Maybe it is just in this part of the country, but it went from shorts and flip-flops on Sunday to Uggs and scarves on Monday! This week’s lesson features a song called Falling Leaves. The song uses skipping motion from third space C, with notes skipping first between C and A, then C and G. I thought of falling leaves because it reminds me of the way leaves fall from trees. Most of the time, they detach as wind is blowing, so they make their way to the ground via swirls up and down with the wind.
… But we don’t have that in Texas. In fact, even though the high has been in the 40s the past couple of days, the tree in my front yard is still full of green leaves! Go figure! Anyways…
If you have been patiently taking the lessons each week, I commend you! For the sake of being real, I feel compelled to emphasize a few things as we go through our music making journey-
- It is ok to pause, rewind, or even re-watch the episodes. While these videos are a great way to provide music education to everyone, I fully understand that these lessons are not going to be as individualized as having a live teacher with you. Here’s why. I’m sequencing these lessons based on my time in a classroom with 30+ students and their individual needs. This just means I’m trying not to go too fast, but also not too slow. HERE’S THE DEAL- in that class with 30+ kids, there are going to be 30+ different perspectives, learning styles, preferences, personalities, etc. I have basically taken the most common denominators between a class full of students and attempted to make a video that suits MOST people’s ability level. In a real classroom, the video lessons would take up the entire 50 minutes because I would be fixing each student’s mistakes individually. My former students could probably attest to the fact that a lot of times we wouldn’t even finish in 50 minutes because of the individual time I needed with each student. My point is, don’t beat yourself up if you need to pause, take a breather, re-watch, etc. This is normal and honestly I would assume 95% of true beginners watching this would need extra practice, especially when we start reading music.
- Ask questions in the comments! Really! Don’t be shy! I know there are people watching these lessons, and nobody has asked a question yet! If you ask a question about something I have already answered in a previous lesson, guess what? It’s totally fine because I’m covering a lot of information in these lessons! I won’t be mad, and even if I was, what can I do about it? I’m trapped behind a screen so I can’t get you 😉
- Have fun. Don’t take yourself too seriously, really. For what it’s worth, here is a picture of me with some “real” percussion instruments, but also with toddler instruments because they actually sound pretty decent and I thought they would be a great accompaniment for this week’s song! Maybe someone might scoff at me using Melissa and Doug Band-In-A Box instruments for a music education video, but you know what… they aren’t the ones who get to have all the fun playing them! 🙂
Miss Mari's Music 