Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Great Giveaway from Let's Play Music


I hope you've had a fantastic Fall Break!   Looking forward to seeing the kids tomorrow for Lesson 8 (parents do not need to attend).  

In the mean time, I wanted to let you know about an awesome giveaway going on over on the Making Musicians Blog--the official blog of Let's Play Music.  They are giving away a month of Free tuition to a parent who leaves a comment on this post:


The teacher with the most comments wins a prize, too!  So if you want to make my day, go tell them what a great teacher I am.  It's ok to exaggerate!  :-)

If you aren't following that blog, I would suggest you do.  They do things like this periodically as well as share information that may be helpful as you "play music" with your kids.

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Fall Break--Green Turtle Shells



We are on Fall Break, and it should feel like a break, but there are things you can do to help reinforce the learning that has happened so far this year.  Here are a few ideas:

Traveling?  In the Car:
  • Listen and sing along with your "Green turtle Shells" CD.
  • Practice harmony by singing different rounds.  ( "Row Row Row Your Boat", "Clickety, Clickety Clack", "El Gallo" etc."  See if they can hold their own part, or help them while another adult sings a different part.  
  • As you listen to any music, see if you and your kids can find any MRD, SSD, SLTD, SFMRD patterns in the songs.  You could turn it into a game.
  • Name that tune.  Pick their favorite songs (from LPM or anywhere) and see how many notes they need to identify the song.
  • Become bugs!  Keep a steady beat and see if you child can clap butterflies (for example) while you clap beetles.  If there are others in the car, see if everyone can be a different bug at the same time. 
At home:
  • Encourage them to keep practicing the keyboard.  If they are bored with the same activities, allow them to experiment on their own.  See if they can play a C major and c minor chord (play an e flat instead of an E).  What ever they do, just remind them to use bubble hands and C position.  The second verse of the bubble hand song is a great practice.  You can call out random fingers for them to play.  Ex. "Where is four?  Where is four?"  They answer, "Here I am.  Here I am"  Encourage them to sing as they play.  Maybe try doing it really fast.
  • We have done "Sally Go Round the Sun" in class.  That would be a fun one to do with friends or siblings.  The big goal is to make sure they all land together on the word "BOOM!"  You might remind them of some of the fun game songs from last year ("Frog in the Middle", or "A Hunting We Will Go." 
  • Take this chance to review any homework assignments that were challenging for your student. 
  • Any of the traveling tips could be done at home as well!
We'll see you back in class on the 20th!

Fall Break--Red Balloons

We are on Fall Break, and it should feel like a break, but there are things you can do to help reinforce the learning that has happened so far this year.  Here are a few ideas:

Traveling?  In the Car:
  • Listen and sing along with your "Red Balloons" CD.
  • Practice audiation by singing different familiar songs and having them leave out a line (we will sing "B-I-N-G-O-" next semester.  It is a great example of audiation and rhythm practice!)
  • As you listen to any music, see if you and your kids can find any "mi-re-do's" or "so-so-do's" in the songs.  You could turn it into a game.
  • Name that tune.  Pick their favorite songs (from LPM or anywhere) and see how many notes they need to identify the song.
  • Go on a lion hunt!  Keep the rhythm and say the rhyme.  Let them change up the words.  "Going on a snake hunt?"  "Got my lunch!" etc. 
At home:
  • Make sure they have access to their bells and can practice the activities we have done in class.
  • The students love games like "frog in the middle," and "a hunting we will go".  You can play these as a family, or with friends.  Remind them to sing as they play and help them remember the mi-re-do or so-so-do patterns.
  • Take this chance to review any homework assignments that were challenging for your student.  Especially helping them to recognize if a note/balloon is on a line or a space.
  • Any of the traveling tips could be done at home as well!
We'll see you back in class on the 20th!

Sunday, September 12, 2010

The Next Mozart? 6-Year Old Piano Prodigy Wows All



Amazing 6-year-old pianist and composer! Aside from her obvious gifts, I love her family's attitude about music and supporting her. You can tell that her music comes from her love for music. That same kind of love is what we are cultivating in our young musicians!

Monday, September 6, 2010

Audiation--Red Balloons


You saw in class this week how we sang "Three Blind Mice" leaving out parts of the song and "singing them in our heads," instead of out loud.  This is called Audiation and is an important skill to develop as it is the precursor for singing harmony and composition.  You can practice this skill with any favorite songs while hanging out in the house or driving in the car.  Just remember to ask each time if they heard the music in their heads while they were being silent.

REMINDER:  Only send the bells with the students on the weeks when parents come.  This week is a drop-off week, so all they need are their homework booklets, with their completed homework assignment!

Hope you are enjoying your holiday weekend!  See you Wednesday!

Sunday, September 5, 2010

Green Turtles--This is the Red Chord

We learned some exciting things in class this week!  Did your students show you the red dots on their fingernails?  I'm sure they've washed off, by now, but you can use a red marker (or maybe a dot of red nailpolish) directly on their fingernails to help them line up their 1-3-and 5 fingers with C-E-and G on their keyboards.  Hopefully you all saw the note to add the rest of the stickers for the red chord on their keyboard/piano at home. Now they are going to be able to start accompanying themselves.  So exciting!

We also learned the correct "C position" for our right hands (they should be using just the right hand at this time).   To help them remember, we came up with a little rhyme/melody.  It goes:

"Thumb on C and a finger for each key"

Play and sing middle C for each note and on "-ger" go up the scale.  In other words "CCCCCC-D-E-F-G"  (or Do, Do, Do, Do, Do, Do-Re-Mi-Fa-So).  And played with the correct fingers (1,1,1,1,1,1,-2-3-4-5).

Let me know if you have any questions about this or the practice!  So excited for them to get to start playing songs on their keyboards!

Saturday, September 4, 2010

Just for Fun...


I thought I would share this video with you.  I think it is hilarious of my daughter, but also a good illustration of how kids naturally are interested in the things that we do.  Your enthusiasm for music will rub-off on your child.  In this video, I never "taught" my daughter this song.  I was actually the one who had to perform this song for a patriotic program at my church.  Through listening to me practice and watching the performance, she learned this song!  Now I'm not sure where her performance style comes from....:-)


Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Interval Practice


Now that we know what our 2nd, 3rd, and 4th intervals look like on the staff, here is a fun on-line exercise to practice recognizing them.  Parents, here is a good way to see if they've got this concept yet or not.  If not, put on the "Turtle Shells" song, and have them sing and listen to the 2nd verse as they try to identify these:

Blog Basics for parents

I'm going to use the blog to give you additional information and resources that we may not get to in class.  If the post pertains to my first year classes, it will have this graphic at the top of the post:


If the post pertains to my second year classes, look for this logo:



And if it is interesting/relevant to both years, look for both logos side-by-side, like this:


Reminder:  Parents of 1st year students attend class tomorrow (but not 2nd year)!

Monday, August 2, 2010

2010-2011 Schedule Final

At least I hope so!  Please make note of the following class times and important dates!

2nd Year Classes
(Green Turtle Shells/Yellow Indians)

  • Wednesdays at 3:30pm


1st Year Classes
(Red Balloons/Blue Bugs)

  • Wednesdays at 4:30pm
  • Wednesdays at 5:30pm
There are currently only a couple of slots left in each class.  Contact me asap, if you would like to register for fall!

Parent Orientation (parents only, please) 
  • 1st Year Classes:  Thursday, August 12 @ 6:00pm
  • 2nd Year Classes:  Thursday August 12 @ 7:00pm

First Day of Classes:
  • August 18

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Update on Dates

Mark your calendars....


Sample Classes:  July 27 & July 29 @ 6:30pm 
(let me know which night you would like to attend)


Parent Orientation Night:  Aug. 11


First day of Let's Play Music:  Aug. 18 
(full calendar will be published shortly)


Saturday, June 5, 2010

Registering for Fall!


Possible Class times


First Year (Red Balloons/Blue Bugs):

Wednesdays, 9:15-10:00am

Wednesdays, 2:15-3:00pm


Wednesdays, 6:15-7:00pm
Thursdays, 9:15-10:00am



Second Year (Green Turtle Shells/Yellow Indians):



Wednesdays, 3:30-4:20pm
Wednesdays, 4:30-5:20pm

Tuition & Fees
1st Year (materials fee for entire year--two semesters):

To reserve spot, please pay $83 materials fee, plus $15 registration fee ($98 total). For additional siblings, fee is $23 for materials and $15 registration fee. ($38 total)
Materials fee includes:
* Set of Tone Bells
* Home study Notebooks (for both semesters)
* Tote Bag
* Home Study CDs (for both semesters)

Tuition will be $45/month or $180/semester.

2nd Year (materials fee for entire year--two semesters):

To reserve spot, please pay $63 materials fee, plus $15 registration fee ($78 total). For additional siblings, fee is $38 for materials and $15 registration fee. ($53 total)




Materials fee includes:
* "Bubble Hands"
* Piano Songbooks (for both semesters)
* Lesson Guides
* Home Study CDs (for both semesters)

Tuition will be $50/month or $200/semester.

Email me (kendrascreations@gmail.com) for a registration for and any questions you may have.