Rock & Roll 101

December 28th, 2020

December 21st, 2020

Abby played through her songs all for me, and did the first 25 minutes without needing to write the notes on the piano! I'm not sure if you worked on that with her, but I see that improvement already.

In the last five, she wanted to write them out for We Wish You a Merry Christmas - for some reason, she's having trouble with that song, from that point on through the rest of her booklet.

Maybe she's been practising from the front of her book to this point... which is good in that she's learning her old songs well. But we need to keep learning new songs, so encourage her to work on the stuff she doesn't know well yet.

December 14th, 2020

We continued working through the songs together. She was attentive and focused tonight.

If you can encourage her to not depend on writing the notes on the keys, this will help her get to the next step more quickly. Perhaps your keyboard has A,B,C,D,E,F,G etc written on the keyboard. If it does, a piece of masking take over some of the notes might encourage her to memorize those ones.

December 7th, 2020

Abby was a little distracted this evening, but we kept at it - I think she might find it more energizing if she could be practising. We haven't made much progress since the first lessons, mostly because she doesn't know the note names yet.

As for the credit I see as you being Due $330 to date, and have paid $300 so far. Let me know if this doesn't match your records.

Thanks!

November 30th, 2020

Abby did well - I'm finding the trick with her is just to be as organic and patient as possible, and let her learn at her own pace. I understand that the power-pack is missing for the keyboard - practising at home once that's located will help a lot with learning.

Today we committed the first line of Jingle Bells to memory, and the first few notes of the second line.

I also just received your email. Her distraction is okay, I think just a gentle push, "Abby, are you getting distracted?" helps.

November 23rd, 2020

Abby was a bit distracted tonight - we went through all of her songs - I think she's getting a bit better, but very slowly. I'd like to take her to the next phase if she can spend a bit more time learning the songs, and committing them to memory.

If she's just unable to, I understand. We can keep moving at her speed.

November 16th, 2020

Abby and I went over all the songs, and added a new Christmas one to learn. She's still struggling with remembering the names of the notes. Please work with her on this this week so she has it without me needing to write them on the keyboard.

November 9th, 2020

Abby did well today - she said she had a keyboard now! :)

We reviewed the songs she's been working on, and added a new one, "We Wish You a Merry Christmas."

She's still quite shaky on her note names, so this would be a good thing to practice at home. It will make learning much more fun and quicker too.

November 2nd, 2020

Abby forgot her booklet today, so we used the ipad, and worked on a new song - down by the bay - with two hands.

Here's the link for her to use on her own ipad:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Em3kVzmDjWxjMu9lV4w800nXrG0fWe-WDmsN1SBdumk/edit?usp=sharing

October 26th, 2020

We went through all the songs together, and added a new one, "You Are My Sunshine." Hopefully you'll be able to get a keyboard this week. :)

October 19th, 2020

Abby's keyboard stopped working, so the practicing wasn't part of the last two weeks. We spent the main part of the lesson going over the songs and reviewing some basics.

We then added Happy Birthday, and tried playing it in a few different ways, including the copy "Simon Says" game with the melody.

I mentioned Joe's M.I.L.L. in the Tett Centre.

October 5th, 2020

Abby is at home, ill, today.

September 28th, 2020

Abby came with a booklet today, and she hadn't been able to practice this week, so we reviewed things like the notes, and finding them across the range of the piano keyboard.

She did quite a good job!

I wrote out Mary Had a Little Lamb, and later Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and we worked on those.

We also worked on playing with each finger, from thumb through to pinky. Work with her to remind her the names of each finger, and when she's practicing, remind her to try to use every finger and thumb.

September 21st, 2020

Abby came to her first lesson on piano today, and we started out with the basics; the pattern in the keyboard (three black, two black, etc)... and the dog house (where there are two black) with the "d"og in between them.

We then learned Mary Had a Little Lamb, where she followed along on the notes, using my iPad music.

I'll share that folder with you today so she can practice at home.

September 14th, 2020

Missed today, but Abby will be coming next week.