Hello everyone! Happy snow! Happy winter is here! Stay safe :)

Fiona

You’re working on Kites in the Sky. This piece uses cascading C Major triads to sound really pretty. We move our LH up over our right to play the top notes so that everything can stay nice and legato and connected. Make it as beautiful as you can (since you played all the notes right so easily today! Great work) by adding dynamics. Start quiet and get louder at the top and then pull away a little – whatever sounds nice to you, and then write it in so you can play it that way everytime.

You’re also working on page 1 of Jingle Bells. Please tape it together and ask your Nanny to remember it (tuck it in your lesson book). Since no one expects you to buy a Christmas book, all your holiday music will be loose pieces of paper so please try and keep track of them and bring them each lesson :) Today we made a really solid plan for the fingering in this one, so play it with the same fingering everytime. Great reading today!

Marita

You’re working on Song of the Dark Woods. Practice steps this week are to play each line 4 times when you practice. This way the entire piece will be improving at the same rate, rather than the beginning line getting all the love. You could even use your pencil to put a checkmark beside each line each time you play it, and then tell me how many checkmarks you’ve collected by the time I see you next week! You have all the tools and knowledge you need, repetition will make this piece improve so much! I believe in you :)

You’re also working on page 1 of Jingle Bells. If you haven’t already downloaded the sheet music, it can be found *here*. Play it without the added chords this week, just focus on playing the melody (the part we’d sing) nicely in time with the written fingering. Have fun with it!

Parental support: Whenever you peek in on a practice session, point to a line of her pieces that isn’t the first one and ask if you can hear it from that spot. We talked today about different practicing techniques, and she understands that always playing from the beginning just makes the beginning good, but this will need parental support to break the habit :)

Sara

You can continue playing Arctic Voices and I’ll hear it next week. Check out this recording to take inspiration from how slowly she plays it to create the sparse landscape of the Arctic. You don’t have to go *this* slow, but somewhere in between might be good!

You’re also working on Jingle Bell Rock. The sheet music can be found here. Please play hands seperately the first few times. Playing the LH alone will help you really hear the harmonic motion, and gain fluency with the walking bassline in the B section. The written fingering is fantastic here so use it. Enjoy this lovely arrangement!

Julian

Continue working on getting The Elf’s Silver Hammer nice and steady. If you have a metronome at home (or an app) that would work, or have your Mom clap or step a steady tempo beside you. The way you play the repeated notes steady is how every measure needs to sound.

You’re also working on the first page of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. The sheet music can be found here. This uses a shared middle D position. Notice the 8th note rests used to create the offbeat rhythms – like I said, use your ear and knowledge of the way the song goes to create your understanding of this offbeat rhythm. Keep your eyes on the page as much as you can to read the shape of each line. Great reading today!

Sina

You’re working on Sonatina. Practice hands seperate a lot to get used to the LH part. Use a loose rotating wrist (like opening a door knob) to play this bottom-top-middle-top-middle-top pattern. Focus mainly on the C Major section (everything with this LH pattern) and once it’s comfy at a slow speed, try increasing the speed of this pattern. Notice when it changes to be the D-F-G pattern, perhaps you could draw a star whenever it changes, because these repetitive sections all blend together sometimes with our eyes! Great work today.