Westmount Elementary School Tues. Feb. 26 12.15-1.15pm

Well done today everyone.

Level 1:
You worked on lessons 11 and 12 Mr. Joplin today. Remember Scott Joplin's story? He is a famous African-American composer who lived about a hundred years ago. His piano music was one of the first types of Jazz, and some of the 'ragtime' songs he wrote, like 'the Entertainer' are still very popular today.

You learned about five-finger ant tunnels with Mr. Joplin. Keep your fingers curved and on their tips so the tunnel of ants can go under your hand. Remember that each finger has a number: thumbs are 1, index fingers are 2, middle fingers are 3, ring fingers are 4 and pinky fingers are five!

Practice doing finger number playbacks with your Mom or Dad at home the same way we did in class. Place both thumbs on middle C.
If you have the CMJ software at home, review lesson 12 and practice Folk tunes for the right hand on the computer in the library. Also, play the Cliffhanger game to practice notes getting higher and higher, and notes getting lower and lower.

Level 2:
You completed lessons 18 and 19 today. You're now learning about grown-up notes with Miss Mendelssohn. Remember to set your hands in Middle C position when you play your songs. Notice where your fingers are stepping up or stepping down. Do you see how the notes get higher or lower, based on the line where Middle C is?

When the stems (or 'tails') of the grown-up notes are going up, you should play high notes with your right hand. When they are going down, play low notes with the left hand.
You should also notice that the notes step up or down by line and space. Do you see how there are some notes on lines, and some notes on spaces?
What kind of note is middle C? A line note or a space note?

Practice 'Mary had a big fat sheep' at home on your piano this week. Here are the finger numbers for the left hand in Middle C position:

L.H. 3-4-5-4-3-3-3--
4-4-4--
3-1-1--
3-4-5-4-3-3-3--
4-4-3-4-5----

If you have the CMJ software at home, please practice Folk tunes for hands together on the computer in the library, and also Love Somebody (click on the lessons and practice book in the library).

At the end of class I gave everyone a rhythm to play back to me on the hand drum. All of you did an AMAZING job at clapping 4 beat rhythms to me. I was extremely impressed.
We have some talented young pianists in this bunch.

See you next time!