Yellow Arrows Lesson 1

-Place RED Stickers on the C BELOW middle C. This is for the Left Hand.

-You should have NO stickers for the right hand anymore, however, do keep checking up to be sure that the right hand skills are a solid foundation for your child. Goo Gone is great at getting sticky residue off the keys!

-A tidbit by LPM teacher Marie Guthrie via Facebook: A couple of my Yellow Arrows were concerned that the stickers for their RH were gone. I compared the stickers to training wheels on their bike. I asked, “Now that you know how to ride a bike- do you keep the training wheels on?” No. “Well the stickers are like training wheels. You learned how to play them, so then we take your training wheels off.” They got it. No more whining. Because they wouldn’t be caught dead riding a bike with training wheels.

Celebrate Connection

A new semester and a fresh start! Focus on making practice time as fun and loving as possible – give your child warm, friendly eye contact, smile with your voice, be a little silly, show you are relaxed and happy to sit with your child, and look for the good in your child’s effort. Notice the joy in your child’s eyes. Verbalize the good you see and hug your child often. This is the beginning of the practice relationship that will be essential to your child’s success in Let’s Play Music. The more you invest your energy into positive interaction, the more solid and successful this habit will become.

After doing your assignment for class, allow your child to fool around and experiment if he wants to, and play a song you know — no matter how simple. This can be done anytime or multiple times throughout the week. Model joy as you play the piano. If you make a mistake, smile and show that you are relaxed and enjoy trying again to fix the mistake. Celebrate your effort to give him the idea his efforts are something to enjoy and celebrate.

Left Hand Finger Power through Bubble Hands & Turtle Shells

This semester we will focus on strengthening our left hand finger muscles! Playing Bubble Hands in numerical order on the keyboard is a great way to strengthen and reinforce finger numbers. Thumb is 1, Pointer is 2, Middle is 3, Ringman is 4, and Pinky is 5. LH pinky is on C, the bottom red dot. After your child is confidant with the finger numbers in order, mix it up to cement this concept with the Left Hand!

Playing Turtle Shells with the CD will ALSO help strengthen those fingers. Look closely at the music on the page and it will help you know what finger numbers to play. Hold each interval down the entire time you are singing until the next interval.

Do You Want To Build a Red Snowman?

The Left Hand Red Chord looks the very same on the staff: stacked up nice and neat with a 3rd on the bottom and a 3rd on the top in a snowman shape. We PLAY the red chord with our left hand finger numbers 5-3-1 (finger #5 on bass C, the bottom red dot). Invite your little musician to play Old Paint with the left hand this week! They’ll be thrilled to play a song they already know, PLUS they will be strengthening their fingers! Double bonus!

Caterpillar Song

The proper hand position for this technique song is Middle C Position where both thumbs SHARE Middle C like a BUTTERFLY! This week work on coordinating both hands at once by singing finger numbers SLOWLY until they get the hang of this 5 finger pattern. Then add the lyrics.

Since both red chords are shaped like a snowman, how do we know which hand to play it with? By looking at which CLEF is on the staff.

Introducing Treble and Bass Clef! The TREBLE CLEF has a lot of curls, like “Girls Curly Hair, (say it in a high pitched voice because those are the high notes that we play with our right hand). The BASS CLEF looks like “Father’s Strong Arm and some father’s like to play bass-ball!” (say it in a deep voice because those are the low notes that we play with our left hand).

Be sure your child colors and assembles their puppet show before class next week, and bring it to class. If you lose it, here is a digital copy you can print another. It’s really helpful for the kids to have their own puppets in class.

For my convenience, I have preloaded content for the whole semester. I will update each future post with specific time-sensitive info before I send the link each week. If you choose to read ahead you might see details that don’t apply to your child’s class. For this reason I do not recommend reading ahead. Thank you!