Last week we worked on learning to play do on D (open D). When we say “open string” that means playing the string with no fingers on it.
Remember, any note can be do. Do is simply the first note in the scale, and for our purposes this year, it is the first note of a major scale.
When you put the first finger down a whole step away, it is re. So we practiced playing do and re, the first two notes in our Solfa scale.
The new song we started learning, “I Am Like an Apple Seed,” contains only do and re, as you saw when you practiced with your child. This week we keep learning the song. Our goal is to have the song memorized in our mind and in our hands so we can play it at 60 bpm by the end of two weeks from today’s lesson.
When we accomplish that goal, we’ll play it together as a class. Then we will ask those children who know Twinkle well at 60 bpm to play it while we play our song at the same time: our first duet! We will be a real orchestra!
We will begin singing the song at home as a duet next week. If any of you want to try it this week and email me a recording (either audio or video), that would be awesome!!! Remember that recordings don’t need to be perfect. They simply encourage others to try. Mistakes can actually be comforting and encouraging because they see that the other child hasn’t perfected the song yet, either.
To read the lesson plan and see the practice instructions, go here.