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Addie Hopkins
Past Notes
April 23rd, 2025
We started out with review of Moana and Dance Monkey and Circles.
We then added "We Will Rock You," by Queen.
Lastly, we reviewed I Can't Feel My Face. This one probably needs the most work this week.
April 16th, 2025
We started with How Far I'll Go, and did it twice, to get Addie "warmed up."
After that we went to Levitating - really good job. Only a few issues with timing here and there, which practising will help with.
Then we did "The Ocean," and after that I explained how the marking system works and we tried marking "How Far I'll Go"
We then went over Circles and talked about timing.
Finally we reviewed I Can't Feel My Face.
April 9th, 2025
Addie went first, and we started with "Moana." We went through it twice.
After that we did "Circles." Addie had a bit of trouble keeping up with the timing. I think it helped when I turned the volume up... it might be a matter of not hearing well.
We then moved to "Dance Monkey." This is pretty good! A few places of losing her spot, but not bad.
We then did "Levitating," and "Can't Feel My Face." The latter needs to the most work (I know, no drum set yet :)
We finished with "The Ocean."
April 2nd, 2025
We started with reviewing Moana, then Wannabe. We slowed the latter down to 85% because it's just a bit fast for Addie still.
We then reviewed The Ocean by Mike Perry, Levitating, and Can't Feel My Face. Addie has a bit of a struggle going the right speed sometimes. I tried to encourage her to listen to the speed of the song and match it, but I think it might not be something she completely understands yet. It will likely improve when she has her own kit to practise with at home.
March 26th, 2025
We started with a review of The Ocean, then we tried two new songs:
Levitating: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvWTOEVOeno
Can't Feel My Face: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aieFH9ODJGU
March 19th, 2025
Addie wanted to try the games that Emma was playing at the beginning of the lesson. We did that first, playing a couple of them, before going to drums. We started with Taylor Swift, You Belong To Me. It was a little challenging for her, maybe. I tried to find another one that might work, and we settled on "The Ocean" by Mike Perry (link at the bottom).
I know there aren't drums at home, but perhaps she can come up with another way to practise them, even just watching along with the drum video, and playing in her head to see if she can get used to keeping up with the time. There was a tendency to slow down, or to get the kick and snare backwards.
March 12th, 2025
Away for March Break
March 5th, 2025
Reviewed How Far I'll Go four or five times.
Tried adding Delicate, but Addie didn't love it, so we didn't stay with it.
We added Taylor Swift, You Belong With Me
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTQ3jguNpEI
February 19th, 2025
Addie went second today. We started out with sitting on a chair and me helping her to see how she can play drums with her knees, hands, and feet even if there's no kit.
We then went to the kit, and played through How Far I'll Go, and then Spice Girls. After that, we worked through a few of the fills in Spice Girls before running out of time.
February 12th, 2025
We worked on How Far I'll Go, and then tried looking at Wannabe by Spice Girls - we'll try coming back to that in the future once she's got a drum set at home, maybe.
February 5th, 2025
Addie went second today, since Emma had Hockey.
We continued working on drums, and started at 80% speed for Moana, How Far I'll Go, and go it up to 95% speed, before we switched gears quickly to take a look at Dance Monkey as one of the possible next songs.
(Addie doesn't have a kit to practise with yet, but they're thinking about picking one up at Joe's Mill).
January 29th, 2025
We started again with reviewing the tutorial for sight reading drums. After going through exercise 1, 2, and 3 we went through Moana a few times, starting at 70% speed, and getting up to 80% by the end.
January 22nd, 2025
Addie did more work today on the drum timing-reading tutorial. Here's the link again:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ssC7VfkQWE
We also took a few minutes at the end to look at the drum music for Moana, "How Far I'll Go." The link to the youtube video is down below in the song list.
January 15th, 2025
We worked more on the drum tutorial today, and got through to the end of the 2nd part, up to 95% speed!
Val explained that she can't really practise at home, so they're giving it a couple of weeks before deciding if they'll borrow a drum kit, to see if she shows a bit more interest.
January 8th, 2025
Addie continued on the drums today. We played through the exercises and then went over Circles a couple of times before running out of time.
She's got a natural aptitude for this, she can do it!
December 18th, 2024
Here's the sight reading video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ssC7VfkQWE
Here's the Circles video with the drum music:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P69ooyukIKs
You can use your knees and feet to make up a virtual drum set.
December 11th, 2024
Addie didn't bring her book today, so we worked on drums instead. She remembered a lot of stuff, so we started right up with a basic quarter note beat, and after it got a bit more stable, added a crash to beat 1.
After that, we lengthened the count to 8 instead of 4, and put the crash just on 1 (not on 5 anymore). Then we added a tom tom on beats 7 and 8.
I played along on the piano to help her feel the rhythm of it.
December 4th, 2024
Addie and Emma are staying home today because the roads are bad.
November 27th, 2024
Addie did really well today. We worked through the third page, down half way. I also helped her understand the chords by using the chord names, as we started learning them in the beginning.
November 20th, 2024
Addie forgot her book, I left it on the front porch.
We continued through Hey Jude, still focusing on the bottom of page 2. She's ready to move to the next page, but just needs a bit of encouragement to bite that off.
November 13th, 2024
Addie is doing much better on Hey Jude! We worked on the last line of page 2 for the whole lesson.
November 6th, 2024
Addie hadn't practised too much this week, so we spent the time working on the same stuff. There were some places where she didn't feel as comfortable reading the notes, so I encouraged her to practise reading like she did when she was learning to read books.
October 30th, 2024
We continued working through Hey Jude. We got to the second last line of page 2.
October 23rd, 2024
Addie continued with Hey Jude. She hadn't been putting both hands together at home, so we did that today. We broke it into little manageable chunks, to build confidence. She got nearly to the end of the section, and can probably finish things up herself this week, to get to near the bottom of page two.
October 16th, 2024
Addie decided to switch songs, and went to "Hey Jude." We worked through the first two pages, which are almost identical, and I encouraged her to use both hands. She's a bit intimidated by it, but she can do it if she takes her time.
October 9th, 2024
Addie started working on "Let It Be" by the Beatles. She brought a note book, and we worked through the first two lines. The next two lines are almost exactly the same, so she could challenge herself by doing all of the first page this week.
October 2nd, 2024
Addie and Emma came just a bit late today. We worked on Ukulele, going through Count On Me two or three times before running out of time.
September 25th, 2024
Addie played through the beginning of Who's Afraid of Little Old Me, but didn't want to learn the rest of it, so we added a new song.
We added Bruno Mars, Count On Me:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JNtAtGGNRU
September 18th, 2024
We started off playing through Champagne Problems - she didn't practise All Too Well.
We then added Who's Afraid of Lil' Old Me, which has a new chord, "D minor"
This song isn't the typical Taylor Swift piece- It moves around, and has different chord progressions in the song. It's a bit more challenging, and more fun to play.
September 11th, 2024
Addie played the ukulele today. We learned two new songs, but both of them have the same chord progression. They were Champagne Problems and All Too Well, by Taylor Swift
September 4th, 2024
Addie went second today. We just worked on scales, starting with C with the hands independently then together. We did both opposing directions and the same direction. We then reviewed the D scale, and tried them with independent hands, but not together.
June 26th, 2024
In Addie's lesson we tuned up her vocals. She was singing far enough away from the actual note, that sometimes it sounds a bit like a chipmunk. I encoded the song as an mp3 and sent Val a link.
June 19th, 2024
Emma and Addie are away today.
June 12th, 2024
We edited the bass part in Addie's song, and then she recorded vocals. Some of the notes were a little high for her to sing, but I think she well on it!
June 5th, 2024
Addie wanted to re-record her drum part, so we practised it, and then recorded it afterwards. Then we played with the sounds in the song, and she started to record bass with the keyboard, however since she didn't have her music, she made a lot of mistakes. We'll try again next week unless she has something else she'd like to learn.
May 29th, 2024
We worked on recording the Ukulele in Addie's lesson today, then added a drum track at the end.
May 22nd, 2024
We worked on Addie's song with the Ukulele, and then Emma joined in on the piano at the end.
Next week we'll try recording again.
May 15th, 2024
We went through the ukulele part of Addie's new song, and then tried recording it. She's going to work on it for rerecording this week.
May 8th, 2024
Addie played through her song for me a couple of times, and then we began recording it. We recorded hands separately, as MIDI files, and then did some selection of sounds.
We ran out of time before getting to record any Uke parts.
May 1st, 2024
Addie continued working through the song she's writing. We practised trying not to stop and slow down, to be ready to record soon.
April 24th, 2024
We practised Addie's new song, to get ready for recording it. I tried to help her to focus on the areas where she often makes mistakes.
April 17th, 2024
Addie finished writing chords for the bridge/instrumental, and we printed it out in printed form, then she played through it for me.
This week she's going to work on getting it smooth, and if everything goes well, we'll record it next week, and add uke maybe too.
Here's Addie's song:
language "english"
version "2.18.2"
#(define (line-break-every-nth-engraver bars-per-line)
(lambda (context)
(make-engraver
(acknowledgers ((paper-column-interface engraver grob source-engraver)
(let ((current-bar (ly:context-property context 'currentBarNumber)))
(if (= (remainder current-bar bars-per-line) 1)
(if (eq? #t (ly:grob-property grob 'non-musical))
(set! (ly:grob-property grob 'line-break-permission) 'force)
(set! (ly:grob-property grob 'line-break-permission)
'())))))))))
header {
title = "Springtime"
subtitle = ""
composer = "Addie Hopkins"
poet = ""
copyright = "2024 Addie Hopkins"
tagline = "" %Permission granted to share with attribution."
}
paper {
top-margin = #5
bottom-margin = #4
right-margin = #12
left-margin = #12
indent = #0
% min-systems-per-page = 10 % this allows you to squish line spacing
% the distance between two systems in the same score:
system-system-spacing = #'((basic-distance . 18 ) (minimum-distance . 0) (padding . 0 ) (stretchability . 00))
% the distance between the last system of a score and the first system of the score that follows it, when no (title or top-level) markup exists between them:
score-system-spacing = #'((basic-distance . 0) (minimum-distance . 0) (padding . 0) (stretchability . 0))
% the distance between a (title or top-level) markup and the system that follows it:
markup-system-spacing = #'((basic-distance . 0) (padding . 0) (stretchability . 0))
% the distance between the last system of a score and the (title or top-level) markup that follows it:
score-markup-spacing = #'((basic-distance . 0) (padding . 0) (stretchability . 0))
% the distance between two (title or top-level) markups:
markup-markup-spacing = #'((basic-distance . 0) (padding . 0))
% the distance from the top of the printable area (i.e. the bottom of the top margin) to the first system on a page, when there is no (title or top-level) markup between the two:
top-system-spacing = #'((basic-distance . 0) (minimum-distance . 0) (padding . 0))
% the distance from the top of the printable area (i.e. the bottom of the top margin) to the first (title or top-level) markup on a page, when there is no system between the two:
top-markup-spacing = #'((basic-distance . 0) (minimum-distance . 0) (padding . 0))
% the distance from the last system or top-level markup on a page to the bottom of the printable area (i.e. the top of the bottom margin):
last-bottom-spacing = #'((basic-distance . 0 ) (minimum-distance . 0) (padding . 0) (stretchability . 0))
paper-width = 21.59cm
paper-height = 27.94cm
}
LyricFontSize = #.5
sectionTitle = #(define-music-function
(parser location theTitle)
(string?)
#{
mark markup { large bold concat { " " #theTitle } }
#}
)
chExceptionMusic = {
}
chExceptions = #(append (sequential-music-to-chord-exceptions chExceptionMusic #t) ignatzekExceptions)
chordNames = chordmode {
set chordNameExceptions = #chExceptions
set chordChanges = ##t% ##t(true) or ##f(false)
set Staff.midiInstrument = #"string ensemble 1"
f1 d:m c g2 c
f1 d:m c g2 c
c1 a:m c g2 c2
f1 d:m c g2 c
c1 a:m c g2 c2
c1 f1 a:m g
c1 a:m c g2 c2
}
melody = relative c'{
set Staff.midiInstrument = #"piano"
time 4/4
key c major
clef treble
tempo 4 = 80
%set melismaBusyProperties = #'()
%unset melismaBusyProperties
sectionTitle "Verse 1"
c8 c4 d8 e4 d | c8 c4 d8 e4 d | c8 c d e f4 e | g8 g e d c2 bar "||" break
sectionTitle "Verse 2"
c8 c4 d8 e4 d | c8 c4 d8 e4 d | c8 c d e f4 e | g8 g e d c2 bar "||" break
sectionTitle "Chorus"
a'8 a e d c2 | a'8 a e d c2 | d8 d e d c2 | g'8 g e d c2 bar "||" break
sectionTitle "Verse 3"
c8 c4 d8 e4 d | c8 c4 d8 e4 d | c8 c d e f4 e | g8 g e d c2 bar "||" break
sectionTitle "Chorus"
a'8 a e d c2 | a'8 a e d c2 | d8 d e d c2 | g'8 g e d c2 bar "||" break
sectionTitle "Instrumental"
c'8 c b a g b c4 | c8 c b a g b c4 | c8 b b a g4 a4 | c8 b b a g4 a4 break
sectionTitle "Chorus"
a8 a e d c2 | a'8 a e d c2 | d8 d e d c2 | g'8 g e d c2 bar "|." break
}
nothing = lyricmode {}
verseone = lyricmode {
override LyricText #'font-size = LyricFontSize
set stanza = "1."
Flo -- wers are bloom -- ing
spring -- time is com -- ing
see the trees are bud -- ding
Be -- cause spring is here.
The sun is shin -- ing
And bees are buzz -- ing
And I hear the birds sing
Be -- cause spring is here
Bun -- nies are hop -- ping
The eggs are hatch -- ing
Child -- ren are play -- ing
Be -- cause spring is here
Bi -- kers are rid -- ing
Wa -- ter is flow -- ing
School is al -- most o -- ver
Be -- cause spring is here
Bun -- nies are hop -- ping
The eggs are hatch -- ing
Child -- ren are play -- ing
Be -- cause spring is here
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Bun -- nies are hop -- ping
The eggs are hatch -- ing
Child -- ren are play -- ing
Be -- cause spring is here.
}
score {
<<
new ChordNames with {midiInstrument = #"piano"} {
chordNames
}
new Staff
<<
new Voice = "one" {
melody
}
addlyrics {
verseone
}
>>
>>
layout {
#(layout-set-staff-size 20)
context {
Score
% override NonMusicalPaperColumn #'line-break-permission = ##f
%consists #(line-break-every-nth-engraver 4)
}
}
midi { }
}
April 10th, 2024
We continued writing words for Addie's next lesson. She had an ear infection so wasn't feeling great today.
April 3rd, 2024
Addie and Emma were away at a hockey tournament and so didn't practise at all. I had asked her to write another verse, but she can continue with that on her own next week.
We did write out words for a chorus today.
March 27th, 2024
Addie and I continued with her song, first playing it through, and then she wanted to add words to it. We talked about how to count syllables, and to fit them in with the notes.
She got the first two lines done, she could try to finish it on her own this week?
March 20th, 2024
Addie and I worked some more on her song, putting it into Lilypond, printing it, and adding chords.
Here is the Lilypond file data:
header {
title = "Springtime"
composer = "Addie Hopkins"
}
score {
relative c' {
c8 c4 d8 e4 d | c8 c4 d8 e4 d | c8 c d e f4 e | g8 g e d c2 bar "||" break
c8 c4 d8 e4 d | c8 c4 d8 e4 d | c8 c d e f4 e | g8 g e d c2 bar "||" break
a'8 a e d c2 | a'8 a e d c2 | d8 d e d c2 | g'8 g e d c2 bar "||" break
c8 c4 d8 e4 d | c8 c4 d8 e4 d | c8 c d e f4 e | g8 g e d c2 bar "||" break
a'8 a e d c2 | a'8 a e d c2 | d8 d e d c2 | g'8 g e d c2 bar "||" break
c'8 c b a g b c4 | c8 c b a g b c4 | c8 b b a g4 a4 | c8 b b a g4 a4 break
a8 a e d c2 | a'8 a e d c2 | d8 d e d c2 | g'8 g e d c2 bar "|." break
}
layout {}
midi {}
}
March 13th, 2024
Away for March break
March 6th, 2024
Addie wanted to write a song, and she showed me one she was playing with already. I showed her how patterns in melody working, using phrasing like the AABA, AABC, ABAB, etc system. And she then made a verse and chorus using this method.
We talked briefly about verses, choruses, and bridges, the shapes songs usually take, and how to put chords with melodies based on what notes are used the most in a melody.
February 28th, 2024
Addie didn't have her book so I wrote out Mary had a Little Lamb again for her, with both hands, and also Happy Birthday.
She hadn't yet learned inversions, so I showed her the concept with C and A minor and then helped her find them for both songs.
We played them through a few times and I also had her play Mary Had a Little Lamb as quietly as she could.
February 21st, 2024
We did ukulele first, going over the newer chords which she said she hadn't practised much. She did surprisingly well with them, and with the dotted quarter note rhythm.
We then reviewed some older songs on the piano.
February 14th, 2024
Jason is sick today, so cancelling lessons.
February 7th, 2024
We started out without power, but fortunately it came back on during Addie's lesson.
We worked on playing through the chords faster in Stars Like Confetti, and then played along with the song. We were able to play along up to 75% speed. She's nearly there!
January 31st, 2024
We continued working through Sweet Addie, and added some more chords up to the end of the bridge.
She then wanted to add a new song by Dustin Lynch, Stars Like Confetti:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ay6dfdxmWvs
January 24th, 2024
We went through Riding Free at full speed! Great job! That G is getting so fast.
We then added a new song by Zac Brown Band, called Sweet Addie:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KN3wEzLp9do
January 17th, 2024
We played Forever Young - Addie is getting good at switching the E7! Great job.
We decided to add a new song, and chose Riding Free:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1bGvhjSuSU
January 10th, 2024
We continued with Forever Young, focusing especially on the B minor, F# minor, and the E7, trying to get to the chords quickly and in context.
January 3rd, 2024
We went over Forever Young together and practised playing some of the newer chords like E7, to help with getting to them faster. While I was in the bathroom, she got nailed it very quickly! Good job!
We went over the song a few times, adding F# minor at one point, and figuring out where the repeats and the solos go.
Great job today!
December 27th, 2023
The Hopkins are away today.
December 20th, 2023
The girls didn't have their books today, but Addie remembered her chords, and so played through Cop Car for me, and then we talked a bit about how to count so she changes the chords on the right beat.
After that we added a new one, by Audra Mae, Forever Young
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5kA7o5-lLY
BTW, Addie forgot her green sheet of music on my music stand today.
Thanks for the nice card and gift card! :)
December 13th, 2023
Addie said she was struggling with D minor, so we did some racing on that chord to start, and then played through the song for a while.
We added a new song, Keith Urban, Cop Car:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBn6rKEmJy8
This has a new chord in it, "G", so we drilled it for a bit, and then played through the song. We spoke about how sometimes fingering can be altered for a chord to make it easier to go to the next chord. By playing C with her first finger, she can get to G more quickly.
December 6th, 2023
We played through Circles as a reminder / warm - up, and then did Last Christmas again. The G minor was still kind of new, so we did some practise of just that chord, and races to play it quickly. She got it to two seconds.
We then played it without Taylor Swift's recording, and then with it at 75% speed. She is getting much faster on the G minor!
See you next week!
November 29th, 2023
Addie's in Florida
November 22nd, 2023
We did Ukulele again today. She played through Circles very well, great job!
We then learned Down By the Bay, and Last Christmas.
If she focuses on improving the G chord, there will be more song options open to us.
November 15th, 2023
Addie has a ukulele from Val's school. We added a few more chords, and did some chord "racing," then played through our first song,
Circles by Post Malone.
This is a good first song, because there are only two chords, which repeat every 8 beats.
November 8th, 2023
Addie also wanted to work on Uke, so we used her sister's. We practised the chords she's been learning, and I did speed tests with her to help her get to the chords as quickly as possible.
November 1st, 2023
Addie and Emma didn't bring their books today. In Addie's slot she learned some chords on the ukulele, c, f, and a minor. The song called Circles can be played with just C and F.
After doing that, she played it on the piano, and then Tomas came in a bit early and he played along with us - Emma joined on the Ukulele.
October 25th, 2023
Addie had a concussion this week, so didn't practise. She wanted to start a new song, so we tried to learn Lover by Taylor Swift.
These songs are a little hard to write out melodically, because it's sort of conversational rather than a real melody, and it's different on the verses as they repeat. I tried to sort of "generalize" the melody, but hopefully that doesn't make it harder for her in the end.
October 11th, 2023
Addie did really well today. We went through the timing on the song, Daughter. I tapped first, to help her with the timing, and then added chords for her while tapping, and then she played it. I think we got it pretty close by the end of the lesson.
October 4th, 2023
Emma and Addie forgot their book so they both started new songs which I wrote out on the same paper.
For Addie, she added Pearl Jam, Daughter:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vr6gRJKtQI0
We just did the chorus for now.
September 20th, 2023
Addie did really well on Follow Your Arrow. At first she didn't want to use her left hand, but got right into it.
We practised doing the F to G minor chord a few times (20 times repetition) to help with switching more smoothly. Then the same thing with both hands. By the end it was much better!
I suggested she do this for all the parts she is struggling with.
September 13th, 2023
Addie played through Follow Your Arrow for me, breaking it into sections.
After that, we did the F scale a couple of times, which requires the fingers to move up to the top of the piano keys to get the thumb under.
Good job! Maybe we can play the song with Emma next week!
September 6th, 2023
We reviewed some older songs, first playing the right hand, and then gradually adding the left hand in.
We decided to review Follow Your Arrow this week, to help her get back into the swing of things.
June 28th, 2023
Addie and Emma forgot books today, so I wrote out Wildflowers by Tom Petty, and we worked through the first verse of that over the lesson.
June 21st, 2023
Great job on Firefly! Almost done! You can get 10 out of 10, just put it all together!
June 14th, 2023
Addie wrote a song and played it through me a few times. We added a repeat and a new chord the "first" time for the 1st ending. Then we added an arpeggio at the end, a fermatta to hold the last chord, and a sustain pedal (damper) to hold the arpeggio.
We also did a song in Emma's book.
May 31st, 2023
Addie added a new song today, American Honey by Lady Antebellum
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4NezYl-i6Q
May 24th, 2023
Addie and Emma couldn't make it today because of an appointment.
May 17th, 2023
We kept working on If I Had A Boat, this time trying to find the chords without looking, by using the pinkie of E flat as the home base to move the thumb to for the A flat.
We tried doing it with eyes closed, and she did quite well! She also did this with the melody, but putting both hands together still caused some challenges. She's getting there, though!
May 10th, 2023
Addie played her song If I Had a Boat again, putting both hands together for the first 15 minutes.
For the second half, she recorded a drum track on her Timber recording. I need to spend some time to even up the beats because it wasn't recorded in time very well. :)
May 3rd, 2023
Addie wanted to record vocals on her song, so we had some fun doing that for half of her time, and then looked at the chords in If I Had a Boat-- they were a bit too complex for her, so I simplified them a bit to make it easier.
She wants to try adding drums on her song next week.
April 26th, 2023
Addie started a new song, Lyle Lovett, If I Had a Boat: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7n3GHCIu60
This has some inversions in it, so if you get confused, maybe ask Emma for help.
April 19th, 2023
Addie wanted to record like her sister, so we recorded Timber... it might not have been quite ready for recording, but the good side of it is that sometimes recording highlights the areas that need work since you have to listen back to your mistakes while I correct them.
She wants to add bass and strings to her recording next week.
April 12th, 2023
Addie and I worked through the second part of Timber. Try to play it by memory, without stopping at the chord changes
April 5th, 2023
Addie did really well on her song today. We added Pitbull, Timber:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzeGGTT69A4
We just worked on the first part, so we'll add more as she works through this.
I also transposed it up from B to C to make it easier for her.
March 29th, 2023
Addie did the C scale for me, and then the Horses song, and then Puff.
March 8th, 2023
We worked at putting both hands together starting at the end of Puff the Magic Dragon, and moving toward the front, adding a bar at a time.
She is doing well with the hands separately, although the melody probably needs more work than the arpeggios.
March 1st, 2023
Addie played through Puff the Magic dragon for me, first hands separately. She had got a little stumped or something while practising at home, so we pushed through that part.
I showed her how to do an arpeggio in the left hand, where she goes up and down on the chord:
thumb - middle - pinky - middle (switch)
February 22nd, 2023
Addie recorded Listen to the Horses today. We set up the microphones in stereo and she played it through a number of times. We picked the last time, which was the best version, and I did some edits to minimize the times she'd stopped or made a bad note.
We then recorded some clippity cloppity sounds using my wooden spoons instrument, and added them to the song. I'll send an MP3 over when I get a moment to export it etc.
February 15th, 2023
Addie did well on Listen to the Horses. There was one part that she was kind of fudging, so we focused on that ... this is the intro and the last line that has the "tee tee" parts. (eighth notes).
February 8th, 2023
Addie played through Blackbird for me, but she struggled with it this week, so we decided to move on to a new song. This time we are learning Raffi's "Listen to the Hourses."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2hB_2vSRxk&ab_channel=Plans4Nobody
February 1st, 2023
We continued working thru blackbird this week.
I would also like her to keep working on identifying keyboard keys (maybe with her eyes closed).
January 25th, 2023
Addie worked through Follow Your Arrow and we started Blackbird, and reviewed note names on the keyboard.
Practice with your eyes closed, to find the notes.
January 18th, 2023
We finished up the song I Just Can't Wait to be King. Good job!
Addie started a new song, Follow Your Arrow:
https://youtu.be/YUVDZk6nOOc?t=48
January 11th, 2023
Addie went second today, so her sister could go to hockey.
We continued working through the Lion King song, and she has made good progress there. We continued through to the end of the song with both hands, so if she can get that smooth this week, we'll add the teacher's part next week.
January 4th, 2023
Addie seemed distracted and unfocused today, but we worked through some note reading for a song from the Lion King which she brought in a book.
December 28th, 2022
Addie wanted to try something different this week, since practice wasn't too often over the holiday. She decided upon drums, and we reviewed the basics, and she played through the first few screens of the beginner drum reading exercises.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
December 21st, 2022
Addie played through My Church a couple of times, and then we tried to get it a bit faster so it was like the original song.
After doing that for a bit, we added "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxVqliZCNw0&ab_channel=CaseyDecker
December 14th, 2022
Addie played My Church for me, and we added the left hand again. She went through it three times, and will practice it this week.
December 7th, 2022
Addie played Bang for me again, and we confirmed that the whole song has been learned.
We then focused on My Church, and I helped her tackle the first line, so she could feel a bit more confident with working on it at home.
Good job, Addie! Thanks for working so hard!
November 30th, 2022
Addie played through Bang! and I wrote out some words in it for her on the third section so she knows where she is in the song.
Then we added Maren Morris, My Church:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mu7nOTe0wo&ab_channel=ThinkBigGetBig
Good job!
November 23rd, 2022
Addie continued with BANG! and we added the next section. We also added left hand for the first parts.
Keep working through it! You're doing great!
November 16th, 2022
Addie added a new song this week, called BANG!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9e2buqBpSBU&ab_channel=7clouds
It has a left hand and a right hand part, but you can just do them separately, as it's kind of hard for now.
November 9th, 2022
We went over memories for the whole lesson, focusing on getting both hands together.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1XqTFIVM0E&ab_channel=MusicCavier
November 2nd, 2022
Addie did some scales for me at the beginning. She was having trouble getting into it.
We then looked at Wildest Dreams a bit before adding Memories by Maroon 5
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1XqTFIVM0E&ab_channel=MusicCavier
October 26th, 2022
Good job Addie! We went through the chords and played with the recording using looper.tube
https://www.looper.tube/?v=7rINKu7Dra4&s=0&e=217.4&spd=0.65
After that we reviewed the G scale going opposite directions.
October 19th, 2022
We started out with scales, trying to get her to play them quickly, and I timed her to help her get a sense of accomplishment.
After that we worked on transitioning through the chords in the Wildest Dreams song. We got pretty fast, and she played them sequentially too... I asked her to try to play through the song this week.
October 12th, 2022
We went over Delicate, but you can leave that one now. Just work on Wildest Dreams. AND the scale(s).
We did racing again, and didn't get to a point where we played through the song. Do this at home.
Great job!
October 5th, 2022
Addie did so well today. She felt frustrated with Wildest Dreams, because there are so many flats in it.
We did some "racing," to help her get familiar with the various chords, and then went over the song quickly.
Great job working through hard stuff!
We then reviewed the G scale, going opposite and the same directions.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rINKu7Dra4&ab_channel=RachelGardner
September 28th, 2022
We continued working on Delicate - the girls hadn't made much time for practice this week, so we just worked through the songs like normal.
After going through a few times, we decided to add a new song, Wildest Dreams by Taylor Swift:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9r4hCd9hP8&ab_channel=carrotboom
September 21st, 2022
Addie is doing really well on Delicate:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0i1o9lSUuI8
We separated out the hands to focus on the left only, and then played both hands without the music.
I wrote out the new section (the bridge I guess), and went over it a few times.
We finished with the G scale
Oops, we also did two octave scales, where the thumb tucks under after the ring finger when going up to the next octave.
Great job!
September 14th, 2022
Addie played through last year's songs for me and did a great job on them!
We added a new song by Taylor Swift called Delicate. We just did the first section that repeats the same four chords.
Addie chose to play left hand bass with right hand chords instead of melody.
Good job!
September 7th, 2022
Addie played through some of last year's songs for me, in an effort to review some things. We settled on Mary Had a Little Lamb and Down By The Bay as songs to help her recall the note names, and other details from how to play.
She has a Taylor Swift song picked out to learn when she's ready.
June 22nd, 2022
Addie was pretty tired. We played through her song together, and then we reviewed some of the songs she loves from the past. There was some forgetting about reading note names, so maybe review with quiz games or something like that to really keep that fresh.
June 15th, 2022
Addie played through the songs she has been working on, then we reviewed the C scale and the G scale.
Then we went back through the books and played a couple of her favourites.
June 8th, 2022
Addie wanted to record her song too, so after we played through it a couple of times, we set up the recorder. I'll email it to you later today.
June 1st, 2022
Addie did really well considering how tired she seemed. At the end of her lesson she got kind of distracted, but it might have been partly my fault.
We went over The Haunted Mouse, and then added one a few pages later in her book, which uses lower C, middle C, and higher C.
We also tried to add the next one in her book, but I think she was too tired.
May 25th, 2022
Addie did Emma's lesson slot too today.
We started with going over the song from last week, (Mexican Jumping Beans), and then added one she'd already started, which is The Haunted Mouse.
The second half of the lesson, Addie tried the drums out.
May 18th, 2022
We continued working on Addie's book, and added the Mexican Jumping Beans song... pay close attention to the notes, don't just memorize, so you don't mix up the parts.
See you next week, for an hour maybe!
May 11th, 2022
Addie and Emma cannot make it today.
May 4th, 2022
Addie played both songs for me, and I played along with the "teacher's part." great job!
We added the next song in the book (actually, skipping one), but mostly only the first page.
April 27th, 2022
Addie did great for the first 20 minutes or so, then go pretty funny in her distraction! :) What a blast!
We did drunken sailor first and then Firefly, which sounded great with both the teacher part and the student part together!
We tried to move on to the next page of slurs, but she was too distracted to do much work there.
April 20th, 2022
Drunken Sailor - work on it one more week.
Firefly - use the correct fingering....
Great job! See you next time!
April 13th, 2022
Addie played through all her songs including Silly Sailor and Skip to My Lou... I think we added another song from the book, but I can't remember, sorry! :(
April 6th, 2022
Addie played through Skip to my Lou very well. She's been using the games on her tablet to practice note reading... great job!
We added the other sheet she brought: What Do You Do With a Silly Sailor. It has some F clef (bass clef) notes in it, so we talked through those first, and I wrote in a few here and there to encourage her to read the note heads instead of the letters.
Great job!
March 30th, 2022
We worked through Lion King and then worked on some note reading for Snow Man.
She had some music for Skip To My Lou so we went over that too.
The I recommended some Apps for sight reading, or my website:
http://readsheetmusic.info/games/read-keys/
http://readsheetmusic.info/games/read-notes/
http://readsheetmusic.info/games/save-the-city/
March 23rd, 2022
Today Addie and Emma's dad, Matt, came in! It was nice to meet you Matt!
We added do you Want To Build a Snow Man, and the Lion King still needs some work.
Addie is doing well! Keep focused and practice as much as you can! :)
March 16th, 2022
Addie and Emma won't be here this week.
March 9th, 2022
Addie brought a book with notes in it, and we worked through some of the basics of note reading. If she wants to keep working on this that's fine, I'll let you decide with her whether to continue with note reading, or to go back to playing music in the other 'by ear' stream.
March 2nd, 2022
We went through Bruno together, and added a new one by the Irish Rovers, called The Unicorn Song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EPsuOEH1fY&ab_channel=XxMrBlondexX
I just wrote the intro and the verse... we didn't get to the chorus yet. We'll save that for next time.
February 23rd, 2022
Addie did very well on It's Friday, and we added a new one from the Disney Movie Encanto, called We Don't Talk About Bruno:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvWRMAU6V-c&ab_channel=DisneyMusicVEVO
It's a little challenging, especially because it's has so many flats!
February 9th, 2022
Addie showed me how she had learned It's Friday, and she is doing a great job... there were some mistakes in my arrangement from the second line but we fixed that up, and she was able to play through each line a few times and then put it all together.
February 2nd, 2022
Great job Addie! Sorry that she was feeling frustrated!
We added a new song, "It's Friday" by Dean Brody
https://youtu.be/HjADuUZqDjU?t=68
I wrote out the chorus only for her, with full chords (her choice!) She picked it up very quickly!
perhaps it's a good idea to have her think of a few other songs she'd like to learn in the future.
January 26th, 2022
Addie did very well today! We went over both parts of Favourite Things together, and joined them so she's playing the whole song.
I wrote some reminders for her in the book so she doesn't forget to go to the right pitched note, so that she remembers to use both hands, to play with her pinky on the higher notes, etc.
January 19th, 2022
We went through Favourite Things together, especially focusing on the new part.
January 12th, 2022
We went through Favourite Things together, and she played it smoothly, like the teeter totter, so all the notes flowed together.
Then we added the left hand, and she played through it completely, twice!
Then we added the new part of the song (when the dog bites, when the bee stings)... we only did the right hand, so don't worry too much about the left hand
January 5th, 2022
Addie played through one of her Christmas songs for me, and then we added a new one from Sound of Music, Favourite Things.
I wasn't exactly sure what was going on, but she seemed to have forgotten some of the piano key names. I will review them next week if she struggles with practising.
December 29th, 2021
Missed seeing Addie and Emma today! Happy New Year!
December 22nd, 2021
Emma and Addie won't be coming today.
December 8th, 2021
Addie really impressed me with the C scale today! Nice job! Keep working on the G scale and D scale, and don't forget the c# and f# etc. as needed.
We then went over the two Christmas songs we've been working on, and practising getting them smooth.
Keep up the great work!
December 1st, 2021
Addie did a great job on the D scale! and the G scale, going opposite directions! Keep working on that.
We also added the ability to do more than one octave, by tucking your thumb under after the ring finger.
After playing through last week's songs we added Frosty the Snowman. Focus especially on the first half, unless you have lots of time to work on the "bridge."
November 24th, 2021
We started by going over Deck The Halls - it was a week of a little less practice, so if this week is better, try to work on the last four or five songs so important skills aren't forgotten.
Went over scales - great job! Keep working and try to expand into going the same direction.
We went over drums with You Are My Sunshine, first with melody and then with chords... trying to help learn the timing of the song and waiting long enough for rests and held notes.
We then did Mary Had a Little Lamb.
November 17th, 2021
Addie played her scales for me - and has accomplished C in the SAME DIRECTION! Amazing, Addie.
We then tried G and D in the same direction, and those are still a work in progress.
Try to get G in the same direction, and D in opposite directions.
Then we played through the songs we've been learning (the ones we added chords to last week).
After that, I forget what we learned! I THINK we added a new song?
November 10th, 2021
Addie played through Jingle Bells for me with the chords, and I wrote out chords for a couple of other songs as well.
She played he C and G scale for me, going opposite directions. Try to keep working on going the same direction - it will mean the hands are doing slightly different things at different times.
I also wrote out the D scale for her (which has C# and F# in it), and she played that for me. Try to play it with both hands.
November 3rd, 2021
Addie played through the second half of Rudolph for me, and then Jingle Bells. She has been working on the scales with the left hand, which she's executing well. Her right hand scales are nice and smooth and quite quick. She had trouble doing them with both hands, but I suggested starting by going opposite directions (starting with both pinkies, and working toward and away from each other).
We then wrote out chords for one of her songs, and talked about how chords work. She played them hands separately and together.
October 27th, 2021
Addie played through Rudolph fairly well, and then Jingle Bells REALLY well. I played along with the piano and she kept a good sense of time through the song.
We then reviewed scales and she had figured out the fingering for the G scale already!
We added the fingering for the left hand in C, which happens in a kind of "opposite" way to the right hand.
October 20th, 2021
Addie played through her songs for me, and is progressing well.
I wrote out the rest of Rudoplh the Red Nosed Reindeer, and we played that through a couple of times.
We then added Jingle Bells.
We talked about scales, and the proper way to finger them so that she doesn't run out of fingers to play eight notes.
This involves tucking the thumb under the middle finger on the way up the scale.
October 13th, 2021
Addie played through all of her songs for me and did really well! We added Happy Birthday for her to work on as well.
I think we also added Down by the Bay, but my old brain isn't remembering very good right now! :)
Mom was concerned that the children would get around to learning notes as well. We will continue to keep that as our goal over the next months.
October 6th, 2021
Addie did really well with her songs. We went through them together, and then added Skip To My Lou
After that we talked briefly about chords, and she found her way through the C chord, F chord, and G chord.
C: c e g
F: f a c
G: g b d
We then added London Bridge.
September 29th, 2021
Addie did really well with Mary Had a Little Lamb. I wrote out "Twinkle, Twinkle" and "Down By the Bay" for her as well, and we went through them together a few times.
Great job, Addie!
September 22nd, 2021
Today was Addie's first lesson.
We started out with the names of the notes, working through our story to get the elephant out of grandma's flower bed.
We have the two black notes as the dog house, with the dog inside, and the three black notes as grandma's house with ants on her counter top.
We then added a song, Mary Had a Little Lamb, and worked through it a few times.
She should work on memorizing where the notes are located, and practising the song.
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