Click to Learn More About Let's Play Music!

If you were to peek in on a Let’s Play Music class, you would see jumping, singing, skipping, storytelling, and laughing! As musical concepts and skills are presented in a playful, joyful setting, children absorb knowledge and ability. The Let's Play Music curriculum is organized into three sequential years and the student graduates and moves on to private lessons. 

Children age 4-6 can enroll in 1st Year and they continue consecutively until they graduate from the 3rd Year curriculum and then move onto private lessons. (Piano, violin, voice, etc.) 

 1st Year (Red Balloons / Blue Bugs): In the first year, we use engaging games and songs and incorporate tone bells to teach staff awareness, ear training, advanced theory concepts, and rhythm skills. We also focus on developing the inner ear, vocal channeling, and singing on pitch. 

In First Year, classes are 45 min. long. A parent or care giver attends every other week with their student. This year sets the theory foundation. 

The focus is internal music skills: 

• Sing in tune, 
• Keep a steady beat, clap complex rhythm, subdivide  
• Recognize I, IV, V chords by sound/structure and their function
• Solfege (DO, RE, MI) and hand signs
• Cadence patterns with strong pull to DO 
• Sing in harmony and Begin to read music through interval note relationships (steps, skips, leaps) with tone bells.

2nd Year (Green Turtles / Yellow Arrows): In the second year, we transfer these skills to the piano where we learn chord notation, intervals, and harmonic improvisation. We also begin singing in harmony using rounds and canons.

In Second Year, classes are 50 min. long and a care giver attends approx. once a month with their student. Must have completed 1st year to enroll.

The focus is beginning keyboard skills:

• Transfer skills from 1st year bells and autoharp to the piano
• Learn keyboard geography and letter names of notes on piano
• Self-Accompany (Play chords while singing melody)
• First semester are songs with right hand chords - blocked and broken
• Second semester adds left hand chords with right hand melody or chords.
• Sight reading melodic intervals with a puppet named Echo Edna

3rd Year (Purple Magic/ Orange Roots): By the end of the third year, students are playing piano at a level 1-2, transposing music, composing their own music, sight-reading, and sight-singing, have developed relative pitch, understand classical form, and are prepared to excel in further private piano instruction or any other instrument of their choice.

In Third Year, classes are 55 minutes long and care givers attend approx. once a month with their student. Completion of 1st and 2nd years required to enroll.

The Third Year Focus is: The Complete Musician

• Identify note names on the Grand Staff
• Sight read and improvise with puppet Echo Edison
• Take rhythmic, melodic and harmonic dictation
• Play primary chords in 5 keys
• Transpose beginning level pieces
• Learn traditional counting and note names (quarter note, half note, eighth notes, sixteenth notes)
• Musical form and expression through classical music
• Chord theory and inversions
• Compose an original piece

   

Tuition:

CLASS DETAILS

• 15 lessons per semester + Station Day and Spring Recital (These classes run with the school year)
  • 1st Year: 45-minute classes - Parent attends twice a month
  • 2nd Year: 50-minute classes - Parent attends once a month 
  • 3rd Year: 55-minute classes - Parent attends once a month
  • Year 2 and 3 other performance opportunities available!