NEED TO KNOW
Green Turtles #9: I love having moms, dads, grandmas, and grandpas come to class! It's fun to show off the things we've done and the new things we're adding.
YELLOW CHORD: It's time to color the yellow chord onto your Chord Helper! Hooray! Here is a picture showing which flaps to color yellow.
Here is what the Chord Helper looks like with the yellow on the keyboard.
YELLOW CHORD CONTINUED: FINGER NUMBERS ARE IMPORTANT!! Play the Red Chord with 1-3-5 and the Yellow Chord with 1-2-5. Again, it is essential that fingers 1, 2, and 5 are used to play the Yellow Chord while 1, 3, and 5 play the Red. In case you didn't get it from class or this paragraph yet, here it is again: THIS IS IMPORTANT!
PRACTICE HELP: In your practice outline, it says to practice Halloween is Coming, and has an optional "put hand in F position to practice with vocal track on CD #13." Here is what it means. We play "Halloween is Coming" in the key of C, and use the C Major red chord and the c minor red chord to accompany. It's in C on the practice and performance tracks (28 and 29). But they put the fancy singalong track in the key of F (supposedly the range is better for kid's singing voices). If your kid is happy with the practice/performance tracks and doesn't want to play with the fancy version, just let her keep playing in the key of C. If she wants to play along with the fancy singalong version, the key of C will sound funky. She'll need to move her hand so her thumb is on F with a finger on each key, and play the same pattern. 1-3-5 for F Major, then move finger #3 down to the black key for f minor. Again, this is just for fun. We won't be playing in F again during 2nd year, but we'll learn how and why we can move DO to F and play in F Major in 3rd Year!
CELEBRATE CONNECTION: During your practice time, put a small mirror by your music, and sing to yourself! Mix it up... try going out of order on your practice list, starting at the last song and moving to the top.
TUITION: Thank you for getting your tuition in on time! It helps me so much! If you didn't get it in, I'll send a request/reminder.
GOOD TO KNOW
CHORDS IN PIECES: We've been singing this one since Red Balloons, and now we're diving deeper. Chords in Pieces is simply each block chord BROKEN into the three separate pieces or notes. The homework assignment for the week is to show each of our chords with broken pieces.
ROW ROW ROW: As you're ROWING along this week, keep a slow and steady beat to really SINK in the Yellow Chord! Remind your Turtle that only the thumb (#1) slides over to the next key. All other fingers (2, 3, 4, 5) stay put, lightly resting on the keys. As long as those fingers stay put, the hand has an anchor and the child knows where he is on the keyboard, even without looking. The goal is to keep fingers in contact with the keys, so they know where they are.
SUPER TURTLES: If your student is chomping at the bit for more music they can play, here is a link to some of the 1st year songs that they'll be able to play in C position. This will be a great exercise in sight reading, and will make Echo Edna very proud. They'll need to watch for baby steps and skips, and use the finger numbers for extra guidance. If your student doesn't want to do extra stuff, he doesn't need to. This is just in case your kid wants to do more!
FUN TO KNOW
"Hoedown" might be my favorite of all the puppet shows. Do I say that about all of them? I really mean it on this one! Usually our puppet show stories are different than what was originally intended, but "Hoedown" is the actual name of this piece! It comes from a ballet called "Rodeo" and was written by the American composer Aaron Copland in 1942.
* Here is a link for printable coloring pages for the Hoedown Puppet Show. These coloring pages are also in your songbook. If your student wants to color them there, go ahead! We won't be using those pages specifically in class.
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