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