Today we used the number system to learn chord progressions and melody lines. We ended playing several popular motifs on the piano.

Penny did great today at the piano. She was able to play the 5 finger positions prompted. She was also able to use the graph to find the correct note. Penny said she really enjoyed the piano and shows interest in learning it.

Macy completed my three quizzes on the piano. She was able to play her 5 finger positions in the key of C. We worked on major and minor chords. We finished working on the correct fingering to play a major scale.

Morgan was intrigued last session learning the fingering to play a major scale up two octaves. We looked over the circle of 5ths as I explained how useful it is to memorize the circle of 5ths for each scale.

Today we continued working on recognizing chord shapes and note placement. Jonathan enjoyed playing "Hit the Road Jack" on the piano and is continuing to improve.

Jonathan quickly learned the material on the piano. He was able to play the chords in time and with both hands. We began learning " Hit the Road Jack" on the piano.

Macy is very musically inclined. She showed me some of her old tunes on the piano. From there we learned about the terms, notation, chords, notes, and talked about major vs minor.

Jayne was introduced to many new and easy concepts of music theory. We "found" the "formula" of a major scale. Once we did that we "discovered" why scales have black keys - they had to follow the "formula". We then reviewed the chords in root position, 1st inversion and 2nd inversion chords. We played a game that used the movement of the body to learn which way is up and down on the piano. We built on the identification of black keys: which way and how far does a sharp (up), flat (down) go and learned that at her stage of music theory that the natural sign means to play the white keys. Showed her what they looked like in her book which introduces new concepts in an easy manner. They might be new however, they are in the easy book. Jayne finally played the left hand, first eight measures of "Greensleeves". She did it very well. Gave her a realistic expectation as to how long it takes to play certain parts. It will take time however, it can be done. We finished with ear training and learned three out of twelve two note intervals: Ex. a minor 2nd is "Jaws". How the student learns is I will play the two notes and they give me the name of the song that corresponds to the first two notes of the song. This is somewhat challenging.

Jayne was asked to observe and play the Spanish chord progression which is the same one used in "Greensleeves". She was hesitant at first however, after several attempts she was beginning to get the idea. She realized that she needed to go slower, not move her hand so far to the left and give herself the option to make mistakes. She does not like making mistakes and wants to accomplish on a high level of mastery in just a few attempts. At one point we asked her to throw velcro balls at a target. Then she realized that if she threw the ball higher she was able to make the target. Before all of the balls were thrown she was throwing them with determination. Praised her... Went back to the piano and she was more relaxed and committed. She is going to play the left hand and the same chord progression with the right hand. I encouraged her to compose music with this exercise.

We reviewed our lesson from last week and enhanced it before playing the first song in the book. Jayne had to multi-task the following: notes, rhythm, tempo and fingering. She was told that we did not have to play the songs at a tempo necessary for a recital performance. She only had to play everything correctly (one mistake was allowed) and then we would proceed to the next song. As a result Jayne took direction very well. She played five songs. We then learned the C scale and triad. This is one of 60 scales she will learn this year. The number of scales is daunting, however, it boils down to 12 scales, plus three enharmonic scales (15 sub-total) and then the variation of the major scale into three different types of minors scales for a total of 60. Not as hard as it sounds. Jayne then did ear training. She distinguished major from minor. We learn the Roman numerals from one to seven and then proceed to identify the chords based on the degree of the scale as the root. She identified each perfectly. Then we played the three major chords as a chord progression. Stated that the three major chords were used in a billion songs. Demonstrated them in a rock and roll type of song and then the same three chords used in Mozart's C Major Sonata. Then demonstrated my favorite chord progression - the Spanish chord progression. It is easy to visualize. Played for her "Greensleeves" using the Spanish chord progression. Jayne now wants to play "Greensleeves". The lesson was a total success. She is now interested. She impressed me a great deal. Could ascertain that as long as the task is impressive, yet that it is an easily attainable goal, well, then we have her attention. I feel that she is looking forward to next week's lesson.