Yellow Arrows Lesson 5

Parents THANK YOU so much for coming to class today!! I can’t tell you how valuable it is for your children to see your support, and for you to see how they are progressing and how you can further help them at home.

Pg. 55-56 in the reference section of your Yellow Workbook (the small one) has some incredible parent hints if you are unclear about hand position, Bass C and Treble C notation, and keyboard placement

We created our Alphabet Pieces Game in class today – be sure to use it each day this week. It is critical to cementing the keyboard geography in your child’s brain. Check out this post to see more about how important this game is: http://makingmusicianslpm.blogspot.com/search?q=alphabet

Celebrate Connections

A few ideas to bring playfulness to practice time!

• Blink with each note/chord you play in the bass clef (LH).
• Close your eyes, and run your finger over your music then stop and open your eyes. Start from wherever your finger landed and play through to the end.
• Knock on the wood/plastic of your keyboard when you come to Mr. Rests.

Bass C and Treble C
The 3 C’s are in a family; they have different first names and the same last name! We’ve known Middle C since last semester. This week we introduced Bass C: 2nd Space in Bass Clef is Bass C! AND Treble C: 3rd Space in Treble Clef is Treble C or 1-2-3 treble C! These anchor notes on the staff will help orient us as we expand our keyboard skills.

C Major Scale
Now that we know where Treble C is on the keyboard we can play the C Major Scale going DOWN. The technique is exactly like the Left Hand, though playing it with the Right! Practice this SLOWLY to ensure correct fingerings and bubble hand position. 1) Begin with RH finger number 5 on Treble C. (This is the C right above middle C.) 2) Play Do, Ti, La, Sol, Fa using fingers 5-4-3-2-1 with a rounded bubble hand. 3) To play Mi, POP finger number 3 over thumb. 4) Reset the BUBBLE and proceed to play Mi-Re-Do with finger numbers 3-2-1.

I am Robin Hood
Shoo-oot the Ar-row, Waa-atch it fly—, teaches us how to feel and play the dotted quarter eighth note pattern right on target. To feel this rhythm more accurately dance with the CD, stomp out the rhythm with hands and feet, or even sit them on your lap and bounce your knees up and down to the rhythm while chanting the song together. Mix up practice with this song by playing the bass clef 5th an octave lower to really sound like a deep drum!

Hickory Dickory Dock
This song introduces parallel motion by following a steady beat through a metronome (a tick-tock is what we call it in class).

Mr. Rest
Could you believe all the musical symbols Old MacDonald had on his musical farm? A rest, though played with silence, is a very important aspect of music. Mozart said “The music is not in the notes but in the silence between.” Rests are powerful!

Playing the Alphabet Pieces game every day will help us solidify keyboard geography by learning the names of ALL of the white keys. Enjoy playing this game with its theme and variations!

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!