J. W. MacLeod Fri. Dec. 14 2.45-3.00PM

Great work with the test today everyone.

You all did well, and will receive your certificates in the mail over the holidays.

If you wish to receive your graded tests back, I will have them in envelopes for you the first Friday of the new year. You can pick them up. Better yet, we can go over the test together in class - I hope everyone will return for another term of MusIQ Club in January!

To register, please visit www.musiqclub.com

Have a wonderful holiday everyone. You deserve it!

Thanks for a very productive and fun term.

Kingswood Thurs. Dec. 13 11.40-12.40PM

In our last class of the year we reviewed On Top of Old Smokey and learned  new song Get Up.

We practiced rhythm playbacks, and also tried out playing some melody ear training exercises with my violin.

Finally, we experimented with recording our own improvisations along to the song bank in the Children's Music Journey Software.

We had a great time, and everyone was focussed and listening well today.

I look forward to coming back in the New Year to teach this class.

To register, visit www.musiqclub.com

I hope to see all of you back for another term :)

Have a wonderful holiday.

BLT Elementary School Wed. Dec. 12 2.00-3.00pm

We had a fun class today.
It seems like all of you are enjoying your music lessons more and more. The best part is that we are learning so much at the same time :)

We completed all of lesson 8 and many of you finished lesson 9 as well. The concepts we covered were:

• Legato and Staccato. (Smooth and bouncy notes.)
• Double notes. (Playing 2 notes at the same time.)
• Notes getting higher and higher and lower and lower.

Try practicing all of the concepts above at home, if you can, over the break.
Also, try listening to notes and tell whether they are getting higher or lower, and see if you can make up some 4-beat rhythms! (Clap them for a friend or try playing them on your keyboard.)

It's been a pleasure to meet all of you. (Check out your picture... posted as promised!)

Parents, if you'd like to register your child for the winter term please visit www.musiqclub.com or call 453-4464.
I'd certainly like to see all of these students again in future music lessons.

Thanks and all the best for your holidays!

Hammonds Plains Elementary School Wed. Dec. 12 8.00-9.00am

With the dreadful weather out there this morning, we had a small class today. Just 7 of us altogether. In fact, considering how bad the road conditions were, that was quite a few. Thanks to everyone who made the trek out to meet me this morning for the final class of the term!

Today we kicked off with some C-major scales and rhythm exercises. These are really good practice for you so please try them out at home if you have a keyboard and some extra time over the break! Try both the Right Hand and Left Hand with the scales. Keep a steady beat and good hand posture. Make sure to use the correct fingering.
Overall, your scales and rhythms have gotten so much better over these six short weeks. I'm very impressed with all of your hard work.

After a little bit of the Bongo Boy game, we went and played a few different songs on the piano. Old Grey Goose, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and Away in a Manger. Everyone has pretty much mastered Old Grey Goose level 1, but Old Grey Goose level 2 is still challenging for most of you. This is perfectly alright. Your sightreading has improved so much over the term - everyone was able to score a 75% or better (many were in the 90-100% range) on all three of the level 1 songs we tried today.

Finally, we did some Grand Staff Note Placement, and Spelling games in the Theory portion of the Piano Suite software.
We're getting better with recognizing the letter names on the staff, but this can always use practice. Try doing some note naming at home with this online game: http://www.musictheory.net/trainers/html/id82_en.html

It's been a very successful term with this class, and I look forward to coming back in the new year to continue teaching at the same time - same place!
If you'd like to register your child for winter term classes, please visit www.musiqclub.com or call 453-4464.
Spots fill up quickly so please sign up soon. All of these students are top notch. I'd like to see them back :)

Thank you and best wishes for your holiday.

Fleming Tower Elementary School Mon. Dec. 10 2.15-3.15pm

In your 8th lesson you met Scott Joplin. He showed us how to play with five-finger ant tunnels. All five of your fingers should be curved, with your wrists up on the piano keys. If you let your hand collapse then all the ants will get squished!
Remember that each of your fingers has a number: Thumbs are 1, and little fingers are 5.

We reviewed notes getting higher and higher today, and also rhythm clap-backs.
I used my violin to play sets of three notes for everyone to sing and I used the metronome to practice clap-backs with you.
Everyone is doing really great with these exercises.

Today, was our last class of the term.
I had so much fun working with you and I think we learned a lot. It was rewarding to see how all of you were playing the games and understanding everything that we covered this term.

I hope to see as many of you back in January as possible!
Registration for classes can be found online at www.musiqclub.com

Have a safe and happy holiday :)

J. W. MacLeod Elementary School Fri. Dec. 6 2.45-3.45pm

Today we did a big review lesson of everything we learned this term!
Excellent work guys :)

First we started with Clap-backs. I clapped a four-beat rhythm for you, twice, along with the metronome, and each of you had to clap back the rhythm to me. Most of you did very well with this. We are using mostly quarter notes and eighth notes, so make sure you count 1+2+3+4+
Also, make sure you know what eighth notes/rests, quarter notes/rests, half notes/rests and whole notes/rests look like. Here is a useful chart that you may want to look at: http://www.premierpianocourse.com/images/note_value_chart.pdf

Next, I checked your C major scales, with the Right Hand and then the Left Hand. The Left Hand can always use a little more practice, since it doesn't come as naturally for most of you.

We spent about 10 minutes in the Grand Staff Note placement Game where you reviewed naming notes in the Staff. Here is a game for your to practice this at home: http://www.musictheory.net/trainers/html/id82_en.html

We went over three of your songs: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Pop Goes the Weasel and Get Up.
Click on the links to practice these at home. For Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, you can use the Letter Name Sheet I gave you at the beginning of the year.

Anthony took some time to learn Jingle Bells, since he finished early today. Good work! Make sure you keep those fingers in the correct hand position though ;)

Finally, we reviewed intervals: 2nds, 3rds, 4ths, 5ths, 6ths, 7ths and Octaves (8ths)
Count up from the bottom note (the bottom note is the number 1) to find the interval.

We spent a little time recording our own songs in the Improvisation room of the Children's Music Journey software and then it was time to wrap up!

I had fun working with you today.
Next week we'll have a little party after your test to celebrate all the wonderful new things you learned this term in MusIQ Club! See you then.

Kingswood School Thurs. Dec. 6 11.40-12.40pm

In our 7th lesson we reviewed the Christmas song I gave you last week: Silent Night.
Some of you did very very good practice: Aidan and Lauren - amazing work!
This was an exercise for you to do with pen and paper, naming the notes. I gave you the answers today. But here they are again:

Silent Night
3 4 3 1
G A G E (x2)

5 5 3 4 4 1
D D B C C G

3 3 5 4 3 2 3 2 1
A A C B A G A G E (x2)

3 3 5 3 1 2 4
D D F D B C E

2 5 3 5 4 2 1
C G E G F D C

You can copy and paste this into Notepad and print off the song, if you'd like to practice it over the holidays. This was, after all, our second last class!
Notice the Finger Numbers/Letters that are in Bold. This is your Hand Position! If you set your thumb on the right key, all your other fingers should fall naturally on the rest of the notes.
For this song, your hand position changes for each line.

After Silent Night, we played some Grand Staff Note Placement. Keep practicing this game at home: http://www.musictheory.net/trainers/html/id82_en.html

We reviewed Pop Goes the Weasel, and talked about 3/4 time. This means you have 3 beats in each bar.
Make sure to count: 1+2+3+ while you play, and count your RESTS as well as your NOTES.

Then, we learned a new song On Top of Old Smokey, that also uses 3/4 time. Watch out for intervals of 2nds, 3rds and 4ths in this song!
Remember, an interval means the distance between 2 notes.

We played a little bit of Bongo Boy at the end of class, and then it was time to go.
I had fun working with you today! Thanks everyone, have a great week!

BLT Elementary School Wed. Dec. 5 2.00-3.00pm

Very nice work today!
In our 5th session we learned more about Holding Notes, with Mr. Bach.
Bach wrote music for the Organ and the Harpsichord, two relatives of the Piano.
The organ is a larger keyboard instrument that uses wind to create sound, and the harpsichord is a smaller keyboard instrument that plucks strings to create sound.

We also talked about Vivaldi's Four Season! A very famous piece of music.

You're doing great with your practices, playing High notes and Low notes. By now, you're reading real 'circle' notes, not just Bird and Whale notes. Practice High and Low notes, and finding middle C on your keyboard at home.

We practiced more rhythms today - make sure you count 1+2+3+4+. Especially for the holding notes. See if you can do some clapping exercises the way we do with the metronome, at home with your Mom or Dad or with a friend. Make up a four-beat rhythms or word phrases to clap back for each other.

Finally, we reviewed the entire musical alphabet, going all the way up the keyboard.
How many letters are there in the musical alphabet? 7! That's right.

See you next week everyone, for our last class! Have fun :)

Hammonds Plains Elementary School Wed. Dec. 5 8.00-9.00am

Today, we warmed up playing C major scales with our Right Hands. Remember the fingering: 1-2-3-1-2-3-4-5-4-3-2-1-3-2-1.

Then we played the game "Face off" to practice naming notes on the grand staff.
It was a fast-paced game and the score was close! 7 to 6!
At the end I gave prizes to all of you because you worked very hard today! I was impressed.

We went over the song "Old Grey Goose" together, and talked about keeping a steady beat and a curved finger hand position.
Gracen and Jessy finished early and tried out "Jingle Bells" - you're doing very well!

Then we did some exercises for the Left Hand in the Bass Clef.

Remember the rhymes for the space notes: Treble Clef - FACE and Bass Clef - All Cows Eat Grass.
Also, try to remember where the notes Bass C, Middle C and High C are on the staff. This will help you to figure out the letter names of all the other notes.

Finally, we did a Theory lesson about Middle C position, where both thumbs are on C.
Remember to read the music to see what notes to play, watching out for steps and skips.

Here is a PDF file of "Old Grey Goose" for you to practice on your pianos at home this weekend.
Thanks everyone!

Westmount Elementary School Tues. Dec. 4 12.15-1.15pm

We learned how to make 5-finger ant tunnels with our new computer teacher Scott Joplin today.
Scott Joplin was an African-American composer who wrote amazing piano music. He lived about a hundred years ago, and is famous for his songs The Entertainer and Maple Leaf Rag.

5-finger Ant tunnels are where you have to keep your fingers curved and your wrists up on the piano keys. If you let your hand collapse then all the ants will get squished!
Remember that each of your fingers has a number: Thumbs are 1, and little fingers are 5.

Practice playing finger numbers at home. Parents, you can call out a finger number for your child to play on their knee 3 times. Then try calling out different 3-note patterns (for example: 3-2-1) and have your child play the notes on the piano with their Right hand thumb on Middle C.

Practice rhythms at home over the Christmas break. Remember to count 1+2+3+4+.

Today was our last class. I hope all of you have a wonderful holiday season. You deserve it!
We learned a lot and had so much fun together.
I really loved getting to know this class!

Parents, just a reminder that you can now register for classes in the New Year at www.musiqclub.com

Fleming Tower Elementary School Mon. Dec. 3 2.15-3.15pm

With the snow storm, we had a small class today. 7 out of 12.
For those of you who missed lesson 7, we'll try to help you catch up next week. We'll be meeting our new computer teacher, Scott Joplin, next week. I hope everyone can be there for our final lesson before Christmas :)

Today, we learned about notes getting higher and higher. Above middle C we can have medium high notes and very high notes. We also learned about notes getting lower and lower.
There are medium low notes and very low notes below middle C.

Remember to practice your songs using your left hand for the low notes and right hand for the high notes.
Keep your fingers curved.

I brought in my violin and played you different combinations of three notes.
Everyone would sing back the notes I played and and tell me if I was getting higher and higher or lower and lower. Great work!

Then we read the story "Up. Up. Down" by Robert Munsch. All of you helped me read it, saying the words "up... up... up... up... doooooooowwwn" with a voice that climbs higher and higher and then gradually falls down low. That was fun!

We learned the Jungle Girl game.
To jump from vine to vine you have to listen to the birds sing 2 notes, and then play 2 notes back that move in the right direction - getting higher or lower.

Thanks for all your hard work!
Have a great week everyone.

J. W. MacLeod Elementary School Fri. Nov. 30 2.45-3.45pm

In our 8th lesson, we began by warming up with C major scales.
Keep practicing each hand separately. They are sounding better and better, but the left hand in general needs more exercise. We want the scales to be smooth (legato), keeping a steady beat, with curved fingers.

We reviewed Intervals, and played a game of faceoff to help us get faster at recognizing the distance between two notes.
Then we spent some time in the Grand Staff Note Placement game. Each of you named 25 notes correctly before we moved on to our new song On Top of Old Smokey.

We practiced counting in three, and revisited Pop goes the weasel.
Then we did a theory lesson on Eighth notes. Remember that eighth notes move twice as fast as quarter notes, so each one is worth only half a beat. That's why it is useful to count 1+2+3+4+ when we are keeping a beat.
You did a great job of counting with the new song Get Up.

Please print off these songs so that you can practice them at home:
http://www.musiqclub.com/blog/resources/Lesson6_Pop_Goes_the_Weasel.pdf
http://www.musiqclub.com/blog/resources/Lesson7_On_Top_of_Old_Smokey.pdf
http://www.musiqclub.com/blog/resources/Lesson8_Get_Up.pdf

Thanks for your good work everyone. Have fun practicing and I'll see you next week!

Kingswood School Thurs. Nov. 29 11.40-12.40pm

In our 6th lesson, we went over C major scales. We reviewed playing legato and with curved fingers, keeping a steady beat. Your scales are sounding better and better.
Most of you still need practice with the left hand. Remember that your 5th finger begins on low C.
The fingering for the left hand is: 5-4-3-2-1-3-2-1

After scales, we talked about Intervals again - the distance between two notes. If you can recognize the shapes of intervals on the staff you will be able to read music faster. To find out the distance between two notes you can count up from the bottom note by line and space, then notice how the two notes look in relation to each other. 2nds are directly next to each other, 3rds will always be a line to a line or a space to a space, 4ths are a 3rd plus one, etc.
We played a game with flashcards to see how fast we could figure out different intervals.

Next, we played Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and talked about the person who composed this song - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Twinkle Twinkle was orginally written as a Theme and Variations. I played the tune for you on my violin, and then improvised a few variations. A theme can be played in many different ways to make it sound faster, slower, more complex or more simple. You told me some facts about Mozart's life: he was a child prodigy who wrote his first symphony at the age of 8, he was from Germany and he died at the age of 35.

After practicing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star together, we tried a new song: Silent Night.
This song uses only the Right Hand in the Treble clef.
See if you can write down all the letter names above, or underneath the notes for next class.
Remember how we name notes in the Grand Staff. Count up from middle C, which is the note on its own line below the treble clef staff.

We worked hard today. Well done everyone.
See you next week!

BLT Elementary School Wed. Nov. 28 2.00-3.00pm

What a fun lesson we had today!
We met our new teacher Mr. Bach.
Do you remember some things that he told us about his life? He had 20 children, wore a white curly wig and composed music for the Church!

Mr. Bach taught us about holding notes. That's when you hold down the piano key for a certain number of beats. Remember to count 1+2+3+4+ when you're keeping track of your beats!

After practicing this concept with Ms. Melody we played the game Hold the Train. You had to be careful to hold the note for the exact number of beats, so that the train would run on time, but still let off all the passengers at their stop.

We made up some more word-phrase rhythms today. I liked Cameron's "I Like Christ-Mas" (long, long, long, long).

We reviewed playing high notes with our right hands, and low notes with our left hands, and how to find the notes Middle C and F.
Do you remember? Group of 2, down to C. And Group of 3, down to F.

Practice high/low, the musical alphabet, rhythms and holding notes at home this week.

Thanks for your hard work everyone.
I was very impressed with all of you.
Micheal, thank you especially for helping me help Meghan catch up with the class today.
Meghan, it was nice to see you again. You're doing great! We'll have you up to speed in no time. :)

Hammonds Plains Elementary School Wed. Nov. 28 8.00-9.00am

Today was a half-lesson.
Sorry for the mix-up everyone. As we discussed, we'll have the super-fun lesson I had planned for us next week :)

Here's what we did in class:

• Naming notes on the Grand-Staff using flashcards. (Remember the Space Note Rhymes: F-A-C-E and All-Cows-Eat-Grass. Also, memorize where all the 'C' notes are on the staff. This will help you to count up or down by line and space.)
• 4-Beat Rhythms. Quarter notes, Half notes, Whole notes and Eighth notes. (Practice making up your own combinations of note values. If you have a music friend, you can do clapping exercises together.)
• Try to perfect Old Grey Goose at home this week. You can print off a copy of the music using the following link: http://www.musiqclub.com/blog/resources/Lesson3_Old_Grey_Goose.pdf
• And try this Note-Naming Game at home, so that when we do the contest next week in class, your team will have a better chance of winning! http://www.musictheory.net/trainers/html/id82_en.html

You're learning so much, and I'm very proud of you for all the good work you've been doing.
Thanks for waiting so patiently for me to arrive this morning. My sincerest apologies for being late.

I promise to make it up to you.

Have a great week everyone.

Westmount Elementary School Tues. Nov. 27 12.15-1.15pm

Very good work today girls. We missed Morgan, but I think she'll be able to catch up with us for next time.

Today, I brought in my violin. We learned about notes getting higher and higher and lower and lower.

This means that above the line that marks middle C you can have notes that are medium high or very high, or below the middle C line - notes that are medium low or very low.

To practice, I played you some notes on the violin and you sang them back to me. Then you would have to say whether you were going higher and higher or lower and lower. Try doing this exercise on the piano at home with your Mom or Dad, sister or brother.

At first, this exercise was a little confusing, but everyone was moving in the right direction by the end of class. Plus, it was fun singing with the violin!

We reviewed 4-beat rhythms together with the metronome and spent some time practicing legato and staccato in the Improvisation room too.
We reviewed all the games that we've learned so far, and also practiced our C-major scale!

Thanks being such great students, as usual. I'll see you next time, for our final MusIQ Club this year before Christmas. Have a good week!

J. W. MacLeod Elementary School Fri. Nov. 23 2.45-3.45pm

Nice work today everyone.
We got a lot done!

First, I checked your C-major scales, and your song Old Grey Goose.
You're all getting much better at reading notes in the staff! We played the Grand Staff Note Placement game again today, and reviewed different ways of figuring out which notes to play.
Here is a link for you to practice naming notes at home: http://www.musictheory.net/trainers/html/id82_en.html

Then, we did a rhythm exercise with the metronome. I played you some 4-beat rhythms and you played them back for me. We played the game Bongo Boy too. Everyone had a chance to beat the game today, which was great. Make sure you count 1+2+3+4+ when you practice your scales and songs.

We learned 2 new songs today: Pop Goes the Weasel and On Top of Old Smokey.
These songs are in 3/4 time, which means each measure has 3 beats.
Remember to count your note values and rest values: quarter rests, half rests and whole rests.

After going over the songs, we talked about Intervals - the distance between 2 notes.
When you practice your songs, try to recognize what intervals you are playing. Watch out for 4ths and 3rds especially, with the new songs.

Here are the links to the 3 piano suite songs you've learned so far:
http://www.musiqclub.com/blog/resources/Lesson3_Old_Grey_Goose.pdf
http://www.musiqclub.com/blog/resources/Lesson6_Pop_Goes_the_Weasel.pdf
http://www.musiqclub.com/blog/resources/Lesson7_On_Top_of_Old_Smokey.pdf

You can print these off to put in your folder with the Finger Number and Letter Name tunes that I gave you at the beginning of the term. Thanks everyone for the fun class!
See you next week :)

Kingswood School Thurs. Nov. 22 11.40-12.40pm

In our 5th lesson, we reviewed how to play C-major scales.
Thank you Renée and Micheal for showing us how to play C-major scales with a curved hand-position and a steady beat.
Now you can try practicing scales legato - smoothly. We learned about the difference between smooth connected notes (legato) and bouncy detached notes (staccato) today.

We also had 2 performances of the song we were working on last week, Old Grey Goose, from Ben and Aidan. Thank you! Then, we learned a new song, Pop Goes the Weasel, that uses 2 hands - the treble clef and the bass clef.
Great work!

We then, played a game naming Intervals - the distance between 2 notes, and also the Grand Staff Note Placement Game.

For more practice, click here for a Note Naming Game you can play on the Internet.

We ran out of time before we could play Bongo Boy, but we will next week for sure.
Practice Old Grey Goose and Pop Goes the Weasel.
To print off copies of the music use the following links: http://www.musiqclub.com/blog/resources/Lesson3_Old_Grey_Goose.pdf
http://www.musiqclub.com/blog/resources/Lesson6_Pop_Goes_the_Weasel.pdf

Don't worry if Pop Goes the Weasel is still a little tricky for you. I'm just giving you a head start with this because everyone did so well with Old Grey Goose today. We're going to be working more on the new song together next class.

Thanks everyone!
I'm happy with how much we've learned so far.
See you next week :)

BLT Elementary School Wed. Nov. 21 2.00-3.00pm

BLT - Nice work today!

I'm so happy we've learned so much already. We made some pretty important discoveries today, about rhythm, high and low, and reading circle notes.

First of all, we did some clapping exercises. We learned there are long sounds and short sounds in the English language - and that music is a kind of like a language. We found out that music always has a steady beat (like a heart beat) and that we can play different rhythms over this constant beat.
We got to clap along with an interesting contraption that I brought in called a Metronome.

We reviewed how to name the letters of the keys. Middle C is in front of the 2 black keys. F is in front of the 3 black keys.

We talked about Fur Elise, 5th Symphony and Minuet and G by Beethoven. What a great composer he was - everyone in the class enjoyed listening to the music he wrote.

Remember when you're reading circle notes, that your Right hand plays the high notes above the line, and your Left hand plays the low notes below the line. Any notes that are on the line will be Middle C.

Practice naming your notes at home using the musical alphabet and keeping a steady beat.
Practice low notes and high notes!
See if you can compose some of your own 4-beat rhythms on Middle C, or using word-phrases like "My Feet Smell Like Roses". (Especially Cameron! See if you can come up with some new ones for me!)

Next time we're going to meet our new computer teacher. It's going to be fun!

See you next week :)

Hammonds Plains Elementary School Wed. Nov. 22 8.00-9.00am

Great work today everyone.
You're sounding better and better each week. I love how you listen to instructions so well.

First, some of you volunteered to demonstrate the Finger Number tunes that I gave you to practice last week - thank you Brennon, Jess and Megan. Remember to keep your hand position in a round shape.

We learned that the position we've been playing in so far is called C-position; with your Right hand thumb on middle C, and your Left hand thumb on bass C.
We reviewed the musical alphabet, and then we learned a new song together - Old Grey Goose.

Nice sightreading! We talked about quarter notes, half notes and whole notes. Most of you were able to score 100% holding all the notes for the correct values!
If you have the Piano Suite software at home, try practicing Old Grey Goose without missing any beats - there shouldn't be any rests in the music yet! (We'll learn how to play songs with rests next time).

After this, we did quite a few exercises in the Theory Thinker, practicing reading notes in the Treble and Bass clef. Then, we played the Bongo Boy game to practice our rhythms again.

I gave you 3 new Letter Name songs to work on this week at home. Please practice them always keeping a steady beat (remember, music is often grouped into 4-beat measures).

Can't wait until our next class! We're going to revisit the improvisation room that some of your were asking about. Thanks everyone!

Westmount Elementary School Tues. Nov. 20 12.15-1.15pm

We had a fun lesson today. We're going to be having MusIQ Club on the stage every week from now on.

After I checked everyone's C-major scale, we reviewed how we play high notes with the right hand and low notes with the left hand.
The reason we did this is because today, we learned how to play with two hands at the same time.
Mr. Bach taught us about "Double Notes". Everyone was very nice about taking turns and letting their partners have a chance to play the double notes on their own.

We practiced rhythms with Miss Melody and played all the games that we've learned so far: High/Low, Princess Story, Holding the Train and Bongo Boy.

Then we talked about a neat-looking machine that I brought in called a Metronome. We did some rhythm playback challenges: first, I challenged you. Then you challenged each other. Then you challenged me! All of you came up with interesting rhythms to show me.

We had a lot of fun with the games. Then we talk about Vivaldi's Four Seasons and the words Legato and Staccato.

I showed you how legato means to connect the notes when you walk your fingers on the keys, and staccato means to play notes bouncy and disconnected. We practiced this using our C-major scale.

Everyone practiced their legato and staccato notes in the Improv room, and then it was time to go.

Here's what you can do at home:

• Practice 4 beat rhythms on middle C.
• Practice your C-major scale legato and staccato with the write fingers: 12312345
  
• Create a 10 note song that uses double-notes, holding notes, middle C, legato and staccato, to show me for next class.

Excellent work. See you next week!

Fleming Tower Elementary School Mon. Nov. 19 2.15-3.15pm

Today we learned about how to play "Double-Notes" with Mr. Bach.
Everyone was very nice about taking turns so that both partners would have a chance to use 2 hands at the same time on the piano. Good work!

We practiced rhythms with Miss Melody and played all the games that we've learned so far: High/Low, Princess Story, Holding the Train and Bongo Boy.

Then we talked about a neat-looking machine that I brought in called a Metronome. We did some rhythm playback challenges: first, I challenged you. Then you challenged each other. Then you challenged me! Some of you came up with some very complicated an interesting rhythms. (Noah and Sergio especially!)

We had a lot of fun with the games. Then we talk about Vivaldi's Four Seasons and the words Legato and Staccato.
I showed you how legato means to connect the notes when you walk your fingers on the keys, and staccato means to play notes bouncy and disconnected.

You got a chance to practice legato and staccato in the Improv room, and then it was time to go.

Here's what you can do at home:

• Practice 4 beat rhythms on middle C.
• Name the keys: C, D, E, F, G, A, B and back to C.
  
• Create a 10 note song that uses double-notes, holding notes, middle C, legato and staccato, to show me for next class.

I'll see everyone in 2 weeks, since next week is an inservice - have a nice break!

J. W. MacLeod Elementary School Fri. Nov. 16 2.45-3.45pm

Good work today everyone!
After I checked your C major scales and Letter Name Tunes, we went right away to practice our Grand Staff Note names.
We played a game called "Face Off" to see who could name the notes the fastest. It was a close call: 11 to 12 points!

Then we practiced placing notes on the staff in the Theory Thinker.

I'd like everyone to practice playing songs in the Grand Staff this week. If you have the Piano Suite software at home, you should practice Old Grey Goose, Twinkle Twinkle and Pop goes the weasel, for next class. Make sure you are holding your notes for the correct beat values and finger numbers.

After learning how to read these songs together, we went to the History Happens section and looked up some facts about Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. He was the composer who wrote Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Everyone in the class read a little bit about Mozart, and then told me what they learned: Born in 1756, the youngest and only surviving son in his family, a great composer from the age of 5, and many other interesting facts.

Finally, we talked about 4-beat rhythms and how to count while we play music. We practiced rhythm playbacks, and then tried the game "Bongo Boy" in the Children's Music Journey program.
This was a successful exercise and all of you did very well.
We'll try some things from CMJ next time too.

Have a great week!

Kingswood School Thurs. Nov. 15 11.40-12.40pm

We had a very fun and productive lesson today!

After I checked your C major scales and Letter Name Tunes, we played a note naming game called "Face Off" to help us get faster at finding notes on the Grand Staff. We also played the "Grand Staff Note placement" game. Everyone is becoming more familiar with the musical alphabet and counting up or down by line and space with the staff. Good work!
I'm also pleased to see that our piano playing skills are coming along nicely.
Your songs are sounding better and better.

I'd like those of you who have the Piano Suite software at home to try practicing Old Grey Goose, Twinkle Twinkle and Pop Goes the Weasle, level one songs (in the Grand Staff) for next week.

We tried these songs together in class, and all of you seemed to enjoy the Piano Player lesson. Then we did your Theory Thinker lesson, and you did some more review on how the Treble and Bass clef work, as well as note values: quarter notes, half notes, etc.

To reinforce these concepts we did some playback exercises together.
I would clap a 4-beat rhythm and you all had to clap it back to me.

Finally, we played a game called "Bongo Boy" in the Children's Music Journey program, where you had to play a drumming competition on Middle C.
Then the bell rang and we were out of time! We'll try Bongo Boy again next time so that everyone gets a chance to win the game. (Josh - you beat Bongo Boy first try! Great sense of rhythm!) Have a great week everyone!

BLT Elementary School Wed. Nov. 14 2.00-3.00pm

It was nice to see you again after last week's break.

Today, we reviewed everything that we learned in our very first MusIQ Club class.
High notes and low notes, middle C and the musical alphabet, as well as keeping curved finger with our hands on the keys and keeping a steady beat. I was very impressed with how much everyone remembered! Try finding 'Group of 2 (black keys) down to C' on your pianos at home.

In our lesson with Mr. Beethoven, we talked about his song "Fur Elise" - a famous piece of music that Beethoven wrote for the piano. We also learned about "In the Hall of the Mountain King" with Ms. Melody. I think all of you really liked that one!

After doing some more high bird/low whale/middle C exercises, we played a new game. You had to save the monkey from the island by rescuing all the coconuts he threw into the ocean! That was fun - Try playing this game with your Mom or Dad at home. They will play a note for you and you will have to say whether it is High, Low or Middle C.
See who wins after 10 notes!

At the end of class we went to the Improvisation room and recorded some new songs. Then we practiced arranging the letters of the musical alphabet in order using some flashcards.

You're all doing very well. Thanks for all your hard work - See you next week!

Hammonds Plains Elementary School Wed. Nov. 14 8.00-9.00am

It was great to meet all of you for the first time this morning.
Last week you had Hannah for your teacher, and she did a great job of helping you learn everything you need to know to get started with MusIQ Club (Check Hannah's blog below).

Today, we started learning about how to read notes on the Staff. Remember that your Right Hand plays in the Treble Clef, and your Left Hand plays in the Bass Clef.
You can always figure out what note to play on the staff by counting up or down from Middle C, by line and space.
I was so glad that all of you were familiar with the musical alphabet already: A-B-C-D-E-F-G, and back to A.

You were pros at the 'Word Play' game, finding the letter names on your keyboard.
I gave you 2 songs to practice at home this week: Mary had a little lamb and When the Saints go Marching In.
Practice them with a curved finger hand position and keeping a steady beat.

We reviewed the number order of our fingers: thumbs are 1 and pinkies are 5. Make sure that you use the correct fingering when you play your songs - watch out for 'steps' and 'skips'.

After we did our Theory lesson, learning about quarter notes, half notes and whole notes, we did some rhythm exercises together in 4-beats. You were excellent at clapping back rhythms to me! In the game 'Bongo Boy', you got to battle against the computer to see who could make the best rhythms.
Everyone in the class was able to beat the Bongo Boy and escape the crab! Good work.

Next time we'll talk more about the staff, and other kinds of rhythms. Please bring a folder to keep your song sheets in, and bring your songs to class so that I can hear all the wonderful practice that you've been doing. ;)

Westmount Elementary School Tues. Nov. 13 12.15-1.15pm

Great class today!
We all caught up to the same level - 8 - with Mr. Bach today, and did a lot of fun rhythm exercises, clapping in 4-beats.

Do you remember some facts about Mr. Bach?
He was a famous composer who worked for the church in Germany.
He wrote Minuet in G and some pretty amazing music for organ and harpsichord. An organ is like a piano, but much bigger. It uses the sound of wind, when we play the keys. A harpsichord is like the piano but smaller. Instead of hitting the strings, like a piano does, the harpsichord plucks the strings (kind of like a guitar).

We practiced 'holding notes' with Ms. Melody, and learned about the song 'Spring' from 'The four seasons'.
I was so glad you knew about this song when I asked you about it. Very good listening.

Finally, we learned how to play a C-major scale.

Can all of you practice the C-major scale this week using your fingers like I showed you?
Try walking your fingers up with the Right Hand: 1-2-3-1-2-3-4-5
Then try walking back down: 5-4-3-2-1-3-2-1

Remember to always keep a steady beat.
Also, why don't you try playing 'holding note' rhythms on your scale?
If this is a little too tricky, just keep practicing holding note rhythms on Middle C.

Thanks everyone - See you next week in the library!

J. W. MacLeod Elementary School Fri. Nov. 9 2.45-3.45pm

Great class today guys!
We split into teams and played a note naming game called "Face off". It was really fun - you sure have a lot of energy. (Next week we'll find out who is the fastest team, once and for all!)

Here's a tip: For the treble clef space notes the rhyme is F-A-C-E, and for the bass clef space notes All Cows Eat Grass. If you know the space notes, then you can figure out the line notes quickly and easily by counting up or down using the musical alphabet. (The direction of the alphabet goes by line and space from bottom to top!)

Practice your note naming. The faster you become at recognizing notes, the more fluent you will be as a piano player. It is like learning a second (or third, for you in French immersion) language.

Keep practicing your C major scales as a warm up exercise. Use the correct fingering and keep a round hand position.
Perfect the five songs that I've given you. ("Mary had a little lamb", "Ode to Joy", "Oh when the saints", etc.)

If you've done all that, and you'd like something more, why not try reading some piano books that you may have at home? You can also look up songs on the internet and print off easy sheet music. Show me that you have been doing extra practice at home next class and we will move you up even faster through the levels!

For those of you who would like to do independent work with Piano Suite - that would be the absolute best way to practice for MusIQ club.
You can order the whole package online at www.musiqclub.com/software.php

Remember to always feel the pulse when you listen to or play music. It is very important keep a steady beat. Next week we're going to do rhythm exercises in 4/4 time.
You're learning so much and I'm very happy with all your progress so far J. W.

Thanks - have a good week :)

Kingswood School Thurs. Nov. 7 11.40-12.40pm

We had a good lesson today. Everyone's becoming familiar with the musical concepts and I'm really impressed with how much you've learned so far.
Today we learned how to play our C major scales. Practice these hands separately with the correct fingering:

Right hand - 1 2 3, 1 2 3 4 5, 4 3 2 1, 3 2 1

Left hand - 5 4 3 2 1, 3 2 1, 2 3, 1 2 3 4 5

We played a game called "Face off", naming the notes on the grand staff.
You practiced the song "Old Grey Goose" in the Piano Player and exercised your right hand with the Theory Thinker. Great work!

Remember to keep your fingers curved and your wrists high when you practice your songs this week. There are five hand-outs currently in your folders: "Mary had a little lamb" (finger #), "Oh when the saints", "Twinkle Twinkle", "Ode to Joy" and "Mary had a little lamb" (letter names).
Keep a steady beat when you practice. Sing or hum the tune as you play to know which notes are short and which are long.

If you have some piano music at home that you'd like to learn on your own with the note reading skills that you've learned, please go right ahead! Bring the music to class and show me what you can do - we can move you through the levels even faster, if you want. (Lauren, Renee, Neil, Micheal... I'm thinking of you!)

Remember your note values. Quarter notes, half notes and whole notes.
We're going to do more work on rhythms next week.
If you have the Piano Suite software at home you can practice "Old Grey Goose" and "Pop goes the Weasel".
If you would like to purchase a Piano Suite kit for home practice you can order it online here: www.musiqclub.com/software.php

Have a nice Remembrance day weekend. Thanks for all your enthusiasm and interest - you're a a fun group of students. I'll see you next week!

Hammonds Plains Elementary School Wed. Nov. 7 8.00-9.00am

From Hannah:

In our first class we began by introducing ourselves.
Then we worked through Piano Suite's "Theory Thinker" I from "The Piano" to "Finding the note C". We learned about good piano posture, and good hand position (fingers curved, each finger on one white key, with relaxed arms and shoulders). We also learned that our fingers are numbered. Remember thumbs on both hands are called "1"!

We found that the black keys on a piano are grouped in 2s and 3s. We learned that the note "C" is the white key just below (to the left of) any group of 2 black keys, and that the note "F" is the white key just below any group of 3 black keys. We practiced finding all the Cs and Fs on the keyboard. Then we learned the musical alphabet: A-G, and practiced finding notes by playing the "Word Play" game in Theory Thinker.

We practiced learning to recognise when pitches are "high", "low" or moving up or down. Everyone closed their eyes and I played high notes or low notes; students had to signal whether they heard high or low by raising their arms high in the air, or lowering their arms toward the ground. Then everyone tried this same exercise with their partners.

Finally we logged into Children's Music Journey and everyone played the "High Bird, Low Whale, Middle C" game (1). Then we all had a chance to improvise in the CMJ "improv room".

Westmount Elementary School Tues. Nov. 6 12.15-1.15pm

Hello ladies,

We had a fun class today up on the stage in the gym. You got to meet Mr. Bach - he's even older than Mr. Beethoven. A composer who wrote for organ and harpsichord and had 20 children! What an interesting guy.

We practiced holding notes for different lengths of time. We also learned how to read circle notes above and below middle C. Putting all of these things together can be a little tricky, but I think you're all doing great. Everyone ended up at the same level at the end of class - excellent work Josie, catching up with us.

Practice counting 4-beat rhythms at home, the way we did in class. You can clap different combinations like 1+2 3+ 4.
Or, 1 2+ 3 4
Or, 1+2+3 4+

Try playing these rhythms on your keyboard. First use just middle C. Then try changing notes while keeping the same pattern.

Make sure you know your two black keys and three black keys.
Next week, we're going to start learning about playing 2 notes at the same time.

Morgan - I must say, you made an improvisation today that was just amazing. Congratulations!

See you all next time!

Alice

Fleming Tower Elementary School Mon. Nov. 5 2.15-3.15pm

Nice work guys!

Today everyone got to meet our new teacher Mr. Bach.
Do you remember some of the things he told us about himself?
He was a great German composer, who lived even before Beethoven. He had 20 children and worked for a church. We learned about the keyboard instruments he wrote for: the piano, organ and harpsichord.

Mr. Bach taught us about 'holding notes'. You got to play the train game, where you have to count the right number of beats to hold open the door and let the passengers out. That was fun!

We practiced clapping different combinations of long sounds and short sounds while counting: 1+2+3+4+.
This is how we can make rhythms over a steady beat.
We used a tom-tom drum to practice our 4-beat rhythms!

We are also learning how to read circle notes above and below middle C.
You're all doing very well, and I hope we can do some more practice with the drum next time.

At home, you should practice the way you do with Ms. Melody. Play high notes and low notes. Find middle C and groups of 2 and 3 blacks keys. Practice short and long notes, and holding notes. Always keep curved fingers and thumbs over the keys.

Next week is Remembrance day, so I will see you all in two weeks!

J. W. MacLeod Elementary School Fri. Nov. 1 2.45-3.45pm

Hello John W.

We had some technical difficulties today, but we still managed to get quite a bit of hands-on practice done. Thank you to all of you who worked independently, and helped your classmates know what to do. I think many of you are doing very well with the piano, even if we're still getting used to the software.
Your Old Grey Goose song was going much better today, and the performances we had from Victoria, Chloe, Luke and Hannah were quite impressive!

When you practice your songs, just remember to keep a steady beat. Listen for long notes and short notes - 1 beat or 2 beats. Also, try to keep a round-shape hand position and use the correct fingering.

After reviewing how to read notes in the Grand Staff, we did some left hand exercises and learned how to play a C major scale.
Starting on C, the fingering for the Right hand is: 1-2-3-1-2-3-4-5
And for the Left hand it is: 5-4-3-2-1-3-2-1

Jack gave us a superb demonstration of how to play a C major scale properly.
Walk your fingers up and down when you practice, connecting the notes.

Thanks for your patience and cooperation while I was solving technical problems everyone. I am there to answer your questions. Next time, I'll have some more tips and tricks for you on sightreading music, and I think we'll be able to make things run more smoothly and efficiently with a new seating plan/set-up.

Keep up the good practicing and I'll see you again next week.

Alice

Kingswood School Thurs. Nov. 1 11.40-12.40pm

Hi Kingswood,

Lovely to see you again. After you helped me set up the table and chairs in the new room (#116), and after lunch, we got to work, performing the songs that I gave you last week for each other.

Lauren, Max, Aidan and Renee all played beautifully for us. Remember to think of the rhythm, when you practice. Some notes are short, and some are long. Try tapping a beat with your foot while you practice so you can see how the beat lines up with the notes.

We learned about the Grand Staff in our Theory Thinker lesson. You learned 4 rhymes to memorize the letter names of the notes on the staff.

For the treble clef (your right hand), the line notes can be found using: Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge. For the space notes: F-A-C-E

In the bass clef (your left hand), we use the rhyme Good Boys Deserve Fudge Always for the line notes, and All Cows Eat Grass, for the space notes.

These are some tricks to find the notes on the staff, but really, you can figure out letter names by counting up or down from middle C, if you can remember where to find it (it has it's own line, below the treble clef staff, or above the bass clef staff).

We played some games to really get a handle on Grand Staff notes names, and then we learned about different note values.
Whole notes are worth 4 beats, Half notes are worth 2 and Quarter notes are worth 1.

Finally, I gave all of you 3 new song sheets to take home and try out for practice.

Make sure you put them in a folder and bring them every Wednesday for Musiq Club class.
I'm going to ask for some new volunteers next time to perform Twinkle Twinkle and Ode to Joy!

Thanks everyone.

Alice

BLT Elementary School Wed. Oct 31 2.00-3.00pm

Welcome to our blog BLT!

We had a great first class. I was very happy to meet all of you.

After setting up our account and choosing partners, we got right to work and had our first lesson with Mr. Beethoven. We learned about high and low on the piano. Your right hand plays the high "bird" notes and your left hand plays low "whale" notes.

We learned that Beethoven is a composer that lived 200 years ago. He wrote some of the most beautiful music in history. He went deaf, but he still continued to compose all kinds of music for the piano, and other instruments too.

We practiced what we learned with Ms. Melody - our practice room teacher. Then we played some games to see if we could remember everything on the spot. You were all fantastic at the games, and everyone took turns with their partners to play them. Excellent work.

Finally, we learned about how to find middle C and about the musical alphabet: A, B, C, D, E, F and G.
Remember, there are only 7 letters in the musical alphabet.

Can you practice naming the keys on your piano at home, for practice?
Keep a steady beat and a round-shape hand position.

Practice playing some high notes with your right hand, and low notes with your left hand.
If you become more comfortable moving around on the keyboard, you'll be able to make more interesting improvisations!

We'll try out the improvisation room again next time. We were so busy learning, we didn't get very much time at the end to play and record our own songs. But we will!

See you next week :)

Westmount Elementary School Tues. Oct 30 12.15-1.15pm

Nice work girls.

We did 2 levels with Mr. Beethoven and Ms. Melody today. We learned about rhythms - long sounds and short sounds that can be played over a steady beat.

You were excellent rhythm-makers in the bongo boy game. When we did our word phrase exercises, you could all clap together - listening and repeating the patterns that I called out ("Aoiffe is a prin-cess", "Madd-ie is a witch", "Give me some-thing good to eat!")

Practice having a good hand position over the keys (thumbs and wrists nice and high - fingers curved). Your right hand plays the high notes and left hand plays the low notes.
Find groups of 2 and 3 black keys, and practice naming the musical alphabet keeping a steady beat forwards and backwards.

Morgan, you went ahead and tried out the Princess game. At first it was a little tricky, but you kept practicing your rhythm playbacks and by the end of class you solved the puzzle - great work!
Next week, we're all going to try the Princess game.
Try making up some word phrase rhythms for practice at home.

See you then, and have a Happy Halloween!

Fleming Tower Elementary School Mon. Oct 29 2.15-3.15pm

Hey Guys,
This was a super productive class for us. Everyone finished at least 2 levels with Mr. Beethoven and Ms. Melody, and some of you even got through 3 complete levels (Congratulations Noah and Sarah, Reese and Aly!)

We were getting so much better at clapping rhythms. We did some more word phrase exercises together, and also played a real life version of the game 'Bongo Boy'.
Everyone loved this game, and you learned so fast!
Keep practicing your rhythms. Make up sentences like we did: "Scary ghosts say boo!" and "trick or treat smell my feet" clapping along with long sounds and short sounds.

Make sure when you practice high notes and low notes, finding middle C and naming the letters of the musical alphabet on your keyboard, that you keep a steady beat and a round hand position.

Thanks everyone for such a fun class - you were brilliant today!
Next week all of us will get to meet our new lesson teacher Mr. Bach.

See you then!
Alice

Kingswood School Thurs. Oct. 25 11.40-12.40pm

Hi Kingswood!

It was great to meet all of you today. I thought we had a very successful first MusIQ Club class together. We learned a lot!

First we went over the five 'rooms' of the 'Piano Suite' software that we are using:
Piano Player - for learning songs on our keyboards.
Theory Thinker - for learning how music works (the 'science' of music).
Composer's Corner - to create our own songs.
History - to learn about the great composers of the past.
and Games - to have fun and reinforce all the concepts that we learn in the other four subjects.

In our Theory lesson we learned about finger numbers. Thumbs are 1, index fingers are 2, middle fingers are 3, etc... all the way to 5 with our pinky fingers. We also talked about proper hand position and posture for playing the piano. Make sure you practice with curved fingers and sit up nice and tall.

Then we discussed the beat. You were excellent 'beat-keepers' - we practiced clapping along to some fast violin music that I played for you (on CD). Make sure that when you play your piano you keep a steady beat - not speeding up or slowing down. Feel the beat, so that your music will be organized and make sense to the listeners ears.

Finally, we did a lot of exercises naming the 7 letters of the musical alphabet. This was awesome, you were all able to find Middle C, find groups of 2 blacks keys and 3 black keys, and name the keys going all the way up the keyboard.
Practice naming the keys going backwards down the keyboard.

You can try finding, for example, all the A's... or all the F's, the way we did in class, trying to stay in beat. This way you'll get faster and faster at knowing where your white keys are, and you'll become better and better at playing the piano!

Everyone should bring a folder for next time, to keep the song sheets that I hand out at the end of class. I'm looking forward to seeing how you do with the finger number tunes I gave you: Mary had a little lamb and Ode to Joy.

Don't worry if this was a lot to think about in just one week... You can learn at your own pace in this class and I'll be here to help you, so please ask lots of questions.

Thanks for checking out the blog!

Alice

Westmount Elementary School Tues. Oct 23 12.15-1.15pm

We had a wonderful time in Musiq Club today.

Each of you worked extremely well, and I'm very proud of how much we've accomplished already.

You remembered the names of all the notes, including Middle C.
You remembered that there are high notes on the right side of the piano, and low notes on the left side.
You even remembered all kinds of things about Mr. Beethoven - our lesson teacher; he was deaf, he played the piano, he wrote beautiful music and he was a German!

Today we learned about two new songs: One by Beethoven called "Fur Elise" and another one by Grieg called "In the Hall of the Mountain King".

After playing some note naming games and practicing our songs from last week, we visited the improvisation room and I was very impressed with how all of you were able to make your own recordings with various instruments and styles of music.
Some of you have an excellent sense of rhythm. (Lily - that waltz was amazing!)

Keep practicing your musical alphabet with a good round hand position, and find all the keys for each letter, keeping a steady beat.

Nice work girls. I'm looking forward to learning more about rhythm (and new games) with you next week!

P.S. Here is a picture of you 5 from the first week. Parents, if you'd rather not have your child's photo here on the blog just let me know, and I can take it down asap.

Fleming Tower Elementary School Mon. Oct 22 2.15-3.15pm

Great class this week everyone.

We learned about rhythm today. Rhythm is when there are long sounds and short sounds in music, overtop of a steady beat.
There is a natural rhythm in language, when we talk. So we played a game making up sentences like "I like kitty cats" and "My sister eats cake".
The words with two syllables have short sounds and the words with only one have long sounds.
We practiced clapping lots of different sentences, and everyone seemed to understand after visiting Mr. Beethoven and Ms. Melody to reinforce the concepts.

We tried out the Princess Game, which was pretty hard for some students, but others picked it up right away.

Everyone can practice making up sentences and playing the rhythms on middle C on their keyboards at home.

I was very glad to see that everyone remembered their musical alphabet perfectly, and was able to find Middle C. Practice saying the alphabet backwards. We want to know our keys so well that we can name each of them quickly, without having to counting up and down.

We'll learn more about rhythm next time. Thanks for all your hard work :)
See you next week.

J. W. MacLeod Elementary School Fri. Oct. 19 2.45-3.45pm

Hi everyone,

Today was a pretty good lesson. You're all becoming more familiar with the Piano Suite Software now. You now know that it's important to listen to your lessons all the way through to get all the red check marks... that way when I come around to see how you're doing I'll know what you've completed and how I can help you.

Everyone needs to bring the sheets that I give out in class so that we can all work on finger number and letter name songs together. It's useful to have a folder to keep these in - keep them all together, and try to remember to bring them for Musiq Club on Fridays.

We did some work in the Theory Thinker, reviewing the treble clef (played with the right hand) and bass clef (played with the left hand) notes. We also talked about quarter notes, half notes and whole notes again.

Then we spent some time in the Piano Player activity. You learned a song called "Old Grey Goose" (more commonly known as "Go tell Aunt Rhody"). This went well, and all of you were able to read the notes on the staff with your right hand position on Middle C. Some of you need a little more practice with the left hand, which takes more time; most of you being right handed.

Overall, I've been very happy with how much this group has learned already. You're doing some great work at home - everyone knew what the name of the mystery tune was for homework this week. "Ode to Joy"!

Now you have 2 new tunes to practice. If this is too much too soon, that's ok... hold on to the sheets until you're ready. If you feel like you can do more, please let me know, and I'll give you more music to practice next time if you can show me how you're doing with the things I've already given you.

Practice tips:

• Play your letter name songs a few times with each hand. Exercise the left hand especially.
• Round hand position. Don't let the fingers fall flat on the keys.
• A steady beat. Each note should last for 1 beat or 2 beats at this point. Use your ear.
• Practice naming the notes on the keys. Try to memorize them as well as you can, so that when you become more comfortable with notes on the staff you'll be able to find the keys more quickly.
  

See you next week!
Alice

Westmount Elementary School Tues. Oct 16 12.15-1.15pm

Hi Westmount School, Parents and Students,

We had a great first class yesterday. There are 5 girls in this Musiq Club so far, and they were all very well-behaved and attentive.

After lunch, we did our first lesson with Mr. Beethoven. We learned about high 'bird' notes and low 'whale' notes. High notes are on the right side of the piano and low notes are on the left. When you practice playing high and low notes at home make sure you use the right hand on the right side and left hand on the left side.

We learned that high and low are not the same as loud and soft. We also talked about how to keep a good beat (always steady, not getting faster or slower) and how to hold our hand with good finger posture (pretend to hold and orange between your hands, fingertips touching, then separate them, keeping the same shape, and place your fingertips on the keys).

After meeting Beethoven, we went and practiced what we learned with Miss Melody. You all seemed to understand the lesson, so we were able to introduce middle C and the musical alphabet.
Middle C is the white key directly below the middle group of two black keys.
Remember, to find C: "group of two, down to C".

After C, we have the note called D. Then E, F, G, A, B and back to C again.
There are only 7 letters in the musical alphabet.

Practice naming your keys with beautiful curved fingers and keeping a steady beat.
Try listening to some more of Beethoven's piano music.

When I see you next time, we'll try out more new games and create some new songs of our own in the improvisation room.
All of you did an excellent job yesterday with music lessons.
I'm looking forward to having lunchtime with you again next week.

Parents, please Email me if you have any questions or concerns about this class - or if you are looking for more information about the Musiq Club program.

Thank you,
Alice

Fleming Tower Elementary School Mon. Oct 15 2.15-3.15pm

Hello Fleming Tower Musiq Club Students, Moms and Dads!

We had a terrific second class today. I noticed some of you were really getting much more comfortable using the computers, and everyone seemed to be having fun with the lessons.

We reviewed music by Beethoven - the composer who went deaf remember? And talked about a piece he wrote called "Fur Elise". We also listened to a piece called "In the Hall of the Mountain King" by a composer named Grieg.

I went around and checked to make sure everyone remembered how to play their high bird notes and low whale notes on the piano. You were all pretty quick, and most of you could show me where Middle C was too. Great work - you can keep practicing how we did in class: Play a few notes and say out loud "high, low, middle C" or "low, high, middle C, low"... make up your own compositions and keep a steady beat! Make sure you use your right hand for high notes, and left hand for low notes.

We learned about how to name all the other notes on the keyboard too. Do you remember the musical alphabet? If you can find Middle C, than you can find some other notes called C too. Find some high C's and low C's on you piano. You can always figure out where C is by finding "a group of two black keys, then down to C".

Practice saying your musical alphabet; we start on C and walk step by step (note by note) up the keyboard. C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C! over and over again, all the way up. Only 7 letters are in the musical alphabet.

We're going to do more work on the piano next time.
For now, all of you are doing a great job.

Parents, feel free to Email me if you have any questions or if you'd like more information about the class.

Thanks everyone,
Alice

J. W. MacLeod Elementary School Fri. Oct. 12 2.45-3.45pm

Dear Parents and Students,

It was great to see you again on Friday, and nice to have 3 more students join us for the first time; Gabriel, Antony and Paige.

Today we reviewed 3 important concepts:
1. How to sit at the piano - no slouching, feet flat on the floor, shoulders relaxed and fingers curved.
2. The musical alphabet - A, B, C, D, E, F, G. These letters are used to name the white keys on our keyboards. "Middle C" is the note just below the group of two black keys closest to the middle of the keyboard. Low notes are to the left and high notes are to the right.
3. The beat - Any music that you practice or listen to has a steady beat that you should keep by tapping or counting along.

We worked through our "Theory Thinker" lesson and learned about reading notes on the Grand Staff. Middle C can be found on its own line, underneath the treble clef staff or above the bass clef staff. We also learned 2 rhymes for space notes - FACE for the treble clef staff and All Cows Eat Grass for the bass clef staff. The staff works like a ladder, where notes from the musical alphabet can be placed on each line and space in order, going up.

The "treble clef" is also called the "G clef" because the G line runs through the centre of the treble clef. The "bass clef" is also called the "F clef" because the F line runs between the two dots of the bass clef.

We practiced naming some notes on the staff with flashcards.

Next week, we are going to talk more about Quarter notes, Half notes and Whole notes, which was another concept introduced in your "Theory Thinker" lesson.
For now, you should know: Quarter notes = 1 beat. Half notes = 2 beats. And whole notes = 4 beats.

Remember to practice your mystery song and let me know if you can figure out what the title of it is for next week.

Some of you are doing excellent practice at home.
I hope everyone will be able to show me what they did on their own in our next Musiq Club class.

If parents or students have any questions please don't hesitate to Email me at ajhansen@dal.ca

All the best,
Alice

J. W. MacLeod Elementary School Fri. Oct. 5 2.45-3.45pm

Wow guys, you were awesome students today. So well-behaved and interested in MusIQ Club. I was really impressed with how well you listened.

Today we did our first lesson in the "Theory Thinker". You learned about the history of the Piano and about how to sit and hold your hands over the keys. You learned that each of your fingers has a number. Thumbs are 1, Index fingers are 2, Middle fingers are 3, Ring fingers are 4 and Pinkies are 5. Together, we practiced playing some notes on the piano using finger numbers, for example "Right Hand: 1-2-1", or "Left Hand: 5-4-2"

Then, we learned about Pitch, Notation and Time.

Pitch is how high or low a sound is. PITCH IS NOT THE SAME THING AS VOLUME. High and low does not mean loud and soft. The low notes on your piano are to the left and the high notes are to the right.

Learning the musical alphabet was the next thing we did. You were really excellent at finding the note names on the keyboard. Remember the musical alphabet often starts with C, because it is easy to find on the keyboard. After C is D, E, F, G, A, B and back to C. Remember, there are only 7 notes in the musical alphabet that repeat all the way up the keyboard.

Then we talked about beat. This was a lot of fun. We clapped out some really good beats along to music. The music we listened to today was by J.S. Bach, in case you were wondering.
'Beat' in music is like a heartbeat... It is a measured pulse that stays the same speed and helps to organize a piece of music. This is why you can dance to music. This is how music 'makes sense' to our ears.
Count or tap when you practice your music at home, and line up the notes with a good steady beat.

Alright, so here's your homework for practicing piano! Thanks for being such nice kids and I'll see you again next Friday.

• "Mary had a little lamb" finger number song.
• "Saints go marching in" finger number song.
• Practice finding Middle C and naming the keys with the musical alphabet, both forwards and backwards.
• Listen to some music that you like and practice clapping or tapping your foot to the beat!

Have fun :)
Alice

Fleming Tower Elementary School Mon. Oct 1 2.15-3.15pm

Hi everyone,
Welcome to our Musiq Club Blog. It was great to meet all of you yesterday.

In our lesson, we talked about Beethoven - a famous composer who lived 200 years ago and wrote music even though he lost his hearing.

We learned about 'high bird notes' and 'low whale notes', and where to find middle C on the piano. We learned that 'high' and 'low' are not the same thing as 'loud' and 'soft' in music.

Mr. Beethoven helped us to learn the musical alphabet: A-B-C-D-E-F-G. Remember, no H! There are just 7 letters in the musical alphabet that repeat all the way up the keyboard.

We had fun trying out the improvisation room at the end of class. Improvisation is when musicians make up music on the spot, from their imaginations.

Next time, we'll find out more about how to make our own music by going on to level 2 of Mr. Beethoven's lesson room and Miss Melody's practice room.
We'll visit the games room and the library again too!

Here's what you can practice at home:

• Beethoven - a great composer in history, who went deaf. Try listening to some of his famous Symphonies (no. 9) or piano music (Fur Elise).
• Sing or play high bird notes and low whale notes. See if you can find middle C on your keyboard at home.
• Practice naming the keys with the musical alphabet.
  

If you would like to purchase the Children's Music Journey software and a keyboard for home practice they can be purchased at a very reasonable price from www.adventus.com/products/cmj.php . If you have questions about how to purchase, email Danielle, hrm@musiqclub.com.

Thanks for visiting and I'll see you all again next week.

Alice