is identical to the first phrase. So she already knows how to play it! We will look at both the second and the third phrase together next week.

Benji:

Today we reviewed Little River and started Sailing in the Sun! We didn’t play any of the notes today, we just read them. Encourage Benji to play the notes at home by taking turns at the piano. The first note of the song is middle C, from here Benji can figure out the rest of the notes in the song. If he gets stuck, ask him if the next note is higher or lower than the previous note. This song alternates hands within the same bar. The right hand starts then the left hand takes over. Please remind Benji of this at home, and clarify this by reminding him that all notes in the staff with the treble clef (the tall swirly clef) are played in the right hand, and all notes written on the staff with the bass clef (the backwards C clef) are played in the left hand. Finally, to help Benji with his sight-reading I’ve sent home a new fill in the blank work sheet! Under each note in each bar Benji needs to write in the letter name for that note.

Clara:

Today we reviewed Criss Cross. To help Clara visualize the contour of the line (the overall direction) we wrote out the whole song in the treble clef. This helps Clara see how close each note is even though they are played in different hands, and helps her see when her left hand finishes a phrase her left hand started. She is not to practice with this sheet. This worksheet was a visual exercise only. When playing the song, Clara is to continue practicing Criss Cross from the RCM book to ensure she plays each note with the correct hand. Clara also learned how to draw a treble clef! Finally, we tried more sight-reading this week with Bumper Cars. Clara was given 5 minutes to look at the whole piece before being asked to play it as best as she could given what she saw. We will continue this sight-reading exercise when starting new pieces. Clara can start to practice Bumper Cars at home. We will review this next week.

Thank you everyone!

Looking forward to seeing everyone’s progress in October!