Wednesday, December 9, 2015
Monday, December 7, 2015
The Christmas Scale
This is a sweet video for remembering "the Best News of the world" at Christmas time, as it relates to the major scale.
After watching, try the descending major scale with the pauses! Students, get out your sheet music for this Christmas Classic.
Thursday, December 3, 2015
Hoedown
Our 2nd year students act out Rodeo by Aaron Copland. Such fun music! Such cute kids!
https://youtu.be/97JN_48hH5w
https://youtu.be/gdFb8zQ97uA
https://youtu.be/97JN_48hH5w
https://youtu.be/gdFb8zQ97uA
Wednesday, December 2, 2015
Skaters
Our 3rd year students act out Banditen-Galopp by Johann Strauss II. It was fun! I love their smiles!
https://youtu.be/aminOx3pu8Y
https://youtu.be/aU4EGE2USJk
https://youtu.be/aminOx3pu8Y
https://youtu.be/aU4EGE2USJk
Wednesday, October 28, 2015
Singing Bowl
Straight from India!
George's mom recently went to India and brought back a Singing Bowl.
The kids had fun trying it!
So did Ms. Emily!
Tuesday, October 13, 2015
Magic Lamp with Props
Here are videos of the students performing the Magical Lamp puppet show.
(Aragonaise from Carmen by Georges Bizet)
We have a lot of fun with classical music!
Monday, September 7, 2015
On the Wires
In the first year of Let's Play Music, we learn all about the staff. We first learn how our red balloon can be "on the wire" or "in the space between the wires". This is a fun video of birds on the wires.
Birds on the Wires from Jarbas Agnelli on Vimeo.
Birds on the Wires from Jarbas Agnelli on Vimeo.
Saturday, June 20, 2015
Summer Fun!
I went to San Diego, CA for the annual Let's Play Music Symposium!! It was awesome to learn more about teaching this fantastic program. We also had a lot of FUN! Here I am with my 2 silly roommates.
What are you doing this summer?
Playing bells is so much fun!
Turn on some music and twirl ribbons.
Try to bounce a balloon on a paddle.
Thursday, February 26, 2015
Pirate Ship 2015
The students had a blast with this Puppet Show! "Hungarian Dance No.5" by Johannes Brahms. Here they are using props to tell the story.
Wednesday, February 11, 2015
Triumphant March Costumes
The 1st year students are performing the Triumphant March (from Aida by Verdi). We had a lot of fun with all of the props. We didn't have enough kids for all of the parts (so use your imaginations.)
1:00pm Class: (Sorry, we had to stop it before the song was finished.)
6:05pm Class:
1:00pm Class: (Sorry, we had to stop it before the song was finished.)
Monday, February 9, 2015
10 Reasons for Learning Primary Chords
In Let's Play Music, each of the primary chords gets assigned a color. This helps our young students learn these important chords without having to go into explanations of I, IV, V or tonic, sub-dominant, and dominant. We put a lot of emphasis on recognizing, playing, singing, and understanding these chords in all their forms.
Why learn chords?
Here are 10 Reasons! (From Dave Meadows, a Let's Play Music teacher in Phoenix, AZ.)
10. Memorization is easier because you don’t have to memorize every single note in a piece of music. You just have to memorize the chord pattern. For example, instead of learning 342 different pieces of information for one song, when you learn it by recognizing and memorizing the chords, you can get it down to about 30 pieces of information.
9. Feeling the chord progression – When you train the muscles to know what each of the chords feels like, then when you see the chord on the page, your hand automatically knows where to go and how to be positioned. We can talk about chords all we want, but until you experience playing them (a lot) you don’t get the feel for them. The learning process for music is then sped up once the chords feel natural for your hands to play.
8. Tension and Release – All music is based on tension and release. It drives the song forward. Even when a song is sung a capella, there are underlying chords and harmonies that are felt despite not being played. It’s what provides the emotion in the music.
7. Can do more with written music – If you learn how to read music without actually understanding the chords, you are tied to what’s written on the page. You can’t do anything more with it. But when you know your primary chords and recognize them in the music you can easily add more notes based on the underlying chord, change the style the chords are played in, and basically pretty up the music however you want. And let's not forget that chords are the foundation for transposing music, too.
6. Faking it – Of course you prepare well for any performance, but sometimes the unexpected happens: your sheet music falls off the piano, the vocalist skips around in the song, you are missing a page of music, you make a mistake etc. If you know and can hear your primary chords, you can fake it, so no one knows there was a problem.
5. Recognizing key signatures – Knowing your chords helps you to be able to analyze music and easily tell what key you are in and whether it’s major or minor.
4. Improvisation –If you only know the melody to a song, you would be able to improvise an accompaniment. You can hear the change in the feel of the melody and match the appropriate chords to the music
3. Composition – The culmination of Let’s Play Music is having all of our students compose a piece. Not every musician is going to be a composer, but they all should be encouraged to learn the skill. It will help them appreciate music more, be better analyzers of music, understand what they’re playing better, and be more excellent musicians. You have to know your chords to be able to come up with an accompaniment for a melody you compose.
2. Trust the Experts – Great musicians know them and Let’s Play Music teaches them, so they must be important!
1. Fun! You can have more fun with music when you understand it! There are, of course, more chords than the Three Primary Chords. Other chords add interest and character to a song...but 90% of music is made up of the Primary Chords.
9. Feeling the chord progression – When you train the muscles to know what each of the chords feels like, then when you see the chord on the page, your hand automatically knows where to go and how to be positioned. We can talk about chords all we want, but until you experience playing them (a lot) you don’t get the feel for them. The learning process for music is then sped up once the chords feel natural for your hands to play.
8. Tension and Release – All music is based on tension and release. It drives the song forward. Even when a song is sung a capella, there are underlying chords and harmonies that are felt despite not being played. It’s what provides the emotion in the music.
7. Can do more with written music – If you learn how to read music without actually understanding the chords, you are tied to what’s written on the page. You can’t do anything more with it. But when you know your primary chords and recognize them in the music you can easily add more notes based on the underlying chord, change the style the chords are played in, and basically pretty up the music however you want. And let's not forget that chords are the foundation for transposing music, too.
6. Faking it – Of course you prepare well for any performance, but sometimes the unexpected happens: your sheet music falls off the piano, the vocalist skips around in the song, you are missing a page of music, you make a mistake etc. If you know and can hear your primary chords, you can fake it, so no one knows there was a problem.
5. Recognizing key signatures – Knowing your chords helps you to be able to analyze music and easily tell what key you are in and whether it’s major or minor.
4. Improvisation –If you only know the melody to a song, you would be able to improvise an accompaniment. You can hear the change in the feel of the melody and match the appropriate chords to the music
3. Composition – The culmination of Let’s Play Music is having all of our students compose a piece. Not every musician is going to be a composer, but they all should be encouraged to learn the skill. It will help them appreciate music more, be better analyzers of music, understand what they’re playing better, and be more excellent musicians. You have to know your chords to be able to come up with an accompaniment for a melody you compose.
2. Trust the Experts – Great musicians know them and Let’s Play Music teaches them, so they must be important!
1. Fun! You can have more fun with music when you understand it! There are, of course, more chords than the Three Primary Chords. Other chords add interest and character to a song...but 90% of music is made up of the Primary Chords.
Learning Chords = Learning Music!
Wednesday, February 4, 2015
I've Been to Harlem
In Blue Bugs Lesson 5 and 6, the Bell Practice is to play I've Been to Harlem. Here is another teacher, Kendra Flake, playing it with her son. Use a spoon and your mallets to play the block chord (all 3 notes at the same time)...both of you play together, so one person doesn't hold 3 mallets.
1st verse-Key of C Major. 2nd verse-Key of d minor.
1st verse-Key of C Major. 2nd verse-Key of d minor.
Tuesday, January 20, 2015
Pirate Ship - Brahms
The Pirate Ship is one of my favorite puppet shows. The classical piece is actually called "Hungarian Dance No. 5" composed by Johannes Brahms. He was born in 1833 in Hamburg, Germany.
Ms. Emily's Grandpa Bents was born north of Hamburg in 1878. He sailed to America in 1901 to attend the Lutheran Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota. Brahms large choral work "A German Requiem" is from texts from the Lutheran Bible. Back in the late 1980s, Ms. Emily visited Hamburg as a child when she was living in Germany.
Puppet Shows in LPM are a fun way to learn about classical form, tonalities, and themes.
Ms. Emily's Grandpa Bents was born north of Hamburg in 1878. He sailed to America in 1901 to attend the Lutheran Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota. Brahms large choral work "A German Requiem" is from texts from the Lutheran Bible. Back in the late 1980s, Ms. Emily visited Hamburg as a child when she was living in Germany.
Puppet Shows in LPM are a fun way to learn about classical form, tonalities, and themes.
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