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!
STUDENT MAGNET BOARDS: These are optional tools that you can purchase to supplement classes and enhance at-home play. If you have one, this week you can use your red balloons to go up and down the staff. If you want one, there is a 50% off sale coming up from September 1-5 only at the LPM site that includes the student staff boards! Find all the details at this link!
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!
