Music Adventures with Paige Moore LPM2: Green Turtles #8

NEED TO KNOW

Green Turtles #8: Your Green Turtles are speedy! They are getting so comfortable playing the red chord, Sol Fa Mi Re Do, and their intervals! I am so proud of their hard work. Next week is going to be fun because we are going to learn the YELLOW CHORD!

SONGBOOK MARKING: Sometimes our songbooks will be workbooks and we'll write in them in order to help solidify the concepts. Check out page 15 of their songbooks! We colored the chords so it will be easier to play them in the future. They're learning how to recognize the chords now, and will learn how to play them all in the next few weeks. A more detailed explanation for chord shape and color is in the "good to know" section. If your student wasn't in class this week, help them color their chords. Here is what page 15 should look like now.

CELEBRATE CONNECTION: Try experimenting with dynamics. Play the first measure of a song piano (soft), then the next measure forte (loud), then piano, then forte, and so on! Or record a song your student loves to play in order to share with grandparents or cousins!

PARENT DAY AND TUITION DUE: Next week is a parent day, so you get to be there when they learn the yellow chord!! Hooray! The third tuition installment is also due. I'll send an invoice later this week to remind you. If you don't get one, it means you've already paid for this portion. Thank you!

GOOD TO KNOW

PRIMARY CHORDS SONG: Your students are learning to recognize chords by their shape! The key is to look for where the 3rd is in the chord. If you check out their songbooks on page 15, you'll see that we identified and colored the chords. Writing in music books helps solidify the ideas, and we will be doing it a lot more.

* A SNOWMAN shape is built with two 3rds. In home position (where we will be playing throughout 2nd year), our Red Chord is snowman-shaped.

* A TOP-HEAVY shape is built with a 3rd on top (it's the 3rd that identifies the shape!) and a 4th on the bottom. The Blue Chord is top-heavy in home position.

* A BOTTOM-HEAVY shape is built with a 3rd on the bottom and the 4th on the top. The Yellow Chord is bottom-heavy in home position.

During 2nd year, we will drill these chords corresponding with these colors and shapes to help solidify playing in tonic (home) position. But they'll also see that all the colors (the function of the chord in the song) can be any shape with inversions. And we'll play them that way in 3rd year!

Home position: In the key of C, where we'll be playing all 2nd year, "home position" is with your thumb on middle C and each finger on a key. When we change keys in 3rd year, "home position" will be with the thumb on the note of whatever the key center is (C in the key of C, F in the key of F, G in the key of G), and each finger on a key.