Seimpi Lesson 4

We did lesson 4 today & we tried our hands on the keyboard. We learned about the pitches in different note values, for example:

C in Semi Breve

C in Dotted Minim

C in Minim

C in Crochet

D in Semi Breve

D in Dotted Minim

etc..

etc...

We looked at the piano activity book today & played the notes shown. C in Semi Breve is played this way - we (Rachel rather), placed her thumbkin on the " C " key under the 2 black bars, and as we count together, C ( semi breve = 4 counts), C (2 3 4), C (2 3 4), she pressed & held down the " C " key.

For this, it was " C "in Minim (2 counts) & then followed by " C " in Crotchet (1 count)

I guided Rachel here by holding onto her thumbs & played the notes accordingly. But when its her turn to play solo (haha), she didnt listen to teacher Marcia's count & just continued pressing the " C " key non stop. I told Rachel not so fast, to listen to the teacher here. Teacher Marcia repeatedly went thru with her for another 2 times, each time telling her (Rachel) to listen to the count & bravo, she did it all correctly by herself the 3rd time round.

Since there wont be any lessons next week due to National Day, we were given homework. Teacher Marcia mentioned to play daily for at most 2 minutes, not more, otherwise, the kids will get distracted & give up. (where am i gonna find a keyboard to practise?)

In this exercise for homework, we need to learn to play the notes using thumbkin, pointer & tallman as the notes " C ", " D " & " E " are all in use. So looking at the notes above, it goes: (top bar) - C D E E, (bottom bar) - E D C C. Piano teachers, am i right here?

We did 2 activities in the activity book today:

1) We were played the high pitch & low pitch. Then the kids got to paste the sticker which shows high pitch (monkey climbing up the tree) or low pitch (monkey coming down the tree) accordingly. Actually, the pitches were like Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do then Do Ti La Soh Fa Mi Re Do.

Rachel here played guessing game. I got to helped her along. Nevertheless, she got it all correct.

2) And they also coloured the different types of note values in each animal. Example: colour all animals red which has Semi Breve (represented by the note itself). Colour all animals blue which has Minim, etc...

After class, Rachel requested for Mac again. In the evening, we went for dinner at a chinese restaurant along Jalan Besar, near the stadium. That's for the next post.