Emma Berube

Hello Everyone!

Friendly reminder that our student recital is scheduled for next Sunday, May 4th at 1:30pm. It would be so great if all of you could attend even if you are not performing!

Noreet:

I hope you are having a fabulous time in Europe!

Vida:

For this week, please have Vida practice Rhino in the Mud! This is a great option for the recital. Help Vida record herself playing the song so she can hear, then ask her what specifically she likes about what she is doing and if there are any areas she wants to improve upon or change. Also, talk to her about the recital. Please remind her that “performance” is a skill on its own and requires practice as well. The recital would be a great chance to practice performing for an audience. The deadline to sign up is this Tuesday, if Vida does decide she want to perform, feel free to reach out to me via opus and I will add her name to the list. Continue to practice Mr. McGill’s Boop Sha Bop. Encourage Vida to use the metronome to ensure her eighth notes are “balanced” and stay in tempo. Vida should also use the second note in bars 10-12 and 14 as a “launchpad” to the next set of eighth notes. We will talk more about this in class next week. I’ve also uploaded a video of a rhythm exercise to the google drive for Vida to practice. With one hand, Vida is to tap quarter notes and with her left hand tap eighth notes at the same time. We tried this in class together, (its very much like rubbing your tummy and patting your head at the same time). Try this at different tempos so Vida can feel how the eighth notes fit into the quarter note. Please help Vida to sight-read more of Under the Sea before reviewing the material she played for me in class. Aim to read and practice at least 4 new bars so that Vida can add on to what she has already learned. You can find the video of the rhythm exercise here.

Eva:

This week we sight-read the second phrase of Sailing in the Sun! Please help Eva review these notes at home and encourage her to play this phrase for you! You can also take turns reading and playing. Have Eva name the notes as you play them then switch and help Eva name the notes as she plays. When she feels confident playing the second phrase, challenge her to play both the first phrase and second phrase together. Eva can also finish the colouring sheet I sent home. Have her assign a colour to each note, then ask her to find that specific note for that chosen colour e.x colour each F Green! The notes on the colouring sheet are identical to Sailing in the Sun, feel free to use the music in the book for reference and clarification if needed as I know Emma’s writing can be messy.

Christian:

This week please practice forming and playing the chords in your left hand for the first 8 bars of How Long Will I Love You. Also, sight-read as much as of the right hand in the 3rd phrase as you can on your own. When practicing the chords in the right hand at the beginning, focus on connecting each chord, with or without the roll. Use the metronome to ensure you are holing the chords for their full length. When practicing Morning, isolate any areas where you are pausing or are unsure of the notes. Practice these areas and bars on their own before connecting them back into the rest of the song. Work towards playing the whole song smoothly from start to finish by practicing at a slow tempo and slowly getting faster with each repetition. You can use the metronome for this if you find that helpful.

Thank you everyone for your hard work this week! I’ve seen some exciting improvements across all lessons. Keep up the great work!

Hello Everybody! Happy Easter!

I have a few updates and reminders for this week. First, progress reports have gone out this week! Please review these with your child at home and let me know if you have any questions next week. Also, please see the note on the bottom of the reverse side of the report for information about summer lessons and fall registration.

Second, our student recital is in two weeks! It will be at 1:30pm on May 4th! While not everyone will be performing, we do consider attendance mandatory as we find this is an important opportunity for students to meet their peers, and for students and families to experience and hear live music together. If we have talked about possibly participating in the recital, feel free to continue this discussion with your child at home. Have them choose one of the songs we have learned and encourage them to perform it for you for practice.

Noreet:

Today we reviewed our time signatures and where the big beat lines up in 4/4, 3/4 and 2/4 time. When practicing Mr. Haydn’s theme, use the metronome to ensure all quarter notes are played for their full value; specifically the 3 D’s in the 3rd bar of the song! This week, start trying to play Daydream hands together! Start by practicing the right and left hands separately at least, play both the right and left hand lines at least once before going back and trying to play them together slowly. Practice as much as you can from now until you leave for Europe. Have a great trip! I hope you and your family have lots of fun!

Vida:

Today we reviewed Mr. McGill’s Boop Sha Bop and Under the Sea. Please continue to work through Under the Sea slowly. Ask Vida to sight-read a phrase, then go back and review any challenging parts. Break down these challenging points into smaller chunks – even if that means practicing only 2 or 3 notes at a time – then go back and play the whole phrase again. Take breaks when necessary. When practicing Mr. McGill’s Boop Sha Bop try to connect the phrases. Pin point Vida’s “natural stopping points” and practice these bars specifically. Ask her to “bridge” the gap between these bars, play the bar before and the bar after to encourage a constant flow of sound before going back and playing the whole phrase start to finish. Finally, ask Vida to practice Green Frog Hop. I think this would be a great song to share for the recital! Use the music when necessary, but take it away when possible and challenge Vida to play from memory to help encourage her confidence in the song.

Eva:

Today we reviewed Sailing in the Sun. Please help Eva to practice this at home. Ask her to name the notes as you play them for her. When doing this please pretend you don’t know how to read the line and tell Eva you need her help to play. She can confidently identify middle C and is capable of finding the other notes by counting the lines and spaces up or down from C. You can then switch roles and ask Eva to play the notes as you name them. When doing this, please make sure to point to each note you name so that Eva can follow along, this will help reaffirm the name of the note to its position on the staff. Finally, challenge Eva to read and play the notes at the same time. Support her in this by reminding her its okay if she can’t play it super fast, encourage her to take her time and help to correct any mistakes or miss-steps should they occur. As a reward for her hard work on this song you can use the note value cards, the notes on the staff cards, and rhythm cards to help Eva write her own song. You can find those cards here.

Christian

This week, use the triads and inversions sheet I gave you as a warm up for both your right and left hands. After that you can practice the chord progression in “How Long Will I Love You”. Continue to review and practice the first 8 bars of the melody in the right hand of “How Long Will I Love You” and push yourself to sight-read beyond that. Read as much as you can. I’ve also uploaded “Morning” to the google drive for you to practice at home. Review this hands separate until you feel confident enough to try playing it hands together. You can find the two pages of  “Morning” here.

Great lessons this week everyone! I look forward to more music making next week!

Hello!

Great work in class this week all around!

Noreet

Today we reviewed the 4/4 and 3/4 time signatures as well as practiced lining up the Macro and Micro beats within a song. Please have Noreet practice Mr. Haydn’s theme with the metronome set to 85BPM (beats per minute). We reviewed this piece in class together, if she gets stuck please help remind her that the song starts on a D in G major and will modulate into C Major at the end of the first phrase. Encourage her to practice the song as if she is performing it. Noreet can also continue to practice Daydream hands separate. We read the whole piece together in class, encourage her to focus on the fingerings for this piece to ensure her fingers don’t get tangled.

Vida

Today we worked on Homeward Bound and Under the Sea! At home, please help Vida to sight read the second page of Under the Sea. While practicing Under the Sea, help Vida to identify and write in any large intervals she finds tricky. Continue to practice Homeward Bound at home, paying close attention to the indicated phrases in the piece. Encourage Vida to play the whole phrase (as indicated by the legato line) connected and smooth before moving onto the next phrase of the song. I have also uploaded a phrases worksheet for Vida to fill in at home.

Eva

We started a new song this week! Please help Eva to practice the first phrase of this song. She can identify all of the notes in the first phrase, should she get stuck when rereading the music, ask her if the next note moves up or down from the last note and by how many steps. Eva also likes to take turns when practicing, feel free to show her how to play a specific bar within the first phrase and ask her to copy it. Eva can also continue to write songs at home using the note values we have studied in class (whole note, dotted half note, half note, quarter note, eighth note). Please help Eva when writing these to ensure the bars are “balanced”. Choose to write the song in either 4/4 or 3/4 time and help Eva to make sure her chosen note values add up to 3 or 4 (depending on which time signature she chooses). Then encourage Eva to play the song on the keyboard.

Thank you everyone! See you all next week!

Hello Everyone!

Great work this week all around!

Noreet:

Noreet informed me that she will be away on vacation for a few weeks in April and May, thats so exciting! Please make sure to cancel any lessons scheduled during that time to ensure you are not billed for these lessons. You should be able to do this yourself through Opus, but if you have difficulty please confirm the Thursdays you will be away, and I would be happy to assist in the cancellation process.

For this week Noreet can warm up with the E Major and B Major scales hands together in two octaves. She can also practice the F Major scale hands separately, one octave. Remember, F Major has 1 flat; B flat. Please continue to practice Mr. Haydn’s theme. We reviewed the first phrase in class together. Noreet is to sight read the second phrase on her own. Please remind her that the first note of the second phrase is C, she can find her way from there by asking herself if the next note is higher or lower than the one she just played, and by how many steps. Noreet can also practice “Daydream” hands separately. We will review this in class next week.

Vida:

Please continue to practice Theme and Variation and Home on the Range. Pay close attention to the eight notes in Theme and Variation. Encourage Vida to count these out loud (1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and) like we do in class to ensure all eighth notes are equal in length. Focus on the transitions between phrases in Home on the Range. Encourage her to play this slowly. I have also uploaded a work sheet to reinforce some of the concepts we talked about in class together. Please help Vida fill this out, it asks her to label both the Macro beat and the Micro beat of the phrase provided; see the example for clarification. The second phrase is a fill in the blank for note values. The phrase is in 4/4 so each bar has to add up to 4. Bring this with you next week and we can correct it together. You can find the worksheet here!

Eva:

Please continue to practice Little River. Eva might need help with the second phrase as we haven’t seen many notes written in the bass clef, but it is all stepwise motion. Eva can also continue to make up songs with the note value cards I’ve uploaded to the google drive. Start by asking her if she wants to write the song in 4/4 or 3/4, then work together to choose notes that fit the time signature. Each bar should add up to either 3 or 4 depending on which time signature Eva chooses. Encourage her to play these for you when finished and to count out loud when doing so. You can find the note value flash cards here!

Thank you everyone!

Looking forward to more great lessons in April!

Hello Everyone!

I hope you all enjoyed your March Break!

Noreet:

Today we sight-read Mr. Haydn’s Theme and reviewed the meaning of transposition and modulation; when the song starts in one key and ends in a different one. Noreet can continue to practice the right and left hands of Mr. Haydn’s theme separately until she feels confident to try playing hands together. Noreet is able to find the first note of the song, if she forgets, please remind her that the ledger line in the middle of the staff is always middle C. Noreet can also feel free to go back through her book and review previous songs we have studied together. This is in anticipation of an upcoming student recital – I will have more information about this in April.

Vida:

Vida can continue to practice “Green Frog Hop” and “Theme and Variation”. Play with tempo this week; “Green Frog” can be played quickly while “Theme and Variation” should be played at a moderate tempo. “Green Frog Hop” is to be played no faster than 185BPM, this is fast enough for Vida’s liking but not too fast that we miss out on the melody. “Theme and Variation” is to be played at 120BPM on the metronome. Have her play along with the metronome at least once to internalize each tempo. Pay close attention to the running eight note figure in the Variation, please help Vida to ensure all eight notes are played evenly, that none of them “stick”, and that the phrase is played smoothly throughout. Record this one when Vida is ready so that she can hear the melody of the song – if the melody is unclear have her play it slower. Finally, help Vida practice her sight-reading with “Under the Sea”.

Eva:

I’m sorry we missed you today. Eva can continue to practice different rhythm patterns on the piano. She can also write her own rhythm pattern if she would like. Please help her to write these out if she wishes and ensure she uses the correct names for each note. See the flashcards in Eva’s google drive folder to help this process.

Christian:

For this week, warm up with the “French Minuet”. Play this entirely with one hand (even the one bar indicated for the left hand). You can alternate playing this with the right and left hand. Play it as quickly as you are comfortable with, being mindful of your fingerings so your fingers do not get tangled up when ascending or descending. Continue to practice the chord progression for “How Long Will I Love You”. Use the bottom note of each chord to map out where your fingers land for each chord – this will help with faster transitions between chords. When confident playing the pattern of the chord progression, try adding in the roll. Review the first two phrases of the right hand, watching out for where the melody is in stepwise motion or leaping intervals. You can also read more of the piece to challenge your sight-reading.

Happy practicing everyone!

Hello Everybody!

Just to confirm, we do not have lessons this week, March 13th. Please enjoy your March break!

Noreet:

Sorry we missed you this week! Please continue to read and practice Mr. Hayden’s theme and we will see you after the March break.

Vida:

I have uploaded both a recording of Green Frog Hop and the sheet music for “Under the Sea” to the google drive. When practicing Green Frog Hop, have Vida record the song and listen back. Work towards playing the whole song start to finish with no pauses. Have Vida practice playing the last bar of one phrase and the first bar of the next phrase back to back to smooth the transitions from phrase to phrase. She can listen to the recording I’ve uploaded for reference, you might have to download it off the drive. If she wants to play it faster, thats fine. Sight read “Under the Sea” we will review this in class after March Break. Please find both the recording and sheet music here and here.

Eva:

For warm up, help Eva practice some of the rhythm patterns I’ve uploaded to the google drive. She can either clap these or play them on a piano key. Please help Eva sight read “Little River” from Piano Adventures Level 1. This song is all step-wise motion, but please help Eva with the bass line specifically as we haven’t worked with these notes as much. The goal is to play this song smoothly so that there is no break or pause in the sound and for all notes to be held for their written length. Eva can practice this by walking her fingers up and down the keyboard. You can find both the rhythm patterns and “Little River”here.

Christian:

Feel free to record yourself playing both “A Little Night Music” and “Sailor’s Song” so you can hear how you play the song. The goal is to play them both as if performing them. Play both songs start to finish in one take each, then play the recordings back listening for areas of the song you feel good about and areas that still need more work. Go back and practice the areas that still need work. For “How Long Will I Love You”, practice the chord progression in the first 4 bars, playing the chords both “solid” and “rolled”. Also, sight-read as much of the right hand as you can, we will review any mistakes next week.

Happy March Break Everyone!

I will see you in lessons on March 20th. Happy practicing!