J. W. MacLeod Elementary School Fri. April 11 2.45-3.45pm

We had an excellent first class of the Spring term today.
Welcome Miguel, Erika and Jeremy!

Level 1:

• You learned how to play a C major scale, starting on middle C.
• Recognizing notes in the staff using the musical alphabet.
  
• Practice naming notes with this game: Note Trainer
  
• You learned how to play 'Old Grey Goose' and I gave Jeremy 'Pop goes the Weasel' for an extra challenge (Jeremy, you will be moved ahead to the level 3 class next week :)
• You learned about holding notes for their correct values. Check out this Note Value Chart.
• Finally, we played the grand staff note placement game, bongo boy and made up our own songs in the Improvisation room.

Level 3:

• We reviewed your tests: Note naming, note values, semitones/tones, sharps and flats.
• We reviewed the song 'Ode to Joy' - hands separately, than together.
• We played a game of Faceoff to help us learn about notes on leger lines. Middle C is an example of a leger line note - a note outside the 5 lines and/spaces of the grand staff.
• We learned a new song 'The baseball game'.
• Finally, we played some games in the CMJ software and made up songs in the Improvisation room.

Great work - I'll see you again next week.
Miguel and Jeremy, don't forget to bring a friend !

Westmount Elementary School. Grades 3-6. Friday April 11 12.15-1.15pm

Nice to meet you William, Dylan, Steven, Justin and Ivan!

We got a lot of good work done today.

Level 1 (Ivan):
You are learning the song 'Old Grey Goose' and practicing your Note Naming.
Also, start familiarizing yourself with Note Values.
We practiced some 4-beat rhythm playbacks and talked about some ways of sightreading music bu step and by skip.
We also learned how to play a C major scale, hands separately.
Try playing 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star' on your piano at home.

Level 2 (William):
You are learning the song 'Let it Be' by the Beatles.

We played some Grand Staff note placement game and also reviewed Note Values.
You played your C major scale in contrary motion for me - excellent coordination!
We also reviewed 'On top of Old Smokey' from last term, and did the Theory Thinker lesson on Rests. Finally, you spent some time in the improvisation room in the CMJ software.

Level 3 (Justin, Steven and Dylan):
You learned about leger lines today.
We learned a new song called 'The baseball game' and played a game of 'Faceoff' with leger line/space notes.
You reviewed the song 'Daydream Believer' and brushed up on 'Ode to Joy'.
Great playing.
Finally, you learned a new scale 'C Chromatic'. Remember the fingering: 1-3-1-3-1-2-3-1-3-1-3-1-2. Then, back down.

I look forward to seeing you again next week! Happy practicing :)

BLT Elementary School. Grades 3-6. Thurs. April 11 2.30-3.30pm

Great class today. Also, thank you to the parents who responded to my initial Email, I hope these blogs will continue to be useful in keeping up to date with your child's progress.

Level 1 (Dylan, Rama and Taylor):
You worked on 'Old Grey Goose' and started a new song 'Pop goes the Weasel'.
We worked on memorizing note and rest values. Check out this note value chart.

We also worked on 4 beat rhythms and did some work naming notes in the Theory Thinker. If you would like to practice your note reading skills. try out this game: Note Trainer.

Level 2 and 3 (Kara, Grace, Rachelle, Veronica, Jazlyn and Krista - we were missing Savannah today):

Today we did a practice test for your assessments next week. Here is a copy for your to print out: Level 1 and Level 2.
We talked about naming notes, writing down scales, finding the distance between two notes (intervals), and note values.
Please review this Note Value Chart so that you are familiar with the different types of notes and rests and how many beats they are worth.
You can also practice naming notes with this Note Trainer.

Finally Level 2 practiced their songs 'Pop goes the Weasel', 'On top of Old Smokey' and 'Get Up'.
Level 3 practiced their songs 'Let it be', 'Happy Birthday', and 'Clementine'.

Very good work today.
See you next week.

Kingswood School Thurs. April 10 11.40-12.40pm

Nice to see you again Josh, Aidan and Ben.

Today we reviewed what was on your tests and started working on Level 3 material.

• C Chromatic scale. 1,3,1,3,1,2,3,1,3,1,3,1,2. Then backwards.
• Tones/Semitones. Sharps and Flats.
• The song 'Ode to Joy', hands separately then together.
• Leger lines. Notes above or below the staff.
• 2 bar rhythms.
• Improvising and Melody playbacks in the CMJ software.

Please get started on 'Ode to Joy' and 'The baseball game' if you have the Piano Suite software at home.
Good work!

BLT Elementary School Wed. April 9 2.00-3.00pm

We had a great first class of the Spring term.
It was nice to welcome Abbey to the class today!

Level 2 (Billy, Connor, Cameron, Haylea and Jacob):

• 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 (Abbey):

• 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!

Fleming Tower Elementary School Mon. April 7 2.15-3.15pm

Nice to see you again, after another 2 week-long break.

Today level 1 completed lesson 14 with Mr. Scott Joplin. You are learning how to use all five fingers on the keyboard. To practice this, maybe you can do some finger-number playback exercises with Mom or Dad at home. Parents, have your child sit at the piano with both thumbs on middle C (middle C position). Then, call out what hand to use, and 4 finger numbers (for example: 'Right Hand 1-2-4-5). Try different patterns that move up or down by step and skip.

We learned a new game - the Leapfrog game today. Very well done!

Level 2 completed lesson 23 with Mr. Villa Lobos. You are getting much better at recognizing the letter names of the keys on your piano. You are also learning about quarter notes, half notes and whole notes. Can you remember how many beats each type of note will hold for? Make sure to watch for notes moving by step (from line to space or space to line) and by skip (from line to line or space to space). Your songs are sounding great.

Everyone should review their lessons and practice during the week if they have the CMJ software at home. The more your child is able to sit down and play through their songs, the more they will enjoy sightreading music and learning new material in class.

The last activity we did was a game, kind of like hot potato, where we all sat down and passed around Ted (the bear) saying our musical alphabet backwards!
We'll try that again next week, because it was fun and it really got you thinking! Good work :)