THIRD YEAR REVIEW: The Let's Play Music Company has put together a review package of certain digital classes that really bring home the crux of the curriculum. Once you order it, you have access for twelve weeks, so it would be a great way to polish those skills over the summer. Go to this link for more information.
THIRD-YEAR-ONLY RECITAL: I was so proud of the students who performed at the Third-Year-Only Recital this weekend. I was so impressed with how they each introduced and then presented their pieces!
END-OF-YEAR RECITAL: Our End-of-Year Recital will be on April 12 at 5:00 at the church at 5900 Castle Drive. Your 3rd Year students will wear dressy/Sunday-best, and will introduce and then play their compositions.
CELEBRATION DAY:Lesson #15 next week is Celebration Day! It's not a normal lesson, and is a whole bunch of fun! It IS a parent day, so come with your kids and celebrate everything you've done this year! It will be an open-house style setup, and you can of course come during your normal class time, or any time next Tuesday between 3:45-6 when I have 3rd Year classes.
Bring your books and bags. Some of the activities will come out of there. Some of the games we do that day will stay in my classroom, but each student will get a bag with a few activities in it to take home. If your student can't be there, you can have a mini Celebration Day at your house! Let me know and I'll have an activity bag ready for you to pick up.
GOOD TO KNOW
COMPOSITIONS: The recital doesn't have to be the end of the composition. Keep sharing it and showing off your skills! Remember the 3-performances log. There is a treat next week at Celebration Day for all students who finish it!
FUN TO KNOW
It's no coincidence that the 6th and final semester of Let's Play Music is called Orange ROOTS. Not only do they know all about triads and the roots of chords, but we also have nurtured their musical theory roots and they are prepared to grow exponentially from here!
Here's a version of the Bamboo Story from an inspirational post. And here's an LPM-specific version of the story (they wrote the story for the beginning of the Orange Roots semester, hence the '75' classes... I like it better at the end of the semester... either way it's a great visual!).
When bamboo grows from a seed, it stays visibly small for the first three or four years. When it finally starts to grow in the fourth or fifth year, it grows up to three feet in a single day! The rate of growth is absolutely phenomenal! Even though it wasn't visibly growing during those first few years, it was developing a root system strong enough to support its future outward growth. It is developing a strong foundation.
A strong musical foundation is what your students now have. Their roots are strong, and their understanding is solid. They have now had 89 classes, totaling 4,590 minutes of class. You, their parent and gardener, have found babysitters for siblings so you could be in class on for 36 different Parent Days over the three years. You've arranged schedules and mealtimes and errands so your child could get to classes. You set up a practice plan and played with your child and assisted in hours and hours of practice and you helped with homework. Check out their practice bead strings! And it's all coming to fruition. Your child has learned some serious music theory, is performing some fantastic songs, and is even composing and transcribing their own music! Your bamboo has sprouted! Now it's time to sit back and watch it grow.
Orange Roots #13: Thank you! You did it! All the practices, the parent days, and everything else that cropped up as we went through these last three years. You now have a musician ready to launch into whatever music experience they choose next! I am oh so grateful to you and your student for taking this path with me!
CALENDAR SUMMARY:
Saturday, April 18: 3rd-Year-Only Recital (details below)
Tuesday/Wednesday, April 21/22: Regular kid-only Lesson #14
Saturday, April 25: End-of-Year Recital (details below)
Tuesday/Wednesday, April 28/29: Celebration Day Lesson #15 with parents!
RECITAL OPTIONS:
3RD YEAR ONLY RECITAL: There will be a 3rd Year Recital on Saturday, April 18 at 3pm at the church at 5900 Castle Drive. Your 3rd Year students will wear dressy Sunday-best, and will introduce and then play their compositions. If they also want to play a piece from their songbook, they can do that as well.
END OF YOUR RECITAL: The End-of-Year Recital for all students will be on April 25 at 5:00 at the church at 5900 Castle Drive. Your 3rd Year students will wear dressy/Sunday-best, and will introduce and then play their compositions.
You and your student are invited to participate in one or both or neither of these recital options. It's going to be great!
RECITAL PRACTICE: At the back of your student's homework booklet on pages 54-55, there is a recital practice outline. This suggests that the kids practice presenting their introduction and playing their composition at three different places. At Celebration Day on Lesson #15, I will have a bonus prize for any student who has this form filled out.
GOOD TO KNOW
YANKEE DOODLE: This familiar favorite will have your musician adding chords to a melody and learning to improvise in a varied accompanying style.
BAGATELLE BRIDGES: This is a total show-off song! It includes an introduction, three keys, two bridges that include key changes, and a coda! Your students are great!
FUN TO KNOW
Did you notice the path of the Artemis II was a treble clef!!?
Yankee Doodle was our last choose-the-chords-that-sound-best activity. Choosing words might have been even harder! Check out a fun Kermit the Frog look at the process!
Orange Roots #12: I am so proud of your kids. They are becoming fantastic musicians!
PARENT WEEK/TUITION DUE: Next week is Parent Week, and the last tuition payment is due. I'll send out invoices this week, and I'll see you in class with your students next week!
END-OF-YEAR RECITAL: Our End-of-Year Recital will be on Saturday, April 25 at 5:00 at the church at 5900 Castle Drive. Your 3rd Year students will wear dressy/Sunday-best, and will introduce and then play their compositions.
I am hoping to have a second 3rd-Year-Only recital on Saturday, April 18. Watch for a quick survey about that.
At the End-of-Year Recital, your students will be introducing their composition, and then playing it. They should practice introducing it (their name and song title, then choose a statement or two from the rest of the Lesson #11 assignment) each time they practice their composition. If playing their whole piece is overwhelming, they can invite you, me, or another family member to play one hand of the piece and allow your student to focus on one hand. It's not a problem. These students understand enough about music to write pieces above their current ability to play. That's pretty impressive!
If you can't be there, know it will be okay! The purpose of Let's Play Music happens in class, and the recital is a bonus.
SHOWTIMES: The Showtime to Russian Sailor Dance is scheduled for next week. I know the kids are all ready (because it's mostly showing me hand positions and only playing if they really want to). As always, I don't want this to be stressful. Kids can play if they want to, but the skills I'm checking for are time signature/form that can be shown by singing and following along in the music.
GOOD TO KNOW
COMPOSITIONS: Your student should have the final draft of their composition taped in the front of their songbook. If there are any changes, please let me know! I'm going to be combining them all into a booklet for each student, so I'll need any changes by classtime next week (parent week) at the latest.
SOME THOUGHTS ABOUT SPRING: This time of year is BUSY with sports and holidays and trips and school. Sometimes music gets last place. And that's okay. Your student has learned so much over the past three years and I want to spend the last of the semester celebrating what they know. If practice time is going great, then that's fantastic! If it's fallen by the wayside, that's fine too! They're smart and understanding musicians and I'm proud of them. During practice time, please start with their composition. If they practice only one thing, make it their composition! This is what they'll be playing at the End-of-Year Recital, and I want them to feel confident and prepared.
COMPOSITIONS: Thank you for sending your students to finish their pieces! Their compositions are looking and sounding amazing. I'm so proud of them! They should be practicing these with their other daily practices. I put final copies of their pieces taped in the front of their songbooks. I am expecting the draft taped in their book to be the final draft. If they want to make changes, please let me know asap so I can do the edits before I print out the final versions. I am a huge proponant of practicing and will never tell you to stop practicing things. But if you're in piano survival mode, drop the practices for the other songs and focus on their composition. This is what they'll play at the recital and I want them to feel confident and prepared.
END-OF-YEAR RECITAL: Our everybody-recital will be held on Saturday, April 25 at 5pm. Third year students will wear dressy clothes, and will introduce and play their composition. If they want, they can ask you or I to play one of the hands. Whatever will make them feel successful!
We are not a performing group, and the recital is more of a celebration of what we’ve learned rather than the pinnacle of the year’s activities. If your child can’t (or doesn’t want to) participate, is really no big deal. What we do in class is the real payback. With that being said, it would help me to know what folks are not planning on attending so that I can know what to expect for that day. Thank you!! And thank you to those who have already let me know they won't be there.
SO CLOSE TO THE END!: We have three regular classes and one party-celebration class left. Can you believe you're almost there?!? GREAT WORK!
HOMEWORK HELP: COMPOSITION INTRODUCTION: The homework for this week is to prepare an introduction for your student's composition. They'll introduce their composition before they play it at the recital. Look how cute Lucas the Spider is as he introduces his composition!
ALL THE OTHER SONGS: If your student is feeling solid on the composition and wants some extra help on the regular curriculum things, check out this video. The LPM company has made the virtual "Lesson 11" (which we don't do in live classes because of the composition private lessons) available for everybody to watch! Totally not required, but an option if you'd like!
FUN TO KNOW
YoYo Ma, one of the most accomplished cellists in the world, began a worldwide movement of music with #SongsofComfort in March of 2020. It started with the pandemic, but has continued. The hashtag is still in use because comfort never goes out of style. One of the first was Dvorak's "Goin' Home," which is one of my favorite songs from the Orange Roots semester.
Orange Roots #10: I am thrilled with how your musicians are such flexible thinkers, and how they can slide from one key to the next without a hitch!
COMPOSITION PRIVATE LESSON SCHEDULE: Lesson #11 is next! We won't have a regular class, but rather we'll have another round of private lessons to finalize compositions. Please sign up for a time at this link. And if these times/days don't work, let me know and we can find another time. I can be flexible.
END-OF-YEAR RECITAL: Our everybody-recital will be held on Saturday, April 25 at 5pm. I'm going to stick with the originally-scheduled starting time. Third year students will wear dressy clothes and play their composition.
GOOD TO KNOW
HOMEWORK HELP: It's only the second week of our Circus puppet show, but the homework for this week is already the puppet show map! We worked through it during class, but if your kids need help, check out page 49 of the Reference Section in the back of your homework booklet or the homework booklet answer key.
COMPOSITION HELP: If your student is still worried about their composition and how to finish it, they can watch the LPM prep video for the second composition lesson. Totally optional but it has some good information!
WINDING DOWN: There are only five lessons left in the Orange semester. Your kids have been exposed to some complex ideas and have all had experience in playing them on the keyboard. Some of your kids have absolutely flown with the new things we've done and are chomping at the bit for more. Others understand the theory but physically haven't been able to put everything together. Most are somewhere in the middle. Know that whatever they're doing and wherever they're at is right where they need to be. If practice has become a struggle, go ahead and put everything to the back burner except their composition for a while. Hopefully that will reignite the joy of playing!
FUN TO KNOW
This week we played all the scales we know... G Major, a minor, C Major, and F Major. Your kids did so great! Scales have always been an important part of music practice, even if the musician is an Aristocat!
Orange Roots #9: Thank you for coming to class and for making this journey fun and meaningful for your kids!
SPRING BREAK: No class next week due to Spring Break. Check the calendar in your student's workbook for details. See you on the 24th/25th!
LET'S PLAY MUSIC SPIRIT WEEK: Let's Play Music Spirit Week is all about sharing, and this year I have requested specifically that you share with adding a Google review to my business listing. THANK YOU to those already submitting Google reviews. I am so grateful, and so humbled by your kind words!
* Use the hashtag #WeLoveLPM2026 to see what other folks are sharing on social media.
* The LPM corporate office is hosting giveaways all month long. Check out their IG (@letsplaymusic_official) or FB (Let's Play Music - Making Musicians) for details on how to enter.
REGISTRATION FOR FALL: My fall registration is open. If you have friends who are interested in starting 1st Year, you can send them the link from above for an overview of the program and answers to the most frequently asked questions. Also let me know and I'll invite them for a studio tour and sample class! If you have an upcoming Red Balloon, here is the link to sign up kids who will be 4 by September! As always, if you have any questions or concerns let me know.
END OF YEAR RECITAL: The End-of-Year Recital will be on Saturday, April 25 at 5pm at the church at 5900 Castle Drive. Get it on your calendar now! If you can't make that time, it will be okay! The magic of LPM happens in class, and the Recital is just a bonus. If your 3rd Year student is going to be gone that night, let me know. I totally forgot to ask in class about having a second 3rd Year only night. If there are a bunch of folks who can't make the full Recital, we can schedule an extra.
TUITION: Thank you for getting tuition in! If you didn't get it in, I'll send a reminder/request.
GOOD TO KNOW
BAGATELLE BRIDGES: This repertoire piece packs it in! Besides the main melody, it also has an introduction, two bridges, a coda, and we transpose, playing in three different keys! It's a total show-off song!
RUSSIAN SAILOR DANCE: If you or your student would like some help on getting going with this song, here is the skills video from the LPM online lessons that I shared last week walking you through it!
SKILLS VIDEOS: I am so impressed with your students' mojo! If you would like help on the things we did today, here are skills videos for the G major scale and the a minor cadence.
