We had a great time in class this week - we learned how to draw a flat on the staff (draw half a heart on the correct line or space and then make a stem), played Jumping Beans on our giant floor staff to practice our bass clef space notes, listened to the Twinkle Twinkle Little Star variations, counted while we clapped 4-beat measures, and more! Your kids are doing great and I can tell they are getting great support at home from you. Keep it up!

There's one video for this week's practice in the Play at Home Videos for you to check out. Your kids get to try playing their Bug Scales hands together this week - - be sure to take this SLOWLY - - it's extra tricky because the hands "pop" at different times when playing in parallel motion. You can assist by cueing which letter name they are playing and cueing when each hand needs to "pop". (I show how to do this cueing with my daughter Emily, when she was a 3rd year a few years ago).  

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

This familiar childhood song is a great way to learn about theme and variation. You can still hear the main theme in each of the variations, it is just sort of disguised in different ways each time. As we continue to study this song throughout the semester we will discover that it is ALSO written in our classical ABA form, and will help our fingers play in an extended C position. 

Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star is one of the most popular English nursery rhymes. It combines the tune of the 1761 French melody "Ah ! vous dirai-je, Maman" with an English poem, "The Star", by Jane Taylor.

It is often thought that Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was the original writer of this melody. Reinforced by its appearance as a "correct answer" in the original edition of Trivial Pursuit and "Snapple Facts" (among others), many believe that the song was written by Mozart when he was four or five years old. Mozart was this age at the time the original French melody was written. Much later in his life, he did write 12 variations on the original theme-- which we hear on our CD! Check out this parrot singing his OWN variation of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star! 

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Thank you!