The kids have been enjoying their weekly piano lessons, and although we didn’t get this song in class, in time to learn, record and post it for Christmas, I figure it is still a great time to share a progress report.
They’ve been playing piano since the beginning of this school year, and both are good about practicing. Honor even incorporates the piano into her ‘playtime’! If she has a class for her dolls, they get music lessons along with the regular math, spelling and art!
Here is Honor:
She continued to practice this song so much, that when she went to class yesterday, she played it perfectly on the first go for her teacher. Instead of the regular smiley face, the teacher drew star fireworks for her on the page. Honor had also moved ahead to the next song in the book, which they hadn’t gone over in class, and she played that perfectly as well.
And here is Brian, playing the same song, but with an organ voice
Brian is actually several songs ahead of Honor in the books (Alfred’s Basic Piano Course, books 1A and 1B), but I don’t have video of his playing any of those. He is taking keyboard lessons in school too. The kids were enjoying Jingle Bells, so why not stick with the theme?!
A great bonus with the digital piano is that the kids love playing with the sounds! They will play their songs over and over again, trying each with a different ‘instrument’, until they find a favorite. Brian likes Jingle Bells with the organ. Honor enjoys it with “tubular bells”. In the meantime… the ARE playing their ‘homework’ pieces over and over and over again. What a great way to make practice fun!
As for the key strokes used when playing our digital piano, with weighted keys, vs the real piano at class, the kids aren’t having much problem with that. The first week or so there was a little confusion with ‘this’ is how to press the piano keys, and ‘this’ is how to press the digital piano keys, but they seem to go back and forth easily now.
7 comments:
What a great job they both did! I'm sure they will appreciate these lessons later in life since music is associated with so much of our lives.
Thank Betty! I was thinking of the future when I thought of these lessons, but I figured, because of their ages, the kids would be more focused on the 'right now'.. but they love how their teacher plays and both have expressed interest in being able to get that good as well :)
Very cool! It's wonderful that they are enjoying it and experimenting with different voices. Having fun is the best way to learn!
Having fun turns work into play. :)
we used a digital piano in Iceland for Cait and she seemed to adapt very well, too. Never mind she broke her arm 6 weeks into lessons, but she really enjoyed them and actually, just today, expressed an interest in taking lessons again!
Glad they are enjoying them!
Ow! Sorry to hear about Cait breaking her arm. It is hard to play one-handed(!). Nice to hear that she wants to start up again. Good for her!
I'm pleased because Brian and Honor have reached an important level, they are still, very much, beginners, but are reading music well enough now to hop around in the book (or browse other books) and experiment independently with other music that catches their eye. The 'training wheels' are off! Watch out world :)
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