Purple Magic #6

 

NEED TO KNOW

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!