Mood:  a-ok

I just finished teaching my 6 year old class that's using the Preparatory MMP book. By the end of the class, each student was able to play "The Woodpecker" along with the teacher duet. Their rhythm was impecable! Not one single hiccup in their playing.

 The other day, I downloaded a creativity worksheet from http://www.wendyspianostudio.com Basically, the sheet provided starting points for creative exploration at the piano. (You need to register - it's free- to view the page.)

 The starting point I gave the students today was "Sam went running down the beach until he jumped in the ocean." The first little girl made quick sounds in the middle of the piano, which, she explained, was the sound of Sam chasing a seagull. The other little boy made big loud sounds all over the place, which he said was the sound of Sam splashing in the big waves.

It was so cool to see these kids creating, using their imaginations, and discovering music as a tool for self-expression!!

Posted by creativekeys at 1:31 PM

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Mood:  happy

Well, back to work! I'm so excited to be teaching 5 groups of Music Moves for Piano -  grand total of 16 kids in the program. Had a little bit of a glitch this week (books didn't arrive on time), but no worries. Hopefully the books will arrive by next week.

This week, the kids will be working on the following skills:

• chanting 2- and 4- macrobeat duple meter patterns
• body awareness and how to play a key
• keyboard geography: finding groups of 2 and 3 black keys
• creating at the keys.
• rhythmic continuity

Their creative activity this week is to choose an animal, and experiment at the keys to make that type of animal sound. I'm already surprised at the student response.... the students have made fast sounds for cheetahs and soft sounds for a cat drinking milk, all without prompting from me.

I

Posted by creativekeys at 7:10 PM

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