Pirate Ship with Props

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.  

While enjoying, sing with the pirates:  
"We are pirates and we love to dance.  This is Brahms' Hungarian Dance."  

Shades for Cadence Blues

Inversions-Orange Semester

In 3rd year, we are learning to play Inversions!  

Use your red dot stickers to help your child the C Chord.

For Blue & Yellow Chords, use the Alphabet game pieces to spell the chord.  Keep the letters ON the keys while the student plays the chord and moves up the keyboard.  Remember, the fingering MUST be correct for the SHAPE of the chord.  (snowman shape, top heavy snowman, bottom heavy snowman.)   

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.

Wednesday Class:  full version


Thursday Class:  only the beginning (due to technical difficulties)

Self Esteem & Praise

What builds durable self-esteem in kids? I read an article from the Boy Scout magazine awhile back.

There are two types of praise: Person praise ("You must be smart at this.") and Process praise ("You must have worked really hard."). Through an experiment, the kids got one type of praise. The person-praise kids chose easier tests (being worried that failure would make them look less smart) and then in the end actually did worse on the same test they got at the beginning. While the process-praise kids chose harder tests throughout and scored better at the end. "Person praise gives you no recipe for facing challenges or recovering from setbacks," psychologist Carol Dweck said. "Process praise is about what you do to be successful, so it's informative." We all love to tell our kids that they are smart, beautiful, and talented, but Dweck says that type of praise is like junk food--tasty but ultimately unsatisfying.

I need to work on my words. We can't hand children self-esteem on a silver platter. We need to give them the tools to manage their own self-esteem, to take on challenges and see them through, to build and maintain their own self-esteem.

Children need constant encouragement. Make sure the compliments help your child realize the value of their EFFORT! Students need to understand that talent is not fixed. The more high-quality effort they put into any activity, the more they will achieve.

"Monsters" on Dancing with the Stars & the Ballet

In the 3rd Year of Let's Play Music, we do a fun and scary puppet show to Prokofiev's "Montagues and Capulets" from Romeo and Juliet.  We call it Monsters!  

Here is the ballet of Romeo and Juliet with Prokofiev's music : (The first part is the section the students will recognize.  Then you could skip to the end, where they get out the swords.  Or enjoy the Fine Arts by watching the entire segment.)

On April 30, 2012, a couple on "Dancing with the Stars" danced to the same music.  I want to give a Modesty Disclaimer - the costumes are not modest.  (So you don't need to show it to your child.)  Here is the link. The music is from 2:37-4:20 minutes...if you want to skip to just see that part.

After your child watches the video...encourage your child to DANCE to the music!  Get out some props...long skirt, big scarves, or swords and let the creativity flow!  (Parents, make it more fun by join in with some dramatic moves of your own.)

2nd Year - Indian Chiefs

2nd year students:  Yellow Arrows

In 2nd year of Let's Play Music, Students play keyboard with both hands, play in contrary motion, learn the major scale, sing in harmony, learn more complex rhythmic notations, learn more note names on the staff, learn the names of the white keys on the keyboard, and much more!