Purple Magic #5

NEED TO KNOW

Purple Magic #5: Thank you for coming to class! Third year is so much fun to teach because we're getting into some really meaty theory. I love watching how naturally your kids understand it. They must have had an amazing LPM teacher for their 1st and 2nd Years to get them prepared! 😉

SHOWTIME: Next week is our first "Showtime" week! I will be having the students show off "Bounce and Roll," and assessing that they understand the pertaining skills (check out inside the back cover of your student's workbook... for this song it is legato and staccato). They'll get a little solo time to show me their stuff. I'll make a little note about how they played (whether they used two hands or one, if they had beautiful bubble hands or flat fingers, what the tempo was etc), and we'll never play that song in class again. Of course, they can still use it to show off to friends and family! If your student is frustrated in playing this song, know that they can totally pass it off by the first measure of line one and the first measure of line three, either with the right hand or left hand only. Easy peasy! 

SONGBOOK MARKING: We wrote in our songbooks again! On the song "Alouette," we identified the intervals of the notes in the bass clef, and wrote those intervals in the lines below the note. This is what their book should look like. If your student wasn't there, help them figure out the intervals and write the number in their book.

FLASHCARDS AND APPS: Flashcards are the best way to learn and drill the notes on the staff. You can do "flashcards" with your actual flashcards, with the itty bitty flashcards I passed out in class, or with other apps and games. You can use time playing apps to mark off the flashcards section on your practice chart. If you know of or find another app that you like, please let me know about it! (If you have an apple device, my suggestion is to use the Music Notes and Bees Keys to drill the basics, then Note Rush to take it to the keyboard. For android users, I have not been able to find Music Notes or Bees Keys. If you find something similar, please let me know!)

    *BEES KEYS (naming white keys): This is a free app that drills the names of the keyboard notes. We've been working on this skill since Yellow Arrows, and most kids have it down. But if your students still need to use the keyboard chart to find the note names on the keyboard, or if they're "counting up" from C to find the right note, this will help! Here is the link for the apple app. I can't find this one in the Google Play store. If you find something similar, let me know!

   *MUSIC NOTES (naming notes on staff): This is a free app that is very basic but covers the info. It's the one with the happy face and the pig. You can choose between G/treble clef (what your kids are ready for), F/bass clef (what we will introduce in the next few weeks), or both. It does include ledger lines (notes above and below the staff) that might add some frustration, but they should be able to figure them out by stepping or skipping from Finish F. It is a solid free choice that can help your student solidify the staff note names. Here is the link to the apple app. I can't find this in the Google Play store, but it's possible that it's there... I just don't have an android device and am not used the the layout. It was developed by Simon Ma and is called "Music Notes for Kids."

    *NOTE RUSH (see a note on staff, play it on keyboard): This is the one that used the Halloween notes when we did it in class. This is a paid app that focuses on taking the note on the staff directly to the keyboard without doing the middle step of naming the note. This is the ultimate goal of note reading. It uses your own full keyboard so there is no wondering about which octave the notes are in. The gameplay of this one is set up so that there's not a time limit to answer the notes, allowing your student to figure it out without timing pressure. Here is the link to the apple app. And here is the link to the app in the Google Play app store.

    *OTHERS: There are lots of other apps that are helpful and fun, including Flashnote Derby, Ningenius, and Staff Wars. They all have pros and cons in regard to gameplay, keyboard layout, etc. But know that developing note-reading skills is a long process, and all exposure will help!

TUITION: Thank you for getting tuition in! I appreciate you! If you haven't yet, I'll send a request/reminder.

GOOD TO KNOW

MAGIC KEYS: This song is a multi-tasker! It helps us understand key signatures and chord theory, plus give us the opportunity to practice scales and cadences while self-accompanying. Wow! Now that's complete musicianship! Like I said in class, this concept is advanced and will initially overwhelm some students. Just give it some time to sink in! They're going to love being able to move DO around to different notes. Check out this blog post if you're interested in more info on key changes.

C MINOR CADENCE: We started the C minor cadence this week. Is there anything they can't do!? This is already going to be a long parent note, so I won't insert the reminder pictures here, but you can check them out at this link. This link is also always available on the "Learning Helps" section of the website. There is also a chart on page 68 of your student's homework booklet that will help.

SCRATCH MY BACK: Scratch My Back is an old folk song/game that has lots of variations. Sometimes a cadence pattern doesn't make it back "home" to the red chord, and it gets "stuck" on a yellow chord. The official name when this happens is "half cadence." Scratch my Back is a fun activity that not only helps us hear but to feel an unresolved half cadence with our whole body.

POPPING TECHNIQUE:  Here is a great visual of the technique I talked about in class today keeping the whole arm and wrist linear while "popping" in the scale. She uses the word "turn" instead of "popping," but it's the same motion. 

 

FUN TO KNOW

Now that we have unbanded all of the Treble Clef notes in our flashcards, you will enjoy this Treble Clef parody of Taylor Swift's I Knew You Were Trouble!