Hello!

I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who submitted a video for the digital concert! I’m very much looking forward to seeing everyone’s performances!

Vida:

Great progress with Under the Sea! Continue to review the melody in the right hand. Read and play through bars 29-35 on their own this week. Encourage Vida to use all of her fingers when playing the passage in bars 31-32; dancing her fingers around the notes instead of moving her whole hand and wrist. Try the following fingering for that passage: 2/4-3-4-3/5. We can review this in class next week. When Vida is confident with these 7 bars, put them back into the whole song! Try playing the piece start to finish without stopping. You can also record the whole song for Vida to hear. Once Vida has mastered the right hand, go back and encourage her to sight-read the left hand! Read in small chunks and practice both hands separately this week. When practicing Mr. McGill’s Boop Sha Bop, make sure Vida’s eighth notes are twice as fast as her quarter notes. You can use the tapping exercise provided in the google drive as a visual aid; Vida will be able to see that the hand tapping the eighth notes is moving faster than the hand tapping quarter notes. In the context of the song, encourage Vida to think of the first eighth note of the pair as a trampoline or a springboard to the next note in the pair. Jump up to the next note quickly. You can also practice this song with a metronome to help Vida hear the macro beat of the song. Let Vida choose the tempo. Encourage her to choose a quick but manageable speed.

Eva:

Today we learned the last phrase of Sailing in the Sun! When practicing have Eva start with this phrase. Ask her to show you what she learned in class. Once she has reviewed the last phrase, she can go back and play the first 3 phrases for you. Help Eva become more familiar with the last phrase by drawing comparisons to bars that are similar or identical to bars in the first 3 phrases. Eva can circle identical bars with the same colour pencil if she would like. (Red for 2 matching bars and Green for 2 different matching bars). This will help Eva learn the “map” of the song and help her feel more confident when playing the whole song start to finish. You can also help Eva connect each phrase by asking her to play the last bar of the previous line and the first bar of the next line back to back. Do this for each phrase to help Eva hear and feel how each line flows into the next. You can then ask her to “perform” the whole song for you! You can also record Eva playing the song start to finish so that she can hear herself play! When listening back, ask Eva what she likes about what she hears and if there is anything she wants to review and polish.

Christian:

For this week when practicing How Long Will I Love You, focus on the left hand. Practice the large, broken chords slowly as you read each chord practice the stretch from your 5th finger to your 1st finger. Remember that most of the chords written are the same I, IV, and V (C, F, and G) chords from the intro of the song. This should make reading each individual note easier. Should you review the intro this week, remember that every other chord should be played twice as fast as written. We will review this in class when you return from Mexico. Continue to practice the melody in the right hand. Identify and review the larger intervals that appear in the melody to help you “map” the song. This will help your memory as it offers a landmark for where you are in the song and whats coming up (like that Major 6th that introduces the main melody in the descending eighth notes). Practice as much as you can between now and when you leave. Have a safe flight and a great time at the wedding!

Thank you everyone! Looking forward to more great lessons next week!