Musik & Me – Featuring Lets Play Music and Sound Beginnings

We’re beginning a fun new way to celebrate how fast the kids know their note flashcards. It’s called the “In a Flash Club” and the kids get to compete against their own best time for how fast they can go over all their PURPLE NOTE FLASHCARDS. There’s a place in the homework each week where the kids are supposed to time themselves for how long it takes. This only needs to be done 3 times each week, not every practice. (And if they want to do their 3 times all in a row, that’s better than not doing it 3 times, so let them!) We will record their best time on a card in class so they can see how much better they get each week! The kids will also get “fish food” stickers to put in their fishbowl (in the back of their homework book) for each time they do “In a Flash” and “Say It, Then Play It” as part of their homework. If they do both of those the right amount of times, they will get one sticker for each of those. If their time is better than the previous week, they will get another sticker! So they can earn up to 3 "fish food" stickers each week! Let’s get those bowls so full of fish food that we can’t even see the fish! Both of these flashcard games are available on my website if your child would prefer using a computer than the purple flashcards. (Settings for both In a Flash and Say It, Then Play It should be Grand Staff and Use Timer.) Just write down the time it shows when the game ends.

We also began counting rhythms (very simple ones) today. If you would like to print out some practice counting pages for home, you can download them here: set 1, set 2, set 3. You can either cut each card apart, or you can randomly pick one for your child to clap and count. Just know this is completely optional and have fun with it! 

Echo Edison
The newest member of our Echo family has arrived. He is Echo Ed and Echo Edna’s grandfather! He doesn’t like when he gets echoed though. He likes to ask musical questions and have the kids give him musical answers. He will not only help us learn technique and play finger exercises in 5 keys, but is the vehicle for helping us create our compositions this semester!
     
Cadence Blues 
Cadence Blues is actually ONLY printed in the key of C in your songbooks, but on your CD you have the ‘Blues’ in other keys. While playing in the key of F or G, you still have to read the song written in the key of C. That’s right! Your little musician will be transposing! Woot woot! Be sure to keep the music player near the keyboard to make practicing fun! (Trust me, it makes a world of difference!)
     
Monsters 
The new puppet show is entitled Monsters. However, the real name of the puppet show is Montagues and Capulets, also known as Dance of the Knights and is from the ballet ‘Romeo and Juliet’ composed by Sergei Prokofiev. This puppet show is similar to many of our past puppet shows–it follows the ABA formula that composers love! But the themes are layered on top of each other, and we will further develop our ear training to distinguish the individual layers of sound.

Musicians definitely have a sense of humor! Check out this fun video of a trick played on an orchestra conductor while playing our "Monsters" song!!

Wouldn’t it be funny if all the characters from our Monsters Puppet Show were actually just friends in their LPM (Lambda Pi Mu) fraternity at Monsters U??? Check it out in this fun post on our Let’s Play Music Blog! This is a GREAT resource to be able to isolate and hear all the different parts in the song.

Or watch this fun video of some Let’s Play Music students performing their own Monsters Ballet!