It was lovely to meet our student for the first time, as he clearly has quite a bit of verve and excitement. Though it was hard for him to focus due to exhaustion from being at a day camp, we still got a few songs in before he tapped out, and it’s clear that he loves the instruments in the instrument bag, which will be a great place to jump off of next time!
Though our sessions on the recorder were initially marked by some technical difficulties with the Zoom audio, our student was excited to learn and play. She was quite adept at getting sounds out of the recorder, though she struggled a bit with fingering positions. We went through a few rhythm exercises and BAG songs much more quickly than I expected, and our student’s caregiver was invaluable in providing encouragement when she felt frustrated with the instrument. Though she hasn’t continued with the recorder, I hope that this experience nevertheless planted a seed of musical inspiration, so that she can continue where she left off.
Everybody was in high spirits today, with lots of enthusiasm for music and fun facts in general! (One student had lots of animal facts in particular). In all three classes we used singing as a tool for getting to understand our instruments better. On Uke, one student was singing the notes in order to tune, and counting aloud, which has really improved his rhythm. On piano, another student shared that his goal on the instrument is to be able to sing and play at the same time, so we began with solfege and translated it to the piano. In our third class, a new student joined us, which brought even more enthusiasm to an already lively group. Singing solfege was so wonderful with this group, as you could really see their faces light up. One student asked if we would be doing more singing next week, because she enjoyed it, and the answer was a resounding yes!
During our check-in, almost all the piano students had made up new songs that they wanted to share! I love to see their curiosity blossom, and their songs are often all on the white keys, which provides a great pivot point to get them to work with different hands and finger positions on the C major scale. Today we not only incorporated cross-overs, but also began to work on playing rudiments with two hands at once. On ukulele, one student was still struggling with tuning a bit, so we focused more on rhythm and strumming instead, and he was great at pitch matching. Soon he’ll be making up songs too!
Unfortunately we were missing a few students today, but it provided a good opportunity for some good one-on-one instruction. Particularly with one student, I think it was a good week for her where she was able to keep focused on the piano the whole time without having to split it between the slightly different learning style of another student, who was absent. With both piano groups, we continued focusing not only on rudiments and new finger positions, but also exploring their musical fascinations with our weekly “musical moments” check-in. It’s so nice to learn what the kids like, and to see them thinking more about music in their everyday lives!
With smaller classes at the Redwood for this session, I was excited to have more time to focus on each kid and their unique learning abilities and interests. Ukulele with one student was excellent for this, as his focus can shift quite quickly, but having the one-one-one lessons means it’s easier to pivot to keep him focused (and hopefully in tune). The first piano class went well, and was a good opportunity to not only explore the piano keyboard, but introduce the kids to the concept of patterns in order to be able to find notes anywhere on the keyboard, which we can expand on later to understand musical structure. The later piano class was a great continuation of what we’ve learned before, and I’m always so thrilled to see the proactivity of one student who is always focused and never interrupts. So many great students at the Redwood!
Today was our final class with the singers at Stonegate. It was request week! I asked the singers to recommend a song that they like. Before we listened to each song I asked "Why do you like it?", "How does it make you feel?", and "What do you do when you listen to the song?" Today's song suggestions were; Old Town Road by Lil Nas X (clean version), Music from the Luca movie trailer, and Wicked Whip from Ninjago. After this song we all chose a different instrument in the Rock Band and formed a new hypothetical group. I was assigned the task of songwriting! Something I have never done but for these students I'll give it a try! I will definitely miss singing with this group.
I love my weekly check-ins with the kids. They’re always so keen to share “musical moments” from their weeks, which we can always loop back in to concepts we’ve learned, or transition into ear training exercises. The kids are extremely quick with up and down, major and minor ear training, so I think I can start challenging them a little more. In a group setting, the kids seem to learn best when I ask them lots of questions, as they love to share what they know, and are very polite in raising their hands. Keen, curious, and excited to put whatever we learn into practice on the piano; these students are a joy to teach.
The kids were mostly all in tune when they arrived for class, but we still spent some time on the open strings, as my challenge for them this week was to make up a tuning song, so they could remember the proper tuning more readily without having to always consult the tuning app (or the shelter staff). We went over the previous week’s chords and added one more, and spent some extra time going over how to read the chord charts so that the kids can explore their books more throughout the week. My challenge to them this week was to practice switching between chords with two different strumming patterns, and I’m excited to see how they do!
Today at Arise we had a bit of a funny internet connection. However, this led to some silly smiles and laughter. All of the students were patient and made it work! It has been a good amount of time since we started working together, and it is wonderful to see and hear the progress of each student. They are feeling confident, and all of the students are starting to speak the language of music!
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