Have an amazing last week of school! I’m very proud of all of you in all areas of life :)

Liam

*New* Entry of Gladiators. This is such a fun piece! Be really picky with the notes in the A section, as well as the articulation. The combo of smooth and bouncy notes is what brings this carnival vibe to life! The B section is much more chill in all ways, so I’d put 60/70 percent of your time on this song into the A section.

*Bonus* Elegant Elephant. This piece is in Db major so lots of flats in that key signature. Recognize your triad inversions to make reading easier, patterns are helpful!

Marita

Fundoodle – This has a great pop song vibe that uses a lot of chord inversions. The tied notes and 8th note rests are what creates the groove, so count carefully. Measure 7 isn’t as scary as it looks, they just wrote 8th notes on the beat with rests in between, instead of staccato quarter notes.

Mystery Ride – Amazing progress!! You sound so cool playing this! Now add some dynamics and really tell a story, what is the mystery? What is the ride? Show me with your playing.

Sara

YOU DID IT!!!! COGNRATS ON COMPLETING LEVEL 3! I’m very proud.

*New* Nighttime in the City – Level 4! Woohoo! Have fun with this one, let it groove with some swagger.

I also selected 2 awesome pieces from the other sections of the book for you to look to, but no rush, bask in the glow of post-exam freedom.

Daniel

*New* 4th Street Rag. Explore as much of this one as you can, ensuring you’ve got a nice steady groove.

Crocodile Teeth – Fix the opening rhythm, notice the rests on beats 2 and 4 in the LH. For the chromatic 16th note sections, evenness and hearing every single note is more important than speed. Imagine you are GarageBand and you’re reading this MIDI file and playing it perfectly mathematically accurate and that’s what we want. Some pieces need human personality and shaping, but this one works because it sounds like electronic computer chatter and is very precise.

On the Right Lines – great work! Now you just need to keep your hand up high where you’re playing the 4th so you play it twice. The RH is typically finishing its phrase right as the LH begins to repeat its phrase. Once you fix this, you’ve got it all!

Great job on the melodic minor scales!! You’ve got all the notes right :)

Attached is the opening of the Succession theme:

Marco

*New* Wallace and Gromit – this piece is in F major. Work on the RH melody. 8th note rests are used a lot in this melody so count carefully and trust your ears.

Indiana Jones – amazing progress. The 2nd bar is giving you a bit of trouble, just remember the LH comes in on the 3rd note of each little RH phrase and that’ll fix it.

Mist – nice hands together work! Impressed. You know the RH really well, so when playing HT I would direct your brain power to noticing the next LH chord and preparing when and where it’s going to come in.