Westmount Elementary School Tues. Jan. 15 12.15-1.15pm

We had an exciting class again today.
Let's welcome newcomers Hannah and Sam to our group. That makes 12 of us - we grew a lot since last term!

We have 2 levels going on in the class now.

Level 1:
You learned about high bird notes and low whale notes today. Make sure to play your high bird notes with your right hand and your low whale notes with your left hand. To keep a perfect piano hand position pretend to hold an orange between your 2 hands and make your fingers perfectly round. Then place your fingertips on the keys, and keep your fingers curved.
Now you're ready to play.
When you play, keep a steady beat. All music is experienced in time - the beat is what links each moment to the next. It stays the same length, like a pulse - a heartbeat.

You learned where Middle C is, and met your computer teacher Mr. Beethoven.
Well done. See if you can name all the notes of the piano using the musical alphabet, at home: C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C. Notice that after G, the musical alphabet starts over at A.

Level 2:
You finished your first level of MusIQ Club officially today in class. Every 12 lessons you will receive a certificate in the mail saying that you completed a level.

In your 12th lesson, you practiced left hand ant tunnels with Mr. Joplin. We did some rhythm playbacks and talked about all the things that we've learned over the course of level 1. Try practicing finger number playbacks at home on your piano. Place your thumb on middle C and play like you do in the leapfrog game. 1-2-1-2-1-2. Or 1-2-3-4-3-2-1. Or 1-2-3-2-3-4-3. Try different combinations with your right hand and then your left hand.
If you have the CMJ software at home, you can practice the Folk Tunes for the Right Hand in the computer, in the Library.


Finally, we all spent some time in the Improvisation room, and each of you recorded a song to show me. All of you did some wonderful playing today. I was especially impressed with the many songs Sophia and Ryan created together. Great sense of rhythm and melody you two.

Thanks for all your hard work today. See you next week.