Anaya
Recommended minutes to practice: 10 minutes a day
What to practice: Rain, Rain, Mrs. Murphy’s House, and fixing up #5 on page 37 (needs one note per each line/space)
How to practice it most effectively: In both Rain, Rain, and Mrs. Murphy’s House, it’s a good idea to point/follow along on the page with your RH (right hand) while LH (left hand) is playing. Speak the letter names out loud as you play them! Especially in Mrs. Murphy’s House, pay close attention to which direction notes are moving in.
Saskia
Recommended minutes to practice: 10-15 minutes a day
What to practice: Two “na, na” warmups (3-note and 1-note), Dynamite karaoke, and Do, a Deer (with verse)
How to practice it most effectively: For the warmups, the first is our 3-note “na, na, na” warmup starting on C4. Only play yourself the first note of the exercise as you take it up. Remember that the top note repeats (so when starting on C, notes are C-D-E, E-D-C). The second warmup is the “n-ah-n-ah-n-ah” opening from an “n” to the “ah” three times all on the same note. The idea is to keep the same nasal resonance with both the closed and open part of the exercise. For Dynamite, you are totally ready to sing just with the karaoke version – keep working on your diction/pronunciation through the fast verse sections. At all times where there is a slight break in the stream of lyrics, make sure you’re getting a full breath in; this is especially important before the “shining through the city…” phrase, where we need to transition to our head voice so we don’t strain. The word “little” in that lyric is the best place to switch. Please continue singing Do, a Deer with the YouTube video for next class.
Gianna
Recommended minutes to practice: 15 minutes a day
What to practice: Scale and Skip vocal warmups, Shake it Off, Life is an Adventure, listen to My Favourite Things lyric video on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPfgGkyUzEk)
How to practice it most effectively: For both the C and G major scale warmups, use the “na” syllable. For the skips warmup, let’s do it in C position, then F position, then low G position so we can hit all parts of our range. Just use the vowel “ah” for this warmup. In Shake it Off, keep using that A above middle C as your guide note for the chorus. Remember that the prechorus is just as high in your range as the chorus, and we need to enunciate the ends of words so lyrics don’t accidentally sound like something else! Here is the Life is an Adventure lyrics and notes:
Bb Bb Ab Ab Bb, Bb Bb Ab Ab Bb
The music’s playing, my head is shaking
G G F Eb F F Eb
What is going to happen next?
G G F Eb Eb F, G G F Eb Eb F
Life is an adventure, life is an adventure
G G F Eb F F Eb
What is going to happen next?
Bb Bb Bb G G F Eb F Eb
Life is like walking through the jungle
Bb Bb Bb G F Eb F
Life is like climbing a tree
Bb Bb C Bb G G F Eb F F Eb
You never know what is going to happen next
Bb Bb C Bb G F Eb F Eb F Eb
You never know what’s going to hit you or me
Ken
Recommended minutes to practice: 15-20 minutes a day
What to practice: B major scale (LH only), Changing Moods, The Queen’s Royal Entrance, Peter Pan’s Flight
How to practice it most effectively: In B major, LH uses fingers 4-3-2-1-4-3-2-1. Changing moods is a great warmup song; try your best to really line up the notes in both hands. The Queen’s Royal Entrance will be our recital piece – it is already very solid, just don’t rush or else the eighth note timing in the second page will be way too quick! For Peter Pan’s Flight, please do all the legatos! You can play the A-C# eighth notes faster so that quarter notes don’t feel too slow. This song is in 3/4 time, so feel the 1+2+3+ counting in your head while you play.
Steve
Recommended minutes to practice: 10-15 minutes a day
What to practice: Chromatic scale (hands separately), Our Detective Agency, Storms on Saturn
How to practice it most effectively: For the chromatic scale, start on middle C and go 2 octaves up for RH, and 2 octaves down for LH. Our Detective Agency is sounding very strong! Focus on the dynamic contrast between bars 3-4 and 5-6, as well as the legato into staccato articulation in bars 7-8 for RH, and 9 for LH. Storms on Saturn uses the whole tone scale; once notes feel comfortable use the pedal in this piece to make it sound even more space-like.
Gabe
Recommended minutes to practice: 15-20 minutes a day
What to practice: Porcupine Dance, Egyptian Ballet Dance, Habanera
How to practice it most effectively: For the Porcupine Dance, go one hand at a time, noticing how every bar is a slight shift in position. RH only ever goes between C, D, and B positions, and LH only ever goes between E, F, and D positions. Use Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge and FACE in the space to figure out notes on the treble staff you. Please watch out for the few bars that have only 3 notes instead of the usual 4. Egyptian Ballet Dance is a review piece – for now please do your 1-2-3-4 counting out loud while you play. Continue to do your best with Habanera, one hand at a time.
Isaac
Recommended minutes to practice: 15 minutes a day
What to practice: Porcupine Dance, Blinky the Robot
How to practice it most effectively: For the Porcupine Dance, try playing it with the metronome from time to time; start at 188 and gradually speed it up. The goal is 216. Also, please add in the crescendo in the last line. Blinky the Robot is really coming along! We are ready to play the whole form through (so including the D.S. al coda). When playing the staccatos, keep your wrist nice and bouncy. Don’t forget that in bars 10 and 16 the E chord is also staccato! Next week we will pick a new piece. Our bass clef sayings that we were talking about today are Good Birds Don’t Fly Away for the lines, and All Cows Eat Grass for the spaces.