Category: edci306a

For the lesson plan that I was a part of, we taught music and math.

In our lesson, we incorporated the First Peoples Principles of Learning by focusing on the fact that “Learning is holistic, reflexive, reflective, experiential and relational (focused on connectedness, on reciprocal relationships, and sense of space).” We incorporated this principle by practicing the lyrics and dance moves with the students altogether, ensuring everyone sung the song together even if they were not at the front dancing, and by emphasizing safety and a safe environment amongst the students in the classroom so that everyone felt comfortable participating.

In terms of how the lesson plan actually went I believe that we did a fairly good job of implementing our lesson plan into the classroom. We tried to get all of the students engaged and moving so that they could enjoy and participate in the lesson to their level of comfort. I believe that we explained the lesson quite well at the start and that the goals of the lesson were clear throughout (counting to 10 and engagement in the content through singing and dancing). One thing I would have liked to do better was had better coordination between my partners in our instruction, but that also comes with us being extremely nervous and unsure if our lesson plan would work with our class. I thought we did a good job of repeating everything we did several times so that the students knew what they were doing and felt fairly confident in both the song and the dance moves. I would also like to point out that if the students had not have caught on so quickly to the lyrics and dance moves, then we could have also slowed the music down so that they were going slower until they could do it better. We also demonstrated everything and put ourselves out there to do the dance moves and sing in front of our peers, to help show them that it was a safe environment for everyone to learn and play. This is something I never would have done at the start of the year. Getting me to sing or dance in front of the class like that would never have happened before I knew that I was in a safe and non-judgemental environment.

I believe that I contributed a fair amount to the lesson plan. If I was not the one coming up with ideas, I was usually typing them out. I did a decent amount of work on the 3-part goals and the assessment for those, as well as typing out the big ideas, competencies, and content that was covered during our lesson. Overall, I believe that I contributed a sufficient amount during the planning process and during the implementation of our lesson in class.

One thing I would like to point out is that we did add music to our lesson plan. This was a change that we made thirty minutes prior to class, so we were unable to put it on the lesson plan as it was already printed out. We thought that it would add an extra element of excitement and liveliness to the song and class. I have provided the instrumental song link at the bottom that we used.

One, two, buckle my shoe instrumental song link: https://youtu.be/79wviRwJFhQ

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Swan Lake Theme- Tchaikovsky (Three-quarter speed). I played this song with both hands at three-quarter speed. There are a couple mistakes, but I did my best.

https:// youtu.be/NshoYg94qz4

Demons- Imagine Dragons (Three-quarter speed). This song was easier for me to learn than Swan Lake, but the video is not super great as I got super nervous while videotaping and it hindered my performance.

https://youtu.be/WUa6r2UX0NY

All of Me- John Legend (half speed). This song was the hardest for me to learn. The hardest part for me is when I have to play with 3 fingers on my left hand, as my hand does not quite reach that far so it is difficult for me to reach. I also apologize in advance for the length of the video, but I assumed you would want to see me attempt to play the whole song.

https://youtu.be/65EHgJC-RXI

Photo by Julia Jin on Unsplash

Overall, I am now able to play two songs at three-quarter speed; Swan Lake Theme- Tchaikovsky and Demons- Imagine Dragons. All of Me is still a work in progress, but I am able to play it to the ability that I predicted I would be able to awhile ago (somewhat accurately at half-speed). Three-quarter speed is still a challenge with All of Me. There was a lot going on outside the practice room while I was trying to record All of Me so it was very difficult to focus and play in time with a bunch of loud noises outside.  Learning piano was both harder than I thought and easier. Some of my greatest challenges were being able to watch the music on my screen while playing at the same time, as well as knowing where my hands were on the keys as I moved them back and forth. The hardest song for me to learn was All of Me. I think this because the parts where I had to play with 3 fingers on my left hand were very difficult, and the right hand was also more mobile throughout the song than in either of the other two songs. A couple of things that I found easier than I thought would be was learning the bass clef which keys were which. Another thing that I found surprisingly easy was my ability to be able to hear what notes were right or wrong on one hand by how they sounded with the notes of the other. As a band student, I learned how to identify when notes did not sound right, but on the piano, it was difficult at first and later became quite easy. I also learned how to be able to fix my hands if I played a wrong note without having to start and stop the video all the time. By only being able to practice for two hours a week (the maximum I was allowed to book a practice room), it was very difficult to get these pieces together to the best of my ability. I am very proud of myself for how far I have come in this process and even if I did not quite entirely accomplish my stretch of a goal for All of Me, I completed what I was hoping that I would be able to by around this time. I would definitely like to keep working on my piano skills after the term is over, as I quite enjoyed it and it was a way for me to just relax and forget about the other things going on in my courses.

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After successfully videoing myself playing Swan Lake I have moved on to playing Demons. This song is easier for me to play then All of Me which is why I decided that I would get it done first so that I can solely focus on All of Me after. This song is also a lot easier for me to play than Swan Lake. I believe it is easier for me to play this song than Swan Lake because I know the lyrics by heart so when I am playing it is easier to accurately play the rhythms as I can sing them in my head. Knowing the lyrics helps me to not have to look up at the screen so much as well. This enables me to be able to look at the keys more so that I know if my hands are in the right place or not. I am now able to play Demons at three-quarter speed accurately. I have been working really hard on some of the timing aspects of the song since the hands do not always line up. Overall, my awareness of where my hands are on the keys has greatly improved. I can generally know where they are without having to stop the video that I am following and look down constantly. This is something that I really struggled with at the beginning, so now that I am able to do this it makes it a lot easier and less time consuming to learn and play the songs.

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After working on my piano skills for approximately the past two and a half months, I have come a long way. I can finally play the Swan Lake Theme at three-quarter speed with next to no errors. I have gotten to the point where I do not really need to look at the screen anymore to know what notes to play or what comes next. I have played the song so much that I have started to memorize it. This is a huge feat for me as all throughout band in middle/high school I really struggled with doing this. I am not sure if it is because Swan Lake repeats its parts more than my songs back then did, or if I am just improving more as a musician, but it is quite astounding to me that I can do this on an entirely new instrument. Now that I feel fully confident playing Swan Lake, I have started to focus on Demons and All of Me. I am really struggling with All of Me so I am going to try to play Demons first so that I can focus on All of Me as my last goal. Demons is going well so far, I am able to play it decently at half-speed and I am making minimal errors in doing so. The hardest part is that a lot of the time the left hand and the right hand do not start at the same time, one is slightly after the other so timing these parts has been difficult but I am getting there.

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After working on my piano skills over the past month and a half, I have made a lot of progress. I practice two hours a week at least (I can only book a practice room for two hours a week) and work on the specific songs that I have told myself I will be able to play. I have realized that not of all my goals may be feasible. I intended to play all three songs accurately with both hands at full speed. I am altering my goals to be able to play them all accurately with both hands at three-quarter speed. One I am really struggling with is All of Me-John Legend, as there are a lot of fingers on both hands moving at once in certain spots. This song I am hoping to play at three-quarter speed, but if I can play it accurately at half speed I will be happy. In summary, my new goal is to be able to play Swan Lake-Tchaikovsky, All of Me-John Legend, and Demons-Imagine Dragons accurately with both hands at three-quarter speed.

Photo by Julia Jin on Unsplash

YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/26QnSCwLyM0

I realize that there are a couple times my finger slipped and hit the wrong key, but this is the best video I have. I believe that this best represents where I am at right now, as well as mentioning that I can play both hands at three-quarter speed or either hand at full speed.

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This is my last blog before the midterm date. I have been working very hard on learning Swan Lake. I can now play my right-hand and left-hand parts separately at full speed with next to no errors. I have moved on to playing both parts together. This is extremely difficult as I can only look at one part of the screen and/or piano at a time. I am finding myself playing more by memory now by knowing which notes and certain parts for each hand go together. I can also hear when I play a wrong note, as opposed to before when I would just play and be unsure if I played the wrong note or not. This caused me to have to start and stop a lot, but now being able to just hear it I can adjust it quickly and move on. I am working on playing both hands at full speed and can now comfortably play both hands at half speed and on a good day three-quarter speed, but have not quite hit full speed. I do not think I will be able to play full speed and completely accurately by my set date, but I do believe that I will accomplish this soon. I have continued to work on All of Me and Demons and those are coming along okay. I have not had much time to play them. I mostly just play those two songs when I need to take a quick mental break from Swan Lake and go back to it after. I am very proud of my progress so far and am looking forward to continuing this assignment.

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I have been continuing to work on Swan Lake. This is going better than I thought it would be as I have never played the piano before and have had to teach myself a lot of different things. I have had to teach myself how to follow along with the music on YouTube. This entails me being able to watch my laptop screen without looking at the piano keys which has been very difficult. I still sometimes struggle with figuring out where my hands are on the piano. I started off learning the right-hand part as this is the main melody of the song. I started off playing it at quarter speed to get the feel for the notes and the melody and have moved up to playing it at three-quarter speed. I then tried the left-hand part since it seemed easier and did, in fact, turn out being a lot easier. It did not take me long to learn this part at full speed. My next step was to be able to play the right-hand part fully through without making mistakes or having to stop and go back. I am still working on this, but it is getting easier and easier each time I play. I also tried out my other two songs, All of Me-John Legend and Demons-Imagine Dragons. These were easier to start with since I know the lyrics and song really well so I could play it by memory as well as by watching the notes on the screen. These two songs are still on the back burner as I would like to be more confident in Swan Lake before I tackle the other two. Overall, this experience is going fairly well and I am excited to keep learning.

Photo by Julia Jin on Unsplash

Welcome! For my musical growth project, I decided that I would learn the piano. First I decided to learn how to read bass clef. Being a band student of strictly treble clef instruments I never learned how to read bass clef. Since piano music is written in both bass clef and treble clef I decided that it would be a good idea to learn bass clef. I did this pretty quickly as I just memorized the lines using “Good Bikes Don’t Fall Apart” and the spaces using “All Cows Eat Grass”. Next, I decided to learn the keys on the piano and which note they are. This took a little more practice as I told myself I would be able to differentiate the notes easily just by looking at them. I learned the trick that the first key on the piano is A. Any key that is to the left of two black keys next to each other with one white key in between is a C. This proved to be a lot easier to learn than I thought it would be. I got ahead of my targeted dates on my growth plan for learning bass clef and the notes on the piano. Next, I started to learn Swan Lake by Tchaikovsky. I searched some easier songs to learn on the piano and Swan Lake was one of the songs that came up. I had heard this song before so I figured that I would try to learn it. The first time playing through was very difficult, but I am optimistic that it will get easier.

Photo by Julia Jin on Unsplash