NEED TO KNOW
Orange Roots #7: Your Orange Roots are becoming amazing musicians. They're fantastic! It's so fun watching them grasp and understand complex musical concepts. Reminder! The purpose of Let's Play Music (and Orange Roots specifically) is not mastery. It's an understanding. And all of your kids are definitely getting an understanding. They're totally awesome!
COMPOSITIONS: The best part of class this week was when kids shared snippets of their songs with the class. I loved having the other students clap and comment about how fun the songs all were. This is one reason I love having group classes for this age of kids! Their compositions are all taped into the front cover of their songbooks. Have your student show you! They look great! Go ahead and write any ideas or changes directly onto these papers. When we meet on Lesson #11, we'll finalize what they want their compositions to be!
SHOWTIME NEXT WEEK: Next week will be a Showtime for Cockles and Mussels. As always, this shouldn't be stressful, but more of a quick check to make sure the kids understand the concepts. As you can see in the chart in the back cover of their workbook, there are two specific skills for Cockles and Mussels. One is playing block chords (as written in the left hand). The other is playing broken chords (breaking the left hand block chords into broken chords). We went over this in class, and I know they can all do it. But if your kid is anxious, just have them focus on the Left Hand from the beginning through the lyrics "Sweet Molly Malone." Have them play the block chords as written, then play those chords broken and they're set!
REGISTRATION: Registration for 2026-2027 classes will open in March. That's next week! Your students are finishing the program and graduating from Let's Play Music. Among the options for what to do after this year is to retake 3rd Year. If you're planning on doing that, please let me know.
*I am planning on having 3rd year classes on Tuesdays, with one class from 2:00-3:00, one from 4:10-5:10, and one from 5:20-6:20.
*If you have a rising 1st Year student, you'll be able to register them as well! 1st Year classes will be on Tuesdays, with one class from 11:00-11:45, and another from 12:30-1:15.
*If you have friends who are interested in having their kids in LPM, that's awesome! Send them my contact, send me theirs, or send them the link to my introduction-to-LPM page on my website.
END-OF-YEAR RECITAL: Our End-of-Year Recital is going to be so much fun! This is a fun chance to show off the things your student has learned. We're not a performing group, but it is definitely a time to celebrate! In the past I've taken a poll and chosen a date from there. But over the years I realized I prefer having the End-of-Year Recital the weekend between Lessons #14 and #15 (the last of the semester). So this year there are no polls. The End-of-Year Recital will be Saturday, April 25th at 5pm. Get it on your calendar now! And if you already have plans and can't make it, it will be absolutely fine. Some years I have a second separate recital for 3rd Year graduates only. I'll ask about this at the next Parent Day on Lesson #9.
GOOD TO KNOW
DO IS HOME: Finding a pitch (out of thin air) through audiation isn't a new thing for our Let's Play Music students, but we are adding a new twist. Once we find DO-on-C, we have been singing to find "FA," then to make F do instead of C. Now we're making G do! We are always doing this relative to Middle C to continually reinforce the sound of Middle C and utilize relative pitch (being able to find additional pitches given a single pitch).
BLUE CHORD INVERSIONS: If your student is doing great with the C inversions, go on to doing the blue chord. Remember, the letter names stay the same; the order is just mixed up. Your student's practice list says, "Play the red chord inversions with each hand. If it's easy, start the blue with your RH." If your kid needs help with the concept, stay with the red chord inversions.
FUN TO KNOW
Our Monsters puppet show is actually from Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet ballet. Not monsters after all, just a clash of opposing families! Here is a video of an orchestra playing the piece. It is so interesting to see the instruments that make up the characters we love!
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