Alex

Alex your Pogo Stick and Dropping are polished and ready, good job! Let’s keep Reaching for one more week, you had occasional hiccups with the F sharps and are slowing down a little too dramatically and out of rhythm in the second last bar. :) Add dynamics as I marked for you as well, crescendoing through each mini phrase, it makes it sound like you’re reaching! I’d like to continue with the idea of black Dropping and Reaching one after the other thereafter!

Two new songs: March with Drums and Bugle Call and Echo – in March, make a big contrast between the two lines by playing the first very smoothly (legato) and don’t cheap out on the staccato in the second line, really enjoy that contrast! Remember, staccato is about how long you stay on a note, which is not the same as the rhythm, make sure you keep the rhythm exactly consistent with the first line. If it helps, play the whole piece legato to experience the proper rhythm all the way through before making the second line staccato.

:) wonderful work as usual Alex, please keep up with your theory homework :) and next week I’ll introduce you to scales.

Abirami

Wonderful work Abi, the next chapter of our learning is a lengthy and deep one where we address freeing up and finding the strength and support in your breath/sound by noticing how you tend to be too much “in your head” when it comes to singing and you need to shift to being more “in your body” and breaking through to the experience of “feeling exposed” while singing.

Throughout the week practice both swinging your arms and making your arms dead weights, as we did in class.

Please memorize June Magic *properly* and use the swooping we practiced to help you relax and feel at ease with your head voice singing.

Please always remember to bring all your books to your lessons with me :) work away at your theory book too, ideally 5-6 pages a week, or a minimum of 2-3 pages if need be.

You’re doing great, let’s keep going!

Ava

Wonderful work Ava, your My Bonnie is starting to sound so polished! There were only a couple last hiccups to with rhythm and how long you are holding certain notes (too long or not long enough). Sing along with your recording and next week we’ll focus on any left over quirks.

In My Favourite Things we need to focus on getting those jumps in pitches in your muscle memory as they repeat throughout the song and we want to find some confidence and consistency in our accuracy. Sing along with your recording especially those leaps of a fifth such as in “Raindrops” “Bright Co-” and “Cream co-” also have a close listen and sing along everyday to the “staircase” notes (it’s a scale) that I recorded for you, at “These are a few of my favourite things”. Lastly for that song, make sure your are not clipping your syllables, make the vowels long and add any consonants between syllables to the beginning of the next syllable. This is necessary countless times throughout the piece and is similar to what we’ve worked on in My Bonnie.

I’ll photocopy your new song Edelweiss for you :) and we need to purchase for you your first theory book!! I usually recommend RCM Celebrate Theory Prep Level book, however I am aware that Piano Adventures, the series you are currently learning from, have their own theory book, so I will look to see at what level they teach and recommend one to you for next week :)