Zeta played her Christmas music again today. We did do several things with some of the songs. Showed her how easy it was to add the "tonic" or the first member of a chord in the left hand with a jazzy rhythm to liven up the song. Also, another simple technique was to split up the melody and play it in different octaves to give the song more character. During our lesson one of the teachers who has come by during her lesson in the past, sat in to listen. He was impressed with how well she did for someone so young. In previous times we asked him to "Name That Tune". Zeta played it so well that he was always able to identify the name of the song. Everyone who hears her is impressed.
Session Minutes
30
Minutes Student Attended
30
Lesson Comments
Zeta was impressive as usual. She played her songs a little better and what mistakes she made were easily remedied. Always pointed out Middle C in the area that she was playing and then she figured out where her hand was suppose to go. That was the extent of my helping her. She reads pretty well.
Zeta played her Christmas music again today. We did do several things with some of the songs. I showed her how easy it was to add the "tonic" or the first member of a chord in the left hand with a jazzy rhythm to liven up the song. Also, another simple technique was to split up the melody and play it in different octaves to give the song more character. During our lesson one of the teachers who has come by during her lesson in the past, sat in to listen. He was impressed with how well she did for someone so young. In previous times we asked him to "Name That Tune". Zeta played it so well that he was always able to identify the name of the song. Everyone who hears her is impressed.
Session Minutes
30
Minutes Student Attended
30
Lesson Comments
Zeta was impressive as usual. She played her songs a little better and what mistakes she made were easily remedied. Always pointed out Middle C in the area that she was playing and then she figured out where her hand was suppose to go. That was the extent of my helping her. She reads pretty well.
Zeta has started learning six Christmas songs, however, they are not mastered so we decided to play all of them. I told her that we will need to continue playing them again next week so that her performance can improve. I am not asking for perfection but would like to see her improvement each week. Right now she is still not registering when to play the notes in the bass clef. She needs more practice. She has improved on her rhythm values, and has always done well on fingering and tempo. If it wasn't for her confusion of when to play the left hand the notes would be fine. She knows when to change her hand position. Therefore, she is just missing a small piece of the over-all piano performance to do better.
Session Minutes
30
Minutes Student Attended
30
Lesson Comments
Zeta does not mind doing anything I ask her to do. We played all six Christmas songs that she has tried only a few times. Would like for her to improve on her reading skills. This is the only area she needs improvement. Her rhythm values, tempo, and fingering are acceptable. She knows when to change hand positions, as well. We will play all six again at our next lesson.
Due to Christopher's dealing with grief I was asked to allow him to take a cookie decorating class. I was glad to see him in good spirits during a cookie decorating competition.
Session Minutes
30
Minutes Student Attended
30
Lesson Comments
Was asked to allow Christopher to attend a cookie decorating class.
Zeta had started the fingering last week and was not able to start playing "Up on the Housetop" until today. She did enjoy it which was good since she needed to play it as often as possible during our lesson. We made it easier by analyzing some of the notes as G Root position and it paid off. She played it without any hesitation or guessing.
Session Minutes
30
Minutes Student Attended
30
Lesson Comments
Zeta enjoyed her lesson today which was a relief. In previous lessons she did not express or show any enjoyment, however, today was different. Let's blame it on the weather since the other lessons were about Christmas music as well.
First, please accept my condolences over your recent loss. Christopher was meeting with Judie and Cal for most of the lesson.
Session Minutes
30
Minutes Student Attended
30
Lesson Comments
Miss Judy, as you know, Christopher was with you most of the time. We did discuss death as being the enemy. He finally stopped crying, however, then it was time to meet with Dorothy S.
Learning either another Christmas song or an easy rendition of a Classical piece of music and ear training.
Lesson Outline
Zeta asked on the last lesson if we could review ear training. We had run out of time so we approached that first today. There were three intervals that she was not able to conquer from September. We reviewed the other 10 intervals and then approached the last three. She was able to correctly identify them. I then played easy renditions of Classical pieces of music. She next picked "Up on the Housetop". Zeta, was writing in the fingering when we ran out of time. Therefore, we will start learning in on our next lesson.
Session Minutes
30
Minutes Student Attended
30
Lesson Comments
Zeta was fabulous as always. She was able to conquer the last three intervals that she found difficult to identify. We played easy renditions of Classical music, but not appealed to her. She finally chose "Up on the Housetop" and was writing in the fingering when we ran out of time. Therefore, we will start that song on our next lesson. She has already learned at least five Christmas songs. Five is the minimum goal, therefore, we will be above average by the next lesson.
Theory - Interval Ear Training - recognizing them through sound
Lesson Outline
Christopher was introduced to ear training - how to identify intervals by sound. There are a total of 13, however, on the first endeavor the student usually identifies five correctly. Christopher identified seven of them correctly. It was interesting because he had not heard of the tune "Baby Shark" but he was able to eventually become well acquainted with it so that he was able to identify the interval that pertained to it. How it works is that they are given a song for each interval, however, they will only be given the first two notes. The trick is to continue singing the song after the first two notes to identify the interval correctly.
Session Minutes
30
Minutes Student Attended
30
Lesson Comments
Christopher appeared rested and ready to tackle a new area of music - ear training. This is not an easy skill to learn. There are 13 intervals and the average student achieves five on the first day. Christopher was able to identify seven correctly on the first try. He was outside when it was his lesson time. He was barefoot and I asked him to put on his shoes. He wanted me to help him put them on. I stated no, that he was responsible for putting them on himself. I related that the shoes I wore today also were hard to put on, so I knew how he felt. He did not know how to tie the shoelaces. Therefore, I did that part. I wouldn't mind teaching him how to tie his shoes if Marcus doesn't do that sort of thing. I only mention Marcus since he gives me the impression of the faculty member that might handle a situation like this.
Zeta picked out two new songs to play today; "Away in the Manger" and "Go, Tell it on the Mountain". She did them very well. We have now learned the required minimum of five Christmas songs. We turned our attention to ear training and reviewed what she had learned in the past and three more intervals. When we commence after the Thanksgiving break we will focus on the ear training. I will give her the choice of either doing more Christmas music, or composing original music, or both.
Session Minutes
30
Minutes Student Attended
30
Lesson Comments
Zeta's attitude was better today. Will blame the time change and the weather on the last few lessons where she didn't seem interested, probably from fatigue. Want to challenge her more than she probably wants. Will give her the preference of either more Christmas music - she has done the required minimum of five songs - or composing, or both.
