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 :)