Friday, February 19, 2021 by Karina Capp | 2021 Term Updates

Term 1, 2021

Thank you for joining me for another year of wonderful music making and learning. Of course a big welcome to all the new students and families who have joined me this term, I can't wait to get to know you all and see how much progress you all make over the year. Already I have seen some big improvements and achievements made by new and returning students. So well done! Let's keep the good music learning going!

Thank you to all the families who have returned registration forms to me, if you haven't feel free to just email it back to me if that is easier.

New this Term!

This term I am introducing Boom Cards into the studio and for students at home during practice times. Boom cards are a great digital tool to replace theory worksheets and are useful for my beginner students right through to my advanced students. You will soon be emailed a username for your child and password to login to Boom cards where you will find which worksheets or "decks" that have been assigned to your child/ren. They can click on these and have a go completing as many as they can. If you do not receive login details it is because there are no digital worksheets for your child at this time, this will most likely be the case for the very young students I have and new beginners. As they progress there will be some card decks for them to complete too. 

I began trialling Boom cards in the studio in February, 2021 and have already seen some wonderful progress which was able to be applied straight away on the instrument. 

Log - in Steps.

1) Go to link provided in email...Boom Cards (boomlearning.com)

You will see the home page with a button for student login..

2) Click on student sign in...

3) Sign in with Boom..

4) Sign in with the username and password provided to you, and then you will be directed to your child's profile page which will look like this...

5) You can see the "Classroom List" tab and below that it has "Decks Assigned" and there you can see which cards your child has been given to complete. They can click on these and complete them as many times as they like and they will get instant results and feedback as they complete them.

6) More decks will be assigned to your child as they progress and they will be visible underneath each other. Some will be removed when they are no longer needed. They can complete these and older ones whenever they choose and as many times as they like. We will also complete some of them in studio to see how they can recall music notation or rhythm information.

7) Have fun!!!

In focus...

This term, as we welcome students back and welcome new students, our main focus for learning is revising or becoming familiar with note names, finger positions on different instruments and basic skills such as following the contour or shape of the music to help students recognise when the music is going up or down. The knowledge of basic notes combined with reading the shape of the music is a great start and most students are learning this currently or revising this as they continue on with their learning. Most students are also currently learning or revising some foundation rhythm knowledge, and for some this is as basic as long and short sounds/notes, while for others it is using the correct notation names for the rhythms. All of these concepts are touched on in each lesson and added to as we progress through the term. If you have any questions about what your child is learning during the lessons please feel free to email me or catch me for a quick chat before or after the lesson briefly.

What do music lessons look like in the studio?

Each lesson is different for each child, but for the most part I follow a basic plan which stays roughly the same each week. Lessons usually start with technical work i.e, scales or studies for older students and for younger students this will be correct body/hand position to produce sound as well as playing/singing basic notes learnt, some basic revision of concepts learned previously (usually in the last lesson or previous to last lesson), we then play pieces or short works and will usually touch on something new in each lesson. Then I try to encourage as much music listening as possible, because listening is key to a successful music education, so I will often play the students a piece of music from the same instrument as them, sometimes it might be different or with other instruments and we may listen to 1 or 2 excerpts from different pieces. We often have a little discussion about what we notice in the music, whether they like it or not etc. Some beginner lessons will also allocate time to rhythm/beat knowledge, and students will listen to different music and tap the beat or rhythm and learn about different rhythmic patterns. 

Accessing the student portal..

Lastly, the student portal is up and running and I will also send out logins again for this, some of you were accessing this last year as well. It's not essential, but you can pop on there to see the latest news and information from the studio and also to see your child's next upcoming lesson and lesson time. Students can also input their practice time in the practice log - this is a great way for older students to stay accountable as they can see how often they are practicing. I'd encourage all students to pop on there and log their weekly practice sessions so they can see their progress.

You will also find attendance notes and lesson notes in there so you can see any information or new repertoire added into their lessons each week. 

Resources are also available on the portal and I try to update it as often as I can to include new resources. 

February Feel Good...

Had to share this one with you all, a great video of my former colleagues in The Queensland Symphony Orchestra and their experience sharing beautiful music with special needs children. The power of music is phenomenal! This one gave me that warm fuzzy feeling, so grab a cuppa and enjoy!

The Queensland Symphony Orchestra visiting students at Narbethong State Special School 

Thanks again and I look forward to music making for term 1!!

- Karina's Music Studio