CHRISTMAS RECITAL

Hello everyone,

Welcome to our Christmas Recital. Some of the students started working on their Christmas songs just two weeks ago. This may not be the best that they can play but I'm sure you will enjoy the footage. Wishing all the families a peaceful and blessed Christmas !


Here's Ysobel and Noah bringing you Deck The Hall.









Coming up next, it's Jolly Old Saint Nicholas by Amelia.




Next we have Daisy and Tallula playing Good King Wencelas.










Jasmine was exposed to Jazz Improvisation this term. This footage was taken 2 weeks ago when she was working at jazzing up Jingle Bells.







Here are my 2 youngest students who has just started working on Jingle Bells.




And Cameron has been working very hard to use all his five fingers in his playing. Good try Cameron !

Star of the Week - 18th December 2009

Congratulations to Daisy, you are the star this week !




Good job Daisy, I know that you have put in alot of effort to work on this piece after you recovered from your right hand injury. Well done !

Music Arrangement on the Garage Band

Jasmine and Jesse started exploring on the music software Garage Band. Here's their arrangement of Mary Had A Little Lamb in just one lesson ! enjoy them !





Jasmine typed in her melody using the musical typing keyboard on the computer. She also played her own bass on the computer keyboard. Then she chose a drum loop and added into her music.






Jesse played the melody on a digital piano connected to the computer. Then he added a funky drum kit for his accompaniment. He also roped in his sister to sing as chipmunks. Maybe they could audition for Alvin and The Chipmunks 3 !!!

Star of the Week - 12th December 2009

Congratulations to Noah, you're a star!

This piece that Noah is tackling is a little challenging for him especially with the left hand chords. But he did a good job. Well done Noah, just keep working on the flow of the music.

All of us play wrong notes, even professional pianists do! The important thing is to keep the flow of the music; just continue playing with expression and in tempo!

Star of the Week - 5th December 2009

Congratulations to Tallula !

You have worked hard and played this song well, I am proud of you !

StarS of the Week - 28th November 2009

I have awarded 2 Stars this week because both of them are just great!

First to MItchell playing Classic Dance. If you listen carefully, he has played the song with beautiful dynamics. Listen to each phrase, the way he built up the phrase in the middle and softened it at the end was just beautiful. Also, the crescendo in the third phrase was well played. Great job Mitchell !





Congratulations too to Jasmine playing Scott Joplin's The Entertainer. This piece is in Ragtime style. It's main characteristic trait is its syncopated or "ragged" rhythm. Remember we learnt the term "syncopation" last week in Jesse' Alley Cat Choir ? This is a more advance piece on syncopation. The interaction between bouncing bass notes and chords in the left hand, and a syncopated melody in the right hand needs a great deal of hardwork. So enjoy this lovely clip by Jasmine !

Star of the Week - 21st November 2009

Congratulations to Jesse, you have been chosen as the star of the week !




Jesse is playing Alley Cat Choir in this video. This song has a difficult rhythm. The musical term for this rhythm is SYNCOPATION.
Syncopation means to emphasize what would normally be a "weak" beat. This song introduces syncopation to the children at the primer level. Listen to the song Alley Cat Choir played by Jesse, can you dictate the rhythm?

Star of the Week - 14th November 2009

Congratulations to Amelia, you have been chosen as the Star of the Week !

Amelia has shown great improvement in the past few weeks, especially in playing with music accompaniment. Amelia also improvised by adding the low A at the end of this song to match the howling of "Tucker Dog". I really like Amelia's appropriate ending to the song.

Just a little reminder to Amelia (and all my other students), look at your little fingers, they are crushing the donut! You need to work on keeping the catback hand! Keep working on that !

Star of the Week - 7th November 2009

Matthew has been chosen as the Star of the Week.

He has taken initiative and asked his brother Noah to teach him Mary Had A Little Lamb. He learnt the 1st phrase from Noah and came playing for me last week. I taught him the rest of the song and here he is -- the whole song!

Good job Matthew!

Twinkle Variation By Ysobel

It was a pity Ysobel missed the Family Concert. She has worked very hard and I would like all of you to enjoy her playing.

Can you hear how many variation of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star did she play?

Family Concert September 2009

Hello,

These are footage from the Family Concert in September 2009.

I am very proud of all of students. Although it was not their best performance, they were very brave to play in front of the big audience.

For Daisy and Noah, I am very proud of you for playing through the piece despite the mistakes you made in the beginning. The mistakes you made didn't throw you off, instead, you were listening to your own playing and correcting your mistake. That was really good!

For Matthew, I must mention that you did this after your 3rd piano lesson, bravo!