Thanks for a great second week everyone!
Ken
For the warmup this week let’s put that C minor 5-note scale hands together – keeping your fingers bent and also not hitting the keys as hard will make it easier.
Scarf Dance – You are definitely ready to play this piece hands together! LH acts like a drone in this piece while the RH melody floats on top. RH please watch your counting and don’t rush through your half and dotted half notes. Counting out loud, not just in your head, I’ve found is helpful for really nailing rhythms.
Two-Note March – Before playing this song on the piano, please go through it once just clapping the rhythm. We need to really hear those quarter notes being one beat while your half notes hold for two. Tonic means the 1, or the root/key of the song. Dominant means the 5, or a fifth away from the tonic.
My Pony – This song has lots of different articulation concepts! Let’s really hear the difference between the staccato notes and legato phrases.
Row, Row, Row Your Boat – LH crosses over in bar 9 above right hand – make sure you play in the correct clef!
Steve
Our warmup this week is still the G major scale, but you can try putting it hands together. It will help to think of the finger 3s playing together on the Bs and Es. On the way up RH crosses first, then LH; on the way down LH crosses first, then RH. Remember your F#s!
When the Saints Go Marching In – This song has many articulation markings to look out for – let the contrast between staccatos and legatos be your focus this week since the notes and rhythms are quite solid. Still double check your steps and skips in the melody, though.
Awesome Creatures – We have introduced eighth notes in this song (they are 1/2 a beat each). Your rhythm is already solid, again just really focus on those legato sections.
If you find Awesome Creatures getting a bit too easy as the week goes on, please look ahead to Skip to My Lou.
Gabe
Since the 2A book is the one you feel more comfortable with, let’s try doing just the 1st song – March Militaire – from the 2B book. Bars 1-6 can be considered an intro, and bars 23-26 an outro. For these two sections try to add the staccato articulation. For the rest of the song let’s just stick to reviewing the notes and rhythms. Be sure to follow any finger number guidelines as these will help you reach all the notes in the phrase.
See if you can start learning the Canon in D major – the arrangement is exactly the same as in your 2A book, but in the original key of D. It might help to put the new sheet music beside your book and compare the two to see how they are similar and how they are a little different.
Isaac
Please complete pages 48 and 49 from your theory workbook this week. Feel free to use the keyboard to play the examples written and to hear how your own made-up melodies sound!
Climb up on an Elephant – The first half of the piece (until bar 10) can definitely be put hands together. From bar 11 to the end play hands separately, really making sure each hand is in the correct octave. The finger numbers are important and helpful – please try to follow them as much as possible.
Morning Greeting – This week let’s focus on smoothing out the transitions between sections. The way we practice this is by starting a couple of bars before the transition spot, and then playing a couple of bars into the new section. The two places we isolated are bars 7-10 and bars 15-18. Again in this piece the finger numbers are there to help you, so please follow them!