Zeta earned more checks today. She finished all available possibilities in the Key of C. Next week we will probably be able to finish most of the Chart. She has earned so many already and the one we learned today will be applied to all the other different keys. We then applied what we learned to the two songs we did in "The First Grade Book". Zeta was also introduced to chromatics. She was aware of enharmonics and the second song had both. Knowing those two concepts helped her to approach the new music without too much frustration and quick mastery. I have asked Zeta several times what her favorite music is and she doesn't seem to fix on any one style. She did say she likes Billy Eilish . I explained that some songs do not interpret well to piano from rock and other styles. We will look into this particular artist and see if perhaps we can find something she has done that Zeta would like to recreate on the piano.

It was wonderful to see Baylie again. She approached her lesson today with great interest. We started to review the Teaching Little Fingers to Play book. She left hers in Georgia, however, we borrowed another student's book for now. We reviewed half of the book. She concentrated so well and was very careful to do her best at multi-tasking the correct notes, rhythm, tempo and fingering. This isn't easy. We then started to review "The Pink Panther". She will get a copy of the music next week so that we can analyze it. We will be starting "The Chart" again. "The Chart" is a simple check off the boxes of achieving all the scales, chords and everything associated with them. We then analyze music using this knowledge so that learning, memorizing and recalling the piece of music is done more effectively and with less frustration.

Zeta was asked to continue learning the theory of scales, chords and everything associated with them in a few keys.. She prevailed on the hardest one - Cadence Chords. We then continued to use the theory we had learned earlier and applied it to other keys. We then went to the book to apply what we had learned. She played Chimes, one different from the one in the "Teaching Little Fingers to Play". We analyzed it so that she could learn it quicker and with more accuracy than learning note, note, note. We then continued with a piece of music we had analyzed last week that included slurs - a reminder that this technique is not easy. She did better this week.

Andrew was introduced to the piano keyboard. He identified the white keys (A-G), and learned that the black keys are arranged in groups of two and threes and that there are 5 groups of each. We found the middle C and all the (7) 'C' keys before returning to the classroom.

Zeta had the most challenging time trying to master the slur today. It is not easy, however she will be playing songs that have slurs and in due time she will master it. The slur is a good contrast to "legato" - playing smooth and connected. We then filled in more boxes in the Chart. She did the E scale, its minor, diminished and augmented chords. We learned how to play the arpeggio in C. We reviewed the C modified arpeggio before attempting the G modified argeggio.

Zeta finished transposing a short piece of music into the keys with flats. She also played all the scales and triads in Root position in major, minor, diminished and augmented chords. This is very dry material however Zeta did very well. Told her that we will probably finish the Chart no later than the first week in February. Zeta will then be able to play whatever she wants to learn. The only thing that will be holding her back is the size of her hand and the amount she devotes to practicing. Even then, I will modify a piece of music so that she will be able to play it. Told Zeta that after we complete the Chart we will start learning "The Pink Panther". It looks hard, however, it is easy once you know the Chart.

Zeta had a wonderful lesson today. We covered a multitude of subjects. Primarily the two areas that I look forward to enriching piano students is performance and composition. Today we focused on how what we were covering would help in future compositions. Zeta played a piece of music in a total of eight different keys. We then wrote the key signature of seven of those keys using two simple techniques. We then approached a new piece of music. Before we played a part of it we read and identified three simple facts about folk music. The importance of folk music to composers is lost on the average listener. We then began to play the new piece of music, however it was just a fourth of the piece, the A section. We read the key signature, Zeta placed her hands in the proper place after reading the left hand only. She connected the key signature with the hand placement and was able to correctly place the right hand without effort. We constantly referenced what the significance of what we were learning would be in the future to composing.

We practiced her piano piece and then began working on basic drumming technique.

Zeta was exposed to the fifth element in beginning piano - dynamics. She needed to multi-task all five elements at once. She concentrates so well she was able to achieve a better than expected level of achievement by the second time she played it. The first song that exposed her to dynamics dealt with the Italian words for loud, soft, etc. The second song that exposed her to more dynamics was easier because the same symbols are used in math - those meaning greater than and lesser than. Both pieces and the subsequent ones also had the direction called "ritard" or "ritardando" adding six things to do at once. The last new introduction was about transposition. It is the ability for the performer to play the same piece of music in a different key. Zeta did not have any trouble with this. We only had time to do it in one key other than the one it was written. We will add two more each time.

Zeta was asked to play her Christmas songs again, however, we analyzed and added new features that she will include next year. Zeta was given ideas to bring the same Christmas songs to a higher level of performance. Some included introductions, the final measures after the main body of work had been played, and the different chords besides the I, IV and V chord progression to make the song more expressive. This was our last lesson before Christmas. Since we will be composing in the new year, we kept referring to these concepts when Zeta will include these ideas into her original compositions.