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 :)

J. W. MacLeod Elementary School Fri. April 4 2.45-3.45pm

Today was the last class of the term and we wrote our assessment tests.
Overall, everyone did a good job, and tried their best.
Some of you, I think, should prepare more for assessments in the future. If you don't understand a concept, or, if you're not clear on what to study, you should ask me. For example, if you're not following my explanations on how to name notes, take some time after class to talk to me about it, and then check this blog for exercises on what you can do at home, in order to really understand it.
Some of you took extra time, and did not complete the 'melody playback' portion of the test. For these students, I will base the grade on the melody playback work they did in class.

Finally, we all had a piece of cake and a sip of juice to celebrate completing MusIQ Club level 2. I'm very proud of your hard work this term and hope to see you back again next week.

I will have your corrected tests and certificates to hand out to those of you who return. For those of you not returning, I will leave the documents in the office for pick up.

Thanks for the fun and productive classes :)

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

Hello, and welcome to our MusIQ Club blog, BLT 3-6.
It was great meeting you today. Here is a summary of what we covered:

LEVEL 1 (Dylan and Taylor)

• Middle C.
  
• C major scales. Hands separately.
• The Grand Staff and Music Notation.
• Note values. Quarter, Half and Whole notes.
• Finger numbers. Thumbs are 1. Pinky fingers are 5.
• You played the Grand Staff spelling game.
• You learned how to play 'Mary had a little Lamb' and clap four beat rhythms.
• Here is the song 'Old Grey Goose', for you to print off and try at home.

LEVEL 2 (Rama, Jazlyn, Veronica, Rachelle, Krista, Grace, Savanna, Kara.)

• Reviewed how to play C major scales, and note naming.
• Reviewed note values and finger numbers.
• Talked about key signatures and time signatures.
• Your right hand plays in the treble clef and your left hand plays the bass clef.
• We practiced Let it be and Happy Birthday - Hands Together. Practice these songs at home, if you have the Piano Suite software.
• Played the Grand staff spelling game.
• 4-beat rhythms.

Excellent work today. I will be assigning some history homework for next week.
Can any of you in Level 2 tell me what famous band wrote the song 'Let it be'?

See you again next time. Feel free to Email me anytime if you have questions or concerns related to home practice or what we are learning in class.

Kingswood School Thurs. April 3 11.40-12.40pm

Today was the official last class of the Winter term.
We had our assessment tests today. This may surprise some of you, but I actually think everyone did quite well. I know for level 2 the material we are learning can be a challenge, but you've learned a great deal - especially with your scales and your songs. Laura, great effort with the written test. It ended up taking you a little longer than expected, but I will give you a grade for the performance and ear training parts of the test based on your work this term.

I hope to see all of you back for the Spring term, which will start immediately next week. I will have your corrected tests and certificates to hand out to those of you who return. For those of you not returning, I will leave the documents in the office for pick up.

Congratulations on successfully completing the program requirements for MusIQ Club levels 1 and 2.

BLT Elementary School Wed. April 2 2.00-3.00pm

Today was the official last class of the term.
If you would like to pick up your child's progress report/certificate, I will bring them with me to class, same time next week. Please let me know if you have any questions about re-registration.

Level 1 finished lesson 15 with Mr. Joplin. You are getting better and better at keeping your five-finger ant tunnels (side of the thumb on Middle C, and the other fingers resting on the keys. Lightly on their tips.)
You practiced rhythms and played 4 different games today.
We also did finger number playbacks and talked about loud and soft, smooth and bouncy, playing the piano. At the end of class everyone composed some music for me in the improvisation room.

Level 2 completed Volume 1 of Children's Music Journey today. You practiced hard for the pretend 'recital' with Mr. Villa Lobos.
Your songs are sounding much better. Remember to read by step and by skip, line notes and space notes. We played all the games from the past two terms and spent time in the improvisation room. I quizzed you about note values and musical terms: eighth notes, quarter notes, half notes, whole notes, legato, staccato and piano and forte. Then we did some rhythm exercises on my drum.

Excellent work.
I've enjoyed teaching this class and am very happy with how each student has progressed over the course of the term.
Thank you - hope to see you again next week!

Westmount Elementary School Tues April 1 12.15-1.15pm

Nice work today. We missed you Ryan! Get well soon.

Level 1:

• Completed playing and singing songs with Mis Mendelssohn
• Practiced playing loud (forte) and soft (piano)
• Reviewed the musical alphabet forwards and backwards
• Talked about moving by step and moving by skip
• Played games and improvised.
• Iris and Sean - you did excellent work today, and I'm very pleased with the progress you made.

Level 2:

• Completed lesson 29 with Mr. Dvorak and began lesson 30 with Mr. Mozrt.
• Reviewed line notes and space notes - moving by step and by skip.
• Practiced finger number playbacks and rhythm playbacks.
• Reviewed note values: eighth, quarter, half, and whole. Also, dotted half notes.
• Learned a new game: Making Soup!
• Nice improvisations at the end of class Aoiffe, Sophia, Morgan and Lidya.

Thanks for the fun class everyone. You're all doing great!

J. W. MacLeod Elementary School Fri. March 28 2.45-3.45pm

We reviewed scales songs and theory concepts today. Next week will be our test.
Some of you are a little shaky on the theory concepts, so here are some home exercises you can work on in order to prepare.

LEVEL 2 TEST REVIEW
Part 1: Writing down scales. For practice, try these links. C Major Scale and Scale Degrees and C Pentatonic Scale
Part 2: Note and Rest Values. Take a look at the 'complete the measure' questions from your testlast term. Here is a note value chart to help you. If you have the Piano Suite software at home have a look at the lesson in the Theory Thinker 2-1 "Musical Rests".
Part 3: Semitones. If the note goes from a black key to a white key, we call this a semitone. If the note goes from a white key to a white key, we call this a wholetone.
Part 4: Grand Staff note naming. Remember where middle C and bass C are. Practice finding notes using the musical alphabet. Note Trainer
Part 5: Musical terms. Here is a list of words you should know: staccato, legato, sharp, flat, forte, piano, I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII.

LEVEL 1 TEST REVIEW
Part 1: Grand Staff note naming. Remember where middle C and bass C are. Practice finding notes using the musical alphabet. Note Trainer
Part 2: Note and Rest Values. Make sure you know whole, half, quarter and eighth notes and rests (note value chart). If you have the Piano Suite software at home have a look at the lesson in the Theory Thinker 1-2 "Barlines and Note Values".
Part 3: Intervals. The distance between 2 notes. To count the interval, the bottom note is 1, count by line and space up to the top note. The number of the top note is your answer.
Part 4: Musical terms. Here is a list of words you should know: legato, bass clef, treble clef, whole note, half note, quarter note, whole rest, half rest, quarter rest.

Please Email me if you have any questions about the theory part of the test.
I will also come around and hear one of the 5 songs you've learned this term. Then, we'll do some rhythm/melody playbacks, and you'll have graduated to the next level of MusIQ Club!

Don't worry too much. If you study/practice on your own this week, I know you can all do very well. Afterwards we will celebrate all your hard work.

Kingswood School Thurs. March 27 11.40-12.40pm

Excellent work today. We had a big review class for the test next week.
Here's what you should study this week.

LEVEL 2 TEST REVIEW
Part 1: Writing down scales. For practice, try these links. C Major Scale and Scale Degrees and C Pentatonic Scale
Part 2: Note and Rest Values. Complete the rest of the examples on the sample test I handed out, and review the note value chart. If you have the Piano Suite software at home have a look at the lesson in the Theory Thinker 2-1 "Musical Rests".
Part 3: Semitones. If the note goes from a black key to a white key, we call this a semitone. If the note goes from a white key to a white key, we call this a wholetone.
Part 4: Grand Staff note naming. Remember where middle C and bass C are. Practice finding notes using the musical alphabet. Note Trainer
Part 5: Musical terms. Here is a list of words you should know: staccato, legato, sharp, flat, forte, piano, I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII.

LEVEL 1 TEST REVIEW
Part 1: Grand Staff note naming. Remember where middle C and bass C are. Practice finding notes using the musical alphabet. Note Trainer
Part 2: Note and Rest Values. Complete the rest of the examples on the sample test I handed out, and review the note value chart. If you have the Piano Suite software at home have a look at the lesson in the Theory Thinker 1-2 "Barlines and Note Values".
Part 3: Intervals. The distance between 2 notes. To count the interval, the bottom note is 1, count by line and space up to the top note. The number of the top note is your answer.
Part 4: Musical terms. Here is a list of words you should know: legato, bass clef, treble clef, whole note, half note, quarter note, whole rest, half rest, quarter rest.

Please Email me if you have any questions about the theory part of the test.
I will also come around and hear one of the 5 songs you've learned this term. Then, we'll do some rhythm/melody playbacks, and you'll have graduated another level in MusIQ Club!

Don't worry too much. If you study/practice on your own this week, I know you can all do very well. See you next week :)

BLT Elementary School Wed. March 26 2.00-3.00pm

Wonderful to see you again. Next week will be our last class of the Winter term.
Please re-register for the Spring term if you wish to have your child continue on with his/her music classes on Wednesday after school for April 9th, 2008; http://musiqclub.com/

Level 2:
Completed lesson 23 with Mr. Villa Lobos. You learned about line notes and space notes, as well as half notes, quarter notes and whole notes - that's a lot to remember. Review the lesson and practice at home if you have the CMJ software on your computer. If not, try out this song - can you hear where the half notes (worth 2 beats) and quarter notes (worth 1 beat) are?

LOVE SOMEBODY:
R.H. 1-3-5-5-2-3-4--
1-3-5-5-4-3-2--
1-3-5-5-2-3-4--
3-3-2-2-1-3-1--

Level 1:
You completed lesson 12 and 13 with Mr. Scott Joplin today. He taught you about five-finger ant tunnels with your Right and Left hand. Make sure to keep your wrists up and fingers curved, thumbs on Middle C. Notes above the line are played with your right hand, and notes below the line with your left hand. Each of you performed a song for me today - very well done.

Here is a song that all of you can practice at home, with your Left hand thumb on middle C:

3-4-5-4-3-3-3--
4-4-4--
3-1-1--
3-4-5-4-3-3-3--

Can you tell me for next time what the name of this tune is, and whether the notes at the beginning move by step or by skip?

At the end of class we practiced our rhythms and spent some time playing games and improvising some tunes.

Excellent work everyone.
Have a great week!

Westmount Elementary School Tues March 25 12.15-1.15pm

Today we kicked off the spring term with a very fun and productive class. I was so glad to see most of you back for again for MusIQ Club.

Level 1: Excellent work. You completed lesson 17 with Miss Mendelssohn today. You were learning about 'Playing and Singing Songs'. You're now playing Folk Tunes for your Right and Left hands, one at a time. See if you can play the song 'Lightly Row' at home, using your Right hand in Middle C position:

LIGHTLY ROW
5-3-3--
4-2-2--
1-2-3-4-5-5-5--
5-3-3-3-
4-2-2-2-
1-3-5-5-3---
2-2-2-2-2-3-4--
3-3-3-3-3-4-5--
5-3-3--
4-2-2--
1-3-5-5-3---


If you have the CMJ software at home, review the lesson and practice number 17 and look up Songs on the computer in the library.

Level 2:
You had your first lesson of CMJ Vol. 2 with Mr. Antonin Dvorak. He has a funny name! Do you remember what country he is from? (Czechoslovakia) What instruments did he play? (cello, viola, organ...)
Mr. Dvorak did a big review lesson with you today. It's important that you know your note values - quarter notes (1 beat), half notes (2 beats) and whole notes (4 beats) - that you learned last term. Also, remember stepping and skipping with your hands in Middle C position.
How can we tell when the notes are stepping (they move from line to space, or space to line).
How can we tell when the notes are skipping (they move from space to space, or line to line).

Review lesson 29 if you have software at home, and practice your games and improvisations. Use everything you know about the piano. Make sure to always keep curved fingers and a steady beat.

At the end of class we did some rhythm playbacks with my hand drum. We had fun playing games and improvising.

Well done! See you again next week.