Emma Berube

Hello Everyone! Some great work was done in lessons this week.

Noreet:

Today we reviewed our C Major and G Major scales. Continue to warm up with these as you practice at home. Try playing both hands together slowly. We sight read “Cathedral Chimes” and “Sounds from the Gumdrop Factory” today from the Piano Adventures 2B book. A copy of “Gumdrop Factory” has been uploaded to the shared google drive in the “student-specific resources” file. Continue to practice this piece hands separately at home, paying close attention to the note values and rhythms in the piece. We also talked about sharps and flats on the piano and how the black keys have 2 names (e.x C sharp – C# and D flat – Db) I’ve also given a fill in the blank sheet to be filled out.

Vida:

Today we reviewed our C Major and B Major scales. Start practicing B Major hands together at home, and continue to play C major hands together. Vida can also practice C Major in contrary motion (right hand plays the scale ascending while the left hand plays the scale descending) if she feels confident. We also played “Sounds from the Gumdrop Factory” today from the Piano Adventures 2B book. A copy of this song has been uploaded to the shared google drive in the “student-specific resources” file. Please help Vida as this song shows both the right hand part and the left hand part written together. Practice each hands separately paying close attention to the note values and rhythms in the piece. Use the metronome at home to help with the eighth notes.

Thank you everyone! I’m excited to play more songs from different books next week.

Happy Practicing :)

Hello Everyone!

We had some awesome lessons today!

Noreet:

Today we reviewed Jingle Bells. There has been a noticeable improvement since last week, especially in her sight reading! Today we talked about chords and learned our G Major, F Major, and C Major chords to accompany the melody of Jingle Bells. I’ve written in the chords for Jingle Bells in the boxes below the melody (right hand). The chords and the melody line up where Noreet should play both hands together. The chords themselves are written on a different page. We talked about playing the “root” note (“G” in G Major, “F” in F major, and “C” in C Major) with the 5th finger of the left hand and building the chord up from there. She should practice playing these chords and switching from chord to chord without the melody first until she in comfortable enough to try adding the right hand back in. Play hands together when confident. We also reviewed the G Major scale today so Noreet can warm up with both her C Major scale and her G Major scale. Practice playing C Major with both hands at the same time. The fingering of when to cross her 3rd and 4th fingers are different for the two hands. The goal is to practice making her fingers do two different things at the same time. Some really great progress today!

Vida:

Today we reviewed rhythm and our note value pyramid! We revisited the metronome and practiced clapping along to the beat and clapping eighth notes to the beat. Practice this at home with her. Continue to warm up with the C Major and B Major scales with the metronome. Start at 140 BPM and play each note to the beat, then challenge her to try 90 BPM and play eighth notes. The goal is to find the “pocket” where two eighth notes fit into one beat. Vida also played “Do Re Mi” from the Sound of Music. Keep encouraging her to play this as it will help us when reviewing intervals in the New Year. We reviewed Everybody Wants to Rule the World and sight read the bridge of the song. When reading at home, take turns pointing to the notes and naming them. Start by pointing to each note and asking Vida to name it, then switch and ask her to point while you name the note. This will help her associate notes on the staff with the correct letter names. You can slowly play along while you do this. When practicing Everybody Wants to Rule the World, start with the melody/chord page at the front of her book and then add on the notes for the bridge before going back to the chorus on the first page. Great listening and reading today!

Thank you everyone for your work these past few weeks!

A reminder that we are closed December 24th-January 1st. Lessons will resume the week of January 4th. Our first class in the New Year will be January 9th 2025!

Happy Holidays everyone, I will see you in the New Year!

Hello Everyone!

Good lessons all around today!

Noreet:

Noreet showed me her progress with Mr. Brahams’ famous lullaby. She has memorized the melody so next week we will work on reading from the book and correcting any mistakes. We learned the beginning of Jingle Bells today! I’ve written in the first note so she should be able to read the music as she goes; it might take her a while to remember the notes but she is capable of figuring them out. We also talked about note values and tempo today. Noreet knows that her eighth notes are twice as fast as her quarter notes (these are both used in jingle bells). Encourage her to practice the song slowly to keep reading the notes as she goes as what is written isn’t always what she hears in her head. She can continue to practice the chords for jingle bells as well. We also talked about note values and tempo today.

Vida:

We reviewed her scales today. Vida has become very comfortable with the sound of her C Major scale and wants to play it as fast as possible, so we used a metronome in class today. When practicing use the metronome (online) and set the BPM (beats per minute) to 140. Encourage Vida to play along to the clicks she hears; this will help her play at a quick tempo but ensure she has enough time to play each correct note/key accurately. We talked a lot about a few theory concepts today. We went back to the solfege (do re mi) that she learned in school to talk about intervals and how different intervals when played together create chords. I’ve given her a bit more of the melody for Everybody Wants to Rule the World. Encourage her to sight read this. We can review Everybody Wants to Rule the World next week, but have her pick a new song as well.

Thank you for your work this week! I will see you all next week for our final week of lessons before the holiday break.

Happy practicing!

Hello Everybody!

There was some really, really great progress this week friends!

Noreet:

Noreet has finished learning a Minuet for Mr. Bach’s Children! She can continue to play this should she wish, but we have moved onto Mr. Brahms’ Famous Lullaby. It is VERY important that she does not hear this played for her just yet, as we are working really hard at reading the notes and not playing from memory. Have her sit at the piano and plunk out the notes in the left hand only as she reads the music. Play up to the indicated star marked December 5th. We also learned the G Major scale this week so she can warm up with both C Major and G Major in both hands.

Vida:

Vida is to continue playing both the C Major and the B Major scale with both hands for warm up. When practicing Everybody Wants to Rule the World, make sure she plays the song slowly and encourage her to read the notes that are written to avoid repeating bars and making small mistakes. She can start to practice playing both the melody in the right hand, as well as the chords in the left hand at the indicated bars. We also learned the B minor chord today as this is used in the song. She should practice this chord in particular as it requires a bit of a stretch.

Thank you for all of your hard work!!

I am looking forward to seeing everyone’s progress next week!

Lesson Work From Thursday, November 14th

Hello everyone! Great lessons today!

Vida:

Vida is to continue practicing her C Major scale. Please practice alternating the left and the right hand playing the scale. She can play two octave C Major scales in her left hand. If she feel confident she can try 2 octaves with her right hand. Try the C Major arpeggios we talked about at the end of class at home. We will discuss these further next week.

Noreet:

Noreet is to continue “breathing from her diaphragm” when she sings. Practice expanding the belly like a balloon full of air rather than her chest. Encourage her to send the breath down and to take deep breaths. She is also to continue “A Minuet for Mr.Bach’s Children”. Specifically focus on the 3rd phrase of the song by isolating and breaking down each cluster of notes in the right and left hand as indicated. We will work on connecting the whole phrase next week.

Great progress from last week! I look forward to our lessons again next Thursday. :)

Hello Everyone!

It was so lovely to meet you yesterday! We had great first lessons all around.

Vida:

Vida has a good base line knowledge of music from her previous lessons and from school. She is very eager to try replicating the concepts or demonstrations from the lesson.

When practicing at home, please help Vida and ensure she starts her C Major scale and “Twinkle Twinkle” on the correct starting pitch.

We also learned how to play the full C major scale with only one hand! Vida should continue to practice “crossing” her third finger over her thumb when ascending in the scale and “crossing” her third finger under her thumb to come back down to her starting C pitch.

Noreet:

Noreet has great hand positioning and fingerings on the piano! She should continue to practice with the exercise Shelly taught her for warm up. She could also add the C Major scale into the warm up as well. We will review scales next week.

We practiced “A Minuet for Mr. Bach”. She is encouraged to continue with “A Minuet for Mr. Bach” and to try the phrase in the 3rd measure for next week. I’ve also sent home a sheet of fill in the blanks to help Noreet identify the notes on the page faster.

We also did some singing today! We focused on singing some scales. We also discussed breathing from our diaphragm, or breathing into our tummy, to help us take deep breaths. Noreet is encouraged to sing standing up at home and to try breathing from her diaphragm when singing.

Thank you everyone for a great first day of lessons!

See you all next week for more music making!

-Emma