Night Classes

I think I may have found my solution for our Tuesday classes.  Because we have gymnastics in the morning there is no time till after lunch and by then its a bazillion degrees outside and we are tired and want to swim.  So after dinner and tubby we sat on the floor next to our keyboard and had music class.

Our friends Beethoven Bear and Mozart Mouse played with us on the black keys.

First we played on the 2 black keys using fingers 2 and 3

or pointer and tall man as we have begun to call them.

For a fun activity we were able to use these fingers and play a steady rhythm of 2, 3, 2, 3, 2, 3... in quarter notes that followed along with a song on our Music for Mozart's CD.  The girls were so excited to hear that they were playing along and that their notes and rhythm matched the music on the bass clef.

We were able to do a similar activity using the 3 black keys and fingers 2, 3 and 4

Next we took a trip to Old McDonald's farm and brought our rhythm sticks along

we matched the lyrics shown above with this rhythm

We played our rhythm sticks along with the song.

Obviously everyone knows that singing and musicality is very important on Broadway (our theme for the week), but just being a triple threat isn't good enough.  There are many roles that require special skills and these special skills can be the deciding factor in a person getting the role.  In the show Annie the orphans need to know gymnastics and in Xanadu they need to know how to roller skate.  Maybe one show is looking for someone who knows how to hula hoop or someone who can play the piano.  It is important for actors to have special skills that they can list on their resume.

So today we ended class by working on a new skill

Playing the bells.  

OK, I know they are bells and not that hard, but come on they're 4.  

The girls think they are Hot stuff now that they can play Mary Had a Little Lamb and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and in their mind this is a very cool skill to have!

As challenging as playing the piano is, it can be discouraging when you still aren't able to play a song.  So that is why I gave them something easy and fun to break it up a bit.  They are also all color coded and have a number so it is great for Coppelia's number recognition.