Red Balloons #8

NEED TO KNOW

Red Balloons #8: We are having so much fun in class! It makes me so happy to see how much your students understand the musical concepts we are learning. I'm always striving to have fun with each activity, and also making sure the kids are experiencing the musical focus.

HOMEWORK HELP: This week's homework is a little abstract, but its not as complicated as it seems. Before the actual draw-in-the-book-activity, it asks the parents to "Perform the two patterns (MI-RE-DO and SOL-SOL-DO) for your child. Have your child identify the pattern." Just have a conversation about the two different patterns, what's different about them, what songs they're in, and sing and sign each of them while talking about them. You could even play them on the bells or on the virtual bells in the LPM app! Then color the patterns on the page! 

PARENT DAY/TUITION DUE: Next week is a parent day and the third installment of tuition is due. I'll send an invoice later this week. If you don't get one, it means you already paid for this portion. Thank you!

GOOD TO KNOW

LET'S PLAY MUSIC: I threw both a MI RE DO and a SOL SOL DO into our Let's Play Music song and your student got to identify which one I was singing. We do the same thing with our Fox in a Box game at the end of classs. Those ears are getting smarter every day!

PUPPET SHOW: We did the Magic Lamp puppet show for the last time. We celebrated in style using the parachute! Next week we'll introduce a new puppet show 😁**Squeal in excitement!!**

FUN TO KNOW

Parents, you are so wise for having your kids learn music! Here are a couple of articles that show you HOW smart you actually are! 

Article from the University of Washington titled "Music improves baby brain responses to music and speech."

Blogpost by guest blogger Sharlene Habermeyer, author of "Good Music Brighter Children."

We also did our Barnyard Song again. I can't clap the duck part without thinking of this song!

Red Balloons #7

NEED TO KNOW

Red Balloons #7: Can you believe we are halfway through the semester?! Everyone is doing such a great job identifying the lines and spaces of the staff, audiating, finding do, and all sorts of great musical skills!

GREAT WORK!: Your students are so much fun to have in class, and I can tell they have supportive parents. Thanks for sharing your amazing kids!

LINES AND SPACES: We have been talking a LOT about the lines and spaces on the staff. Your students understand about line notes, space notes, and how to verbally tell (with numbers) which line or space the notes are on. They are doing so great!

SOL SOL DO: We added a second pattern to our Let's Play Music song! These patterns will help develop your ear (and your students' ears) to have a stronger pull to do. For a reminder video of playing Hickety Pickety on the bells with our new pattern, check out this skills video. 

GOOD TO KNOW

OOOO HALLOWEEN: Singing like a ghost is a great channeling exercise, used in vocal singing lessons and choir warmups. We can practice a pure, natural head tone while extending the child's vocal range and helping them experiment with the sounds their voices can make. Here is a link to a printable coloring page that goes along with our Halloween song!

MAGIC LAMP PUPPET SHOW: The puppet shows help students to hear and identify the classical music, which helps the music to come alive! We have one more week of Magic Lamp, and then we'll introduce a BRAND NEW PUPPET SHOW on week 9! So exciting!

FUN TO KNOW

In most music for western ears and in Let's Play Music, we use the diatonic "major scale," which is a combination of 8 notes going from DO to DO with a specific pattern of whole and half steps. Other world music traditions have other scales with other patterns. But nearly every music system incorporates a pattern based on the same five notes, called the pentatonic scale. Some scientists say these notes are "hardwired" or "pre-installed" in our human brains. In this video, Bobby McFerrin uses the pentatonic scale to "play" an audience and shows how our brains are musically wired. It's amazing! You can find the pentatonic scale in a few ways. It uses the do-re-mi-sol-la of our major scale, and you can pull those notes out from your bell sets and experiment. On a keyboard, the easiest pentatonic scale includes all the black keys and only the black keys. In our classes, Hickety Pickety Bumblebee and Scotland's Burning both use notes from the pentatonic scale. So do Amazing Grace, Swing Low Sweet Chariot, My Girl, Old McDonald, and so many others! It really is a natural scale for your brain to love! For a lot more information on the diatonic "Major scale" and the pentatonic scale, along with other scales used in western music and around the world, check out this amazing blogpost!

Red Balloons #6

NEED TO KNOW

Red Balloons #6: Your Red Balloons are so much fun! They make me so happy!

EVERYBODY IS DIFFERENT: Each student is going to act and react differently. Some love having turns, some say no. Both are okay! Some kids need more observation time before they open up, but they are still getting great musical input!

HOMEWORK HELP: This week's homework has the kids cutting out puppet parts and taping or gluing them in the right order on a puppet show map. If you and your student need help, check out page 63 in the Reference Section of the Homework Booklet.

INSTAGRAM: If you Instagram, be sure and follow @letsplaymusic_official. There are lots of tips and motivations, as well as freebies and giveaways.

PARENT WEEK: Keep up the good work and consistent effort! Parent week is next week so I'll see you then!

GOOD TO KNOW

GOIN' ON A LION HUNT: We're learning to keep a steady beat. We use the varying tempo in the song to feel fast and slow. What fun! It is a simple but powerful way to help internalize rhythm.

MELODIC PATTERNS: We learned a new melodic pattern today!! The SOL SOL DO pattern joins our beloved MI RE DO. This is getting exciting, folks! Ask your students to show you the hand signs.

FUN TO KNOW

Here is a video of an orchestra playing our Magic Lamp puppet show, also known as Aragonaise from the ballet Carmen by the French composer Georges Bizet. It's so much fun seeing the instruments that make the sounds they know so well!

Red Balloons #5

NEED TO KNOW

Red Balloons #5: Thanks for coming to class this week! YOU are a vital part of your child's music education!

NEW CONCEPTS: You'll notice that the bulk of new concepts and skills are presented on Parent Days. I want you to see how the activities are done so you know what your child has experienced. If you ever have any questions about anything, just let me know.

STAFF: It was fun to finally identify the 5 lines and 4 spaces of the staff today! And so lucky to have 5-year-olds and 4-year-olds to solidify it! We are taking time to let the kids visually familiarize themselves with the single staff. Remember when counting the lines and the spaces, we start from the bottom of the staff and count up. Like an elevator!

TUITION: Thanks for getting tuition in on time! It helps me so much!

GOOD TO KNOW

MAY THERE ALWAYS BE ME: We taught the kids to feel their heartbeats and introduced the concept of keeping a steady beat. This skill will help them to internally feel the value of notes. Plus it's nice to cuddle for a minute before they're off and going again!

DING DONG, DING DONG: The ability to correctly imitate pitches is important in learning to sing in tune, which puts us on a path to becoming a complete musician.

 

CHORDS IN PIECES: We actually read music today! Our eyes followed a chord map while our fingers pointed to the triangles and we sang the broken chords. The map guides the eyes to see the color while the ears hear the music and the fingers follow along. It really is the first step in reading music! 

FUN TO KNOW

You are doing great things for your students by having them in music class. Check out this article written in conjunction with the author of  "Good Music, Brighter Children" for some insights on how this powerful tool works. Great job, parents!

Red Balloons #4

NEED TO KNOW

Red Balloons #4: Your Red Balloons are so much fun! They are totally getting the swing of class, homework, and new music friends. They are seriously adorable. And really good at answering "AUDIATION" as the answer to every question! At least I know something is sinking in!

HOMEWORK HELP: This week's homework is matching up animal outlines to their rhythm clapping for Barnyard Boogie. If you need help, look at the number of syllables of the words each animal is saying, and that can match up to the rhythm of the clapping on the right. The little hands are faster clapping, the bigger hands are slower clapping. Here is a link to the answer key to the homework pages if you want a visual.

SOUNDTRACK LISTENING: Now that we're in the rhythm of classes, I want to make that you're able to listen to the recordings. Listening, learning, and singing the songs outside of class makes a HUGE difference in concept understanding and class enjoyment. Kind of like knowing all the good songs when you go to a concert. Let me know if something isn't working with the app or the digital downloads and I'll troubleshoot with you.

PARENT WEEK AND TUITION DUE: Just a reminder that next week is Parent Week and the next tuition installment is due. I will send an invoice through Wave this week. If you don't get one, it means that you've already paid for this portion. Thank you!

GOOD TO KNOW

HICKETY PICKETY: Check out this skills video to see the new way we sang/played this song in class! 

AUTOHARP: Playing the autoharp helps the students gain strength in their hands, helps them to "anticipate" the beat when they strum the strings, and primes their brain to do different right-hand and left-hand movements. It's perfect prepwork for playing the piano! 

*The homework booklet can simulate an autoharp for at-home play. They are designed with chord maps in the reference section (on pages 66-69) to be practiced by using the right hand pointer finger on the autoharp buttons, and using the left hand to strum the spine of the book while singing like we have done in class.

*You can play a digital autoharp through the Let's Play Music app by clicking on the two notes in the bottom left corner. Select the Autoharp feature, then push a red, blue, or yellow triangle, and "strum" the strings slowly from bottom to top. You can toggle from C Major/F Major/major-minor by clicking on the drop down menu in the upper right corner. 

*And if you'd like to know more, here is an awesome video showing the ins and outs of the autoharp!

PUPPET SHOWS: Some of your students asked about having puppets to use at home. These are posted on the website's 1st Year page, under "Puppet Shows." Here is a link to that. Our current show is called "Magic Lamp." 

FUN TO KNOW

BALLOONS ON WIRES: During our discussion about balloons on and between the lines, I told the students that sticks can in fact go through balloons without popping them! Check it out here!

Red Balloons #3

NEED TO KNOW

Red Balloons #3: Thanks to all the grownups that came to class this week! Thanks for participating and enjoying your time together with your students. What a gift to spend quality time with these children, bonding and creating fun music memories!

HOMEWORK HELP: The Let's Play Music company has made a new "Homework Booklet Answer Key" page. Check it out any time you wonder about the homework assignment or just want to make sure you're doing it right! You can get there by scanning the QR code on the back of the homework booklet. That will take you to a page with Skills Videos, and at the very top it has a few links: one to purchase access to full class videos, and another to access theory answer keys. Click on the "1st Year" link and you're there!

NEXT WEEK: Next week is another kid-only day, so drop them off with their workbook and be ready to get them in 45 minutes!

GOOD TO KNOW

BARNYARD BOOGIE: This peppy song is even more fun when you realize we are imitating and identifying complex rhythmic patterns! Start with clapping them slowly like we did in class, and soon your students will clap them correctly at the speed the recording does it!

STAFF AWARENESS: We started identifying lines and spaces on the staff. They are going to be masters of how the staff works! Next year when we start to add things to the staff like clefs, notes, and key signatures, their brains will already have the structure and function of the staff solidified, and the rest is like icing on a cake!

PLAYING AN OSTINATO ON THE BELLS: An ostinato is a repeated musical pattern that is played at the same time as a separate melody. We did this today as we played DO SOL on the bells while singing the song "Hear How the Bells." Our ears are getting SOL smart!

FUN TO KNOW

I love this comedy routine from the show "Bring the Funny" a few years back. It goes along so well with our discussion of balloons in the wires! Enjoy it here. The balloon guy even has red shoes and red tape to be like our RED BALLOONS!

Red Balloons #2

 

NEED TO KNOW

Red Balloons #2: Your Red Balloons were amazing this week! They were so brave to come without a grownup, and all of them participated with excitement. We're looking forward to having grownups back next week!

HOMEWORK HELP: This week's homework is kind of tricky. It seems to me that the kids should get more than two weeks to learn all of the hand signs! But there is help! Check out page 55 in the Reference Section of the homework booklet.

MISSING CLASSES: Life happens and sometimes you miss class. It's no biggie! There is a lot of repetition built into the classes and your student will be just fine. But if you miss a class (or a bunch of classes) for whatever reason and want to do a makeup, you can purchase access to those classes produced for the LPM Online program. You can read more about that at this link. I will suggest using these if you end up missing three or more classes in a row, but overall they're only if you want more exposure. But I did want you to be aware of the option! 

GOOD TO KNOW

HEAR HOW THE BELLS: We are teaching your student to hear harmony by combining the singing part with the bell part. The opposition to the melody (the bells vs the singing) trains the ear in beautiful ways! 

AUDIATION: Audiate means to hear music "inside" when there is no sound actually present ("singing with your brain but not your mouth, hearing with your brain but not your ears"). Audiation is the first step to singing in harmony, performing different rhythms, playing correct chords, composing a song, etc! It's a vital piece to developing a complete musician.

SOLFEGE: Solfege! It's a BIG deal! It can help your student (and you!) understand music in a deeper way. Check out the background of solfege at this blog post. This is good stuff and one of my favorite geek-out topics!

FUN TO KNOW

THREE BLIND MICE: I always introduce this song by asking the kids why the mice might be blind. I honestly didn't know and the best answer I'd ever heard was that they looked too long at the sun. But then I discovered an old storybook published ages ago (there's no date that I can find but it's old) that explains the whole thing! It also gives the mice a happy ending, so it might help some of our more tender-hearted students. Check it out here!