Carthay School - THE ORCHESTRA PLACE

Pianos 2:55
In class, we reviewed Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and then once again learned about starting to use our LEFT HAND as well as the right hand! Your left hand thumb goes on G below middle C, and we played the song Knock Knock on page 21 using both hands’ thumbs!
Then we went to page 22 which has the song Are You Sleeping ostinato part! This one is also pretty easy.

Homework: page 16, 21, 22; try the Are You Sleeping melody part for an extra challenge!
Winds 3:25
In class, we did our warm-up of Notes Without Letters, and then Crazy Tonguing.
We played Yankee Doodle Cha Cha, and the Cabbage Song, and then finally Old MacDonald, with us learning a new note.
Try page 16 as well.

Homework: pages 10, 11, 13 – 16
Yair homework: practice pages 24 and 25 as well.
Beginning Strings 3:55
My beginning violins did Mary Had A Little Lamb, which is improving! We also warmed up with Hot Cross Buns.
We also played page 12, which has French Fries and Karate Chop. These songs are also getting better.
We lastly looked at page 15, which has us putting THREE fingers down (lined up with our three tapes), for the note G on the D string!

Homework: page 10 – 13, 15
Pianos 4:30
For keyboards class, we played Twinkle Twinkle Little Star as a warm-up.
We worked on our LEFT HAND position on page 21, and played Knock Knock using both hands’ thumbs! We even tried Are You Sleeping on page 22 — both the Ostinato part and the Melody part! However, the melody part is tough; please practice it (it’s only right hand!)
Please try page 23, which has an extra tough both-hands part. You may watch this video tutorial to help: https://youtu.be/ZE3iRYZpN-U?si=tKsSXDqBLn7g9XLj&t=208
Finally, we started working on Jingle Bells on page 66 and 67!

Homework: page 16, 18, 21, 22, 23; page 66 – 67!
Advanced Strings 5:05
We warmed up with playing Ode To Joy, and then tried Oh Susana — both the version that is written, and one that is in the key of A instead.
We also did a really fun fiddle song, called Buffalo Gals! This is a harder version than what you may have played before. I have the printout attached here!

We finally looked at the tough song Minuet no 3 by Bach, which I have attached here too.

Buffalo Gals w notes

Minuet violin w notes (1)

Minuet No 3 Bach violin (1)

Homework: Ode To Joy, Oh Susana, Sakura, Buffalo Gals (fiddle version), Minuet no. 3

What we practiced this week- November 27th

Mr. Alex's Classes

Mr. Alex’s Classes

Pianos 2:55
In class, we reviewed Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, as well as the Cabbage and Lettuce songs on page 13.
Then we learned about starting to use our LEFT HAND as well as the right hand! Your left hand thumb goes on G below middle C, and we played the song Knock Knock on page 21 using both hands’ thumbs!

Homework: page 13, 16, 19, and 21; go to page 18 for a challenge
Winds 3:25
In class, we did our warm-up of Notes Without Letters, and then Crazy Tonguing. These ones are improving.
We played Yankee Doodle Cha Cha, and the Cabbage Song, and then finally Old MacDonald, with us learning a new note!
Try page 16 as well.

Homework: pages 10, 11, 13 – 16
Yair homework: practice pages 24 and 25 as well.
Beginning Strings 3:55
My beginning violins did Mary Had A Little Lamb, which is improving! We also warmed up with Hot Cross Buns.
We also played page 12, which has French Fries and Karate Chop. These songs are also getting better.
We lastly looked at page 15, which has us putting THREE fingers down (lined up with our three tapes), for the note G on the D string!

Homework: page 10 – 13, 15
Pianos 4:30
For keyboards class, we played Twinkle Twinkle Little Star as a warm-up. Then we did a challenge song of This Old Man (page 18).
Finally, we worked on our LEFT HAND position on page 21, and played Knock Knock using both hands’ thumbs! We even tried Are You Sleeping on page 22 — both the Ostinato part and the Melody part! However, the melody part is tough; please practice it (it’s only right hand!)
If you’d like, look at page 23 and try the left-hand G and C notes played together (it’s pinky and thumb on left hand)!

Homework: page 16, 18, 19, 21, 22, and 23
Advanced Strings 5:05
We warmed up with playing Ode To Joy, and then tried Oh Susana — both the version that is written, AND the version with added rhythms to make it more like the original song!
We played Sakura, which has us using low 2nd finger on the D and A strings. This one is tough; please practice it.
Homework: Ode To Joy, Oh Susana, Shepherd’s Hey, Sakura, Are You Sleeping

What we practiced this week- November 6th

Mr. Alex's Classes

Mr. Alex’s Classes

Pianos 2:55

In class, we learned how to move our right hand pinky up to A for the song Twinkle Twinkle Little Star!
Homework: page 13, 16; go to page 18 for a challenge

Winds 3:25

In class, we did page 10, which has the challenging song Dreydl Dreydl. We also did Notes Without Letters, and then went on to eighth note songs like Yankee Doodle Cha Cha on page 13. These ones are tough; practice them at home!
Homework: pages 10 – 14; try page 15 as well
Yair homework: practice pages 24 and 25

Beginning Strings 3:55

My beginning violins did Mary Had A Little Lamb, and it’s sounding better and better.
We also played French Fries and Karate Chop!
Homework: page 11, 12, and 13

Pianos 4:30

For keyboards class, we played Twinkle Twinkle Little Star very well. Then, we learned how to play This Old Man with some tricky fingerings.
Homework: page 14, 16, 18; page 19 for a challenge

Advanced Strings 5:05

We did some review songs for advancing violins — Ode To Joy, Oh Susana and This Old Man are sounding great.
I also handed out a print-out of the song Sakura which was more challenging.
It’s time for us to move on to some more difficult pieces; get ready for the intermediate and orchestra level violin books!
You can print out and practice the three yellow book pages I’ve added to this homework.

*** intermediate yellow violin pg 17 – 19 ***

Homework: Sakura, This Old Man, Up on the Housetop, Oh Susana, Largo from New World Symphony, Are You Sleeping; pages 17 – 19 from yellow book (please print!)

What we practiced this week- October 30th

Mr. Alex's Classes

Mr. Alex’s Classes

Pianos 2:55

In class, we played the song Good King Applesauce, using the note F played with the fourth finger right hand, and it sounded great!
We also learned about eighth note rhythms on the next couple pages.
Homework: page 10, 11, 12, and 13

Winds 3:25

In class, we reviewed notes again. Trumpets, practice a couple times a week so we don’t always need to review the basic notes.
We played page 10 and 11, and then learned about eighth note rhythms on page 12.
Homework: pages 10 – 14

Beginning Strings 3:55

I’m seeing some good progress in beginning violins!
In class, we played Mary Had A Little Lamb, French Fries, and Karate Chop!
Homework: page 11, 12, and 13

Pianos 4:30

I saw some great playing and enthusiasm in keyboards class. We played the Cabbage and Lettuce songs as duet groups; then we tried the tricky Spring Theme on page 14.
Finally, we learned about raising our pinky finger on the right hand to play A (above the usual G) in the song Twinkle Twinkle Little Star!
Homework: page 13, 14, 15 and 16!

Advanced Strings 5:05

For advancing violins class, we tackled some challenging stuff. We learned about low 2nd finger on the A and E strings, for the two-octave G major scale.
Then, we used that concept of low second finger — and the low first finger (close to the violin scroll) for the D sharp note (also known as E flat) — for the song the Addams Family!
Homework: D major scale, C major scale, G major scale, This Old Man, Up on the Housetop, Oh Susanna, Largo from New World Symphony, The Addams Family Theme song

What we practiced this week- October 23rd

Mr. Alex's Classes

Pianos 2:55

We had a great class! We were able to play the tough song Going Home on page 9, and then Mary Had A Little Lamb on page 10!
Homework: page 9 and 10; page 11 for a challenge!

Winds 3:25

In class, we reviewed our basic notes and played through Mary Had A Little Lamb on page 9. We also played Dreydl Dreydl and Shoo Fly Don’t Bother Me!
Homework: pages 9 – 11

Beginning Strings 3:55

In class, we worked on putting our fingers down on the fingerboard for the notes E and F sharp on the D string. It’s very important that we practice this at home so that we don’t forget during next class!
We then played Mary Had A Little Lamb on page 11!
Homework: page 10, 11 and 12

Pianos 4:30

Great class! We worked on playing the Cabbage and Lettuce songs together as a duet, which was sounding great. Then, we went on to learning the tough song Spring Theme.
Homework: page 13, 14 and 15

Advanced Strings 5:05

We worked on some review with Ode To Joy (page 39) and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star (page 18).
We learned about how to play major scales, using the scale handout I gave. D major was the one we focused on most.
We even got to play This Old Man and Oh Susanna!
Homework: D major scale, G major scale, This Old Man, Up on the Housetop, Oh Susanna, Largo from New World Symphony

What we practiced this week- October 16th

Mr. Alex's Classes

Pianos 2:55

Good job learning some new keyboard concepts last class. We learned how to play Hot Cross Buns on page 8!
Homework: pages 8, 9 and 10!

Winds 3:25

I heard some good note playing from the trumpets last class. We reviewed our notes that we’ve learned so far, and then we were able to play Bumper Cars on page 6.
Homework: pages 5 – 9!

Beginning Strings 3:55

Great job learning how to play fingered notes on the violin!
We learned how to play F sharp with our first AND second fingers on the two tapes closest to the scroll (on the D string).
It is sounding great! We were able to play the first line of Hot Cross Buns on page 10!
Homework: pages 9, 10 and 11

Pianos 4:30

Good job with Hot Cross Buns on page 8. Make sure to practice at home so we can advance to even cooler songs!
Homework: pages 8 – 10!

Advanced Strings 5:05

Great to see all three of my advancing violin students! In class, we worked on some harder pieces from the brown book, including Twinkle Twinkle Little Star (page 18) and Buffalo Gals (page 28). We also discussed songs that we want to play in future classes! We will be playing some more challenging songs in this class, so make sure to review your notes and fingering. We are going to try a challenging Halloween song next lesson — In The Hall of the Mountain King!
Homework: page 18, 28, 30, 33, and 39 in the brown book.

What we practiced this week- October 2nd

Mr. Alex's Classes

Mr. Alex’s Classes

Pianos 2:55

Great job today!
Homework: page 1 – 6!

Winds 3:25

Homework: pages 1 – 6! Focus on “Apple for the Teacher” on page 5!
Then go on to further pages if you like.
Saxophone HW: try learning (or re-learning) Are You Sleeping on page 25 and show me next class!

Beginning Strings 3:55

Homework: pages 4 – 9!

Pianos 4:30

Homework: pages 4 – 9!