Lesson #11

We learned the Blue Chord this week! Please help them remember that 3 and 5 move together as a team. The thumb is the anchor on Middle C, and the rest of the hand shifts up a baby step. I call this a Double Slide (as opposed to the Switch-and-Slide on the Yellow Chord.) I sent blue stickers home in your child's bag, and they should go on Middle C, then the F and A above it. Please let me know if you have any questions.

As part of their homework for this week, they will color the chords in Primary Chord Song and Blue Sky to help distinguish the notation of each chord. This visual clue will help them associate those shapes with the correct chords.

Turtle Shells

We will continue to reinforce to your Green Turtle Shell that intervals can show up anywhere on the staff and be played anywhere on the keyboard! Have fun playing an interval game with any two objects by creating an interval and asking your child what it is and then inviting them to play it on the keyboard. Ideas of objects to use: coins, counters, erasers, cereal, candies, Legos, rocks, etc.

Echo Edna

Echo Edna gave each child their own 'secret code' (using steps and skips) to ‘decipher’ (sight read) on the magnet board. We used our laser beam eyes to solve the code while playing it on the keyboards at the same time!

Now that we are more comfortable with keyboard geography, hand position, how to build chords notated and on the piano, we are ready to keep our eyes on the book and not look down at our fingers while we play each of the songs in the songbook! We’ve already introduced Laser Beam Eyes. Here are some other fun ways to keep our eyes on the book while we practice! Don’t forget parents to follow the notes with your finger and sing along with your child!

(Fill in any of the ideas below with the musical focus of choice. Ideas include: red, blue or yellow chord, specific intervals, different melodic patterns, specific notes, Middle c’s, rat-tat-tats, steps or skips, different bugs (slug, beetle), etc.)

1. Keep your eye on the (rat-tat-tats).
2. (Insert Child’s Name), time to turn on your Laser Beam Eyes while we play Blue Sky!
3. Freeze Ray the Middle C’s with your freeze vision!
4. I’ve got my eye on (the steps in Echo Edna)!
5. I’m watching you Yellow Chords. Always watching, always!