Fleming Tower Elementary School Mon. April 21 2.15-3.15pm

We had a great first class of the Spring term.
It was nice to welcome Benjamin, Ryan, Jessica, Jacqueline and Emma to the class today!

Level 2 (Reece, Brianna, Aly, Jansyn, Noah, Jared, Lauren, Jessica and Jacqueline):

• Finished the lesson 28 with Mr. Dvorak, and practice with the new Miss Melody in Children's Music Journey Volume 2. Can you remember a few historical facts about Mr. Dvorak to tell me for next week? (What country is he from? What instruments does he play? What did his father do for a living?) We'll learn more about Dvorak's life - it was very interesting, and he certainly wrote some beautiful music.
  
• We reviewed playing high notes with the right hand, low notes with the left hand, and middle C position.
• We reviewed half notes, quarter notes and whole notes.
• We also reviewed line notes and space notes and sightreading music by step and by skip.
• Finally we played some 4 beat rhythm playbacks, leapfrog and cliffhanger and spent some time in the improvisation room.
• We also played hot potato with Monkey, saying our musical alphabet backwards and forwards! This is something everyone really loved and you can practice naming your notes on the piano at home to get better at this game.

LEVEL 1 (Emma, Benjamin and Ryan):

• You completed lesson 1 and part of lesson 2 with Mr. Beethoven today. Can you tell me a few facts about his life for next week? (What country is he from? What was different about Beethoven as a composer? What instruments did he play?) We'll learn more about Beethoven's amazing music next week... Maybe you are familiar with some of the music he composed already. Can you think of any? (Symphony no. 9?)
  
• You learned about high notes and low notes. Play the high 'bird' notes with your right hand and the low 'whale' notes with your left hand. Remember that high and low does not mean loud and soft. It has to do with the sound of the notes, not the volume.
• You learned where to find middle C. (Group of 2 black keys, down to C.)
• You learned how to set up a good curved finger hand position on the keyboard.
• We played hot potato with Monkey and practiced drawing some high, low and middle C notes on the board. You spent time in the games room and improvised and recorded some of your own songs using the Children's Music Journey Volume 1 software.

Excellent work today. As always, please review the lessons and practice sessions outlined for your level, if you have the CMJ software for home practice. Check the musiqclub.com website for ordering information, and feel free to Email me anytime with your questions or concerns regarding the class.
Thanks everyone!