Purple Magic #10: Your Purple Magic students are doing so great! We did some pretty intense playing this week that they can solidify at home.
TWO HANDED SCALE: We officially played a Bug Scale with both hands at the same time! This is tricky because the hands have to pop at different times! We went super slow and one note at a time. It helps to remember that finger #3 on both hands play E at the same time, then later in the scale, fingers #3 play A at the same time. Know that most of your students will still need lots of help on this. But they had a great start and I'm excited for them to develop this skill because it's HARD and they are doing SO GOOD! It will take time for this to feel natural for them. It's okay! They absolutely understand the concept and are just needing time to physically achieve it. Here is a clip from Purple #10 of the online lessons going over this concept.
SONG OF JOY: We looked at Part III of this ensemble piece. It's mostly bass clef spaces! There is one fun part on the second line of the second page where the left hand gets to do a triangle dance! Here is a video of how that goes.
SHOWTIME: We did the Halloween Night showtime and they rocked it! C minor cadences never sounded so good!
GOOD TO KNOW
TWINKLE TWINKLE: This familiar childhood song is a great way to learn about theme and variation. You can still hear the main theme in each of the variations, it's just sort of in disguise in different ways each time, kind of like a Halloween costume! As we continue to study this song throughout the semester we will discover that the main melody is in our ABA form. We also get to use an extended C position!
FUN TO KNOW
Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star is a very well-known children's song. It combines the French melody "Ah! vous dirai-je, Maman" with an English poem "The Star," by Jane Taylor. The melody is also used in "Baa-Baa Black Sheep" and the "ABC Song." It is often taught that Mozart was the original writer of the melody, but that isn't correct despite Mozart being the "correct answer" in the original edition of Trivial Pursuit and other trivia places. He DID take the classic melody and wrote 12 variations on it, linking his name to the theme for all time.
Purple Magic #9: Thank you for coming to class this week! It's so fun showing off for you the things we do in class and the amazing musicians your kids are becoming!
FLASH CARDS: Take the rubber band off the next section and release the bass spaces, adding them into your working cards. The only thing left in the band should be the bass line notes. If you are using the Itty Bitty Flashcards, add the bass spaces there too!
SHOWTIME: Next week is our showtime on Halloween Night! I'm looking for them to understand c minor chords in the left hand, as well as the 3/4 time signature feel. They all did this in class over the past few weeks and I'm not worried about them at all!
SONGBOOK MARKING: In Song of Joy, we circled all the downbeats and put a star over the important up-beat. We also crossed out the downbeat note tied to the up-beat because we don't play that one... we just keep holding the note from the up-beat. If you missed class, here is what it should look like:
MORE SONGBOOK MARKING: It's time for Turkey in the Straw! The melody of this fun tune bounces between the right hand and the left hand. I highlighted the students' books to show where the melody goes. When the melody bounces to the left hand, it plays "MI FA SOL SOL SOL." The left hand also plays red chords on the second two SOLs as accompaniment. This week, the practice assignment is to play the melody. It's up to your student if they add in those red chords or not. Either way works for me! If your student didn't have his book in class, please mark it like this:
TUITION: Thanks you for paying tuition on time! It helps me so much! If you didn't get it in, I'll send a request/reminder.
GOOD TO KNOW
LET'S PLAY MUSIC: We've been singing this song since the first day of Red Balloons, and using our very well-known class-opening song is the perfect stepping stone to practice transposition. That's just a fancy word for changing keys, in this case reading notes in one key and playing in another. And it's kind of a big deal! All the background your student has in solfege, intervals, skips, and steps makes transposing simple. We'll practice transposing many more times this year.
HALLOWEEN NIGHT: Improvisation means playing the music in a way that's different than printed. Transposition (what we did in the Let's Play Music song) is one way to improvise. Halloween Night gives us another way. In class, your students read the block c minor cadence chords, and played them as broken c minor cadence chords. They are amazing!
FUN TO KNOW
We have a new puppet show! Banditen Gallopp by Strauss is from an operetta about a bandit gang who wants to overthrow a prince. This piece comes from the scene where the bandits are galloping away. It's pretty exciting!
Purple Magic #8: We are really cruising now! This week in class, we played the transitional key-changing scale from the key of C Major to the key of F Major. Since they already know the C Major Cadence and the F Major Cadence, they are ready to play the whole "Magic Keys" song covering both keys! Oh they are learning so much so fast!
SHOWTIME: Their "Alouette" showtimes were awesome! Everybody knew their left hand intervals, and could identify the A and B sections. Most could play a lot more than that! I hope they are understanding how non-stressful the showtimes should be!
HOMEWORK HELP: This week's homework is a diagram of the Royal Problem puppet show. This one doesn't have pieces to cut out and glue in place like our previous puppet shows. Instead, they'll write directly on the map and insert/identify the items listed at the top. We talked through it in class, so it should be familiar to them. If your student needs some guidance, check out page 60 of the Reference Section in your student's homework booklet.
PARENT DAY AND TUITION DUE: Next week is a parent day! I'm excited to have you back in my classroom! The third installment of tuition for the semester is also due. I'll send an invoice later this week. If you don't receive one, it means you've already paid this portion. Thank you!
GOOD TO KNOW
MAGIC KEYS: Your students now can play the C Major cadence chords and the F Major cadence chords. This week we focused on the transition scale connecting the two keys. They can now play the entire Magic Keys song with their right hand! If they need a reminder, here is a video clip from the LPM online classes reviewing the F Major cadence chords.
MAGIC KEYS SCALE: We played the transition scale of Magic Keys! Which means that with the C Major cadence chords in the first part, and the F Major cadence chords in the second part, we can play the whole Magic Keys song!So that parents can see what we're doing and students can get a review, here is a video showing the transition scale (on line #3 of Magic Keys).
SONG OF JOY: This week's practicing assignment has your student playing Part I with the right hand. This song is also written to be an ensemble, with multiple players playing multiple parts at the same time (harmony!). You can practice the "ensemble" feel of this song by playing with the app. Tracks 22, 23, and 24 are "Song of Joy" tracks. The parts listed mean that that part is recorded more quietly than the others, so when you play track 22, "Song of Joy Part I," your student can play part I on the piano and the other two parts will be supplied by the app track. It's really pretty cool!
Purple Magic #7: It's so exciting to see how much your Purple Magic students have grown and developed over the past three years. Two years ago, they were just learning that the red chord was do-mi-sol. Last year at this time, some of them were still holding up their 2 and 4 fingers to help the 1-3-5 play the red chord. And now they're playing all sorts of music in all sorts of keys! They are comfortable in C major, they understand c minor, and this week we introduced playing in F major. AH-MAZING!
EXPOSURE VS MASTERY: Some of your kiddos (and maybe some of the parents!) are feeling a bit overwhelmed by how fast things are coming at them this semester. IT IS OKAY! Remember that LPM 3rd year is more about exposure and understanding rather than mastery on everything we introduce. Please know that when your students get in the "active area," they know the answers to the questions about lines and spaces and chord theory. When they're at the keyboards, their brains might take a minute to sync up with their fingers. But they are absolutely understanding the concepts. One thing that will help their playing time is to start with what they know. Instead of jumping straight to "play a c minor cadence," start with "play a C Major red chord, now blue, now yellow," then "how do you change that to c minor?" Playing with one hand at a time is completely acceptable. They are doing hard things!
SHOWTIME: Showtime for Alouette is next week (lesson #8). What I'm looking for is that they understand ABA form, and that they understand the differences in the intervals in the left hand (I sometimes sing "Fifth at the start, then a second, and a third, thumb" to the tune of the right hand melody to help them out). Some kids will want to play the whole song with both hands. Others won't, and that's okay too. I'll ask them to play the first line with just the left hand, then ask them to show me (just point to) the A section and the B section, along with the repeat sign. They are totally getting the "pass off" skills, and also show they can accompany, play a harmony part, understand the ABA form, follow the repeat sign, etc.
SONGBOOK MARKING: More songbook markings this week on Alouette! There are empty measures and portions of measures in the B section. We filled them in whole rests in each measure of line three, and half rests in the first measure of line four. Here is what it should look like now.
HOMEWORK HELP: The "flashcards" section of the homework says to use the "Smart Staff." The Smart Staff is the last page in your songbooks and is the perfect size to use cheerios or smarties or raisins or any other little snack as notes. Put a cheerio on their staff boards (or a smartie or whatever), and when the students names the note correctly, they get to eat it! There is a Skills Video about the note naming in the treble clef. Check it out at this link!
MORE HOMEWORK HELP: Last week's homework was to outline the c minor cadence chords. This week's is to outline the F major chords. The trickiest part is that the black key is in a different spot in the blue chord in each cadence. In c minor, it's on the top (Ab). In F major, it's in the middle (Bb). Page 67 in the reference section of the homework booklet has a great diagram. If pictures are more helpful, here is a chart with pictures of the notes and fingerings of the F major cadence. For future reference, this link is on the "Learning Helps" section of the 3rd Year website page.
GOOD TO KNOW
F MAJOR CADENCE: How exciting to play our primary chords in a new key! The fingerings will feel familiar, but our newly acquired knowledge about "magic keys" and our ear training will help us play the chords correctly. The blue chord needs a Bb, and we practiced playing the blue-blue-blue chord (with the flat) and the Dracula blah-blah-blah chord (without the flat). Their ears will tell them if they're wrong! For a visual, here is a clip from the LPM skills videos that reinforces the F Major cadence chords.
ROYAL PROBLEM: Like all our puppet shows, 'A Royal Problem' (Mozart's Symphony No 40 in g minor, 3rd movement) aids in the intelligent listening of classical music. In it, we recognized major and minor tonalities, staccato and legato themes, and continued our study of classical ABA form. One more week of this puppet show and we'll start a new one on lesson #9!
STEM DIRECTION: Sometimes note stems go up, sometimes they go down. We talked about the "stem rule" of 1-2-3 WHEE! On the third line, the note flips over like it's going on a roller coaster. Notes on line three and above have the stem pointing down. Notes below the third line have stems pointing up. This is not a hard-and-fast rule, and has many exceptions, including chords. But it's valuable to have a guideline, and to know that the stem direction changes.
FUN TO KNOW
We have moved Do to F! We use "Moveable Do" so that we can use the same words to talk about the scale degrees in each key using the same words. There is another method, called "Fixed Do," where they use do, re, mi, etc as substitute note names for C, D, E, etc. In those cases, they typically use numbers to talk about scale degrees. There is a Great Debate that has gone on between music students for centuries concerning Moveable Do and Fixed Do. Most American-taught musicians (including me!) prefer Moveable Do. And this week your students experienced one of the amazing things that Moveable Do can do, which is to talk about different keys with the same language! The Moveable Do allows the solfege to be vocabulary to talk about a tonal center and use the same words for every key. You don't need to understand the whole concept, but your kids are absolutely experiencing it! If you are interested in knowing more, check out the valid points made by each of the gentlemen in this meme. I laugh every time I see this one! It's truer than you might think!
Purple Magic #6: It is so much fun watching your Purple Magic kids soak p new information! They are building a solid musical foundation!
SHOWTIME: We had our first Showtime! They all played Bounce and Roll, and everybody was able to play staccato and legato. They're totally getting it!
SONGBOOK MARKING: We wrote in our songbooks again! On the song "Alouette," we talked about how the first two lines are similar, but the next two lines are something different. We labeled them A and B, and now have a repertoire song that is ABA form, just like our puppet show! Here's what it should look like now.
INSTAGRAM: If you Instagram, be sure and follow @letsplaymusic_official. They have great tips and motivations, along with regular freebies and giveaways.
HALLOWEEN NIGHT PRACTICE HELP: The practice guide says to play the right hand "line by line." I told the kids in class that this week, I want them to play the left hand while they sing it. They can also start learning the right hand, but the left hand is the most important part. It has the c minor cadence chords, and it's a great way to solidify these. Once your student wants to start the right hand, they can! We played the last line in class and talked about how to go through the other lines watching for beginning notes, skips, and steps. The most important thing here is to give your student success. Start by playing just the left hand chords while singing. When you begin working on the right hand and if you have a student who is overwhelmed with figuring out the melody, start with the last line of the song. When you practice the right hand, play just the last line until they're ready to add the one before. Know that it's okay if they never move past the last line. Some students' brains are not physiologically ready yet to do a whole page of note reading. But they're still getting the chord structure, playing with a steady beat, keeping the 3/4 feel of the song, c minor cadence chords, etc. They are doing a LOT!
HOMEWORK HELP: C MINOR CHORDS: This week's theory assignment involves coloring in the c minor cadence chords on a keyboard chart. Some purple Magicians were having some trouble remembering the c minor blue chord, so here are some visuals to help. There is also a great diagram on page #68 of your student's workbook. Remember you can scan the QR code on the back of your workbook (or click this link) to get to the answer key and get help that way too. Here is a link for pictures of the entire c minor cadence. As a reminder, these pictures are always available in the "Learning Helps" portion of the 3rd Year page on the website.
GOOD TO KNOW
ODE TO JOY: Last year we worked on hearing downbeats. Now we're listening for the upbeats! This song helps us feel the upbeat with our bodies, and helps us get to know Ludwig van Beethoven along the way! You can learn more about Beethoven at this link.
MAGIC KEYS: We've been slowly introducing the Magic Keys song. Next week they'll be playing in F Major and they'll totally be ready for it!
FUN TO KNOW
I love how your Purple Magicians are such flexible thinkers. Each week we do the puppet show, we change up some of the plot points. Sometimes the dragon is the bad guy, sometimes there is no bad guy, but the dragon is a prince that got magically turned into a dragon, and sometimes the knight is the bad guy and the dragon is the hero, like in this comic!
