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Page 1: V M usic - Amazon Web Services · 2019-08-20 · This ‘But-the-Pieces’ lesson plan will help you teach theory, aural, technique and rhythm through games and creative activities
Page 2: V M usic - Amazon Web Services · 2019-08-20 · This ‘But-the-Pieces’ lesson plan will help you teach theory, aural, technique and rhythm through games and creative activities

Vibrant Music Teaching Vibrant Music TeachingBut-the-Pieces Plan: 40 Week Piano Powerbooster Three

© Copyright Colourful Keys 2019www.vibrantmusicteaching.com

Overview

Quick Look Lesson Plan

Wk 1 Fishing Lines Poster conductor Marching Orders Major/minor improvisation

Wk 2 Symbol Splash Hi Lo Chickalo Beat My Rhythm Major/minor improvisation

Wk 3 Accidental Abacus Hi Lo Chickalo Tree Time A & D natural minor

Wk 4 Legend of the Ledgers

Floor Notation Go, Blank, Go G & C natural minor

Wk 5 Note Stem Smash Hi Lo Chickalo What did I say? E natural minor

Wk 6 Run, Race, Repeat Hi Lo Chickalo Musical Maths Matchup

F natural minor

Wk 7 Tempo Trick Posters

Hi Lo Chickalo Memory Train B natural minor

WEEK THEORY AURAL RHYTHM TECHNIQUE WEEK THEORY AURAL RHYTHM TECHNIQUE

This ‘But-the-Pieces’ lesson plan will help you teach theory, aural, technique and rhythm through games and creative activities. It is designed to be used directly after the Piano Powerbooster Two.

There are 40 weeks of lesson plans and each will last about 20-30 minutes. Feel free to use these plans in conjunction with your method book of choice. There may be some overlap in the concepts taught but none of this is “conflict” – just a fantastic opportunity for students to experience these concepts in different contexts.

Although the theory, aural, technique and rhythm work is designed to work together, you’re welcome to pick out just certain tracks to follow if you don’t have time for, or don’t want to teach some of these areas. For example, you could follow only the rhythm activities for about 5 minutes of lesson time each week, or the aural and technique exercises for about 10 minutes each week.

But-the-Pieces Plans cover aspects other than repertoire. These plans will work well one on one with a student, or in partner, buddy, overlap-ping or small group lessons. Activities at the piano will work with multiple students sitting side-by-side at one piano or at separate keyboard without much alteration.

Wk 8 Enharmonic Mates

Greedy Magpie Rhythm Race Switcheroo improvisation

Wk 9 Swiswap Solfa I.D. Double Bubble Minor white key chords

Wk 10 Legend of the Ledgers

Great Big House Unjumble F sharp natural minor

Wk 11 Key Collector Great Big House Beat My Rhythm C sharp natural minor

Wk 12 Pit Stop (level 2/3) For Your Supper Listening Locomotive

G sharp natural minor

Wk 13 Chordface Great Big House Coordination Combos

Scalepeggio improvisation

Wk 14 Piano Puzzle 3 Great Big House Rhythm Q&A Arpeggio fingerings

Page 3: V M usic - Amazon Web Services · 2019-08-20 · This ‘But-the-Pieces’ lesson plan will help you teach theory, aural, technique and rhythm through games and creative activities

Vibrant Music TeachingBut-the-Pieces Plan: 40 Week Piano Powerbooster Three

© Copyright Colourful Keys 2019www.vibrantmusicteaching.com

WEEK THEORY AURAL RHYTHM TECHNIQUE WEEK THEORY AURAL RHYTHM TECHNIQUE

Overview

Wk 28 Compose in D minor

Poster conductor Listening Locomotive

C sharp harmonic minor

Wk 29 Scale Engineer Billy, Billy What did I say? G sharp harmonic minor

Wk 30 Compose in G minor

Billy, Billy Rhythm Race Scalepeggio improvisation

Wk 31 Time Signature Snapperoo

Billy, Billy Rotate E flat harmonic minor

Wk 32 Compose in F sharp minor

Floor Notation Q&A B flat harmonic minor

Wk 33 Aachoo! Solfa I.D. Unjumble Arpeggio fingerings

Wk 34 Compose in C minor

Molly Malone Count Teddy Scalepeggio improvisation

Wk 35 Minor Bat Molly Malone Beat My Rhythm Switcheroo improvisation

Wk 36 Compose in C sharp minor

Scaling the Cliff Go, Blank, Go! Review with articulations

Wk 37 Term Teleport Molly Malone Double Bubble Spaghetti, marsh-mallow, popcorn

Wk 38 Minor Bat Molly Malone Canon Scalepeggio improvisation

Wk 39 Worth a Thousand Molly Malone Blind Mirror Chord composing

Wk 40 Symbol Splash All folk songs Listening Locomotive

Compose minor piece

Wk 15 60 Second Challenge

Great Big House Canon E flat natural minor

Wk 16 60 Second Challenge

Listen Loud Listening Locomotive

B flat natural minor

Wk 17 60 Second Challenge

Listen Loud Memory Train Switcheroo improvisation

Wk 18 Cycling on Sharps Obwissana Rotate Minor chords chromatically

Wk 19 Chordface Obwissana Canon Minor chords chromatically

Wk 20 Blankitty Blank Hand sign conductor

Rhythm Q&A Harmonic minor introduction

Wk 21 Inversion Diversions (keyboard)

Obwissana Double Bubble A, D and E harmonic minor

Wk 22 Creative Candies Obwissana Rhythm Race A, D and E harmonic minor

Wk 23 Inversion Diversions (keyboard)

Obwissana Beat My Rhythm G & C harmonic minor

Wk 24 Compose in A minor

Scaling the Cliff My Favourite Things

B & F harmonic minor

Wk 25 Inversion Diver-sions (staff)

Sidestep Solfa Count Teddy Silent minor scale drills

Wk 26 Compose in E minor

Billy, Billy Go, Blank, Go! Minor chords COF

Wk 27 Inversion Diversions (staff)

Billy, Billy Memory Train F sharp harmonic minor

Page 4: V M usic - Amazon Web Services · 2019-08-20 · This ‘But-the-Pieces’ lesson plan will help you teach theory, aural, technique and rhythm through games and creative activities

Vibrant Music TeachingBut-the-Pieces Plan: 40 Week Piano Powerbooster Three

TIME EST. ACTIVITY FOCUS DIRECTIONS

© Copyright Colourful Keys 2019www.vibrantmusicteaching.com

3 min Poster conductor

Solfa • Put up the Solfa Posters on a door or wall, or lay them out on the floor if you don’t have a place to stick them up.• Point to the posters and sing together. Start on do and steps up and down the full major scale as well as skips do-mi, mi-so and do-so.• After some practice let your student be the “conductor”. (Even the conductor has to sing!)

7 min Major/minor improvisation

Modality • Improvise together in C major using this accompaniment.

• Then, improvise together again. Tell your student they can still use all the white keys but the home note is going to change – can they listen as they play and try to find the home note?

• Give a brief explanation (depending on the student's age and understanding) about the major and minor modality and how changing the chords creates a different mood/character.

Week 1

Page 5: V M usic - Amazon Web Services · 2019-08-20 · This ‘But-the-Pieces’ lesson plan will help you teach theory, aural, technique and rhythm through games and creative activities

Vibrant Music TeachingBut-the-Pieces Plan: 40 Week Piano Powerbooster Three

TIME EST. ACTIVITY FOCUS DIRECTIONS

© Copyright Colourful Keys 2019www.vibrantmusicteaching.com

7 min Fishing Lines Note names • Play Fishing Lines together.

3 min Marching Orders dffg ryqh w • Practise each of these note value actions with your student:

• dffg = tap your hands gently on your head• ry= run on tip-toe• q= march• h= high-knee march• w= jump

• Put on some music in $4 and hold up one Jumbo Note Values card at a time. (You only need to print these 5 cards, not the whole set!)• Change note value every few bars/measures and do the actions together for whichever note value you’re holding up.

Notes to self:

Week 1

Page 6: V M usic - Amazon Web Services · 2019-08-20 · This ‘But-the-Pieces’ lesson plan will help you teach theory, aural, technique and rhythm through games and creative activities

Vibrant Music TeachingBut-the-Pieces Plan: 40 Week Piano Powerbooster Three

TIME EST. ACTIVITY FOCUS DIRECTIONS

© Copyright Colourful Keys 2019www.vibrantmusicteaching.com

3 min Hi Lo Chickalo Singing • Sing this song together several times while doing the actions.

5 min Beat My Rhythm

$4 EQ dg e q q. h _

• Get your student to draw 4 Rhythm Vocab cards at random from level 3 numbers 1-32.• Ask your student to tap a beat in the pattern clap-patsch-patsch. They can choose the tempo but it has to stay steady, like a ticking clock.• Once their beat is established, clap the rhythm in time with their beat.• If they stop or falter, stop clapping, help them to start their beat again and then start the rhythm again.

Week 2

Page 7: V M usic - Amazon Web Services · 2019-08-20 · This ‘But-the-Pieces’ lesson plan will help you teach theory, aural, technique and rhythm through games and creative activities

Vibrant Music TeachingBut-the-Pieces Plan: 40 Week Piano Powerbooster Three

TIME EST. ACTIVITY FOCUS DIRECTIONS

© Copyright Colourful Keys 2019www.vibrantmusicteaching.com

5 min Major/minor improvisation

Modality • Improvise together in G major using this accompaniment.

• Explain that you're going to switch from major to minor now. They should keep the same palette of notes but their new home note will be la instead of do.

• Discuss the different sounds and get your student to describe the mood or feeling of major and minor keys in their own words.

7 min Symbol Splash Terms and symbols

• Play Symbol Splash together using the level 2 cards.

Notes to self:

Week 2

Page 8: V M usic - Amazon Web Services · 2019-08-20 · This ‘But-the-Pieces’ lesson plan will help you teach theory, aural, technique and rhythm through games and creative activities

Vibrant Music TeachingBut-the-Pieces Plan: 40 Week Piano Powerbooster Three

TIME EST. ACTIVITY FOCUS DIRECTIONS

© Copyright Colourful Keys 2019www.vibrantmusicteaching.com

5 min Tree Time ryqh w • Spread the Relative Rhythms cards in a loose pile and ask your student to find a semibreve/whole note.• Now ask them to find a minim/half note. How many of those will fit inside the semibreve/whole note? Create a rhythm tree together by asking questions like this and laying out the cards in this pattern:

• Put a token (toy, eraser, pencil, etc.) beside one of the tree layers and tell your student you’ll both patsch (tap lap/knees) whichever note value this token is sitting beside.• Put on some music in $4with a strong beat and patsch (tap lap/knees) the note value together. Move the token every 4 bars/measures or so to practise the different note values.

5 min A & D minor improvisation

Natural minor scales

• Improvise together in A minor.

• Teach your student the A natural minor scale (with fingering). Since they are familiar with these fingering patterns from their major scales they should be able to practise hands together after try-ing it once hands separately.

Week 3

Page 9: V M usic - Amazon Web Services · 2019-08-20 · This ‘But-the-Pieces’ lesson plan will help you teach theory, aural, technique and rhythm through games and creative activities

Vibrant Music TeachingBut-the-Pieces Plan: 40 Week Piano Powerbooster Three

TIME EST. ACTIVITY FOCUS DIRECTIONS

© Copyright Colourful Keys 2019www.vibrantmusicteaching.com

• Ask your student to work out the relative minor of F major by finding la in the scale.• Improvise together in D minor.

• Teach your student the D natural minor scale (with fingering). Since they are familiar with these fingering patterns from their major scales they should be able to practise hands together after trying it once hands separately.

5 min Accidental Abacus

Accidentals • Play Accidental Abacus together.

5 min Hi Lo Chickalo Playing by ear

• Sing Hi Lo Chickalo again together while doing the actions.• Tell your student to start on G and try to figure out how the song goes from there. Help them as much as they need until they can play and sing the whole song.

Notes to self:

Week 3

Page 10: V M usic - Amazon Web Services · 2019-08-20 · This ‘But-the-Pieces’ lesson plan will help you teach theory, aural, technique and rhythm through games and creative activities

Vibrant Music TeachingBut-the-Pieces Plan: 40 Week Piano Powerbooster Three

TIME EST. ACTIVITY FOCUS DIRECTIONS

© Copyright Colourful Keys 2019www.vibrantmusicteaching.com

5 min G & C minor improvisation

Natural minor scales

• Ask your student to work out the relative minor of B major by finding la in the scale.• Improvise together in G minor.

• Teach your student the G natural minor scale (with fingering). Since they are familiar with these fingering patterns from their major scales they should be able to practise hands together after trying it once hands separately.• Ask your student to work out the relative minor of E major by finding la in the scale.• Improvise together in C minor.

• Teach your student the C natural minor scale (with fingering). Since they are familiar with these fingering patterns from their major scales they should be able to practise hands together after trying it once hands separately.

Week 4

Page 11: V M usic - Amazon Web Services · 2019-08-20 · This ‘But-the-Pieces’ lesson plan will help you teach theory, aural, technique and rhythm through games and creative activities

Vibrant Music TeachingBut-the-Pieces Plan: 40 Week Piano Powerbooster Three

TIME EST. ACTIVITY FOCUS DIRECTIONS

© Copyright Colourful Keys 2019www.vibrantmusicteaching.com

5 min Floor notation Ear training • Put three ropes, ribbons or lines of tape on the floor to represent a three line staff. • Play the tonic chord (in any key) followed by a short phrase using only do-re-mi-fa-so-la. Can your student recreate it on the staff? Give them clues and play the phrase several times as they need.

5 min Go, Blank, Go! $4 EQ dg e q q. h _

• Get your student to draw 6 Rhythm Vocab cards at random from level 3 numbers 1-48.• Place the cards in a row and clap the full rhythm together a few times.• Now, ask your student to choose one card to be the “blank”. Make sure you’re both clear on which one it is but do not turn it over or remove it.• Clap the rhythm together again but this time think this card rather than clapping it aloud.• Repeat this as many times as your student needs to be able to start clapping again after the blank in time with you.

5 min Legend of the Ledgers

Ledger line notes

• Play Legend of the Ledgers together.

Notes to self:

Week 4

Page 12: V M usic - Amazon Web Services · 2019-08-20 · This ‘But-the-Pieces’ lesson plan will help you teach theory, aural, technique and rhythm through games and creative activities

Vibrant Music TeachingBut-the-Pieces Plan: 40 Week Piano Powerbooster Three

TIME EST. ACTIVITY FOCUS DIRECTIONS

© Copyright Colourful Keys 2019www.vibrantmusicteaching.com

5 min Hi Lo Chickalo Transposing • Sing Hi Lo Chickalo again together while doing the actions.• Review the song at the piano and sing it together while they play.• Now, tell them to pick a new note to be do. Help them to work out where low la and low so are for this do and to work out the song in the new key.

5 min E minor improvisation

Natural minor scales

• Review the natural minor scales your student has met so far.• Ask them to work out the relative minor of G major by finding la in the scale.• Improvise together in E minor.

• Teach your student the E natural minor scale (with fingering). Since they are familiar with these fingering patterns from their major scales they should be able to practise hands together after trying it once hands separately.

5 min What did I say? Dictation • Spread out the Relative Rhythms cards in a loose pile. • Clap and say a short rhythmic phrase. This can really be anything said as a chant, such as “Mis-sissippi mud pie” or “mountain high, valley low”. Choose words that will easily translate to note values your student knows. If you’re stuck for inspiration, take phrases from kids’ nursery rhymes and songs.• Ask your student to recreate the rhythm with the Relative Rhythms cards.• Clap and count the rhythm together, saying the rhythm syllables and then the words.

5 min Note Stem Smash

Note stems • Play Note Stem Smash together.

Week 5

Page 13: V M usic - Amazon Web Services · 2019-08-20 · This ‘But-the-Pieces’ lesson plan will help you teach theory, aural, technique and rhythm through games and creative activities

Vibrant Music TeachingBut-the-Pieces Plan: 40 Week Piano Powerbooster Three

TIME EST. ACTIVITY FOCUS DIRECTIONS

© Copyright Colourful Keys 2019www.vibrantmusicteaching.com

5 min Hi Lo Chickalo Harmony • Sing and play the song together.• Find do and so together and go through and play the melody of short sections (1-2 beats depend-ing on where the harmony will change) while your student tests them with do and so and figures out which works best.• Once they’ve figured out the whole song, try it as a duet. (You can play with both hands while they do just the harmony if they need a bit of help remembering the pattern.)

5 min Musical Maths Matchup

Note value review

• Play Musical Maths Matchup together.

5 min F minor improvisation

Natural minor scales

• Review the natural minor scales your student has met so far.• Ask them to work out the relative minor of A major by finding la in the scale.• Improvise together in F minor.

• Teach your student the F natural minor scale (with fingering). Since they are familiar with these fingering patterns from their major scales they should be able to practise hands together after trying it once hands separately.

5 min Run, Race, Repeat

Repeat & tempo marks

• Play Run, Race Repeat together.

Notes to self:

Week 6

Page 14: V M usic - Amazon Web Services · 2019-08-20 · This ‘But-the-Pieces’ lesson plan will help you teach theory, aural, technique and rhythm through games and creative activities

Vibrant Music TeachingBut-the-Pieces Plan: 40 Week Piano Powerbooster Three

TIME EST. ACTIVITY FOCUS DIRECTIONS

© Copyright Colourful Keys 2019www.vibrantmusicteaching.com

5 min Hi Lo Chickalo Vamping • Sing and play the song together as a duet with the harmony you decided on last week.• Teach your student this simple vamp pattern for the I and the V (or do and so).

Try the duet again together, replacing every do in the secondo part with the new I pattern and every so in the secondo part with the new V pattern.

5 min Memory Train $4 EQ dg e q q. h _

• Get your student to draw 6 Rhythm Vocab cards at random from level 3 numbers 1-48.• Place the cards in a row and clap and say the full rhythm together a few times.• Now, turn over the first card so that your student can no longer see the rhythm. Ask them if they can remember what it was. If they can’t, show it to them again so they can look at it and memorise it and then turn it back over.• Clap and say the full rhythm together again.• Turn over the next card and repeat the process until you’re doing the whole rhythm from mem-ory. Then, ask them to clap it one final time, this time without saying it.

5 min B minor improvisation

Natural minor scales

• Review the natural minor scales your student has met so far.• Ask them to work out the relative minor of D major by finding la in the scale.• Improvise together in B minor and then teach your student the fingering for B natural minor.

Week 7

Page 15: V M usic - Amazon Web Services · 2019-08-20 · This ‘But-the-Pieces’ lesson plan will help you teach theory, aural, technique and rhythm through games and creative activities

Vibrant Music TeachingBut-the-Pieces Plan: 40 Week Piano Powerbooster Three

TIME EST. ACTIVITY FOCUS DIRECTIONS

© Copyright Colourful Keys 2019www.vibrantmusicteaching.com

5 min Tempo Trick Posters Improvisation

Tempo marks

• Get your student to draw one Tempo Trick Poster at random. • Discuss what the tempo mark means and the “trick” that helps us remember the meaning.• Put this up on the stand and improvise together at this tempo. Use this opportunity to review minor key improvisations from previous weeks..

Notes to self:

Week 7

Page 16: V M usic - Amazon Web Services · 2019-08-20 · This ‘But-the-Pieces’ lesson plan will help you teach theory, aural, technique and rhythm through games and creative activities

Vibrant Music TeachingBut-the-Pieces Plan: 40 Week Piano Powerbooster Three

TIME EST. ACTIVITY FOCUS DIRECTIONS

© Copyright Colourful Keys 2019www.vibrantmusicteaching.com

5 min Enharmonic Mates

Enharmonicnotes

• Play Enharmonic Mates together.

5 min Switcheroo Improvisation

Key signatures

• Ask your student to choose a minor key to improvise in first. Tell them at some point, you will ask them to change key (without stopping) and they will need to alter which scale they are using to improvise. • Play a few rounds in their chosen key, then say “_ minor, ready, change!” in time with the mu-sic before changing to the new key. Move through all 7 minor keys they know so far in this way.

5 min Rhythm Race $4 EQ dg e q q. h _

• Get your student to draw 4 Rhythm Vocab cards at random from level 3 numbers 1-48.• Say each rhythm together and then place the cards in different spots in the room.• Clap one of the rhythms and ask your student to run to the one you clapped.• If this is easy, get your student to draw 4 more cards at random, say them together and ask your student to choose 4 more spots for these. Now clap one of the 8 and ask your student to run to the one you clapped.

5 min Greedy Magpie Ear training • Play Greedy Magpie together.

Notes to self:

Week 8

Page 17: V M usic - Amazon Web Services · 2019-08-20 · This ‘But-the-Pieces’ lesson plan will help you teach theory, aural, technique and rhythm through games and creative activities

Vibrant Music TeachingBut-the-Pieces Plan: 40 Week Piano Powerbooster Three

TIME EST. ACTIVITY FOCUS DIRECTIONS

© Copyright Colourful Keys 2019www.vibrantmusicteaching.com

5 min Minor chord drills

Chords • Explain how you can turn a major triad in a minor triad by dropping the middle note.• Get your student to play the minor white key chords going from C to C and back down.• If you're interested in using iReal Pro as a backing track for this drill click here to go to the tuto-rial video and get the tracks.

5 min Double Bubble Note values • Spread out the Relative Rhythms cards in a loose pile. • Tell your student to make a short rhythm using only ry and q• Ask your student which note is twice the size of q Can they find one?• Now ask your student which note is twice the size of e Can they find one?• Ask them to recreate the rhythm using qand h instead of ry and q• Clap both rhythms together at fast, slow and medium speeds. • Then tell your student you're going to clap one of them. Can they figure out which one it is? • Clap the rhythm and talk about how there's no way to tell because it could be one of them at a fast tempo or the other one quite slow.

3 min Do/re/mi/fa/so/la/ti I.D.

Ear training • Tell your student that if they hear do they must sit down, if they hear re they should kneel, for mi they should stand, for fa they stand with hands on hips, for so they should stand with their hands on their head, for la they should stand with their hands in the air and for ti they should jump with hands in the air.• Play the tonic chord on the piano. Then play do, re, mi, fa, so, la or ti. Your student should do the action to match the note.• Repeat this all over the piano, in different keys, high and low.

7 min Intervals Swiswap • Play Swiswap together.

Notes to self:

Week 9

Page 18: V M usic - Amazon Web Services · 2019-08-20 · This ‘But-the-Pieces’ lesson plan will help you teach theory, aural, technique and rhythm through games and creative activities

Vibrant Music TeachingBut-the-Pieces Plan: 40 Week Piano Powerbooster Three

TIME EST. ACTIVITY FOCUS DIRECTIONS

© Copyright Colourful Keys 2019www.vibrantmusicteaching.com

3 min Great Big House

Singing • Sing this song together several times while doing the actions.

5 min Unjumble $4 EQ dg rTye q q. h _

• Get your student to draw 4 Rhythm Vocab cards at random from level 3 numbers 1-64.• Place the cards in a 2x2 grid.• Choose a secret order for the cards and clap it for your student.• It’s your student’s job to then put the cards in a row in the correct order. They can ask to hear the rhythm again as many times as they like.

5 min F minor improvisation

Natural minor scales

• Review the natural minor scales your student has met so far.• Ask them to work out the relative minor of A major by finding la in the scale.• Improvise together in F minor and then teach your student the fingering for F natural minor.

Week 10

Page 19: V M usic - Amazon Web Services · 2019-08-20 · This ‘But-the-Pieces’ lesson plan will help you teach theory, aural, technique and rhythm through games and creative activities

Vibrant Music TeachingBut-the-Pieces Plan: 40 Week Piano Powerbooster Three

TIME EST. ACTIVITY FOCUS DIRECTIONS

© Copyright Colourful Keys 2019www.vibrantmusicteaching.com

7 min Legend of the Ledgers

Ledger line notes

• Play Legend of the Ledgers together.

Notes to self:

Page 20: V M usic - Amazon Web Services · 2019-08-20 · This ‘But-the-Pieces’ lesson plan will help you teach theory, aural, technique and rhythm through games and creative activities

Vibrant Music TeachingBut-the-Pieces Plan: 40 Week Piano Powerbooster Three

TIME EST. ACTIVITY FOCUS DIRECTIONS

© Copyright Colourful Keys 2019www.vibrantmusicteaching.com

5 min Great Big House

Playing by ear

• Sing Great Big House again together while doing the actions.• Tell your student to start on G and try to figure out how the song goes from there. Help them as much as they need until they can play and sing the whole song.

5 min Beat My Rhythm

$4 EQ dg rTye q q. h _

• Get your student to draw 4 Rhythm Vocab cards at random from level 3 numbers 1-64.• Ask your student to tap a beat in the pattern clap-patsch-patsch. They can choose the tempo but it has to stay steady, like a ticking clock.• Once their beat is established, clap the rhythm in time with their beat.• If they stop or falter, stop clapping, help them to start their beat again and then start the rhythm again.

5 min C minor improvisation

Natural minor scales

• Ask your student to work out the relative minor of E major by finding la in the scale.• Improvise together in C minor and then teach your student the fingering for F natural minor.

5 min Key Collector Key signatures

• Play Key Collector with your student.

Notes to self:

Week 11

Page 21: V M usic - Amazon Web Services · 2019-08-20 · This ‘But-the-Pieces’ lesson plan will help you teach theory, aural, technique and rhythm through games and creative activities

Vibrant Music TeachingBut-the-Pieces Plan: 40 Week Piano Powerbooster Three

TIME EST. ACTIVITY FOCUS DIRECTIONS

© Copyright Colourful Keys 2019www.vibrantmusicteaching.com

Week 12

5 min For Your Supper

Ear training • Play For Your Supper together.

5 min G minor improvisation

Natural minor scales

• Ask your student to work out the relative minor of B major by finding la in the scale.• Improvise together in G minor and then teach your student the fingering for G natural minor.

5 min Listening Locomotive

Rhythm patterns

• Start by clapping and saying a rhythm pattern and ask your student to join in and say it with you when they’re ready.• Stop the rhythm for a moment and explain that this time you’ll start with this rhythm and change to a new rhythm pattern at some point. They need to try and keep the first rhythm pattern going while listening to your new pattern – once they feel like they’ve got it they should change to the new one.• Don’t worry if your student’s transition to the new rhythm isn’t very smooth when you first try this. Don’t stop to correct them, just keep repeating the second rhythm until they catch on, then change to a new pattern again once they’re confident with it.

5 min Pit Stop Theory review

• Play Pit Stop together using the level 2 or level 3 cards. (Choose the level based on your student and which terms they have encountered so far.)

Notes to self:

Page 22: V M usic - Amazon Web Services · 2019-08-20 · This ‘But-the-Pieces’ lesson plan will help you teach theory, aural, technique and rhythm through games and creative activities

Vibrant Music TeachingBut-the-Pieces Plan: 40 Week Piano Powerbooster Three

TIME EST. ACTIVITY FOCUS DIRECTIONS

© Copyright Colourful Keys 2019www.vibrantmusicteaching.com

Week 13

5 min Coordination Combos

dffg rTyq • Practise the patterns:

• dffg (tikatika) as clap-patsch (tap lap/knees)-patsch-patsch

• rTy (triola) as clap-patsch-patsch• Then, start marching a steady beat and trying to add each of these rhythm patterns on top of your marching, switching back and forth between tikatika and triola.

5 min Great Big House

Transposing • Sing Great Big House again together while doing the actions.• Review the song at the piano and sing it together while they play.• Now, tell them to pick a new note to be do. Help them to work out where re, mi, so and la are for this do and to work out the song in the new key.

5 min Scalepeggio improvisation

Scales & arpeggios

• Sit at the treble side of the piano while your student sits at the bass. • Ask them to play A minor arpeggios, over and over while holding down the pedal. They can do this with one hand or both, depending on how comfortable they are with arpeggios at this stage.• Improvise a melody using the A minor scale. Tell them to hold a long A at the end.• Swap places and ask them to improvise while you play the arpeggios. • Try this with other white key minor arpeggios if you have time.

5 min Chordface Chords • Explain the semitone (half step) patterns in major, minor and diminished chords.• Play Chordface together, helping them as much as they need until they get used to the patterns.

Notes to self:

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Vibrant Music TeachingBut-the-Pieces Plan: 40 Week Piano Powerbooster Three

TIME EST. ACTIVITY FOCUS DIRECTIONS

© Copyright Colourful Keys 2019www.vibrantmusicteaching.com

Week 14

5 min Great Big House

Harmony • Sing and play the song together.• Find do and so together and go through and play the melody of short sections (1-2 beats depend-ing on where the harmony will change) while your student tests them with do and so and figures out which works best.• Once they’ve figured out the whole song, try it as a duet. (You can play with both hands while they do just the harmony if they need a bit of help remembering the pattern.)

2 min Q&A dg ryE qQ h q. e

• Clap a simple rhythm and ask your student to answer it with a similar rhythm. Repeat this sev-eral times.• Now ask your student to clap a rhythm question for you to answer.• Swap roles back and forth. Encourage your student to keep their rhythm simple.

10 min Minor arpeggios

Arpeggio fingering

• Ask your student to work out what notes would be in the F minor arpeggio (based on their knowledge of the scale) and to play it with finger 2, hopping from note to note.• Then teach them the correct fingering for this arpeggio.• Repeat this for C and G minor, and then each of the white key minor arpeggios.

3 min Piano Puzzle Note reading

• See how fast your student can complete level 3 of the Piano Puzzle.

Notes to self:

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Vibrant Music TeachingBut-the-Pieces Plan: 40 Week Piano Powerbooster Three

TIME EST. ACTIVITY FOCUS DIRECTIONS

© Copyright Colourful Keys 2019www.vibrantmusicteaching.com

Week 15

5 min Great Big House

Vamping • Sing and play the song together as a duet with the harmony you decided on last week.• Teach your student this simple vamp pattern for the I and the V (or do and so).

Try the duet again together, replacing every do in the secondo part with the new I pattern and every so in the secondo part with the new V pattern.

5 min Canon $4 EQ dg rTye q q. h _

• Get your student to draw 6 Rhythm Vocab cards at random from level 3 numbers 1-64.• Place the cards in a row and say the full rhythm together a few times.• Then tell your student to say the rhythm again, but this time, you’re going to start 2 bars/meas-ures after them to create a canon.• If your student is able to stick with their rhythm successfully, swap roles and tell them to start 2 bars/measures after you.

5 min 60 Second Challenge

Note names • Try the Gold 60 Second Challenge with your student and record their time.

5 min E minor improvisation

Natural minor scales

• Ask your student to work out the relative minor of G major by finding la in the scale.• Improvise together in E minor and then teach your student the fingering for E natural minor.

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Vibrant Music TeachingBut-the-Pieces Plan: 40 Week Piano Powerbooster Three

TIME EST. ACTIVITY FOCUS DIRECTIONS

© Copyright Colourful Keys 2019www.vibrantmusicteaching.com

Week 16

3 min 60 Second Challenge

Note names • Try the Gold 60 Second Challenge with your student and record their time.

5 min B minor improvisation

Natural minor scales

• Ask your student to work out the relative minor of D major by finding la in the scale.• Improvise together in B minor and then teach your student the fingering for B natural minor.

5 min Listening Locomotive

Rhythm patterns

• Start by clapping and saying a rhythm pattern and ask your student to join in and say it with you when they’re ready.• Stop the rhythm for a moment and explain that this time you’ll start with this rhythm and change to a new rhythm pattern at some point. They need to try and keep the first rhythm pattern going while listening to your new pattern – once they feel like they’ve got it they should change to the new one.• Don’t worry if your student’s transition to the new rhythm isn’t very smooth when you first try this. Don’t stop to correct them, just keep repeating the second rhythm until they catch on, then change to a new pattern again once they’re confident with it.

7 min Listen Loud Ear training • Play Listen Loud with your student.

Notes to self:

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Vibrant Music TeachingBut-the-Pieces Plan: 40 Week Piano Powerbooster Three

TIME EST. ACTIVITY FOCUS DIRECTIONS

© Copyright Colourful Keys 2019www.vibrantmusicteaching.com

Week 17

5 min Switcheroo Improvisation

Key signatures

• Ask your student to choose a minor key to improvise in first. Tell them at some point, you will ask them to change key (without stopping) and they will need to alter which scale they are using to improvise. • Play a few rounds in their chosen key, then say “_ minor, ready, change!” in time with the mu-sic before changing to the new key. Move through all 12 minor keys in this way.

5 min Memory Train $4 EQ dg rTye q q. h _

• Get your student to draw 6 Rhythm Vocab cards at random from the full level 3 set.• Place the cards in a row and clap and say the full rhythm together a few times.• Now, turn over the first card so that your student can no longer see the rhythm. Ask them if they can remember what it was. If they can’t, show it to them again so they can look at it and memorise it and then turn it back over.• Clap and say the full rhythm together again.• Turn over the next card and repeat the process until you’re doing the whole rhythm from mem-ory. Then, ask them to clap it one final time, this time without saying it.

7 min Listen Loud Ear training • Play Listen Loud with your student.

3 min 60 Second Challenge

Note names • Try the Gold 60 Second Challenge with your student and record their time.

Notes to self:

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Vibrant Music TeachingBut-the-Pieces Plan: 40 Week Piano Powerbooster Three

TIME EST. ACTIVITY FOCUS DIRECTIONS

© Copyright Colourful Keys 2019www.vibrantmusicteaching.com

Week 18

3 min Rotate $4 EQ dg rTye q q. h _

• Get your student to draw 3 Rhythm Vocab cards at random from the full level 3 set.• Tell your student you’ll both start by clapping the rhythm closest to you and then when you say “1 2 ready rotate!” you’ll each change to the next rhythm in the circle, clockwise. Point to each card in the order they will do them so that they’re clear on the order.

5 min Obwissana Singing • Sing this song together several times while doing the actions.

• Once your student is comfortable with the song you might like to try the traditional action of passing around a circle (or across if just you and your student) on the beat. You can use sticks or claves or one of your shoes!

5 min Chromatic chord drill

Minor chords

• Remind your student how to create a minor triad from a major one by dropping the middle note down one semitone (half step).• Get them to play all the minor chords going chromatically from C to C and back down. Do this hands separately or together, depending on your student's coordination at this stage.• If you're interested in using iReal Pro as a backing track for this drill click here to go to the tuto-rial video and get the tracks.

7 min Cycling on Sharps

Note names • Play Cycling on Sharps together.

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Vibrant Music TeachingBut-the-Pieces Plan: 40 Week Piano Powerbooster Three

TIME EST. ACTIVITY FOCUS DIRECTIONS

© Copyright Colourful Keys 2019www.vibrantmusicteaching.com

Week 19

5 min Obwissana Playing by ear

• Sing Obwissana again together while doing the actions.• Tell your student that the key is D major and to start on mi and to try and figure out how the song goes from there. Help them as much as they need until they can play and sing the whole song.

5 min Chromatic chord drill

Minor chords

• Repeat the minor chromatic chord drill from last week.• If you're interested in using iReal Pro as a backing track for this drill click here to go to the tuto-rial video and get the tracks.

5 min Canon $4 EQ dg rTye q q. h _

• Get your student to draw 4 Rhythm Vocab cards at random from the full level 3 set.• Place the cards in a row and say the full rhythm together a few times.• Then tell your student to say the rhythm again, but this time, you’re going to start 2 bars/meas-ures after them to create a canon.• If your student is able to stick with their rhythm successfully, swap roles and tell them to start 2 bars/measures after you.

5 min Chordface Chords • Review the semitone (half step) patterns in major, minor and diminished chords.• Play Chordface together.

Notes to self:

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Vibrant Music TeachingBut-the-Pieces Plan: 40 Week Piano Powerbooster Three

TIME EST. ACTIVITY FOCUS DIRECTIONS

© Copyright Colourful Keys 2019www.vibrantmusicteaching.com

Week 20

3 min Hand sign conductor

Solfa • Do the hand signs and sing together. • First you lead using your hand signs, then ask your student to lead you.

7 min A harmonic minor & cadence

Harmonic minor scales

• Remind your student about V-I (or perfect) cadences and play some together in major keys that they know well. • Now ask your student to try the same thing in A minor. Does it sound right? What if they tried making the V chord major, does that sound better?• Teach them the A harmonic minor scale which uses this new sharpened 7th note.

3 min Q&A dg ryE qQ h q. e

• Clap a simple rhythm and ask your student to answer it with a similar rhythm. Repeat this sev-eral times.• Now ask your student to clap a rhythm question for you to answer.• Swap roles back and forth. Encourage your student to keep their rhythm simple.

7 min Blankitty Blank

Time signatures

• Play Blankitty Blank together.

Notes to self:

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Vibrant Music TeachingBut-the-Pieces Plan: 40 Week Piano Powerbooster Three

TIME EST. ACTIVITY FOCUS DIRECTIONS

© Copyright Colourful Keys 2019www.vibrantmusicteaching.com

Week 21

3 min Obwissana Transposing • Sing Obwissana again together while doing the actions.• Review the song at the piano and sing it together while they play.• Now, tell them to pick a new note to be do. Help them to work out where re, mi, so and la are for this do and to work out the song in the new key.

4 min A, E and D harmonic minor scales

Harmonic minor scales

• Remind your student about the sharpened 7th and why it's added to the harmonic minor scale. • Get them to try the A, E and D harmonic minor scales. They know the natural minors so all they need to do is raise the 7th.

10 min Inversion Diversions

Chord inversions

• At the piano, get your student to lay out a C major triad on the keys using erasers or other small tokens. • Then, ask them to move the bottom note to the top and tell them this is the first inversion. • Ask them to move the bottom note to the top again and tell them this is the second inversion.• Discuss how all chords can be respelled in this way and try a few more together.• Play the keyboard version of Inversion Diversions together.

3 min Double Bubble Note stems • Spread out the Relative Rhythms cards in a loose pile. • Tell your student to make a short rhythm using only ry and q• Ask your student which note is twice the size of q Can they find one?• Now ask your student which note is twice the size of e Can they find one?• Ask them to recreate the rhythm using qand h instead of ry and q• Clap both rhythms together at fast, slow and medium speeds. • Then tell your student you're going to clap one of them. Can they figure out which one it is? • Clap the rhythm and talk about how there's no way to tell because it could be one of them at a fast tempo or the other one quite slow.

Notes to self:

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Vibrant Music TeachingBut-the-Pieces Plan: 40 Week Piano Powerbooster Three

TIME EST. ACTIVITY FOCUS DIRECTIONS

© Copyright Colourful Keys 2019www.vibrantmusicteaching.com

Week 22

5 min Obwissana Harmony • Sing and play the song together.• Find do and so together and go through and play the melody of short sections (1-2 beats depend-ing on where the harmony will change) while your student tests them with do and so and figures out which works best.• Once they’ve figured out the whole song, try it as a duet and/or get them to try it hands together.

7 min A, E and D harmonic minor scales

Harmonic minor scales

• Ask your student to play each scale while you play a I-V accompaniment.• Swap roles and play each scale while they do the accompaniment. They can use any of the simple vamp patterns they have learned for the folk songs for this.

5 min Rhythm Race $4 EQ dg rTye q q. h _

• Get your student to draw 4 Rhythm Vocab cards at random from the full level 3 set.• Say each rhythm together and then place the cards in different spots in the room.• Clap one of the rhythms and ask your student to run to the one you clapped.• If this is easy, get your student to draw 4 more cards at random, say them together and ask your student to choose 4 more spots for these. Now clap one of the 8 and ask your student to run to the one you clapped.

3 min Creative Candies

Expression marks

• Improvise using Creative Candies and any of the improvisation patterns we have covered so far. Don't worry if your student hasn't encountered the expression marks yet, use this as an opportu-nity to meet them.

Notes to self:

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Vibrant Music TeachingBut-the-Pieces Plan: 40 Week Piano Powerbooster Three

TIME EST. ACTIVITY FOCUS DIRECTIONS

© Copyright Colourful Keys 2019www.vibrantmusicteaching.com

Week 23

5 min Beat My Rhythm

^8 EQ dg e q q. • Get your student to draw 4 Rhythm Vocab cards at random from level 4 numbers 1-24.• Ask your student to tap a beat in the pattern clap-patsch-patsch-clap-patsch-patsch. They can choose the tempo but it has to stay steady, like a ticking clock.• Once their beat is established, clap the rhythm in time with their beat.• If they stop or falter, stop clapping, help them to start their beat again and then start the rhythm again.

5 min Obwissana Vamping • Sing and play the song together as a duet with the harmony you decided on last week.• Review this simple vamp pattern for the I and the V (or do and so).

Try the duet again together, replacing every do in the secondo part with the new I pattern and every so in the secondo part with the new V pattern.

5 min G and C harmonic minor scales

Harmonic minor scales

• Ask your student to play each scale while you play a I-V accompaniment.• Swap roles and play each scale while they do the accompaniment. They can use any of the simple vamp patterns they have learned for the folk songs for this.

5 min Inversion Diversions

Chord inversions

• Remind your student how all chords can be respelled in different ways and try a few together at the piano.• Play the keyboard version of Inversion Diversions together.

Notes to self:

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Vibrant Music TeachingBut-the-Pieces Plan: 40 Week Piano Powerbooster Three

TIME EST. ACTIVITY FOCUS DIRECTIONS

© Copyright Colourful Keys 2019www.vibrantmusicteaching.com

Week 24

5 min Scaling the Cliff

Types of minor scales

• Demonstrate each of the types of minor scales: melodic, natural and harmonic so your student can hear the difference.• Play Scaling the Cliff together.

5 min B and F harmonic minor scales

Harmonic minor scales

• Ask your student to play each scale while you play a I-V accompaniment.• Swap roles and play each scale while they do the accompaniment. They can use any of the simple vamp patterns they have learned for the folk songs for this.

5 min My Favourite Things

Writing rhythms

• Ask your student what their favourite dinner is. Say this a few times together rhythmically. Clap with each syllable. • Ask your student what their favourite drink is. Say the drink name a few times together rhythmi-cally. Clap with each syllable.• Finally, ask your student for their favourite dessert. Say the dessert name a few times together rhythmically. Clap with each syllable.• Now, combine their favourite things and chant this a few times while clapping, for example: “Pizza, apple juice and chocolate cake.”• Write this phrase down and help your student to work out what the rhythm is. Write the rhythm above the words. Depending on the student’s age and level they might write this themselves or you might do it for them.• Get your student to choose one favourite thing to eat/drink first. Clap the say the rhythm again but leave a rest where that item was. • Get your student to choose another favourite thing to eat/drink next. Clap the say the rhythm again but leave a rest where the two items were. • The last time you do the rhythm, everything has been gobbled up! Count in and then think the rhythm together, only clapping the “and”.

5 min A minor composition

Key signatures

• Help your student to use the rhythm from My Favourite Things to create a 4 bar/measure compo-sition together in A minor on blank staff paper.

Notes to self:

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Vibrant Music TeachingBut-the-Pieces Plan: 40 Week Piano Powerbooster Three

TIME EST. ACTIVITY FOCUS DIRECTIONS

© Copyright Colourful Keys 2019www.vibrantmusicteaching.com

Week 25

5 min Sidestep Solfa Solfa • Arrange the sidestep solfa cards as a minor scale, la ti do re mi fa so la, instead of a major ones. Practise singing patterns up and down the minor scale together.• Play Sidestep Solfa using the level 5 cards and singing a natural minor scale.

3 min Count Teddy Metric counting

• Place the dffg ryq and h. Jumbo Note Values cards on the floor in a row. • Put a stuffed toy or teddy bear (I like to introduce him as Count Teddy or Count Oink, etc. depend-ing on the type of toy) sitting on top of the q• Count and patsch “1 2 3 1 2 3...”.• Now ask your student to move Count Teddy to another card. Tell them you’re going to count out these note values and they should change it at some point during your counting to a different card again.• Count and patsch the new note value and, when your student moves Count Teddy, finish out the bar/measure before changing to the new note value.

5 min White key harmonic minor scales

Harmonic minor scales

• Get your student to place erasers or other tokens on the piano keys used in each harmonic minor scale they know so far, without playing anything.

7 min Inversion Diversions

Chord inversions

• Play the staff version of Inversion Diversions together using the keyboard cards.

Notes to self:

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Vibrant Music TeachingBut-the-Pieces Plan: 40 Week Piano Powerbooster Three

TIME EST. ACTIVITY FOCUS DIRECTIONS

© Copyright Colourful Keys 2019www.vibrantmusicteaching.com

Week 26

5 min Billy, Billy Singing • Sing this song together several times while doing the actions.

5 min Circle of fifths chord drills

Minor chords

• Get your student to play all the minor chords starting at A, going all the way around the circle of fifths and then back again. • If you need a circle of fifths diagram you can choose your favourite style from the Circle of Fifths Pack.• If you're interested in using iReal Pro as a backing track for this drill click here to go to the tuto-rial video and get the tracks.

5 min Go, Blank, Go! ^8 EQ dg e q q. • Get your student to draw 6 Rhythm Vocab cards at random from level 4 numbers 1-40.• Place the cards in a row and clap the full rhythm together a few times.• Now, ask your student to choose one card to be the “blank”. Make sure you’re both clear on which one it is but do not turn it over or remove it.• Clap the rhythm together again but this time think this card rather than clapping it aloud.• Repeat this as many times as your student needs to be able to start clapping again after the blank in time with you.

5 min E minor composition

Key signatures

• Ask your student to choose their favourite one or two of the rhythms from the Go, Blank, Go! ex-ercise.• Help your student to use this rhythm to create a 4 bar/measure composition together in E minor on blank staff paper.

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Vibrant Music TeachingBut-the-Pieces Plan: 40 Week Piano Powerbooster Three

TIME EST. ACTIVITY FOCUS DIRECTIONS

© Copyright Colourful Keys 2019www.vibrantmusicteaching.com

Week 27

3 min Billy, Billy Playing by ear

• Sing Billy, Billy again together while doing the actions.• Tell your student that the key is C major and to start on do and to try and figure out how the song goes from there. Help them as much as they need until they can play and sing the whole song.

5 min Memory train ^8 EQ dg e q q. • Get your student to draw 6 Rhythm Vocab cards at random from level 4 numbers 1-40.• Place the cards in a row and clap and say the full rhythm together a few times.• Now, turn over the first card so that your student can no longer see the rhythm. Ask them if they can remember what it was. If they can’t, show it to them again so they can look at it and memorise it and then turn it back over.• Clap and say the full rhythm together again.• Turn over the next card and repeat the process until you’re doing the whole rhythm from mem-ory. Then, ask them to clap it one final time, this time without saying it.

5 min F harmonic minor scales

Harmonic minor scales

• Review the F natural minor scale and then ask your student to work out how the harmonic mi-nor will go.• Ask your student to play the scale while you play a I-V accompaniment.• Swap roles and play each scale while they do the accompaniment. They can use any of the simple vamp patterns they have learned for the folk songs for this.

7 min Inversion Diversions

Chord inversions

• Play the staff version of Inversion Diversions together using the keyboard cards.

Notes to self:

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Vibrant Music TeachingBut-the-Pieces Plan: 40 Week Piano Powerbooster Three

TIME EST. ACTIVITY FOCUS DIRECTIONS

© Copyright Colourful Keys 2019www.vibrantmusicteaching.com

Week 28

5 min Listening Locomotive

Rhythm patterns

• Start by clapping and saying a rhythm pattern and ask your student to join in and say it with you when they’re ready.• Stop the rhythm for a moment and explain that this time you’ll start with this rhythm and change to a new rhythm pattern at some point. They need to try and keep the first rhythm pattern going while listening to your new pattern – once they feel like they’ve got it they should change to the new one.• Don’t worry if your student’s transition to the new rhythm isn’t very smooth when you first try this. Don’t stop to correct them, just keep repeating the second rhythm until they catch on, then change to a new pattern again once they’re confident with it.

5 min C harmonic minor scales

Harmonic minor scales

• Review the C natural minor scale and then ask your student to work out how the harmonic mi-nor will go.• Ask your student to play the scale while you play a I-V accompaniment.• Swap roles and play each scale while they do the accompaniment. They can use any of the simple vamp patterns they have learned for the folk songs for this.

3 min Poster conductor

Solfa • Put up the Solfa Posters on a door or wall, or lay them out on the floor if you don’t have a place to stick them up.• Point to the posters and sing together. Start on la and step up and down the full minor scale as well as skips la-do, do-mi and la-mi.• After some practice let your student be the “conductor”. (Even the conductor has to sing!)

7 min D minor composition

Key signatures

• Improvise together in D minor. • Pick out one short phrase that your student did during the improvisation and create a 4 bar/measure composition together on blank staff paper.

Notes to self:

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Vibrant Music TeachingBut-the-Pieces Plan: 40 Week Piano Powerbooster Three

TIME EST. ACTIVITY FOCUS DIRECTIONS

© Copyright Colourful Keys 2019www.vibrantmusicteaching.com

Week 29

5 min Billy, Billy Transposing • Sing Billy, Billy again together while doing the actions.• Review the song at the piano and sing it together while they play.• Now, tell them to pick a new note to be do. Help them to work out where re, mi, so and la are for this do and to work out the song in the new key.

5 min G harmonic minor scales

Harmonic minor scales

• Review the G natural minor scale and then ask your student to work out how the harmonic mi-nor will go.• Ask your student to play the scale while you play a I-V accompaniment.• Swap roles and play each scale while they do the accompaniment. They can use any of the simple vamp patterns they have learned for the folk songs for this.

5 min What did I say? Dictation • Spread out the Relative Rhythms cards in a loose pile. • Clap and say a short rhythmic phrase. This can really be anything said as a chant, such as “Mis-sissippi mud pie” or “mountain high, valley low”. Choose words that will easily translate to note values your student knows. If you’re stuck for inspiration, take phrases from kids’ nursery rhymes and songs.• Ask your student to recreate the rhythm with the Relative Rhythms cards.• Clap and count the rhythm together, saying the rhythm syllables and then the words.

5 min Scale Engineer Scales • Play Scale Engineer together to review all the major scales.

Notes to self:

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Vibrant Music TeachingBut-the-Pieces Plan: 40 Week Piano Powerbooster Three

TIME EST. ACTIVITY FOCUS DIRECTIONS

© Copyright Colourful Keys 2019www.vibrantmusicteaching.com

Week 30

5 min Scalepeggio improvisation

Scales & arpeggios

• Sit at the treble side of the piano while your student sits at the bass. • Ask them to play E minor arpeggios, over and over while holding down the pedal. They can do this with one hand or both, depending on how comfortable they are with arpeggios at this stage.• Improvise a melody using the E minor scale. Tell them to hold a long E at the end.• Now get them to try keeping the arpeggio going in their left hand while they improvise with their right hand. Encourage them to stick to long notes in the right hand in the beginning so they can concentrate on keeping the left hand steady.

5 min Billy, Billy Harmony • Sing and play the song together.• Find do and so together and go through and play the melody of short sections (1-2 beats depend-ing on where the harmony will change) while your student tests them with do and so and figures out which works best.• Once they’ve figured out the whole song, try it as a duet. (You can play with both hands while they do just the harmony if they need a bit of help remembering the pattern.)

3 min Go, Blank, Go! ^8 EQ dg e q q. • Get your student to draw 4 Rhythm Vocab cards at random from level 4 numbers 1-40.• Say each rhythm together and then place the cards in different spots in the room.• Clap one of the rhythms and ask your student to run to the one you clapped.• If this is easy, get your student to draw 4 more cards at random, say them together and ask your student to choose 4 more spots for these. Now clap one of the 8 and ask your student to run to the one you clapped.

7 min G minor composition

Key signatures

• Ask your student to choose their favourite one or two of the rhythms from the Go, Blank Go!.• Help your student to use this rhythm to create a 4 bar/measure composition together in G minor on blank staff paper.

Notes to self:

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Vibrant Music TeachingBut-the-Pieces Plan: 40 Week Piano Powerbooster Three

TIME EST. ACTIVITY FOCUS DIRECTIONS

© Copyright Colourful Keys 2019www.vibrantmusicteaching.com

Week 31

7 min Time Signature Snapperoo

Time signatures

• Discuss how different time signatures work and explain what the bottom and top numbers mean if your student does not already understand this.• Play Time Signature Snapperoo together.

5 min Billy, Billy Vamping • Sing and play the song together as a duet with the harmony you decided on last week.• Teach your student these simple patterns for the I and the V (or do and so).

• Try the duet again together, replacing every do in the secondo part with the new I pattern and every so in the secondo part with the new V pattern.

3 min Rotate ^8 EQ dg e q q. • Get your student to draw 3 Rhythm Vocab cards at random from level 4 numbers 1-40.• Tell your student you’ll both start by clapping the rhythm closest to you and then when you say “1 2 ready rotate!” you’ll each change to the next rhythm in the circle, clockwise. Point to each card in the order they will do them so that they’re clear on the order.

5 min E harmonic minor scales

Harmonic minor scales

• Review the E natural minor scale and then ask your student to work out how the harmonic mi-nor will go.• Ask your student to play the scale while you play a I-V accompaniment.• Swap roles and play each scale while they do the accompaniment. They can use any of the simple vamp patterns they have learned for the folk songs for this.

Notes to self:

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Vibrant Music TeachingBut-the-Pieces Plan: 40 Week Piano Powerbooster Three

TIME EST. ACTIVITY FOCUS DIRECTIONS

© Copyright Colourful Keys 2019www.vibrantmusicteaching.com

Week 32

7 min F minor composition

Key signatures

• Improvise together in F minor. • Pick out one short phrase that your student did during the improvisation and create a 4 bar/measure composition together on blank staff paper.

3 min Q&A dg ryE qQ h q. e

• Clap a simple rhythm and ask your student to answer it with a similar rhythm. Repeat this sev-eral times.• Now ask your student to clap a rhythm question for you to answer.• Swap roles back and forth. Encourage your student to keep their rhythm simple.

5 min Floor notation Ear training • Put three ropes, ribbons or lines of tape on the floor to represent a three line staff. • Play the tonic chord (in any key) followed by a short phrase using the full major scale. Can your student recreate it on the staff? Give them clues and play the phrase several times as they need.

5 min B harmonic minor scales

Harmonic minor scales

• Review the B natural minor scale and then ask your student to work out how the harmonic mi-nor will go.• Ask your student to play the scale while you play a I-V accompaniment.• Swap roles and play each scale while they do the accompaniment. They can use any of the simple vamp patterns they have learned for the folk songs for this.

Notes to self:

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Vibrant Music TeachingBut-the-Pieces Plan: 40 Week Piano Powerbooster Three

TIME EST. ACTIVITY FOCUS DIRECTIONS

© Copyright Colourful Keys 2019www.vibrantmusicteaching.com

Week 33

10 min Arpeggio fingerings

Minor arpeggios

• Get your student to try each of these major and then minor arpeggios: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, G and C• Point out that the fingering is exactly the same, the middle note just drops one semitone (half step) to create the minor arpeggio. • Ask them which are left over and teach them the fingerings for the last 3 minor arpeggios: F , E and B

2 min la/ti/do/re/mi/so I.D.

Ear training • Tell your student that if they hear la they must sit down, if they hear ti they should kneel, for do they should stand, for re they should stand with their hands on their head, for mi they should stand with their hands in the air and for so they should jump with hands in the air.• Play la-ti-do-re-mi-so on the piano while singing. Then play la, ti, do, re, mi or so. Your student should do the action to match the note.• Repeat this all over the piano, in different keys, high and low.

3 min Unjumble ^8 EQ dg e q q. • Get your student to draw 4 Rhythm Vocab cards at random from level 4 numbers 1-40.• Place the cards in a 2x2 grid.• Choose a secret order for the cards and clap it for your student.• It’s your student’s job to then put the cards in a row in the correct order. They can ask to hear the rhythm again as many times as they like.

5 min Aachoo! Note value review

• Play Aaachoo! together.

Notes to self:

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Vibrant Music TeachingBut-the-Pieces Plan: 40 Week Piano Powerbooster Three

TIME EST. ACTIVITY FOCUS DIRECTIONS

© Copyright Colourful Keys 2019www.vibrantmusicteaching.com

Week 34

5 min Molly Malone Singing • Sing this song together several times while doing the actions.

• You may prefer to start by clapping all the notes and then asking your student which notes are shorter and switching those to patsch (tap knees/lap) and finally changing the two long notes to stamps-stamp and jazz hands.

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Vibrant Music TeachingBut-the-Pieces Plan: 40 Week Piano Powerbooster Three

TIME EST. ACTIVITY FOCUS DIRECTIONS

© Copyright Colourful Keys 2019www.vibrantmusicteaching.com

Week 34

5 min Scalepeggio improvisation

Scales & arpeggios

• Sit at the treble side of the piano while your student sits at the bass. • Ask them to play F minor arpeggios, over and over while holding down the pedal. They can do this with one hand or both, depending on how comfortable they are with arpeggios at this stage.• Improvise a melody using the F minor scale. Tell them to hold a long F at the end.• Now get them to try keeping the arpeggio going in their left hand while they improvise with their right hand. Encourage them to stick to long notes in the right hand in the beginning so they can concentrate on keeping the left hand steady.

3 min Count Teddy Metric counting

• Place the dg rty q. and h. Jumbo Note Values cards on the floor in a row. • Put a stuffed toy or teddy bear (I like to introduce him as Count Teddy or Count Oink, etc. depend-ing on the type of toy) sitting on top of the rty • Count and patsch “1 2 3 4 5 6 1 2 3 4 5 6...”.• Now ask your student to move Count Teddy to another card. Tell them you’re going to count out these note values and they should change it at some point during your counting to a different card again.• Count and patsch the new note value and, when your student moves Count Teddy, finish out the bar/measure before changing to the new note value.

7 min C minor composition

Key signatures

• Improvise together in C minor. • Pick out one short phrase that your student did during the improvisation and create a 4 bar/measure composition together on blank staff paper.

Notes to self:

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Vibrant Music TeachingBut-the-Pieces Plan: 40 Week Piano Powerbooster Three

TIME EST. ACTIVITY FOCUS DIRECTIONS

© Copyright Colourful Keys 2019www.vibrantmusicteaching.com

Week 35

5 min Molly Malone Playing by ear

• Sing Molly Malone again together while doing the actions.• Tell your student that the key is G major and to start on low so and to try and figure out how the song goes from there. Help them as much as they need until they can play and sing the whole song.

5 min Beat My Rhythm

^8 EQ dg e e. q q.

• Get your student to draw 4 Rhythm Vocab cards at random from level 4 numbers 1-56.• Ask your student to tap a beat in the pattern clap-patsch-patsch-clap-patsch-patsch. They can choose the tempo but it has to stay steady, like a ticking clock.• Once their beat is established, clap the rhythm in time with their beat.• If they stop or falter, stop clapping, help them to start their beat again and then start the rhythm again.

5 min Switcheroo Improvisation

Key signatures

• Ask your student to choose a minor key to improvise in first. Tell them at some point, you will ask them to change key (without stopping) and they will need to alter which scale they are using to improvise. • Play a few rounds in their chosen key, then say “_ minor, ready, change!” in time with the mu-sic before changing to the new key. Move through a random selection from all 12 minor keys.

5 min Minor Bat Key signatures

• Play Minor Bat together.

Notes to self:

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Vibrant Music TeachingBut-the-Pieces Plan: 40 Week Piano Powerbooster Three

TIME EST. ACTIVITY FOCUS DIRECTIONS

© Copyright Colourful Keys 2019www.vibrantmusicteaching.com

Week 36

3 min Go, Blank, Go! ^8 EQ dg e e. q q.

• Get your student to draw 4 Rhythm Vocab cards at random from level 4 numbers 1-56.• Say each rhythm together and then place the cards in different spots in the room.• Clap one of the rhythms and ask your student to run to the one you clapped.• If this is easy, get your student to draw 4 more cards at random, say them together and ask your student to choose 4 more spots for these. Now clap one of the 8 and ask your student to run to the one you clapped.

7 min C minor composition

Key signatures

• Ask your student to choose their favourite one or two of the rhythms from the Go, Blank Go!.• Help your student to use this rhythm to create a 4 bar/measure composition together in C minor on blank staff paper.

5 min Scaling the Cliff

Types of minor scales

• Review the types of minor scales: melodic, natural and harmonic and play example so your stu-dent can hear the difference.• Play Scaling the Cliff together.

5 min Popcorn, spaghetti, marshmallow

Articulation • Review legato, staccato and portato and discuss which one sounds like spaghetti, which like popcorn, and which like marshmallows.• Ask your student to play each natural minor scale with different articulation.

Notes to self:

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Vibrant Music TeachingBut-the-Pieces Plan: 40 Week Piano Powerbooster Three

TIME EST. ACTIVITY FOCUS DIRECTIONS

© Copyright Colourful Keys 2019www.vibrantmusicteaching.com

Week 37

3 min Molly Malone Transposing • Sing Molly Malone again together while doing the actions.• Review the song at the piano and sing it together while they play.• Now, tell them to pick a new note to be do. Help them to work out the song in the new key.

5 min Scale canon Harmonic minor scales

• Get your student to play E harmonic minor scale. When they reach the 3rd note, join in so that you are playing the scale a third apart from each other.• Try different intervals and different scales and then swap roles so that they start after you.

5 min Double Bubble Note values • Spread out the Relative Rhythms cards in a loose pile. • Tell your student to make a short rhythm using only ry and q• Ask your student which note is twice the size of q Can they find one?• Now ask your student which note is twice the size of e Can they find one?• Ask them to recreate the rhythm using qand h instead of ry and q• Clap both rhythms together at fast, slow and medium speeds.

7 min Term Teleport Note names & terms

• Play Term Teleport together.

Notes to self:

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Vibrant Music TeachingBut-the-Pieces Plan: 40 Week Piano Powerbooster Three

TIME EST. ACTIVITY FOCUS DIRECTIONS

© Copyright Colourful Keys 2019www.vibrantmusicteaching.com

Week 38

5 min Minor Bat Key signatures

• Play Minor Bat together.

5 min Molly Malone Harmony • Sing and play the song together.• Find do and so together and go through and play the melody of short sections (1-2 beats depend-ing on where the harmony will change) while your student tests them with do and so and figures out which works best.• Once they’ve figured out the whole song, try it as a duet and/or get them to try it hands together.

5 min Canon ^8 EQ dg e e. q q.

• Get your student to draw 6 Rhythm Vocab cards at random from level 4 numbers 1-56.• Place the cards in a row and say the full rhythm together a few times.• Then tell your student to say the rhythm again, but this time, you’re going to start 2 bars/meas-ures after them to create a canon.• If your student is able to stick with their rhythm successfully, swap roles and tell them to start 2 bars/measures after you.

5 min Scalepeggio improvisation

Scales & arpeggios

• Sit at the treble side of the piano while your student sits at the bass. • Ask them to play B minor arpeggios, over and over while holding down the pedal. They can do this with one hand or both, depending on how comfortable they are with arpeggios at this stage.• Improvise a melody using the B minor scale. Tell them to hold a long B at the end.• Now get them to try keeping the arpeggio going in their left hand while they improvise with their right hand. Encourage them to stick to long notes in the right hand in the beginning so they can concentrate on keeping the left hand steady.

Notes to self:

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Vibrant Music TeachingBut-the-Pieces Plan: 40 Week Piano Powerbooster Three

TIME EST. ACTIVITY FOCUS DIRECTIONS

© Copyright Colourful Keys 2019www.vibrantmusicteaching.com

Week 39

5 min Blind Mirror Dictation • Sit back-to-back with your student with a pile of Relative Rhythms cards in front of each of you and some popsicle/lollipop sticks or pencils to act as barlines. • Tell your student to make a 1 bar/measure rhythm. You make one as well. • When the rhythms are ready, take turns to clap your rhythm for each other. • The other person then has to recreate this rhythm underneath their own. They can ask to hear the rhythm again as many times as they need to.• When both you and your student are ready, you can go and look at each other’s rhythms to see if they match. If there are differences, discuss where/how the miscommunication happened. • If you’re working with multiple students they can create the rhythms (sitting back-to-back in pairs) and you can give helpful hints as they work.

5 min Molly Malone Vamping • Sing and play the song together as a duet with the harmony you decided on last week.• Teach your student these simple patterns for the I and the V (or do and so).

• Try the duet again together, replacing every do in the secondo part with the new I pattern and every so in the secondo part with the new V pattern.

5 min Chord composing

Chords • Get your student to play all the chords from the G minor scale and then pick 3 to use for an im-provisation. • They should play these three chords over and over with the left hand and improvise with the right hand.

5 min Worth a Thousand

Terms • Play Worth a Thousand together.

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Vibrant Music TeachingBut-the-Pieces Plan: 40 Week Piano Powerbooster Three

TIME EST. ACTIVITY FOCUS DIRECTIONS

© Copyright Colourful Keys 2019www.vibrantmusicteaching.com

Week 40

5 min Folk songs Ear training • Review all the folk songs they have learnt throughout Piano Powerbooster Three: Hi Lo Chickalo, Great Big House, Obwissana, Billy Billy and Molly Malone.• Try each song as a duet and sing along as you play!

5 min Listening Locomotive

Rhythm patterns

• Start by clapping and saying a rhythm pattern and ask your student to join in and say it with you when they’re ready.• Stop the rhythm for a moment and explain that this time you’ll start with this rhythm and change to a new rhythm pattern at some point. They need to try and keep the first rhythm pattern going while listening to your new pattern – once they feel like they’ve got it they should change to the new one.• Don’t worry if your student’s transition to the new rhythm isn’t very smooth when you first try this. Don’t stop to correct them, just keep repeating the second rhythm until they catch on, then change to a new pattern again once they’re confident with it.

5 min Composing Minor keys • Compose a short piece together in a minor key of your student's choosing.

5 min Symbol Splash Theory review

• Play Symbol Splash together using the level 3 cards.

Notes to self: