Rock & Roll 101

April 22nd, 2025

Annabelle came in wanting to learn a song, "Tipsy," and we spent the whole lesson working on it! She was super focused and did very well today! Also I liked her hair! :D

Shaboozey, A Bar Song (Tipsy)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpJC6kVECXk

April 15th, 2025

Annabelle was pretty chatty tonight, a bit hard to get her to focus. We went through The Man, and Down By The Bay.

She wanted to do another one, "Ready For It," but then changed her mind once we got started with it.

April 8th, 2025

So we went over the following songs today,
The Man,
Down By the Bay,
Is It Over Now.

April 1st, 2025

We started with "The Man," then revisited a few past songs like Circles, and then ended with Down By the Bay.

March 25th, 2025

Annabelle will be away March 25th.

March 11th, 2025

March 4th, 2025

We went over "The Man," and then Annabelle wanted to add a new song. She said she wanted to learn a song her dad really loved, and so we went to Matt's profile, and found "All The Debts I Owe..."

I wrote out a slightly simpler chart for her, with fewer chord changes. We went through it two times and then half a time when Sam got here to show her.

February 25th, 2025

Annabelle wanted to learn a song with a radio lyric in it by Taylor Swift, but we couldn't find it. We went to Down by the Bay, then did The Man, from last week, and ended with Is It Over Now

February 18th, 2025

We started off with adding a new song, Taylor Swift, "The Man." Easy chords, lots of time to switch.

We then reviewed a few past songs including Circles and Champagne Problems.

February 11th, 2025

We tried to find a new song, and went through a few but the ones she was interested in were a bit challenging for Annabelle.

We ended up going back to Is It Over Now and did it four or five times.

February 4th, 2025

Today we added Taylor Swift, Gorgeous, and went over Down By the Bay.

January 28th, 2025

We started out with adding a new song, Waving Flag. We then went through a few of her favourites at the end of the lesson.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PO2Fm4-WRjo

January 21st, 2025

Annabelle wanted to learn Wagon Wheel, the song her daddy is learning! It required having some more chords in her repertoire, so I wrote out A, E7, F#m and D. I'm not sure now if it was the Darius Rucker version that Matt was learning, so hopefully doesn't end up being a problem.

January 14th, 2025

In Annabelle's lesson, we reviewed Champagne Problems 3x, then Down By the Bay 2x and finally Circles one time.

January 7th, 2025

Today we went over Champagne Problems again, and we looked for another song, but couldn't find the one she wanted most to do.

Maybe try Maroon by Taylor Swift next week, or Bad Blood by Taylor Swift...

December 17th, 2024

Annabelle's family is away this week.

December 10th, 2024

We played through Down By the Bay and the Unicorn song again today. We also did a beat game she says she does with Matt, where I slap my leg and she makes sounds with her mouth, or strums on the beat.
I think she might be getting better at keeping time. She was right on the beat for the Unicorn song.

December 3rd, 2024

November 26th, 2024

We worked on Down by the Bay and the Unicorn song that Annabelle was making up.

November 19th, 2024

We started with Down By The Bay, and then Champagne Problems.
After that she wanted to write a song about unicorns, so we put some lyrics and chords together.

November 12th, 2024

We started with going through Down By the Bay a few times, and then trying to find another song to learn. I suggested maybe starting some Christmas songs, but she thought it was too early.

We then looked at a Taylor Swift song called Betty
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pTSc4qV3pM

November 5th, 2024

Grandma Ginny came along today!
We started with a new song, Taylor Swift, All Too Well.
We then added the song the previous student was learning, Down By the Bay-- it was hillarious and fun, because Annabelle was singing along at the top of her lungs.

October 29th, 2024

Annabelle wanted to start off with timed drills for some chords. She's pretty fast on a few of them!!

We then went through two songs: Is It Over Now and Champagne Problems.

She was much better on down strums. She fell behind on the Champagne Problems chords... she said she doesn't like to switch to the right chord if she hasn't yet played a chord she missed. We have to get her comfortable with skipping chords if necessary.

October 22nd, 2024

Matt came for Annabelle's lesson today. We reviewed Circles, Champagne Problems and then What Was I Made For.

Matt helped point out some things that Annabelle struggled with, like just strumming on the down beats, and holding the ukulele a little tighter.

October 15th, 2024

Sam sat in on lessons today. Annabelle was kinda sleepy today (she normally does much better switching chords on the right beat).

We played over Champagne Problems, Is It Over Now, Circles, and What Was I Made For.

We also learned C Maj 7

October 8th, 2024

Annabelle won't be coming today.

October 1st, 2024

Ginny came with Annabelle today! It was nice to see her. We went through Circles, Is It Over Now, then Champagne Problems. After that, we added a new one: Billie Eilish, What Was I Made For
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcQszUj4Nhc

September 24th, 2024

Annabelle was really sleepy this afternoon, :D I had to keep reminding her to change chords, and she wasn't as chatty as she usually is.

We started by playing through Champagne Problems once and then reviewed Circles and Is It Over Now.

September 17th, 2024

Annabelle has a new ukulele today, and so we started with tuning it up (a couple of times actually, because the strings are new - they'll keep stretching for a little while).

We played "Is It Over Now" and "Champagne Problems" a few times, and then did some drills on the C and G chords.

Good job today! See you next week!

September 10th, 2024

Ooops, there was no Fortnight or Thousand Miles, that was the student before her - sorry!

We went over Is It Over Now a few times before adding the song mentioned below.

Annabelle wanted to add a new song, so I suggested Champagne Problems since it's also in C. It's pretty easy but the G chord makes it trickier, and she was yawning a lot today. We'll try more again next week.

September 3rd, 2024

Annabelle resumed Ukulele today. We started off reviewing some of the chords, and then played Post Malone Circles (which has just C and F in it).

After going through it fairly successfully we played Taylor Swift's "Is It Over Now." This is another really easy one, so a good review.

We tried adding Taylor Swift, Who's Afraid of Little Old Me? but the chords change kind of quickly, and she's not as confident with the G chord.

She wrote out a few chords of her own song, and played through that before Sam came to pick her up.

June 25th, 2024

We started out with Is It Over Now by Taylor Swift. We went through it three or four times, and then tried Circles by Post Malone.

This is pretty simple, with just two chords: C and F.

We tried adding Champagne Problems, but the G chord was a stumbling point for Annabelle, so we did some drills, and then redid Is It Over Now.

See you in September!

June 18th, 2024

Annabelle was swapped with JJ today because she was not coming in.

June 11th, 2024

Annabelle chatted a lot at the beginning but I did get her to learn a new Taylor Swift song, "Is It Over Now."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2evBtswt-A

It's simple, with the chords: C for 8 counts, F for 8, Am for 8, then back to F for 8.

June 4th, 2024

Annabelle can't make it today.

May 28th, 2024

Annabelle brought in a little toy guitar. I tuned it up for her, and it holds the tuning fairly well. The biggest problem is that there is a fret that sticks up to high, and causes some buzzing. A file of some sandpaper on that rounded fret will help a lot, I think.

We then resumed the ukulele, and played through Circles. She was missing the changes (being on beat 1), so we practised racing to chords, getting the C to F down to about half a second... we then tried G for a while, but she was less enthusiastic -- it uses three fingers, and is a bit harder.

May 21st, 2024

Today we moved to Ukulele. We started with the C chord, and a basic strum patteron. Annabelle struggled with playing in time correctly... we were doing, "down down down-up down"

She got closer the longer we did it.

Then we added A minor and F.

We then played along with Circles, by Post Malone. The F was slowing her down a bit, so we did some racing drills on F, and she got it down to one second, even half-a-second.

We played along with the song again, and she did much better.

May 14th, 2024

Annabelle played through Cover Me In Sunshine and then Welcome to New York.

May 7th, 2024

The beginning lesson was a bit challenging to get Annabelle to focus, but the last 15 minutes. We did Welcome to New York first left hand four times, the right hand four times, then together four times.

April 30th, 2024

I missed Annabelle today - maybe still down south?

April 23rd, 2024

Annabelle is away this week.

April 16th, 2024

Annabelle told me that today was one of those days where she didn't get all her words in at school (she actually said this!) and so was feeling especially chatty. It was hilarious listening to her, and quite entertaining! It was a bit of a challenge getting her to actually play any music. She would start to play a chord, and then get distracted about something and stop to chat.

April 9th, 2024

Annabelle said she forgot to practise the song "Welcome to New York," this week and seemed a bit nervous about playing the chords and right hand together. We didn't really get to the place we were last week, but I did get her playing chords, and racing herself to play them as quickly as possible. This really helps with dexterity and comfort playing triads, so if it motivates her at home, I recommend timing here there too.

April 2nd, 2024

Annabelle was suddenly interested in learning chords today, and wanted to do a song Sadie Lou was learning by Taylor Swift, called Welcome to New York.

I wrote out the chords and melody of the intro, and we worked on playing them, hands separately.

I did some "racing" to get her used to play the chord, by having her hold her hand on her knee, and then trying to play the chord as quickly as she can when I say "Go!"

Good job today!

March 26th, 2024

Annabelle wasn't in the mood to do music today. She was the queen of getting of topic!

She played a song that "grandpa taught me before he died," and wanted me to write it out for her. I wrote it in the hope that at least the exercise will help her in learning to read them back later.

I'm not worried about this as long as you're fine with it.

March 19th, 2024

Annabelle was enthusiastic but distractable this week. :) We talked about patterns in melodies because she really insisted on writing her own song, so I tried to help her understand how melodies work with a bit of pattern and repetition. We wrote out a song together, and worked on it a bit together.

March 12th, 2024

Away for March break

March 5th, 2024

We went through Bram's Lullaby today, first right hand, then just left hand, then both. I told her I'd give her a chocolate if she tried and she did! She actually did it two or three times, which is great. We then reviewed last week's made up song, for Wesley, and then ended with Row, Row, Row Your Boat with both hands.

See you next week!

February 27th, 2024

Annabelle wasn't super eager to play for me today, but she wanted to make a song, which was very much like Cover Me In Sunshine. We played through it a few times, and talked about triad chords again. She said she wants to start learning a song with chords next week. :)

February 20th, 2024

Annabelle wanted to go through a lot of her past songs today, so we did. I was able to get her to play the new song (Brahms Lullaby) twice through with both hands.

February 13th, 2024

Annabelle played through her song for me, and then wanted to start a new song. She was gung ho about doing something "calming," but then couldn't decide and wanted to make her own song. In the interest of her learning something new, I finally convinced her I should pick something. I didn't tell her the name because she balked at doing a lullaby. (This is Brahms's Lullaby).

We went through it a couple of times, before running out of time.

February 6th, 2024

Annabelle was very proud to show me how she could play two hands on Cover Me In Sunshine. I wrote out more of the left hand, but she said she didn't want me to write out more of the song -- We went through the song a number of times, and she was very attentive and focused for the whole lesson. Good job, Annabelle!

January 30th, 2024

Annabelle will be on a skiing trip on this day.

January 23rd, 2024

Annabelle played through Cover Me In Sunshine, first one hand, and then with two! I'm very happy she's pushing herself to try new things.

I wrote out the left hand for part of the next part too, and got her to play that, although a little less enthusiastically. :D

Great job!

January 16th, 2024

Annabelle was very enthusiastic today. We went through Cover Me In Sunshine a few times, and added some new parts for her to learn. I wrote out a simple left hand for the first line, but she wasn't ready to try that yet.

January 9th, 2024

Annabelle did really well today, playing Cover My In Sunshine. I recorded a video of her playing it and sent it to Matt's email.

See you next time!

January 2nd, 2024

Today we reviewed two of her songs where she'd been trying to play with both hands. Good job!!

She then wanted to add another one, so we added P!nk, Willow Sage Hart - Cover Me In Sunshine
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AIa3kdKFhg

I just wrote out the melody at the beginning for now, and if she ends up liking it, we can do more in the future.

Happy New Year!

December 19th, 2023

Annabelle played through the thirds for me on two of her songs, and then we added a new one, "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town"

I just wrote out the right hand, and we didn't quite make it through the whole song.

Next week I'm off for Boxing Day, so see you in two weeks!

Merry Christmas!

December 12th, 2023

Annabelle was fairly focused today. A few little distractions, but we got some good stuff done today.

One of the accidents of learning today: she was playing two note harmonies (thirds) and I showed her how she could use those on Jingle Bells. I think by the end of the lesson she understood the concept, but I'm not sure. :)

December 5th, 2023

Annabelle is feeling sick today and won't be coming in.

November 28th, 2023

Annabelle's in Florida

November 21st, 2023

Annabelle played through Row Row and Jingle Bells for me. She said she didn't practise Jingle Bells, and I had to twist her arm. After we did it once, I added the left hand for her, (single notes), and she played through that. We did it for both songs.
I hear you'll be water skiing next week in Florida. Have fun!!

November 14th, 2023

It was night-and-day difference with Annabelle today, I'm amazed! She sat quietly, did everything I asked her to do, and focused the entire lesson!
She first played (i think it was?) Row Row Your Boat, then I wrote out Jingle Bells and went through it twice. She felt like we should do an autumn song, so she made up the words and I put music to it. We went through that.

We then wrote out We Wish You a Merry Christmas, but ran out of time before getting past the first line.

In this, I wrote out eighth notes (tee tees) and made some notes higher than others to simulate the staff line.

November 7th, 2023

We had a bit of a challenge getting Annabelle to focus today, but I just went with it. She played around on the piano, just making up melodies, and so on. When we had about 10 minutes left, I moved her to the drums, and tried to get her to play the pattern we worked on last time.

Sam came in at the end, and Annabelle played a bit for her.

I still feel bad that I can't get her to focus more to learn, but as long as you're comfortable with that, then we will keep working this way. :)

October 24th, 2023

Annabelle did quite well this week, and wanted to try the drums for the second half of the lesson. I showed her the quarter note beat and she gave it a go for a while, but struggled with the timing of it. We then dropped out the hi hat, but we ran out of time before getting very far with that.

October 10th, 2023

I tried to keep Annabelle engaged today by doing a "copy after me" game on the piano, kind of like that old game "simon" -- I play one note at a time, adding a note each repeat, and she copies after me.

This worked for a while, and I wrote "Row Row Your Boat" on her paper to give her something to practise on.

October 3rd, 2023

We started off with Annabelle playing Happy Birthday for me, which she seemed excited about. She made a few little mistakes, but overall it went well.

I then tried to keep engaging Annabelle in songs, but she had other ideas today - she wanted to make her own song. I tried to show her how to write that out, but she had her own ideas! :) lol, pretty cute!

September 19th, 2023

Annabelle and I enjoyed playing around with different ideas on the piano. I tried to keep redirecting her to experiment, and try new things in an effort to keep the lesson moving in a forward direction. I think she had fun!

I played some chords in the left to go with the song she said she is making up. I couldn't tempt her to try chords, but I did get her to play through Dance Monkey a couple of times.

September 12th, 2023

It was a bit of challenge getting Annabelle to play for me - she went through two songs, and then wanted to chat. :)

I eventually got her to play because she wanted to make up a song. She was using decent fingering techniques, so I let her go, and encouraged her to keep repeating it! :) I videoed it too, and she wanted me to send it. I'll upload it to my YouTube channel (and mark it private so only you can see it) and send it later.

I'm not sure if having a parent here is the key to having her focus, or if I just need to let her go and enjoy herself. Your input is welcome and appreciated. :)

September 5th, 2023

Annabelle had a different book this week (Sorry about your ankle, Sam!) so I wrote out three songs that were review from last year. She remembered the note-names pretty well, although sometimes she'd start on a wrong one.

Good job, see you next week!

June 27th, 2023

Annabelle was pretty distracted today. I was able to get her to go through Dance Monkey twice, and to play around with left hand chords a couple of times.
We spent some time working on Mary Had a Little Lamb again too, from earlier in the year.

June 20th, 2023

Annabelle is a lot of fun!
We went over the chords she'd been learning, and tried to learn Dance Monkey (the chorus).
I wrote out the chords for her too, but it's okay if she doesn't want to try to play with both hands yet. She could take turn trying one, then the other.

June 13th, 2023

Annabelle played through London Bridge for me, and then I covered the book and asked her to play the first three notes. She was able to play the first six without looking. We continued, trying to add a few notes at a time before she tired of it.

We then reviewed another song, before coming back to London Bridge, but she had already forgotten (or didn't want to do it again). :)

She wanted to make up another song, so we did a quick one, before learning some chords - thumb, middle, and pinky fingers on every second note, and working up the keyboard. We'll get into their names later.

She doesn't want to learn anymore nursery rhymes so I asked her to pick a song for next time.

May 30th, 2023

Annabelle had a bit of trouble paying attention. We went through Down By the Bay and tried to memorize it first, we got about half way.
I then switched gears, and Annabelle chose some notes for her own made up song.
We then added the first line of Oh Canada, which she didn't like, and then London Bridge.

May 23rd, 2023

We continued with Mary Had a Little Lamb, then Happy Birthday, then added Down by the Bay.

Keep working on memorizing the keyboard.

May 2nd, 2023

Annabelle did well on her songs today, although she still needs to work on memorizing where the keys are. Perhaps the stickers on the home piano are making it harder to memorize. It's not a huge rush, but I find sometimes that prevents kids from really working to commit key names to memory.

We added Happy Birthday, and introduced sharps and flats.

I remember you'll be away for the next two weeks.

April 25th, 2023

Today we started out with the names of the keys on the piano keyboard. I told her the animal story to help lock in remembering where things are.

We then learned Mary Had a Little Lamb, with two hands (first line only).

Good job, see you next week!