September Group Lesson

2nds, 3rds, 4ths, and 5ths
What kind of Interval is this?
We stepped and stacked
And counted back,
Skipped lines and spaces
What funny faces!!

An interval is the distance between notes. Two notes next to each other is a 2nd, skip one note and you get a 3rd. There is an odd-even pattern that gives a clue. Ask your student what that might be. (See if he remembers!)
Sound-wise, a 2nd is just moving up the scale, a 3rd up sounds like an arpeggio or cadence. A 4th sounds like "Here Comes the Bride." (The boys weren't too thrilled with that one!) A 5th is "Twinkle, Twinkle" from Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. A 6th starts My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean. A 7th just sounds weird, and an 8th--or octave-- sounds like the same note (only higher or lower).

And so it starts...

Welcome to the new school year and the new Blue Skies music year. It appears that everyone had a fun, busy summer, including me. I am looking forward to life settling back into a routine, as well as life can.

In trying to be better organized this year, I have made up a Group Lesson schedule for the year, which can be seen here. I plan on sticking as closely to this schedule as possible. Please notice that our group lesson/recital in December is actually a visit to the Extended Care facility at Payson Hospital. The piano students will be playing a recital piece, as well as a Christmas song. We will sing Christmas Carols with the patients, so bring your best singing voices. If any other family members or siblings of my students want to perform something, maybe play an instrument or sing, that would be welcome, as well!

I have added another element to my blog. On the top left-hand side I have put a section called "Tips for Parents." In this section, I will write about what to expect from your child's practice sessions, as well as ideas for getting them to practice consistently.

In the studio, I will have a star dish that I will be filling with crazy marbles each month as they practice. If it gets filled up by the end of the month, they will all get a treat at group lesson. Since consistent and effective practice is essential for the progress of the student, I will be focusing quite a bit on this subject this year.

Be sure to check out the music games in the sidebar, as well.

I look forward to working with your children. They are great kids and really brighten my days. Thank you for letting me work with them.

Two Important Dates to Note

April is flying by and May will soon be upon us. The Recital will be held May 7th at 2 p.m. at Peteetneet, upstairs in the Music Room.
We will have a Group Lesson at 5:30 on Wednesday April 27th. The students should have their recital pieces memorized by this date as they will be playing them for the other students and we will be going over Recital Etiquette and Protocol.
Dress for the students for the recital is Nice Dress. The girls can wear pants if they prefer, but they should be dressy pants. The boys don't have to wear a tie, but they should wear dress pants and a nice shirt. No Jeans.
Important Dates: April 27 at 5:30 at my house--Group Lesson
May 7 at 2 p.m. at Peteetneet--Recital

February Group Lesson

We had our February group lesson. That is a bit of a misnomer, since we had it in March! We did a Steps & Skips activity which demonstrated the similarities of steps and skips in the musical alphabet, on the keyboard, and on the staff. It was a neck-and-neck race between Matthew and Brykelle to get to the top of the staff.
Then we mapped out rhythms with rhythm blocks and talked about measures, bar lines, and really fat notes. (You'll have to ask the kids about that one!)
We learned about Johann Sebastian Bach and his 20 children. We listened to his music and and did a word search using words from his life.
**Our next group lesson will be held Tuesday, March 29 at 5:30 p.m.
***Parents, please watch this month for notes in reference to the students practicing their recital pieces which will be assigned in the next couple of weeks. The recital will be held the first week of May. I will let you know an exact date and time by the beginning of April.

Musical Eras

Our group lesson for the month of November was about the Musical Eras and their characteristics. We talked about Baroque and the rigid rhythmic qualities and the ornamentations. Then comes Classical, which loosens up a little and includes more fluctuations in dynamics. Romantic is flowing and emotional. Impressionism, which overlaps Romantic and Modern, creates pictures with music. And Modern jazzes it all up!
Last month, Makenna won a Beat the Teacher candy bar. This month, they all won a Beat the Teacher candy bar. You are all going to have to work harder for next month! I'm going to practice a lot this next month!
I sent home a piece of music with each them which is just one part of a four part piano piece. We will put them all together at December's group lesson.

September Groups

September's Group Lessons were productive, as well as fun. The more advanced group reviewed the order of the sharps and learned the order of the flats. (Ask them what Funny Clowns Go Dancing And Everyone Boogies is significant for!)They were very quick at identifying the sharp key signatures in the Circle of Fifths.
The younger group had fun playing Snakes, War, and a new game I invented, Stepping Up.
We are starting a new challenge, "Beat the Teacher." It is simply this: practice more minutes/hours than the teacher in a month and you will earn a candy bar. I will have a chart recording my practice times during the week, so at lessons each student will be able to see how they measure up. There is space on their practice record each week to record how long they have practiced. Please remind them to record their practice times, as well.
Good luck, Kids!!!

Fall Schedule

Summer flew by and it is already time to change back to our Fall schedule. We will start lessons the week of the 6th. If you sign up for Monday lessons, we will do the make-up for that first lesson on the fourth Monday, the 27th, since we have Group Lesson that week. So, the first day for Tuesday lessons is Sept 7, Wednesday lessons is Sept 8th, and Monday lessons is Sept 13th. An X by the time indicates that time is taken. You can call me or e-mail me indicating the time you want, or you can leave a comment here.
Monday: 4, 4:30, 5, 5:30
Tuesday: 4X, 4:30X, 5, 5:30
Wednesday: 4 X, 4:30 X, 5, 5:30
Thursday: 4, 4:30, 5, 5:30

P.S. The Incentive for $5 off for each new student you refer is still on! See previous blog entry entitled "Tuition Incentive."