Isabella 4 years old Prep Level B/ Level C

Hey Everyone!

Okay so this year I decided to really try to follow the SMA, previously I tried to do whatever guidelines and curriculum I could find and whatever my daughter wanted to do. I didn't understand the software completely at first (like I just figured out the different levels a few months ago) but now I have gotten more comfortable with this website and the software. It has been hard because I am juggling a lot...finishing school, some working en devours, raising and homeschooling my 4 yo and I just had baby number 2 a few months ago. But it is worth it when watching her play and have such fun!

Anyway let me do some catch up!
We started SMA in September, section 1 (she has been using SM though since she was 2 but not in any particular way, I wrote down her scores and what she has been doing mostly for the past year, We tried to do finger exercises and I used the color technique to help her but for the most part I don't think she was ready, she is now. We mostly worked on the introductory songs especially Hot Cross Buns, French Song and Ode to Joy. She also focused on playing Nursery Primer Songs in the very beginning and continues to do them for fun. We also played Guess Key as often as possible, the past year every time we did piano for 5 mins. I didn't really know what I was doing when trying to teach her, and I was kind of overwhelmed because I am learning with her but I figured let her play and have fun and she/ we will learn.)

Anyway back on topic...this is her progress for September - October:

9/16/13
Finger Exercises Right hand (learning what finger goes where)
Music Appreciation (watching, listening and dancing to the youtube video of Surprise Symphony)
Music Theory (she is familiar with the symbols but we watched the video and played with the cards to put them in order and backwards)
She played:
Surprise Symphony both hands on 1: 66/67 (122) 67/67 (138) 65/67 (111)
Guess Key: 5 mins 1:36 (92)

9/17/13
Finger Exercises we practiced with the right hand where each finger goes.
Music Appreciation same as previous day.
She played: Both hands for all
Surprise Symphony: both hand on 1: 66/67 (82) 66/67 (77) 67/67 (71)
Hot cross buns on 3: 37/37 (57)
French Song on 3: 48/48 (32)
Ode to Joy on 3: 48/48 (61)
Jingle Bells on 3: 77/77 (112)
Guess Key: 5 mins 1:17 (94)

Some days we do a lot, some days we do a little, some days we don't do it at all...I follow her lead and our busy schedule.

9/19/13
Finger Exercises
Music Appreciation
Music theory
the above All same as above days...
She played: Both hands for all
Hot Cross Buns (HCB) on 3: 37/37 (32)
French Song (FS) on 3: 48/48 (38)
Ode to Joy (Ode) on 3: 75/77 (123)
Surprise Symphony (SS) on 3: 67/67 (126) 67/67 (124) 67/67 (149)
(I didn't realize it was on 3rd level until after she played it 3 times and I was surprised, some days she plays better than others)
She also played
Jack and Jill on 3: 27/31 (71)
Guess Key: 1:36 (72)

9/24/13
She does Finger Exercises, Music Appreciation and Music theory every day or at least every day we play piano So far it is all the same, since I am catching up for the month and I don't remember exact details only what I wrote down in my note book I will spare you as much repetition as possible.

HCB on 3: 37/37 (32)
FS on 3: 47/48 (68) 48/48 (50) <-- sometimes she is a perfectionist and insists to try again and again till get gets a perfect score with none wrong, other days she doesn't care.
Ode on 3: 45/48 (95) and 48/48 (77)
Jingle on 3: 75/77 (109) and 77/77 (86)
SS on 1: 65/67 (131) 66/67 (114) 66/67 (107)
Guess Key: 5 mins (we almost always do it for 5 mins) 3:49 (60)
She also played
10 little Indians on 1 39/40 (49)
Humpty Dumpy on 1 42/43 (62)

9/26/13
Alphabet on 1 47/48 (52) on 3 48/48 (43)
Ba Ba black sheep on 1 43/44 (42) on 3 44/44 (70)
London Bridge on 3 47/52 (104) on 1 51/52 (104)
HCB on 1 37/37 (59) 37/37 (40)
FS on 1 45/48 (49) 46/48 (48)
Ode on 1 46/48 (73) on 3 47/48 (72)
SS on 1 66/67 (73) on 3 67/67 (88)
Guess Key: 5 mins 1:21 (106)

9/30/13
SS on 1 63/67 (92) 67/67 (63) on 3 64/67 (80)

HCB on 3 36/37 (67) 37/37 (64)
FS on 3 44/48 (78) 47/48 (56)
Guess Key 3 mins :59 (75)

Now we are in October we still working on Segment 1
10/1/13

Music Appreciation
Music Theory
Finger Exercise now we are practicing the right hand and the left hand and both hands together.
HCB on 1 37/37 (30) on 3 36/37 (28)
The Small Fir Tree on 1 65/68 (171) 66/68 (128) on 3 65/68 (187) 68/68 (152) {this is a new song for us, we didn't really play it before, maybe once if we did}
Jingle Bells on 1 74/77 (94) 74/77 (94)
French song on 3 48/48 (61)
SS on 3 63/67 (109) 65/67 (101)
Guess Key 5 mins 1:35 (66)

10/2/13
Finger exercise, music appreciation, and music theory same as above.
She played:
SS on 1 64/67 (66) 65/67 (63) 63/67 (66) on 3 65/67 (58) 67/67 (72) 66/67 (87)
HCB on 3 36/37 (40) 37/37 (22)
The Small Fir Tree on 3 62/68 (203) 67/68 (184)
Jingle Bells on 3 73/77 (134)
Ode to Joy on 3 44/48 (139)
French Song on 3 46/48 (52)
Guess key 1 min 1:44 (23)

10/15/13
SS on 1 66/67 (74) 65/67 (81) 66/67 (77)
HCB on 1 36/37 (33)
FS on 1 46/48 (67)
Jingle Bells on 1 76/77 (76)
Small fir tree on 1 68/68 (140)
Guess Key 5 mins 2:10 (101)
Not sure how to record the following but I did write this down she felt like playing the other games on this day.
Fruit Lines 4:22 up to level 7 (61)
Note Alphabet (33) 3:52
Note duration 5:03 [55] (83)

10/16/13
HCB on 1 37/37 (33) on 3 35/37 (41)
Small fir tree on 1 68/68 (94) on 3 63/68 (148)
Jingle bells on 1 76/77 (77) on 3 76/77 (96)
FS on 1 48/48 (64) on 3 48/48 (59)
Ode on 1 47/48 (64) on 3 48/48 (59)
A New Years Tree on 1 56/57 (89) on 3 52/57 (132) {Another new song for us, maybe we did once before in the past}
SS on 3 67/67 (85) on 1 64/67 (89)
Guess Key 5 min (66) 1:28

10/17/13
SS on 1 66/67 (72) on 3 66/67 (65)
HCB on 1 37/37 (29) on 3 36/37 (41)
The small-fir tree on 1 67/68 (122) on 3 67/68 (138)
Jingle Bells on 1 75/77 (82) on 3 74/77 (85)
Ode on 1 48/48 (46) on 3 48/48 (64)
FS on 1 48/48 (35) on 3 46/48 (52)
A New Years Tree on 1 55/57 (106) on 3 56/57 (92)
Guess Key 5 mins (162) 2:29

10/21/13
SS on 1 66/67 (106) on 3 65/67 (92)
A new years tree on 1 54/57 (113) on 3 54/57 (133)
ode on 1 48/48 (54) on 3 48/48 (74)
fs on 1 48/48 (54) on 3 48/48 (74)
jingle bells on 1 76/77 (92) on 3 74/77 (89)
small fir tree on 1 Right hand 42/42 (62) on 3 Right hand 41/42 (89)
HCB on 1 37/37 (43) on 3 36/37 ( 76)
Guess Key 5 mins (69) 1:08

10/22/13 this is the last time we played before today's lesson that I am not including in this post...
We did finger exercise left, right and both hands.
Music theory, video, flashcards, magnets
History video... Kingdom of Tune video and we colored a page from the story and are going to begin reading and coloring as discussed in the original curriculum that came with software.
Music appreciation
She played:
SS on 1 : 66/67 (84) on 3 66/67 (92)
HCB on 1: 37/37(56) on 3 36/37 (51)
Small fir on 1: 67/ 68 (101) on 3 66/68 (186)
Jingle Bells on 1 77/77 (47) on 3 74/77 (79)
FS on 1 47/48 (46) on 3 47/48 (64)
A new years tree on 1 57/57 (52) on 3 57/57 (94)
Guess Key 5 mins (107) 1:32

Also the videos of her playing
This is Isabella playing with both hands Surprise Symphony

This is Isabella doing the finger exercises right hand, left hand and both hands.


Ahh! That was so much to write and catch up on, but I noticed some things, for example when we do piano we do A LOT!!! I don't know if I should post all the extra things like extra songs or games we play with the software that are not required for the section as I have done in this post...I try to record everything she does so I can see progress. I feel guilty about not playing everyday, cause some days when we don't she wants to but I just can't get to it (any other parents have the same experience?). We always end wanting more so that says a lot about her love of playing.

I will post once a week to keep up with her progress, let me know if I should include everything we do or just the required stuff. I also aim to have her play at least 3 days a week, I try to follow her lead more than making her play. Our routine got disrupted when I had her brother so we are still adjusting. Also now that the new sections are up and we are back to the original academy we will be able to keep up with the progress diary and we will be starting section 2 and working on if for a month.

Sorry for the Long Post, Never again unless necessary.
Best,
Christine

I am currently in Prep Level B but I looked at Level C because I am not sure if my daughter could fit there, she looks to do more so I checked out and used the Hannon video because she has perfected the early learner finger exercises which she is still practicing, but is it at all possible to do the Hannon videos with the stickers on the piano...i think that may be what is confusing her and even me when watching because when I just followed the directions and did it with her she was able to do it with the right hand for do mi fa sol la sol fa mi re

Hey,

Thank you for getting back to me and going through all of her previous work for the first section, it was a lot! It had to be exhausting for you, it was for me to type out.

My question in response to you comments is How do I cut 4 bars at a time in the songs, is there a button to press or do I do that manually?

As for this past week she only played 2 days this week as we were getting accustomed to the new section.

10/29/13
Music Theory- Flash Cards, video, magnets
Music Appreciation- We listened to Slumber Song or the Hansel and Gretel Overture via YouTube, I browsed and found some fun orchestra representations of the song. <- that is one we watched this week
Gentle Piano:
Slumber Song on 1 60/62 (131) 62/62 (90)
Surprise Symphony on 1 64/67 (87) and on 3 67/67 (72) {I am not sure if she does better on 3 because she does it after she tried it on one and it was kind of like practice for her}
A New Years Tree on 1 54/57 (74) and on 3 54/57 (119)
Ode to Joy on 1 46/48 (48) and on 3 47/48 (77)
French Song on 1 47/48 (34) on 3 45/48 (54)
Jingle Bells on 1 77/77 (65) on 3 77/77 (74)
The Small fir-Tree on 1 67/68 (166) on 3 60/68 (242)
Hot Cross Bus on 1 35/37 (57) on 3 35/37 (61)
Guess Key 5 mins [74] 1:31
Kingdom of Tune Book- Piano Sick
10/30/13
Hot Cross Buns on 1 37/37 (31) on 4 37/37 (27) {it was very exciting for her to work on level 4}
The Small fir-tree on 1 67/68 (75) on 3 67/68 (119)
Jingle Bells on 1 77/77 (48) on 3 77/77 (56)
Slumber Song on 1 60/62 (131) 60/62 (109)
Guess Key [36] 1:38

Videos of Isabella Playing:

Finger exercises including beginning Hannon


Playing Hot Cross Buns on 4


Playing Small Fir-Tree on 1
http://youtu.be/qs8KwYI5hcM

This video is The Small Fir-Tree on level one of Soft Mozart this time she is signing notes and discussing how she made a mistake and must play again because she wants a perfect score.


Playing Jingle Bells with some amusing comments.


Eager to hear what you think of our two days of practice.
Best wishes
Christine

PS I also attached a photo of her coloring in a page from The Kingdom of Tune.