Yellow Arrows #10

NEED TO KNOW

Yellow Arrows #10: We're totally making music! Your kids have no hesitation in playing the things they know and experimenting with different ways of playing. I love it!

SONGBOOK AS WORKBOOK: We colored more chords in our songbook to help us play broken chords in Chords in Pieces. Your songbook should look like this now.

REGISTRATION FOR FALL CLASSES: Thank you to those who have finished registration! If you haven't yet, go to this link for all of the information. Third year gets so exciting! They'll be learning different keys (adding sharps and flats to the key signature), the red & blue & yellow chords in the different key signatures, learning how to transpose to and from all those keys, go back and forth between major and minor, inversions of all the chords, being able to find the root of each chord, and compose their own song! Third year has a LOT of material for the kids presented very quickly. Here is a checklist of skills your student should have before advancing to 3rd year. Being solid in these skills will make 3rd year fun. 

1. They can play the primary chords with the correct fingering for both right and left hand (hands separately and working towards hands together).

2. They can play an 8-note major scale going up and going down with the right hand popping at the right places. They can play an 8-note major scale going up with the left hand popping at the right place (we haven't covered going down yet with the left hand but we will soon!).

3. They recognize the melodic patterns and can sign them.

4. They can play and sing the songs alone or with the class.

5. They seem to understand the note relationships of skips, steps, & leaps, and play the sight-reading in class without habitually guessing.

6. They participate in class and want to be there.

Most students have these down pat! A few are still working on solidifying fingerings for chords. If you are concerned about your student, let me know and we can discuss it.

END-OF-YEAR RECITAL: Our recital will be held on Saturday, April 25 at 5pm. I'm going to stick with the originally scheduled start time. Second year students will wear their LPM shirts with denim or black pants/skirts/leggings.

GOOD TO KNOW

THE WHEELS ON THE BUS SING OUR MELODIC PATTERNS: Our melodic pattern endings of the Let's Play Music song are found in lots of songs. How many SOL-MI-DOs and SOL-SOL-DOs can you hear in this favorite childhood song?

I GOTTA SHAKE: Get ready to play the rests in this silly song! Our fingers have to lift up when we see a quarter rest sign. It sometimes helps to say "shh" or "rest" to acknowledge the silence.

FUN TO KNOW

Charles Gonoud was born in 1818 in Paris, France. His mom was a piano teacher and his father an artist, and Charles started receiving music instruction when he was very young. By the time he was 21, he was receiving awards and prizes for his compositions. He was also a teacher, most notably to Georges Bizet, the composer of Carmen (where our very first Magic Lamp puppet show comes from!). Some of Gonoud's most famous songs are O Divine Redeemer, Ave Maria, and Funeral March for a Marionette (our current puppet show we know as March of the Gnomes). This piece has been featured as the Alfred Hitchcock Presents theme and on Little Einsteins, among many other places. Here is a steampunkish industrial take on the piece. It's impressive to see both the costumes and the instruments!

Yellow Arrows #9

NEED TO KNOW

Yellow Arrows #9: Thanks for coming to class this week! Lesson 9 is busy!

SPRING BREAK: No class next week due to Spring Break. Check the calendar in your student's workbook for details. See you on the 25th!

LET'S PLAY MUSIC SPIRIT WEEK: Let's Play Music Spirit Week is all about sharing, and this year I have requested specifically that you share with adding a Google review to my business listing. THANK YOU to those already submitting Google reviews. I am so grateful, and so humbled by your kind words!

* Here is a link to the flyer I gave out in class in case it got misplaced.

* Here is a link to share a Google review.

* Here is a link to share FAQs of the program and my studio with your local friends. Your not-local friends probably have a Let's Play Music teacher by them, so share with them too! 

* Use the hashtag #WeLoveLPM2026 to see what other folks are sharing on social media. 

* The LPM corporate office is hosting giveaways all month long. Check out their IG (@letsplaymusic_official) or FB (Let's Play Music - Making Musicians) for details on how to enter.

REGISTRATION FOR FALL: Register for 3rd Year! Go to this link to find all the registration information! Also, if you have students who will be 4 before September, they can start 1st Year! And if you have friends who are interested, send them the link from above!

END OF YEAR RECITAL: The End-of-Year Recital will be on Saturday, April 25 at 5pm at the church at 5900 Castle Drive. If you can't make it, it will be totally okay. The classes are where the magic of LPM happens. The recital is just a bonus.

TUITION: Thank you for getting tuition in! If you didn't get it in, I'll send a reminder/request.

GOOD TO KNOW

BUG SCALE: We can now play UP the C Major Scale with the right hand! Place the RH in C position and play with fingers 1-2-3 (C-D-E), then anchor the 3rd finger, pop the bubble, and kick the thumb under to land on F. Then reset the bubble and play 2-3-4-5 (G-A-B-C). They're getting so good! Here's a video from the online lesson series explaining it!

HOW TO SKIP: We will master all the middle notes with this song: Middle B, Middle C, Middle D. We use the same 3 fingers (1-3-5) for the entire song! Simply move your hand position! You can sing "C, skip-up, skip-up, skip-down, D, skip-up, skip-up" etc. emphasizing each anchor note. This is where the practice of seeing and playing those middle anchor notes connect! 

FUN TO KNOW

We've been working with the metronome for a while. But now that we've started our gnome puppet show, this drawing might help your Yellow Arrow remember the name of it! The Gnomes Puppet Show is officially called "Funeral March of a Marionette," and was written by French composer Charles Gounod. You can get the printable mini puppets at this link. Or the coloring pages at this link! 

Yellow Arrows #8

NEED TO KNOW

Yellow Arrows #8: I love watching your Yellow Arrows and how much they have absorbed this year! Their tiny hands are getting stronger, and their brains are understanding it all! I loved seeing their scales and cadences with each hand. So impressive!

REGISTRATION FOR FALL: Registration for fall classes is open. You can scroll down to the next post, or click on this link which will take you there. I plan to have two 2nd Year classes on Wednesdays, one during school hours from 2:00-2:50, and the other after school from 4:10-5:00. Know that invariably, I have students transfer to and from different area teachers due to class scheduling. It will all work out. And thank you! Scheduling fall classes is the hardest part of this. 

SPIRIT WEEK: Next week is Spirit Week! I love Let's Play Music, and I truly believe it is the best music education introduction for your children! We'll have an extra fun class for Spirit Week! There is also an online contest from the corporate office. Find details on Instagram (@letsplaymusic_official) or Facebook (Let's Play Music - Making Musicians).

PARENT WEEK: Along with Spirit Week, next week's Parent Week is when the third installment of tuition is due. I'll send an invoice later this week, and I'll see you and your student in class!

GOOD TO KNOW

OH WHEN THE SAINTS and LULLABY & GOODNIGHT: The DOWNBEAT is the strong beat that tells us when to begin playing a song. Sometimes the downbeat is on the first work of a song, and sometimes it is not. Ask your student what word the DOWNBEAT is on both of these songs. Hint: neither of the downbeats are on the first words of the songs!

TINGA LAYO: Our toe-tapping donkey dances a shaky, stylized rhythm called caypso. See if you can hear this fun rhythm while singing along!

FUN TO KNOW

I am so amazed at the cleverness and creativity of people! Here's a man who built a replica of an obscure Hungarian instrument... the Bellowphone. He then went on to arrange and perform pieces, including our very own Pirate Ship puppet show, also known as Brahms' Hungarian Dance #5! Check it out!

Registration for 2026-2027 classes

 

CLASSES FOR THE 2026-2027 SCHOOL YEAR

BRAND NEW FIRST YEARS: Hooray! I'm so excited for you to start your Let's Play Music journey! There will be two 1st Year classes. One will be on Tuesdays from 11-11:45 and the other on Tuesdays from 12:30-1:15. During first year, parents come to every other class, and younger siblings are not invited.

FIRST YEARS GOING TO SECOND YEAR: I am planning on two 2nd year classes. One will be on Wednesdays from 2-2:50, and the other on Wednesdays from 4:10-5:00. Parents come to class only once a month (rather than every other week like in 1st Year), and siblings are still not invited to attend classes.

SECOND YEARS GOING TO THIRD YEAR: I am planning on three 3rd year classes. They will be on Tuesdays, one from 2:00-3:00, one from 4:10-5:10, and another from 5:20-6:20. Parents come to class only once a month like in 2nd year, and siblings are still not invited to attend classes.

ALL STUDENTS: I am hoping that your family can fit somewhere into these options. If not, please let me know. I can't fit everyone's preferences and schedule into my calendar, and some may have to look at transferring to other teachers, but I have learned that more communication is better than less during this process. If you prefer another class time that is full, let me know and I'll make a note. There are always students who shift around between registration and class starting. I may ask you sometime between registration and classes starting if you are able to switch do a different time option. If I do, know that I'm just gathering information to try to accomodate the most students. If a change would work for you, great. If not, don't feel bad about that. Scheduling is pretty tricky, and I chant my "It will all work out" mantra regularly during this time of year! Classes will start the week of August 25/26.

STEP ONE: REGISTRATION FEE

The registration fee is $25 per student and covers my sundry office fees like copies, T-shirts, beads, stickers, pins, balloons, corporate student support fees, random supplies, end-of-year recital stuff, etc. Because I really just want to get people registered and get back to teaching, I am going to waive this registration fee for any returning student who registers before April, and for any new 1st Year student who registers within a week of their studio tour.

Here is my venmo link to pay the registration fee.

STEP TWO: ENROLL AND ORDER MATERIALS

1. Go to my registration page (I'll put a link at the end of the list, but I want you to read this list first).

2. Select your classtime and enter my enrollment ID: 95761

3. Log in using your LetsPlayMusic account info.

4. When ordering materials, check which BUNDLE you'd like from the drop down menu. If this is your first child going through Let's Play Music, you'll need the FULL SET. If you have had older kids go through the program, you already have access to the recorded music on the app, so choose the SIBLING SET. Everything you need is included in the BUNDLES, so don't select any extras unless you want multiple of the same item.

For 1st Year, the full set contains everything (booklets, tote bag, audio access, bells, and bug cards), and the sibling bundle includes only the booklets and the tote bag. The sibling set does NOT include audio access, but if you are looking at the sibling set option, you still have access from your earlier students. The sibling set does not include the bells or the bug flashcards. If you don't have your original student's bells or bug flashcards, order an additional set of these.

For 2nd and 3rd Years, the only difference between the full set and the sibling set is access to the audio. The sibling bundles include both the 2nd year bubble hands and the 3rd year flashcards for your younger students, so you don't need to order those unless you want multiple.

Now that you know the steps to register at the LPM corporate website, here is the link to my registration page!

LET ME KNOW 

If you have any questions or issues with the registration site, let me know! From other teachers' reports, it seems to be working very smoothly this year. I hope that's your experience!

TUITION RATES

*Tuition for all students will be $70/month for 8 months, or $280/semester for 2 semesters each year. This tuition level will remain in place for the three years of your student's Let's Play Music journey.

*The first tuition payment will be due the first week of class on August 25/26.