Rock & Roll 101

April 23rd, 2025

Again we did the first 15 minutes in the easier book and played through Old Suzanna and another - can't remember it's name right now.

We then went to the harder book, and Moiranda couldn't remember how to play it much at all, so we spent some time going over the third line.

April 16th, 2025

We did the first 13 to 15 minutes with the easier piano book, and then moved to the song.

She seemed to forget quite a bit for some reason, and it was a while to get her back in the swing of it. We got through the first page pretty well, and then she struggled a bit with page 2.

April 9th, 2025

Moiranda had both books today, and the intention was to start with one and move to the other, but we had such a good session working on Reflection, that we just stayed there.

I should have started with the easier book, maybe, to get her more "warmed up" with reading, but oh well! Next week!

We focused on getting all the errors out, and instead of telling her she was playing an A instead of a G, or whatever, I would just say "your pinkie is on the wrong note," and make her figure it out. I think that helped her.

We got through to the middle of page two, doing quite well with that. The temptation is for her to play that second line as eighth notes, not quarters, but once she got that, it helped I think (it's also slower, giving her time to think it through).

April 2nd, 2025

Moiranda didn't have her normal Disney book today, but she brought in an easier early-level book. It turned out to be great, because it gave us the opportunity to work on note reading which she's still guessing at.

I suggested she bring in both books for a while, so we can work a bit on the easy book to hone reading, then switch to the song.

She said she's getting bored with piano, so I suggested maybe trying another instrument for a while. I'm not sure if that was just discouragement speaking, because she seemed to back off a bit.

March 26th, 2025

Moiranda is sick today and won't be coming in.

March 19th, 2025

We continued with page 2 today, working through to about the middle of the third line. It's coming, bit by bit!

March 12th, 2025

We started today on the second page, second line. I think Moiranda maybe have forgotten some of her note reading. I did a lot of correcting, like "that's a g, not an a," or "that's an octave lower there."

We kept at it, and got through to the left hand of the last line of the second page today.

March 5th, 2025

We continued working through Reflection. Moiranda had forgotten much of what we'd accomplished so far, so we reworked it, and go up to the second bar of the section section on the top of page 2.

February 19th, 2025

Moiranda is sick today so won't be coming in today.

February 12th, 2025

Moving along slowly, but surely - the first page is still good, and she's moving a bit better into page 2. I'm happy to say I think she's getting better at reading. I hope she keeps pushing herself.

February 5th, 2025

Today is Moiranda's birthday so she's not coming.

January 29th, 2025

Moiranda has the first page down pretty good! We focused on the second page, and the first line of the second line is nearly there. The second line needs some work.

Good job today, keep going Moiranda!

January 22nd, 2025

Moiranda did quite well tonight. It seemed like she was more confident in her playing! Good job, Moiranda.

January 15th, 2025

We continued working through Reflection. We're still on the same page, and Moiranda hasn't really progressed since last week. I feel bad, like I'm not doing a very good job teaching her. I hope you're not getting impatient with me as her teacher.

January 8th, 2025

Today I just let Moiranda practise through Reflection, and I sat and listened to her. :)

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

December 18th, 2024

Moiranda brought the Reflection song in again from Mulan, and we kept working through the first page. I think she hadn't practised much because she didn't remember the progress we made last week, but we kept at it (and I just let her work on it).
Thanks SO much for the very nice gift of wine. Have a wonderful Merry Christmas and we'll see you in the new year!

December 11th, 2024

Moiranda remembered the right book, so we continued working through the first 8 or 10 bars of Reflection from Mulan.

December 4th, 2024

Moiranda didn't bring the Disney book with her again, so we continued working on Strawberry Wine.

November 27th, 2024

November 20th, 2024

Moiranda said she forgot to practise much, and when she did she practised the wrong song. Instead she had Strawberry Wine with her again, so I just let her work on that. She seemed to be frustrated with herself tonight and her playing. She did make a lot of mistakes, but I told her not to get discouraged: everyone has hard days like that.

November 13th, 2024

Moiranda brought her book today, so we continued with the song, working through the note reading again. She said she still kind of guesses the pitch of a note based on how far it is from the note before it (this is based on what she told me). I told her it's like the times table or simple addition - you just need to put the work in memorizing where the notes are and it will come naturally eventually.

November 6th, 2024

Moiranda isn't coming tonight.

October 30th, 2024

Moiranda didn't have her book with her, but she had the sheet music from Raspberry Wine, so I suggested we work through that. She didn't remember it at all, so we focused on just one bar at a time, getting through most of the first page over the lesson.
Even though it's a bit surprising she couldn't remember, it's good to have an opportunity to revisit these songs and try to apply some of the things she's hopefully learned about reading. :)

October 23rd, 2024

Moiranda brought a Disney book in, and we chose the song Reflection from Mulan. We worked through the right and left hands for the first half of page one, and then put them together, and got through the first four bars.

Her bass clef reading is still off a bit, but I think her timing might be better than it was on previous songs.

October 16th, 2024

We reviewed the scales, and then went over the video of note reading right through to the end (exercise 10). 8,9, and 10 are almost there.

We then went to the piano to work on her song, but all of her pieces are in 3/4 time. I think it would be better for our first song to be in 4/4 time.

If you could take a look for sheet music for beginners that's in 4/4 time, that would be great!

October 9th, 2024

Moiranda is feeling sick tonight.

October 2nd, 2024

We started with drills in which I pointed at various keys on the piano keyboard, and asked Moiranda to name them as fast as she could.

She's getting better, I think, but still a bit slow. She mixes up f/ b, and c/ e.

I had her play the c scale for me, and she did extremely well. The next part is to do more than one octave, so we worked on that for a good part of the lesson.

At the end we went to the rhythm reading. Moiranda is pretty good up to about the 5th level, so if someone could work with her on that (I hear she doesn't have access to her phone to watch the video on youtube now), that would be helpful.

September 25th, 2024

We went back to some basics today with Moiranda. I felt kind of bad walking her through these things, but I'm sure it will help her in the long run if she can work on them.
The first thing we did was the proper fingering for the C scale, both hands, moving away from each other from thumbs on C, and then the same direction, with the left pinkie and the right thumb.

After that, I wrote out the clef notes for her again, and drilled her on finding notes as quickly as she could (I counted seconds). If you could practise with her, say something like "Find all the E flats as fast as you can," and then count seconds or stopwatch her until she's played them all. Using both hands, she should be able to find then in around 4 seconds for each note.

After that, I showed her the value of whole notes, half notes, quarter notes, eighth notes, and sixteenth notes, and (we were running out of time), gave her this video to work through. I asked her to try to get good at the first two parts.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qp4flocUmxM

If she finds it easy, she should work through it even further.

September 18th, 2024

There still seems to be a lot of guess work with Moiranda - I am not certain she even knows what the various piano key names are. For example, I'll tell her that the notes of a particular chord are g, b, and e, and she can't remember how to find those notes on the keyboard. I've asked her if she would like me to go over them again, but she says she knows them, so it's hard to know sometimes how to help her.

I have been letting her find her way through the song on her own... it's hard to know how to help her, since she knows what she needs to do.

what are your thoughts? Do you think she's making any progress week to week?

September 11th, 2024

Moiranda continued playing through Mama's Broken Heart.

September 4th, 2024

Moiranda started off very enthusiastically on the beginning of the song, but had trouble remembering how to play after the first four bars or so. I helped her out with notes here and there, and she made her way through the song. I was very encouraged by how natural and musical the part she could play sounded. Laura had said that she's doing much better, and I can hear that! Hopefully she can work out the bugs for next week! :)

June 26th, 2024

Today is the last day of lessons for the year until September. I let Moiranda practise her part mostly on her own today. She got to the top of page two,which is an accomplishment for her! If you can encourage her to keep working on it over vacation, then she will continue to improve and grow as a pianist.

June 19th, 2024

We worked through the bottom of page one today, and next week I think we'll be able to move to page 2! Thanks for being willing to switch the time today!

June 12th, 2024

Moiranda continued working on the first page today. I hope she can try to practice past the first section this week.

June 5th, 2024

We continued just working on the first page again today.

May 29th, 2024

May 22nd, 2024

I just let Moiranda practise during the lesson, as she still hadn't moved on to the next part.

May 15th, 2024

Moiranda had forgotten the first two lines we'd worked on last week, so we restarted them. She was close, but was having trouble executing things that she felt she already knew. She seemed to be getting a little frustrated with herself.

May 8th, 2024

We went through the first two lines of the verse together for the whole lesson.

May 1st, 2024

April 24th, 2024

We started a new song tonight, Mama's Broken Heart.

April 17th, 2024

Moiranda played through the entire song today! Not perfectly, but completely which is a big accomplishment for her!

April 10th, 2024

April 3rd, 2024

Moiranda worked on the next line of the song today. We focused exclusively on that line.

March 27th, 2024

Moiranda was able to remember how to play through the first line of page 4! We moved on to the second line today.

March 20th, 2024

We continued working on the same four bars, as Moiranda didn't seem to remember what we worked on last week.

March 13th, 2024

Moiranda came on Tuesday this week. We went over the same page 4 (she said she could never remember how to play it and couldn't read the notes yet-- I encouraged her to try to memorize them, and wrote them out on the first line to help her get started with that).

Thanks for coming earlier this week! Happy March break!

March 6th, 2024

Moiranda is coming along well. There are a few places especially on page 4 where she's guessing on notes, and not relying on reading them yet. I encouraged her to take the time to learn to read the bass clef especially, and to focus on the lower notes below that clef. We went through the top of page 4 for the rest of the lesson.

February 28th, 2024

Moiranda is doing really well on the first two pages, but needs to push herself into page three. We worked through it for the lesson, mostly the right hand... it's a bit harder than the other stuff, but I know she can do it.

February 21st, 2024

We continue to working through the song, and got to the top of the coda.

She is definitely doing better at reading.

February 14th, 2024

Jason is sick today, so cancelling lessons.

February 7th, 2024

Moiranda is away for her birthday today.

January 31st, 2024

Moiranda was doing quite well today! The song is easier to execute than Strawberry Wine, I think, partly because the left hand is quite unchanging and simple. There is still some guesswork on reading, but I think that might even be improving.

Good job!

January 24th, 2024

Moiranda brought a new song to work on, and we played through first the whole right hand of the first page, and then from the top worked on putting both hands together.

There is still a large amount of guess work and "ear" playing happening, rather than reading the notes. If she can download a flash card app, or a phone-game to help with reading notes, I think she'll see big improvements.

January 17th, 2024

Moiranda forgot to bring in another song (or maybe couldn't find one? I'm not sure exactly) so we continued working on the instrumental of Strawberry Wine. There is definitely improvement, but it takes quite a long time! haha! :)

January 10th, 2024

Moiranda said she's getting tired of this song (and I don't blame her!) It's been a long run. We went over the middle section at the last page a few times again, which she's been having trouble with. I suggested she pick something else to learn for next week-- something she'll love and want to know how to play.

January 3rd, 2024

Moiranda is sick and won't be coming today.

December 27th, 2023

I cancelled lessons Wednesday night (no charge).

December 20th, 2023

We continued working through the bridge of Strawberry Wine. Moiranda seemed to be a little off tonight, and couldn't remember how to read music, but we just went through the section note by note patiently, and tried to work them out.

I also reminded her to download the app to her phone so she can practise sight reading at home. (Music Tutor).

December 13th, 2023

Moiranda struggled more than usual tonight. She said she hadn't practised this week, and it was evident. I think she was just distracted too.

December 6th, 2023

We continued working on the last page, especially the instrumental section before the last chorus.

November 29th, 2023

We continued working on the first and second endings, and the last page today.

November 22nd, 2023

We worked on the first ending and seconding ending today, and moved a bit into the bridge melody, although not the chords.

November 15th, 2023

Moiranda is making progress! We continued working on page 4, and especially focusing on the first line. She's getting there, slowly but surely!

November 8th, 2023

We worked on the next page of Strawberry Wine today - it took a bit of conjoling, because Moiranda was feeling a bit intimidated by this page. We did left and right hand separately, and then put them together.

November 1st, 2023

We kept writing through strawberry wine, but not enough over the oats Moiranda needs to work on.

I tried to encourage her to not avoid the parts she hasn't learned yet.

October 25th, 2023

We worked our way onto the second last page today, and hammered out some of the parts, especially the right hand. I'm glad to see she's using the chords a bit more to flesh out her left hand. The more she does that, the sooner she can get proficient in playing more music.

October 11th, 2023

Moiranda will be away this week.

October 4th, 2023

Moiranda is making good progress on Strawberry Wine. Although the song isn't being completely accurately played, she has a good sense of timing, and a melodic and natural melody in keeping with the original song.
Today we continued through the chorus, getting through almost to the bottom of the page (1 bar short).

Good job, Moiranda!

September 20th, 2023

Moiranda is continuing to improve on working through Strawberry Wine! We made it through to the middle of page three. I see regular improvement, which is great! I don't know how much she's practising, but I think she's getting better at reading, slowly but surely!

September 13th, 2023

We focused a lot on page two, mostly working out the left hand, and eventually me playing the right hand for her.

September 6th, 2023

Moiranda picked up where she left off with Strawberry Wine. We tried to get on to the second and third pages. We focused mostly on the melody.

There's still a lot of guessing with note reading, so hopefully we can get that worked on this year. She knows where the keys are on the piano, and she reads the notes on the staff line too, but not the correct octave.

June 28th, 2023

We worked through more pages of Strawberry Wine. There's still a lot of guesswork going into Moiranda's reading, so if you can get her to practise with a quiz app or something to help her learn the actual notes on the bass and treble staff I think that will help her a lot.

See you in September!

June 21st, 2023

We continued with the first page of Strawberry Wine. It's getting there! I'm not sure if there are other pages?

June 14th, 2023

We finished up Fur Elise today - it wasn't perfect, but we've been working on it a long time, and I think she's learned a lot from this song. She brought in Strawberry Wine today, and we worked our way through the first half of the page, first left hand, then right hand and then both hands.

May 31st, 2023

We continued with Fur Elise. Moiranda said she didn't practise much this week, and she'd forgotten quite a bit. I gave her lots of time to work on it, and that was most of the lesson.

I'm gone next week, so don't forget! She said she'll try to find something else she'd like to learn.

May 24th, 2023

Moiranda is doing really well on Fur Elise! There are a few places where she's got a few wrong notes or mistakes. We spent the lesson trying to correct them. Part of it is that she does a lot of memorization, but has memorized incorrectly. I'm okay with that because she's playing so much better than she was, but hopefully we can focus on reading more in the future.

Good job!

We've decided to try to get the song to a 10 over the next week or two before moving on.

May 17th, 2023

We continued working with Fur Elise. I was very impressed with how much practising Moiranda has done this week. She said she practised almost every day! I could tell!

We finished off the part we hadn't worked on yet and went through that a few times today.

May 10th, 2023

Here's the music if Moiranda forgets it next time:
https://musescore.com/static/musescore/scoredata/g/e7b463243b2cede2c0c218dfab52cec5ce6fed62/score_0.png

She played through the song a number of times, and we worked through a few areas she was having trouble with.

May 3rd, 2023

Moiranda said she only worked on the first half of Fur Elise, so we focused on the middle bars, around line 3, I think. We got to the point where she was putting both hands together, but it may need more oversight from me before she's ready to keep get through it.

Hopefully she'll work on it, and try to fill in any missing gaps on her own. I think she can do it! :)

April 26th, 2023

Moiranda is unable to come tonight.

April 19th, 2023

Moiranda may not have been doing that much practise on Fur Elise this week, but we made it out goal today to get the first line learned... which we did -- nearly. I think she could get that first line well learned by next week if she practises only a couple of times... she's close.

April 12th, 2023

Moiranda is coming along quite well. I see improvement, even though it's at a slow pace.

We wrapped up Beauty And the Beast today, though she said she's going to keep polishing it.

We added a new one, Fur Elise... I printed the sheet music for her from the web.

April 5th, 2023

We've now completed our working through Beauty and the Beast, doing page 3, and the DC al Coda (repeat to top until the coda sign).

It still needs to be refined, but she's getting much better.

March 29th, 2023

We continued working on Beauty and the Beast, moving on to page 2.

March 8th, 2023

Moiranda did quite well on Country Roads, and we decided to add one from her book, "Beauty and the Beast."

We just focused on the right hand, not the left. She said she'll try to work on that on her own this and next week.

We also only did the first page so far.

Remember, I'm away on vacation next week.

March 1st, 2023

Moiranda forgot her book, but she had been working on Country Roads, and had memorized the melody. She said the chorus was the only part in the book, so I wrote out the chords and melody for her in the format we started with. I was very impressed with her ability to play through that way, and I think she was quite happy about it too.

Keep up the hard work!

February 22nd, 2023

Moiranda is doing really well on Eye of the Tiger. We decided she could move on to another song, and she's going to pick one from all the books she has at home.

In the meantime, for the rest of the lesson we just went through Eye of the Tiger a number of times so I could help her correct little mistakes she's making.

February 15th, 2023

We used the lesson time to practice again today. Slowly but surely we're making progress through the song, and I think she's learning! :)

February 8th, 2023

Moiranda hadn't practised much this week so we made the lesson a practice time, and I helped her through parts she was struggling with.

I'm surprised how patient and determined she is being, considering how long it's been taking her to learn these things, and that's a good thing!

February 1st, 2023

Moiranda brought a new book in, and we worked through the first page of Eye of the Tiger. I'm really pleased with the increase in understanding she seems to have. She had worked on the intro on her own, and we were able to make good progress today.

Keep it up! You're doing great!

January 25th, 2023

Morianda was in Cuba today.

January 18th, 2023

Moiranda has been practicing this week, she said, and I think I could tell! While not perfect, her Rudolph rendition is coming along.

We decided to move on to a new song, but she forgot to bring her main book, so we'll start it next time.

In the meantime, she should keep reviewing her other songs.

January 11th, 2023

Moiranda is coming along really well. I feel like we made some serious headway today, and she has started to understand reading even more.

We went through Rudolph more, and she has got further along (the next eight bars of page 2) for sure.

I received payment, thank you, but haven't entered it yet.

January 4th, 2023

Moiranda continued working through Rudoplh. We got to the second page today.

December 28th, 2022

Moiranda continued working through her book, and we got through the first page. She's doing well, I've just decided to make the lesson time her practice time. She is progressing slowly, but steadily!

December 21st, 2022

Moiranda did amazing on the first four bars. We worked a bit on the next four through the lesson, and if she can find some time to work on that over this next week that will be great!

Will I be seeing her next week and the week after, or are you away for the holidays?

December 14th, 2022

Moiranda brought a book this week so we switched back to notes for Rudolph. It's unfortunate in a way, because though she's learning to read sheet music, which is good, I feel like it's inhibiting her real learning of music.

But we worked through it, playing through single hands first right then left, and then putting them together for the first two or three stanzas.

She's coming along slowly but surely! See you next week!

December 7th, 2022

Moiranda and I decided to wrap up her Moana song, and we added a new Christmas one, Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer. She played through the melody and chords separately, and then tried to put both hands together.

November 30th, 2022

Moiranda and I worked through the last page together some more, first right hand and then left hand. We then put things together with both hands after that.

Still some struggles remembering which notes are which on the keyboard, and staffline, and which note is above which note (if there are two notes on the staff, say an E over a C, she sometimes would put the C at the top and the E on the bottom.

She promised she'd keep practicing more than usual this week.

November 23rd, 2022

Moiranda said she practised three times this week, great improvement! We started working through the right hand of the 3rd page. Keep practising!

November 16th, 2022

Moiranda said she mostly just practised yesterday, so we made the lesson a mostly practise time.

I suggested that rather than a big chunk of time, once a week, she might try 5 minutes every day, as that consistency might help her.

She said she'd try. :)

November 9th, 2022

We continued working through the second page, trying to play it smoothly. Coming bit by bit.

I decided to write out some notes on the lines to help her pick up the reading better... she is still struggling with reading the lines and finding the right keys on the piano... I think it's really just practice, but I completely understand that it's hard to have any influence over practising when she's at her mom's, and we'll just keep plugging away! She seems to be enjoying it, so that's the important thing!

November 2nd, 2022

We went through the first page second half again today, and I tried to help her read and play both hands. It's coming along slowly.

We managed to get onto page 2 for the first line as well, so keep pushing, she'll get it eventually! :)

October 26th, 2022

I missed Moiranda tonight... hope all is okay!

October 19th, 2022

Today we added How Far I'll Go by Moana which is in her book... I tried to get her interested in doing an Ed Sheeran or Bruno Mars song, but she's just not as interested in those for some reason.

October 12th, 2022

Moiranda is feeling a little unwell today and won't be coming in.

October 5th, 2022

Today in Moiranda's lesson we went through Frosty a couple of times, and then decided to revisit some of the chording songs we'd been working on the past, to give her a bit of a change.

We decided to try again at Oh Canada with chords.

September 28th, 2022

Moiranda wasn't really ready for the lesson today - I just had her keep working on the first page of Frosty the Snowman. I suggested she try to just work on maybe the first line until it's perfect, and then move onto the second line.

September 21st, 2022

Moiranda worked through Frosty the Snowman, and we focused on the left hand entirely. I wrote out reminders for to get the staff line notes:

Girls Buy Dresses For Animals
and
All Cows Eat Grass

She's got the right hand fairly down.. now the trick will be combining them.

September 14th, 2022

Moiranda played through her songs today, but she wasn't very enthusiastic today... I think she's maybe getting a bit discouraged?

She doesn't really know all the key names on the piano, and the note names on the staff. That was more obvious than usual when working through just the melody of Frosty the Snowman. When the notes went down on the staff, she sometimes played a higher note, and vice versa... something to definitely practice. :)

September 7th, 2022

We went over the songs from last year, really focusing on cleaning up the bad notes.

Old Mac Donald is coming along. Work on getting the details worked out on London bridge.

Perhaps go through the book and put? Next to ones we could learn. You could check off the ones we've already learned, and if you want get a new book! All right I will see you next time have a nice week

June 22nd, 2022

We went over London Bridge and worked some more on the left hand. There's still some learning to do on reading the notes. There are some good games in the play stores to put on phones and tablets (if that's allowed).

Oops, also worked on Old Macdonald, and the left hand parts.

June 15th, 2022

I think is the date that Moiranda isn't coming to lessons re Laura Sand's email.

June 8th, 2022

Moiranda played through London Bridge with both hands and then we added the second note in the table clef.

We then added another song in the book, Old MacDonald. I suggested she try to learn the left hand from the bass clef on her own.

June 1st, 2022

Moiranda brought a book in today, and we started out with learning to read music notes.

We did the "F-A-C-E" mnemonic. for the spaces in the treble clef, and Every Good Boy Deserves Fun" acronym for the lines.

May 25th, 2022

Moiranda said she didn't practice much this week because she was at her mom's. We went through Riptide together, but I think she lost interest in it.

We tried to find another song that perhaps was a piano song she could learn, but had a hard time finding any. I asked her to make a list of songs that her family would like to learn.

We found Lewis Capaldi, Someone You Loved Me:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1yVCeXYya4&ab_channel=GoldCoastMusic

Another thing you might try is to pick up an easy piano book form Long and McQuaid music store. maybe Disney songs, or pop songs, or whatever.

May 18th, 2022

We worked through Fur Elise together at the start- Moiranda forgot the C minor and was playing a C major instead, so we corrected that.

Also, be careful not to keep changing octaves -- moving the right hand higher and higher up the keyboard.

We then reviewed Hedwig's Theme, and added left hand for the second line.

After that we added the first bar of Riptide.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYoWuaw5nSk

May 11th, 2022

Moiranda played through Fur Elise and Hedwig's Theme for me.

We started adding the arpeggios with the left hand for Fur Elise. She hasn't really got the left hand of Hedwig's ready yet, so that could take some practice.

I suggested she write out some titles of other songs she'd like to learn.

May 4th, 2022

We went through Fur Elise first today, and then through the Harry Potter Theme. She's coming along well with both of them, although sometimes not going up to a note (instead going down,) etc... we worked on those places.

I encouraged her to try to commit these songs to memory.

April 27th, 2022

Moiranda played through Row Row Row for me a few times, trying to do it without mistakes... she is getting close.

We then wrote out the Harry Potter theme on her paper. Here are some piano rolls that might help her:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13ldZyukxPE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTPXwbDtIpA

April 20th, 2022

We reviewed Twinkle Twinkle, and then added Row Row Row Your Boat, with chords.

I asked her to think of a few more songs she'd like to learn, as this makes it more engaging if we're learning songs she already likes.

:)

April 13th, 2022

Moiranda played through Oh Canada for me, first the left hand and then the right- she is finding it a little difficult, so I told her to take a break from it, and work just on one song until she feels really strong with it.

She chose to work on Twinkle Twinkle for now. She should do it with both hands as much as possible, and pay attention to the chord changes (they're easy to forget).

April 6th, 2022

Moiranda said she didn't practice this week, except for before the lesson. We made the lesson time a practice session, and she went over the last few songs for me.

I added in chords for O Canada, and reviewed them together... there are some new chords in this song, like E major so pay attention to those.

Also, she felt like Fur Elise was too hard for now, so we've put it aside. We added a new song - Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.

March 30th, 2022

Moiranda is still struggling with Happy Birtday, however, I think this is largely due to a lack of practicing.

We went through O Canada and Old Lady, and then added Apples and Bananas and Fur Elise.

March 23rd, 2022

Moiranda was feeling a little overwhelmed by Happy Birthday, so we worked through the details again - the Bb (B flat) chord and the B flat note.

We also added O Canada and "There Was an Old Lady."

March 16th, 2022

We reviewed Down by the Bay and Happy Birthday. She said she didn't get much practice this week so we spent the lesson going over the songs again, as a practice.

March 9th, 2022

Moiranda said she didn't really practice any this week because she was at her mom's. Her mom's keyboard is packed away somewhere, apparently.

She went through Down By The Bay, and tried to get both hands together again, like we did last week. We started with separate hands, then added them together eventually.

Finally, we added a new song, Happy Birthday, so she has two things to work on at home.

See you next week!

March 2nd, 2022

Moiranda did a great job tonight! We talked about chords, and played through them for Mary Had a Little Lamb.

We also wrote out "Down by the Bay," but she doesn't need to worry about chords for that one yet.

We also addressed sharps and flats

February 23rd, 2022

Today was Moiranda's first lesson.

We started out with learning the names of the keys on the piano, using the Grandma and her Dog method.... I suggested she take the tape off her keys so she can really learn the notes for herself.

We then learned two songs: Mary Had a Little Lamb and Old MacDonald.

We haven't started chords yet, though I wrote the chords out for the next song. We'll start those once she's got the notes memorized a bit better.
See you next week!