It feels like every day goes by faster and we are scrambling trying to squeeze everything into our hour and a half. The schedule is packed full and I always figure it’s better to end with everyone wishing we had more time than having too much time and everyone being anxious to know when we’ll be done. Here’s just a tiny bit of the fun we had today:
The Half-Step-Whole-Step game is always a favorite music game – both in private piano lessons and in group classes and piano camps. (For those who are curious, this is the Free Full-Sized Piano Keyboard Printable that you can download and use in your studio. I use these ALL the time in group classes and piano camps!)
As we’ve been reading the Welcome to the Opera book this week I’ve encouraged the students to write their own opera-type stories by starting with a setting, adding characters, determining a plot, and building to a climax and resolution. One of the students created his own planet for his setting – The Cookie Planet. I think I want to visit that one!
Years ago I was inspired by this quote from G.K. Chesterton, and it is one reason that we read the same story each day of the piano camp:
“Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, “Do it again”; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, “Do it again” to the sun; and every evening, “Do it again” to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we.”
The older piano camp group is taking their Half-Step-Whole-Step game very seriously!
We split into two teams and each team had to randomly draw a note from a stack, then figure out how to arrange it in a 2-measure pattern. Whichever team completed the measures first and could clap the entire rhythm correctly as a team earned a point. (I decided to use the Free Single Note Flashcards for this game instead of the Heartbeat Rhythms that I normally use during piano camp.)
We finished learning the final step of our dance today, so the kids begged to go outside where they had more space to spread out. I consented before I realized it was 150-degrees out! Lol! We worked up a sweat within the first three steps, but it was a lot of fun and one of the moms managed to snap this picture of us while we were practicing.
It’s pretty amazing how much these students can learn in a week. I’m excited to see what the next two days will bring!
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