Rock & Roll 101

April 15th, 2013

Mira played drums again today.

We worked on patterns again, trying to make the patterns more complicated. We also tried to get the patterns more even, with me keeping time and encouraging her to play evenly on time.

I showed her flams and rolls, and we played around with getting those to sound right.

April 8th, 2013

Today Mira and I played together on the drums.

We talked about patterns, give each drum a colour, and asking her to play patterns on the kit, like Red Blue, Red Blue, etc.

We played together with guitar and drums, and I tried to show her how the speed she played influenced the way the song sounded.

April 1st, 2013

We went through some clapping things, and then introduced some instrumentation ideas in the middle of clapping.

We went to the drum set after a while, and worked on some rhythm ideas. Mira struggles with keeping an even tempo, but perhaps over time we'll be able to get it. :)

March 25th, 2013

Today Mira went over her song Twinkle, and we then added London Bridge.

I asked her to play both songs with both hands, separately and together.

We also did the magic scale, but she decided she doesn't want to use her thumb, so we came to a bit of an impasse.

I'm not sure Mira is really ready for lessons. She doesn't seem to be at a place where she wants to learn... she's interested in music, and I think she has talent. I felt a little frustrated with her refusal to do what I asked her to.

If you want to give me a call, maybe we can talk about some options?

613-344-1717

Thanks Chris!!
Jason

March 18th, 2013

Mira and I added Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and she played it through a number of times.

We then looked through her song book, and tried a couple of them (Dora and Blues Clues), but she found them a little hard (or maybe she was tired?

She expressed a desire at the end of the lesson to move back to drums next week. It might be a good idea for her to pick one instrument to focus on, but it's up to you guys. :)

March 11th, 2013

March 4th, 2013

Tonight we went over the note names, and Mira really had the animals down. The next step is connecting the letters to the animals.

Work on the chords, just getting the fingers used to the positions of three note triads.

Move up and down a bit from C, Dm, Em, etc. as she has patience to try etc.

If she wants to perfect Mary Had a Little Lamb, a bit, and add a C chord to the right hand.

February 25th, 2013

This week we went to piano, and Mira learned the names of the keys.

They are related to animals: Grandmas house as three black notes, the dog house has two black notes.

In the dog house is a 'D'og, in grandma's house is 'G'randma, and 'A'nts on the countertop.

There is a flower bed to the left of grandma's house, and an elephant stomping in the flower bed. To the left of the elephant is the dog, to the left of the dog is the cat, and to the left of the cat is the bird (outside grandma's window).

She should work on Mary Had a Little Lamb for next week.

February 18th, 2013

February 11th, 2013

Today Mira and I started with drums, and learned the names of the parts.

Tom Tom, Floor Tom, Kick, Snare, Ride, Crash, Hat.

We learned boom chuck, which she will practice with her foot and hand on her knee, or with pots.

Then we moved to vocals, and worked on some melodies.

February 4th, 2013

Today Mira and I talked about keeping the throat open and relaxed when she's singing.

We talked about exercising her voice.

We experimented with singing scales, and then switched to some simple melodies when she had difficulty singing on pitch.

She tightens up her throat and that makes it hard for her.

Her homework is to sing every day a little bit, and to listen for the note she's singing-- to ask her mom and dad to help if she's singing the right note.