Music Tip - Don't Stop Believing

Here's another 4 chord song to teach your student or child.

I teach the right hand chords on the first line and help them identify the kind of chords they are, ie. G 2nd inversion, D root position, e minor 2nd position, C root position.  Have them play the chords several times, then you play the left hand with them.

Next, have them play the left hand. On the second measure they will need to move their 3rd finger to the E.
Duet the first line with student playing left hand and teacher/adult playing the right hand.  This makes it so much easier to play before they put hands together, which is the next step.

Teach lines 2 and 3 with learning the left hand chords first. Then follow the same procedure of dueting it, they play right hand, duet, they play both hands.

The last two lines can be taught, notating that on measure 3 the right hand needs to move the 2nd finger to the B.

Enjoy!

Music Tip - Popular 4 chord Songs

I've been teaching my piano students chord inversions to prepare them for playing the 4 chord songs I've been giving them.  My pre-teen and teen piano students are loving them--the songs, not the chord inversions!

For some students, I give them just the chords for hands alone until they are comfortable playing them--usually one week--then I give them the whole song.  For other students, I give them the whole song, but first have them play the chords, hands alone, so they can understand the chord progression.  I also reinforce the correct fingering and point out that it is always the 2nd inversion (for the left hand) that changes and uses the 2nd finger instead of the 3rd finger.

The whole point to these songs is to show a simple 4 chord progression that is repeated throughout the song, thus making the song EASY to learn and FUN to play.  It "hooks" my reluctant learners. 

"Piano Man" is a popular song that I give my students first.  I teach the left hand chords, then I play the melody while they play the chords.  This gets them interested in learning both hands, plus, if they're not familiar already with the melody, it helps them learn what it sounds like. The first week all they practice are the left hand chord progressions, which sound pretty cool and they all come back playing them really well.

The second week I play the melody while they play the left hand again, just to reinforce the song/melody.  Then I have them play just the melody line by themselves.  Next I play the left hand chords while they play the melody.  Dueting a song is SO IMPORTANT because it helps the student hear how the left and right hand coordinate the sounds together. Finally, I have them play both hands together.  This whole process takes about 5-8 minutes of their lesson time. They go home and practice both hands together and whola, when they come back the next week, it always sounds pretty darn good!  I can tell they have practiced--which is my aim!

By the way, did I mention I have been using my smart phone during piano lessons a lot?  I use it to introduce a popular song I want my student to learn to play.  I play the song on you tube (finding appropriate views, first) so they can get interested in the song.  Sometimes they've heard it before and sometimes they haven't, but hey, getting to watch a you tube cover song during piano lessons is a real grabber and motivator for my students!

Here is my arrangement of "Piano Man".  Enjoy!!

Thanks for reading, offer any suggestions you might have on the music.
Cathy

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Parenting Tip - More Summer Ideas

Do you know about Audacity? It is a free recording and editing program you can download to your computer and it will give your children tons of fun this summer.  It is easy to use (if I can use it, any kid can do it), and simple, but has the capacity to do editing, splicing and complicated things (that I can't do!).

Here are some ideas for your children to do with Audacity this summer:
1. Record funny goofy sounds and laugh (they have to do this first to get their sillies out before they can get down to some serious recording ideas)
2.  Record themselves singing a song.
3.  Record a story or book and send to someone (my grandchildren have done this each year at Christmas for me and it's fun to listen to them read.  They didn't record it all in one day, but I could not tell where and when they stopped or started)
4.  Record them playing a song they have learned on the piano or some other instrument (this is a great motivating factor to get them to practice).
5.  Record your toddler's first words, sentences and song (a treasure you will cherish).
6.  Record jokes 

7.  Record their talks they give in Primary or Church
8.  Record original songs they play or improvise on the piano (this encourages their creativity)
9.  Record interviews of grandparents
10. Record stories, poems, jokes, experiences, then burn to a CD and send to missionaries or grandparents.
11. Just let your children play around and learn the technology of recording, editing and  burning.

I'm sure you and your children will come up with a lot of other
fun ideas.

Oh yeah, one last fun thing I've done with recordings--not with Audacity but on my cell phone.  I

recorded my 4 year old grandson saying, "Grandma, you've got a text, Grandma, you've got a text, Grandma, you've got a text!"
I put that as my text alert and I love listening to him tell me I have a text several times a day.  Other people get a  kick out of it, too.

So if you don't want to download Audacity, record songs, poems, etc on your smart phone--tons of fun times for kids and adults!

Thanks for reading,
Cathy


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Music Tip - If All the Raindrops

At my mom and tot class yesterday, we sang a song most of you probably know, "If all the raindrops were lemon drops and gum drops, oh what a rain that would be.....".  We sang it because of the second verse---it's about snowflakes, and the theme of our class was snowflakes. 

Do you know the 2nd and 3rd verses?

If all the snowflakes were candy bars and milkshakes?
Oh what a snow that would be.
Standing outside with my mouth open wide.
Ahh-ahh-ahh-ahh-ahh-ahh-ahh-ahh-ahh-ahh.
If all the snowflakes were candy bars and milkshakes?
Oh what a snow that would be.

If all the sun beams were bubble gum and ice cream?
Oh what a sun that would be.
Standing outside with my mouth open wide.
Ahh-ahh-ahh-ahh-ahh-ahh-ahh-ahh-ahh-ahh.
If all the sun beams were bubble gum and ice cream?
Oh what a sun that would be.

I accompanied our singing by playing the ukulele.  I heard through the grapevine that one of the moms in the class was going to dust off her ukulele and I thought how fun it would be if we had several moms bringing their ukuleles to class and play with us.

So.....to the moms in my class.  If you have a guitar or ukulele, here are the chords for the song.  Practice and bring your instruments to our next class.

 

 

 

 

Music Tip -Ostinato

I’ve been teaching general music at school for 11 years.  Every year we talk about what an ostinato is and every year no one can remember from one week to the next what it is.  This always amazes and perplexes me because we play simple ostinatos on nonpitched and pitched instruments all the time as we use them to accompany chants and songs.

I decided that it is not that my students are dumb—it’s ME.  Evidently I’m not teaching the definition of an ostinato correctly. So I thought back to a brain research class I took and decided I need to teach the definition in a catchy, memorable way.  I decided to put the definition to a catchy tune. Here is what I came up with:

Did you notice the melody was the Hallelujah Chorus.  Thanks, Handel.  BTW, the kids are standing backwards so I could maintain their privacy on the internet.

I taught the song to the 3^rd-6^th graders and then had them go outside and sing it to the universe.  They looked at me like I was crazy but loved the idea of leaving the classroom.  We also walked down the sidewalk and sang it to the neighbors’ homes across the street from the school. At that point the students KNEW I was crazy.  But guess what?  Three weeks later, when I asked what an ostinato was, every child raised his arm and knew the answer.  And we all burst out singing,

    “Ostinato, ostinato, repeated pattern, repeated pattern”……….

Do you have something you are trying to teach your child at home?  Something he seems to never remember?  Put it to a song, make it silly and enjoy watching the astounding magic that will take place.