Anaya
Recommended minutes to practice: 10-15 minutes a day
What to practice: A Happy Song, Gee We’re Glad, and Up to the Moon
How to practice it most effectively: Please focus the most on Gee We’re Glad this week, paying extra attention to repeated notes. Use your LH to help you point along on the page so you can really see the directions. You can also continue saying the letter names as you play them. Remember that middle C for RH is always floating under the staff with a line going through it.
Saskia
Recommended minutes to practice: 10 minutes a day
What to practice: 2 warmups, Do a Deer, listen to My Favourite Things
How to practice it most effectively: The first warmup I’d like you to do is, on a single note, sing “woo, woo, woo”, using the “w” to keep your tone light and avoid any crackling. The second part of the warmup is going from a C to C singing the major scale on do-re-mi-fa-sol-la-ti-do. Also try saying these syllables backwards, as if you were going down. For Do, a Deer, you are definitely ready to try singing with just the karaoke backing track. I’ll link that down below, as well as a lyric video of My Favourite Things:
Gianna
Recommended minutes to practice: 10-15 minutes a day
What to practice: Warmup, Life is an Adventure
How to practice it most effectively: Please always do a warmup before your start your practicing! You’ve got a few to choose from (C scale, G scale, skips warmup, etc using either letter names or the syllables “na” or “ya”). For Life is an Adventure, here are some performance tips: Before starting to play, position your hands and take a couple of deep breaths. Look over the music once, then give yourself your starting note (the LH Bb – you will play this once and listen). Only after taking these moments to prepare yourself should you begin playing. This will help you feel more calm and confident. The biggest thing musically is that you really pronounce your lyrics – be really clear with the consonants so we can understand what you are singing!
Ken
Recommended minutes to practice: 15 minutes a day
What to practice: Changing Moods warmup, The Queen’s Royal Entrance, Aardvark Boogie, and Whirling Leaves
How to practice it most effectively: The Queen’s Royal Entrance and Aardvark Boogie are our recital pieces; especially in Aardvark Boogie please be careful with your rhythms. The eighth note tie in bars 2, 4, 6 etc. is no faster than our eighth notes in bars 1, 3, etc. Good work holding through those ties, though! Whirling Leaves uses an eight-eight-quarter (1+2, 3+4) rhythm in the LH. The whole song is in our new A position. Pay extra attention to bars 7 and 8 – both hands are doing a step then a fourth, using only fingers 1, 2, and 4 of both hands.
Steve
Recommended minutes to practice: 10-15 minutes a day
What to practice: This Old Man (RH and LH), and Spring
How to practice it most effectively: This Old Man is our review/warmup song this week. Remember that D position will always use F#. Try to be really precise with your rhythms. In Spring, the correct counting is written underneath the melody for the first half – in your head please do this counting with “ands”. Please play hands together from the start, since LH is just holding down through the tied notes. Once notes and rhythms are comfortable, add articulation and dynamics!
Gabe
Recommended minutes to practice: 15 minutes a day
What to practice: Canon, Porcupine Dance
How to practice it most effectively: Canon is our review song this week. Please try playing it with a piano dynamic – this song is a slow lullaby, so it should be played nice and quietly. For Porcupine Dance, let’s continue to play only bars 1 to 4, but this time adding in the staccatos – imagine touching a porcupine’s prickly quills! The starting notes (on beat 1) for each hand are labelled. Remember that the pattern for rhythm is 1+2+, then 1+2 (rest).
Isaac
Recommended minutes to practice: 15 minutes a day
What to practice: Relay Race, Pyrenese Melody
How to practice it most effectively: Please focus on Relay Race this week. You are ready to put bars 3-4 and 7-8 hands together with the rest of the song. Notice how RH and LH’s thumbs are always one step away from each other. Since the song is in 6/8 time, the quarter notes always get 2 counts. For Pyrenese Melody, only play the first half of the song hands separately. We are in A major, meaning the song has F#, C#, and G#. Always double check RH’s intervals, since it’s very likely there will be a sharp! Please distinguish your legato parts from your staccato parts, since this is part of the song’s character.