Orange Roots #3: Your Orange Roots are doing great! It's fun to see them transitioning into real musician's language, counting with numbers and "ands" instead of bugs, finding chords in root position, and identifying the roots of chords not in root position!
T-SHIRTS: I buy Let's Play Music T-shirts for all of my first-year students. If you would like a shirt for your 2nd or 3rd year students for $11, I can include them in my order. Third year students will not wear the LPM shirts at the end-of-year recital (they will dress fancy like the real musicians they are), but if they've grown out of their shirt and want another one, here's your chance. If you'd like to order, fill out this form and venmo me $11. (If you don't venmo, you can bring a check to class or include it in the next tuition payment.)
NEXT YEAR: If you missed the discussion on what to do after Let's Play Music, here is a link to my post outlining some great options. Like I said last week, I will consider doing a Bridge class during the times when my own kids are in school if there are enough folks who can come during the day. Let me know.
HOMEWORK HELP: This week's homework includes two sections about the roots of the chords. *The first section is building root position triads. It gives the root, then your student will add a third and a fifth (build a snowman chord on the note given), then spell it below. As a reminder, the skipping snake chant is "C-E-G-B-D-F-A-C." If you'd like to make your own alphabet circles to make a skipping snake at home, you can print them out at this link. Disregard the part that says to print on green cardstock. Print it on whatever color or type of paper and make yourself a music alphabet tool! *In the second section, it asks them to find the root in different chords. Some of the chords are in root position (snowman shaped), so the root is down below. This week in class, we learned a new way to find the roots of chords that are NOT in root position. "The note above the gap's the root, it just has rearranged!"
SONGBOOK AS WORKBOOK: We looked at our new song, John Jacob Jingleheimer Smith, and identified the roots of the chords, writing them in the space between the staves. Then we discovered that the left hand is playing the roots! We finished the activity by writing in the first note, the root of the chord which is an F.
GOOD TO KNOW
JOHN JACOB JINGLEHEIMER SMITH: This fun song will get us learning a new style of bass root accompanying. Once we understand this, we can improvise with a two-handed marching style. Check this video out for practice help. Also, this song is another opportunity to feel a half cadence (end on a yellow chord instead of red).
I CAN BUILD A TRIAD: Like the song says, "Pick any note to be the root... then add a third, and then a fifth!" Now that we are learning chord structure, our skipping snakes will help us to chant and spell each of our triads. Like any native language, you speak (sing) it first, then learn to write it. Want to practice with your own skipping snakes at home? Here again is the link to print out this file and have fun with your own alphabet circles! It says to print on green cardstock and laminate... you can print on whatever color you want and laminate/magnet/leaveblank/whatever you'd like!
FUN TO KNOW
Like most folk songs, there are a lot of variations of our "John Jacob" song. I remember singing it as 'Schmidt' instead of 'Smith' as a kid, and instead of 'look there he goes again,' we would belt out 'la la la la la la la!'
It can be a lot of fun to take a familiar tune and improvise in fun and crazy ways. Which varation does your family like best? Rock'n'Roll, Sesame Street, or Sing-a-ma-jig?
Orange Roots #2: Your students are amazing! They are understanding complex musical ideas, and are using correct musical language to describe them! I love it!
NOTE-NAMING: Flashcards and/or note naming apps are still in your students' weekly homework outline, when it asks for "Purple Flashcards." Do what works for your kid. Some students do well with flashcards, some get frustrated by them and do better with the keyboard games and apps. The "Don't Swipe My Sharp" game from Celebration Day last month is a great option. If you haven't gotten an app and want to try them, here is a link to the post where I outlined the top note-naming apps I've found. If you have another app you love, let me know! There is a spot in the homework section that asks you to time your student. If your kid reacts well to timing, then go for it. If timing adds a level of stress and doesn't accurately show his performance, then don't. What matters to me is that the spend time on it, whether with cards and keyboard games or with an app. You can write in there that they do it in game form if that is less stress for your student.
SONGBOOK AS WORKBOOK: We added another layer in Cockles and Mussels. The left hand is mostly all root position chords, so we wrote the name of the root of each chord. The student just needs to put the left hand pinky on the root and play a snowman-shaped chord! This week, the practice outline says to practice RH and LH separately, then combine them when they're both solid.If practicing both hands is too much for your student, focus on the left hand for this song. They can learn all the concepts by playing the left hand and singing the melody.
NEXT YEAR: This is the last semester of the Let's Play Music curriculum. If you didn't check it out last week, here is an outline of what you could do next. One of the options is the Bridge program (more details in the link), which was created by an LPM teacher and sponsored by the LPM company. I have taught the program and love what it covers. It really is the best next step for LPM grads. I am considering teaching Bridge in the fall on Wednesday mornings. I know that Wednesdays are late start in West Ada district. Keep in mind that there are never Parent Days in Bridge, so you don't have plan for babysitters! Let me know and I'll see if there are enough students to make it work. There is a Bridge teacher who lives by Capital High and another at Eagle and Floating Feather who both have after-school class times.
NEXT YEAR AGAIN: On the list of options for next year is retaking 3rd year. It's a great experience! We cover so much stuff in 3rd year that a redo can be really helpful, especially if your student resists playing hands together! If you want to retake 3rd year, let me know so I can include your student in my schedule plans for the fall.
AND SPEAKING OF NEXT YEAR: Do you have any future Let's Play Music students? Or have friends with littles who want their kids to be just like yours? Let me know so I can add them to my waiting list! Kids who will be 4 can start Red Balloons in the fall! Early registration opens in March!
ECHO EDISON: The newest member of our Echo family has arrived! He is Echo Ed and Echo Edna's grandfather, Echo Edison! He likes to ask musical questions and have the kids give him musical answers. He will help us create our compositions this semester.
Orange Roots #1: What a great first lesson! There is always so much info to pack in while I have parents in class once a month. Our last semester of Let's Play Music is packed with amazing musical concepts that are included in high-school and college level theory classes. This is going to be an amazing ride!
PRACTICING: There is a LOT of information in Orange Roots. The official purpose of the Let's Play Music company is "We enrich lives through the power of music." The goal at this point is exposure and understanding, but not necessarily performance mastery. The ability to play hands together is definately a developmental stage, and for some kids, those nerves aren't connected yet and playing with both hands might be frustrating. Other kids already have that brain connection and thrive with playing hands together. In class, I will always offer the option of playing with one hand or both hands. Do the same thing in their practicing at home! I will outline in the parent notes the "most important" parts of the songs, so if your student gets frustrated you can spend the bulk of the time on those. The important part is to develop a lifelong love of music. Depending on your and your student's goals for the class, you could focus on other musical experiences: listening to the audio tracks, reenacting the puppet shows, tinkering on composition ideas, or playing music games. You are completely in control of what your out-of-class "practice" time looks like.
ORANGE ROOTS MUSIC: Make sure that you have access to the Orange Roots music on the LPM app. If not, update the app and/or re-download it. If it's still not there, please call the LPM office. They'll be able to fix it for you! And they're so nice about it! I also have CDs for those who requested one (during the Parent Orientation last August) but totally forgot to pass them out. I'll get them next week.
SONGBOOK MARKING: For your practice this week on Molly Malone, the goal for the week is to learn the right hand part, and the book says to learn a new line each week. The printed lines don't match up with the musical lines, so I had the students mark what "lines" to learn each day. Also check below in the "Good to Know" section about the technique purposes of this song to know what to focus on in practice time.
MORE SONGBOOK MARKING: We're revisiting our Primary Chords Song, but this time putting the chords in root position! Because they are all snowman shaped (which we now know as root position), we colored them their red, yellow, and blue colors to keep them identified. The second two lines are in home position, the way we've been playing them forever so we didn't color them. We also wrote the name of the root.
WHAT TO DO AFTER LET'S PLAY MUSIC?: This is the last semester of the Let's Play Music curriculum. I have a whole post on what to do next. You can scroll to the next post to see it or use this link.
TUITION: Thank you to those who got tuition in this week! If you haven't yet, I'll send a request/reminder.
GOOD TO KNOW
ONLINE CLASSES: The online video of the first class of each semester is available for free on YouTube. If you missed class this week, or would like to check out what the "makeup videos" are like, check it out here!
PRIMARY ROOT CHORD SONG: Wow! We had to do some hard thinking during class with this song! Playing our old familiar song in a new way is helping us understand root position and how to play chords when they are in root position. We are jumping all over the keyboard to play this song! Once your thumb finds the root, you simply play a snowman shaped chord!
COCKLES AND MUSSELS: Our first repertoire song this semester is an old Irish folk song from the 1800s. This week, we are focusing on learning the melody. The fun part of this song comes soon, when we look at the ROOT position chords in the left hand. The LPM blog has a great post with fun facts and practice videos dedicated to Cockles and Mussels. In the back of your songbook, you can see that the Showtime skills for this song are all in the left-hand accompaniment. If your student is going to learn one hand and not the other, make it be the left. This week do the right (we haven't started the left hand yet), but once we add in the left, practice the left hand first and the right hand secondary.
Your students have spent the last three years building a foundation of musical understanding and they are ready for the future! There are so many options for their musical paths! Here are just a few.
BRIDGE: The Bridge program was developed by a Let's Play Music teacher specifically for the LPM graduate to "bridge" the distance between LPM classes and private piano lessons. I have taught this curriculum and I LOVE it. It really is the next logical step after LPM! You can read more about Bridge at this post or check out the LPM site and video here. Bridge can be presented a few ways. I'll outline them below.
BRIDGE GROUP CLASSES: Bridge can be taught in a group setting, similar to LPM.
*There is an amazing Bridge teacher who lives by Capital High. Her name is Erika Gray and she is awesome. She has group lessons that your student would love, and is also an LPM teacher, so she knows how your student has learned so far. Her classes are weekly for 75 minutes and parents do not attend class. The classes go for 8 months (with the school year, just like LPM), and are $90/month, plus a $35 registration fee to Erika. You would purchase the materials separately from the letsplaymusicsite.com webstore. Here is the link to a flyer from Erika (this is the flyer from 2023... I'll reach out to her for any updated information and post it here when I hear). Contact Erika at erikagraylpm@hotmail.com for more information on her classes.
*There is a teacher who lives by Eagle Road and Floating Feather named Kandace Riggs and while she doesn't teach LPM, she had enough LPM grads come to her that she became a fan of the program and now teaches Bridge. You can contact her at 208.995.7885 to get more information on her Bridge plans for the fall. If she doesn't have enough interest in Bridge, she is still a great next step for lessons after LPM.
*I am willing to teach a Bridge class if I can get enough students who can come during the time my own kids are in school, perhaps on Wednesday morning when West Ada has late-start days. Let me know if you're interested and I'll see what happens.
BRIDGE BOOKS: Unlike Let's Play Music materials, you don't have to be registered in a class to buy the books.The Bridge materials are available for anybody to purchase and use. You could buy the Bridge books and ask your favorite private teacher to use them for your musician. This would help the teacher see the flow of how your student has learned and the things they know, adding to their theory understanding in a perfect stair-stepping way. If your teacher is willing to use a different curriculum than what she is used to, this is a great option.
BRIDGE CURRICULUM: Also unlike Let's Play Music, the Bridge curriculum is available for anybody to purchase. You (or your student's private piano teacher) can buy the outline of the 30 lessons that show exactly HOW to most effectively use the Bridge materials. The purchase price for the downloadable materials is around $300.
CONNECTIONS BOOK: Whether or not your student does the Bridge program, they will receive a Connections Book at the end of the last semester of LPM, which is an introduction for your new teacher to the skills and concepts they have gained through the LPM program. It does not add to their knowledge like the Bridge books do, but it does give the new teacher a way to see your student's skills.
RETAKE LPM 3RD YEAR: The 3rd year of Let's Play Music (what your student is enrolled in and experiencing now) is stuffed full of theory, technique, repertoire, etc. Some students can understand the basic concepts but struggle with performing them on the keyboard, or they might play everything hands separately. That is absolutely fine and they are absolutely getting the information in their brains and they are absolutely playing at a developmentally appropriate level. Some of these students would enjoy taking 3rd year LPM again. This can allow the concepts to settle in their brains and give them extra time to cement everything before moving on to the next step. The students I have had retake third year do so with more confidence and joy than they had the first time through. If you're considering retaking 3rd year, let me know so I can include that in my class planning for the fall.
SING ACADEMY: If you're looking for a way for your student to stay in music, but not necessarily with piano-only-focused lessons, you can check out Sing Academy. Justin Neilson is an amazing musician and educator. He groups students of similar ages and backgrounds into bands, and helps them work together to make amazing music. He shows them how to play keyboards, guitars, bass, drums, and lead vocals. It is phenomenal and I wish it would have been around when I was younger! Both of my own kids have been in bands and private lessons with Justin and they love it. His studio is on Horseshoe Bend Road, close to the bike park. You can contact Justin at singmusicacademy99@gmail.com or 208-794-0007.
Bridge is a program developed by Let's Play Music, and is designed to "bridge" the student from LPM classes to private lessons. The following information comes from the LPM company. The Bridge section of the LPM website has more information in a clean layout.
Let’s Play Music BRIDGE is the next step for Let’s Play Music Graduates who want to continue total musicianship education with a piano focus.
What is the Let's Play Music Bridge Course?
Let's Play Music Bridge is an additional year of instruction available to Let's Play Music Graduates and piano students at a 1A & 1BLevel. The Bridge course will reinforce concepts and skills learned in Let's Play Music while progressing with additional instruction and skills needed for success in the students' piano and music education going forward. The small group setting is an engaging, fun and familiar setting for Let's Play Music students, and a complete musicianship focus continues to build a well-rounded depth of music education unparalleled by any other program.
Why is Bridge so important?
Let's Play Music students have an amazing foundation, but much that has been gained may be minimized or lost without the proper teacher who understands where they are in their studies. Their next teacher should know how to communicate with them and apply this musical foundation and knowledge. This Bridge course will help them build on their excellent foundation and bridge any private piano communication gap so they can transition smoothly into private piano lessons or any other music lessons they might be interested in. Let's Play Music graduates are perfectly primed to excel in their music studies and the Bridge course will help them succeed!
The Curriculum
The Let's Play Music Bridge curriculum has been carefully crafted to solidify skills learned across the three years of Let's Play Music. The students will have the opportunity to reinforce the many newly introduced concepts and skills learned in the 3rd Year of Let's Play Music, such as numerical counting and rhythm skills up to sixteenth notes, scales and chord skills in varying keys, composer and classical music knowledge, composition skills, accompaniment styles, key signatures, time signatures, note names and staff placement, music theory and sight-reading skills just to name a few. All these concepts will be reviewed and expanded on throughout this important year of musical transition. They will be taught about the new yellow chord (the V7 chord) along with many other important concepts, skills, symbols, and labels that will help ensure that their abilities don't get 'lost in translation' as they progress. Both individual instruction and engaging group instruction are important in their progression. Classes will be held in small groups of up to 5 studentsand will include segments of individual instruction time as necessary. Bridge teachers have the ability to customize assignments and selections of repertoire as needed to create a learning environment that is ideal for each student throughout the school year.
At the beginning of each semester, I send out an invoice that includes the entire tuition that will be due for that semester. If you look at the invoice, you will see that it is broken down to four payments, each due at a different date throughout the semester. This semester the dates are January 9/10, February 6/7, March 5/6, and April 9/10. These dates are also marked on your class calendar (inside the front cover of your student's workbook). (Lessons #1, #5, #9, and #13... I do it this way because those are the lessons that parents attend during 2nd and 3rd year classes. When I started teaching, most people were paying by check, and it made sense to have it due on days parents attended. I've just stayed with that schedule because it makes sense to my own brain.)
TIMEFRAME
*You can pay all of the semester tuition at once and not have to deal with it any more after that.
If you pay it in full, I'll send a receipt that you've paid and you won't get any other invoices throughout the semester.
*You can pay in installments and not have to pay it all at once.
If you pay it in installments, you'll get a receipt recording the portion that you've paid for, and you'll also get another invoice the week before the next installment is due.
*with a card through the Wave app with the link on the invoice.
It honestly doesn't matter to me which way you pay, but because so many folks ask, I do pay a fee when I am paid through Venmo or Wave. If you pay by check, there are no fees.
PROBLEMS
If something seems off with the payments and/or receipts, let me know and I'll recheck the details on my end. I'm quite careful, but I'm not perfect!
THANK YOU!
I appreciate more than I can express when folks pay tuition on time. It makes it so I can focus more on your kids and their music!
