I had "SOL" much fun teaching our first class! Thanks moms, dads, and caregivers for coming and supporting your students. I can tell we are going to have a great year, great students, and great parents that make it happen! Thank you for singing along and doing the hand actions during class. This helps them learn, enjoy class, and builds a musical bond between you and your child. When they see that you enjoy music, they do too! I hope you guys had a good time too!

All of your kids did a great job! Don't worry if your child acted shy, nervous, or wasn't interested in participating. All personalities, feelings, temperaments, and comfort levels are allowed in my class. They are kids and I will never force them to participate. Please don't feel like you must force them to participate either...(it's hard, I know). Remember, if you are singing, playing, and laughing it will be infectious! Trust me. It's still sinking in even if as adults we don't see very many outer clues.

A few notes:
--- An invoice for tuition will be sent to you in a few days on August 15th. You will have 7 days to pay it after that date before it is late. An automated receipt will be sent to you.

--- The at home playing for this year is meant to be fun and playful! I like to use the word play instead of practice. It's fine if you do ever say practice, but I think remembering that we're playing music helps it not feel like a chore. You don't need to do the entire homework in one sitting, you can split it up into chunks throughout the week if that is easier. Either way is great! Also, this is meant to be a time do review the concepts outlined in the homework booklet - there's no one right way to do it. I don't care if the kids are doing the writing or if the grown up is. The homework booklet activities are meant to be done together, however that works best for both of you. The kids love one-on-one time with you.

---I may have forgotten to tell those that picked up materials today that there is a little school supplies packet in everyone's tote bag that I'd like them to keep in their tote bag for the three years of LPM. It has all the tools that are needed for the activities in the booklet!

--- Parents don’t come next week. Walk your kids to the door, I'll look at and stamp their homework booklets and they'll be ready 45 minutes later!

 
--- Remember to initial your child's homework when you complete it. There's no need to rip out any pages from your book, just bring the whole book in. I will use the bookmark to indicate which lesson we're on.

--- The button below is a shortcut to the Red Balloons Play at Home Videos. You are not required to watch these, but they can be helpful if you want or need a demonstration of the activity described in the homework booklet.

Melodic Patterns 

Many activities in the first semester will concentrate on repetitions of certain melodic patterns. The first is MI-RE-DO. We will sing it, do solfeg hand signs, play it on the bells, see the notes on the staff, and feel it with our full body! The songs this week that have this pattern in it are: Let’s Play Music, Red Balloon, DO RE MI, Three Blind Mice, Frog in the Middle.

Steady Beat

A steady beat is an essential part of becoming a complete musician. We learn to hear, feel, identify and then reproduce a steady beat with every song in Let’s Play Music, but it is specifically addressed this week in Tambourine Train and Echo Ed.

Minor 3rd Interval - helps to sing in tune

Hickety Pickety and Echo Ed are key pieces in learning to match pitch. For a child to play and create music they must be able to hear and then reproduce what was heard. Using the minor 3rd SOL MI and simple rhythmic variations we train the ear to identify what is being heard. 

Click HERE to read why ear training is important and why it should be part of your child's music education.

Click HERE to download the Magical Lamp coloring pages. Print these two pages out and let your child color the characters as you discuss their favorite part about the puppet show.  

I value open and honest communication so please feel free to contact me if you have any questions, concerns, or comments.

Thank you!