Charlie’s Homework

Updated 10/14

Charlie would greatly benefit from having Tenuto become a part of her daily routine, even if she doesn’t have time to sit down at a piano. It can be done on the go, and no wifi is necessary to practice. The exercise is 60 seconds long, and I recommend doing it at least 2x in a row so she has a baseline score the first round that she can try to beat the second time through. Charlie learns extremely well through repetition, and doing this 2 minutes a day would have a huge impact on her musicianship as we move forward

Send me Tenuto scores she’s proud of throughout the week, especially through Spring Break! I really enjoy seeing everyone’s progress. Today’s score was 12/13 and I really think she could easily beat 20 in just a few days of practice. 📲🙂

Before you leave, try to have her play I Just Can’t Wait to Be King for you! (The sheet music is tucked into her Lesson Book at Sea Story, the current piece we’re working on). She knows where the letters are, but may need help getting her hands in place. (LH middle finger is 3 on G, RH thumb is 1 on C). I think that working on pop music is definitely the key to pique her interest in at home practice and I’d like to hear your feedback on how that goes 🎹🎵

Make sure to bring back the Lesson Book Charlie is borrowing. I sent it home with her when you guys were out of town to see if she felt comfortable with that level, and it’s been a better fit 🙂

Please read through the notes I’ve written here under “Progress” and provide feedback when you’re able to! 📲

Tips & Resources

We are trying to memorize these note values and their names:

Hints for remembering our keyboard note names:

I just started using these mnemonics a couple of years ago but they’re really handy!

Charlie is doing an amazing job so far! She’s improved quite a bit in remembering the note values and what their names are. She has a great innate sense of rhythm and flair for performance ❤️👏 We are primarily working on feeling comfortable with reading note values, our finger numbers (remembering that the thumb starts as “1”), and using CDE on the keyboard. We skipped ahead in the book a bit because she was eager to start playing on the white keys 😁

Have you guys started using Tenuto at home? If so, send me score updates for her whenever is convenient throughout the week. It’s a great downtime activity, and easy to get practice in since I’ve structured the timer at 60 seconds.

Has Charlie used flashcards for school? Do you guys ask her about her music notes names and values throughout the week? I am still trying to get a feel for her preferred learning style and how best practice our new concepts (it wasn’t answered on the Pre-Lesson Questionnaire) and would love more feedback on that! Feel free to text/email me or communicate in her Practice Journal, whichever is easiest.

I haven’t seen any days logged in her practice journal recently. No worries, I know you guys were out of town, I’m just wondering what her practice routine has been looking like. I saw that 3-4 days as the time available for practice each week on her Questionnaire; the best advice I can provide for a basic 3 day routine is to have her practice a few minutes each day Monday – Wednesday (hypothetically around the same time so that it becomes a routine habit), then doing Tenuto and any written Theory Book work on weekends or whenever the opportunity presents itself. At her current level, 5-10 minutes of focused practice with help/observation from a parent is ideal. Additionally, please feel free to text me with any questions that may arise throughout the week.

Please send me the answers to her About Me questions ASAP, I am buying background paper this weekend (based on their favorite color) and don’t want her to get left out 🙂