J. W. MacLeod Elementary School Fri. April 25 2.45-3.45pm

Great work today. I'm happy with the progress we're making in this class.

Level 1 (Miguel and Erika):

• Warmed up with C major scales, hands separately.
• Practiced the songs Old Grey Goose and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.
  
• Practiced note naming in the Grand Staff note placement game.
• Watched the video on intervals in the Theory Thinker. (An interval is the distance between two notes.)
  
• Played a game of Interval Face off with the whole class.
• Played games and improvised some new songs in the Children's Music Journey software.

Level 3 (Jeremey, Anthony, Victoria, Hannah, Gabriel, Chloe and Rose):

• C Chromatic scales. C, F and G pentatonic scales.
• We did a theory sheet to review scale degrees and the pattern of notes for major and pentatonic scales.
• Practiced 'Ode to Joy', 'The Baseball game' and learned the new song 'Ten Little Indians'. Hands separately then together.
• Played some exercises reviewing accidentals (sharps and flats) in the Theory Thinker .
  
• Reviewed Intervals and played interval Face off with the whole class.
• Improvisation in the CMJ software, using the C, F and G pentatonic scale.
  

Practice your songs at home if you have the Piano Suite software - if not, please try sight reading any music books you may have at home, and review your scales.

Thanks everyone. See you next week.

Westmount Elementary School. Grades 3-6. Friday April 27 12.15-1.15pm

We had a good class today - it was nice to meet Brett today.

Level 1 (Ivan):

• Warmed up with C major scales, hands separately.
• Practiced the songs Old Grey Goose and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.
  
• Practiced note naming in the Grand Staff note placement game.
• Discussed intervals - the distance between two notes.
  
• Played a game of Interval Face off with the whole class.
• Played games and improvised some new songs in the Children's Music Journey software.

Level 2 (Brett and William):

• C major scale in contrary motion.
• Practiced 'Let it Be' and 'Happy Birthday'; hands separately, then together.
• Reviewed Note Values. Practiced clapping different rhythms.
• Reviewed Intervals and played interval Face off with the whole class.
• Improvisation in the CMJ software, using the C pentatonic scale.
  

Level 3 (Stephen, Dylan and Justin):

• C Chromatic scales.
• Practiced 'Ode to Joy', 'The Baseball game' and learned the new song 'Ten Little Indians'. Hands separately then together.
• Worked on playing in time with the metronome.
  
• Discussed intervals and reviewed ledger lines.
• Ear training - rhythm playbacks and identifying intervals of 3rds and 5ths.
  
• Played Interval Face off with the level 1 and 2 students.

At the end of class I handed out invitations. All of you can bring a friend next week if you like.
Great playing everyone! We had fun and learned a lot.

BLT Elementary School. Grades 3 to 6. Thurs. April 24 2.30-3.30pm

Great work today everyone. I'm happy with the progress all of you progress making.

Level 1 (Taylor and Rama - We missed you Dylan!):

• Warmed up with C major scales, hands separately.
• Practiced the songs Old Grey Goose, Twinkle Twinkle and Pop goes the weasel (Rama went ahead to do On top of Old Smokey and Get up).
• Practiced note naming in the Grand Staff note placement game.
• Discussed intervals - the distance between two notes.
  
• Played a game of Interval face off with the whole class.
• Played games and improvised some new songs in the Children's Music Journey software.

Level 2 (Savannah - We missed you Krista and Jazlyn!):

You completed your written test today. It covered everything from note naming, to time signatures to musical terms. I think you did quite well. Next week, you will receive your report
card and certificate.

Level 3 (Rachelle, Veronica, Grace and Kara):

• We did a lot of ear training work today.
• First we practiced rhythms playbacks. 4-beats long, and different combinations of note values.
• Then we practiced Melody Playbacks, something you'd never tried before. I play a 4-note melody on my violin that moves by step or by skip. It always starts on middle C. If you hear the melody going higher, use your right hand. If it's going lower, use your left hand. Try to play back all the right notes, listening for movement by step or by skip.
• We reviewed Intervals and played Interval Faceoff with the level 1 students.

Great work!! Looking forward to our next class - some of you will be officially starting Level 3 of MusIQ Club.

Kingswood School Thurs. April 24 11.40-12.40pm

We had a great class today - we missed you Ben.

Here's what we covered:

• C chromatic scales. C, G and F pentatonic scales.
• Ode to Joy and the Baseball game.
• Review of Intervals - the distance between two notes. Learned about the difference between harmonic and melodic intervals. Harmonic intervals are 2 notes played at the same time. Melodic intervals are played one note after the other.
• Learned a new song - Ten little Indians. Watch out for the B-flat in the key signature.
• Exercises on accidentals in Theory Thinker.
• Ear Training on Intervals - hearing the difference between an interval of a 3rds and an interval of a 5th with the Ear Training Coach software.
• Improvisation with pentatonic scales in the Children's Music Journey software.

Excellent work Aidan and Josh. See you next week!

Westmount Elementary School Tues April 22 12.15-1.15pm

Well done today. We were happy to welcome Cameron to our class. He will be visiting us from the Thursday class a couple of weeks. Nice to meet you Cameron.

LEVEL 1B (Sean, Ryan and Iris):

• You completed lesson 20 with Miss Mendelssohn today.
• Practiced clapping 4-beat rhythms.
• Reviewed Middle C position.
• Learned about line notes and space notes. Middle C is an example of a line note.
  
• Practiced some Finger Number Exercises moving by step and moving by skip with our fiver-finger ant tunnels legato (smooth) and staccato (bouncy).
• Played five different music games and improvised some new music in Middle C position.

LEVEL 2 (Aoiffe, Sophia, Morgan, Lidya, Josie and Cameron)

• Completed lesson 31 and 32 with Mr. Mozart.
• Practiced clapping 4-beat rhythms.
• Practiced drawing the four types of notes we've learned so far: quarter, half, whole and dotted half notes.
• Today we began reading note in the Grand Staff. Your Right hand plays the notes that are in the upper set of lines and spaces and your Left hand plays the notes that are in the lower set of lines and spaces.
• Learned that Middle C is on its own line, for both the Right hand staff and the Left hand staff.
  
• Played 4 different games and spent some time writing our own music in the Improvisation room.

Finally, we played another game of Hot Potato with my friend Monkey. We helped each other remember the letters of the musical alphabet forwards and backwards and had a lot of fun.

Have a good week!

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!