Your Dreams

Two Black Keys

First Principle: Repetition with variation makes practice fun. Mix it up!

Students

• The black keys of the keyboard or piano are the best keys to begin making music. You will see that the black keys are in groups of two keys and three keys. In Your Dreams, the Left Hand plays two black keys (black and red) in the center of the keyboard and the Right Hand plays the two black keys above the Left Hand. You can tell if you have the right key by playing them on your keyboard. The same keys become shaded on the game screen keyboard at the top of the screen.
• Listen to Your Dreams as you clap and sing the lyrics of the song.
• Play Your Dreams in Step 1 and Step 2 while singing the colors of the keys that are in the song.
• Play Your Dreams in Step 3 while singing the key colors or lyrics of the song.
• Play Your Dreams in Step 4 while singing the lyrics of the song.
• Play the song in Jam Mode on your Piano Wizard or on your acoustic piano and sing the lyrics of the song while you play.
• When you reach a score of 90% or higher on each Step, place a sticker on the Song Star Chart that is below the song title on your music. A good performance of Your Dreams in Free Play Mode or at the piano earns the fifth star of the Star Chart.

Parents and Teachers

• Fingerings are how we learn to memorize and to play faster. They are suggestions, not “rules” but they are all “good” suggestions here. We use the fingering numbers to help kids transition from the game worlds, to color coded notes, to black notes, to the sheet music. Think of them as a “bridge” to real musicianship. SINGING the FINGERINGS is our SECRET WEAPON to memorizing the songs. Singing does NOT have to be good or even on pitch, though both develop naturally as you practice, but the words (numbers, colors, note names) with the finger movement and the correct note become welded in their minds without effort by singing along. Its spooky how well it works.
• “Kids will do what you DO, not what you say.” Model (play) and sing the fingerings and ask them to sing along. Later, put your hands gently over theirs and push down the correct fingers until it clicks for them. If they use the wrong fingers, leave them be, but keep modeling the ones in the game since it will help them learn the song and fingerings faster.

Important Fingering Concepts

Each hand is a “mirror” of the other. The “2” finger on the left hand (index) mirrors the “2” finger on the right hand, so singing/knowing WHICH HAND that fingering is for is part of the game. (Left hand 2!)
The standard fingering convention is:

Thumb = 1
Index finger = 2
Middle finger = 3
Ring finger = 4
Little finger = 5

• All of the suggestions in these instructions refer to the game screens of Easy Mode in Piano Wizard. At a later time, we will detail the menu options of the Premier Version of the game.
• Encourage your student to use one or more fingers and one or both hands to play. You, too, may lend a hand and play along.
• It's very helpful for you to say or sing the colors of keys (red, black) or lyrics while the song is playing. Continually encourage your student to do the same.
• In Your Dreams, you will see sharp signs (#) before the notes in the music. For now, understand that these sharps refer to the black keys that are played in all of the songs of Academy Music 1.
• Repetition is always important in learning. Slowing and then gradually increasing the speed, or tempo , of the song by using the computer keypad arrows ( +- left arrow ) allows for many song repetitions and builds confidence in playing.
• Frequently change activities during the repetitions of a song. Changing game worlds, game objects, the 4 Steps of the game, words for singing (lyrics and colors), selected hands for playing (Right Hand only, Left Hand only, Both Hands) and so forth, gives reasons for needed repetitions in learning.
• Always encourage your student regardless of the results. Creating a positive experience is essential during the educational process. Research shows that praise for a good effort is as effective as praise for an excellent performance. When the student is enjoying the experience, the learning comes more easily. With Piano Wizard and music study, we are all students!
• We encourage you to read ahead in the lesson book as well as to view the video lessons that accompany each song. In so doing, you will discover an even greater number of teaching ideas to incorporate in each lesson with your child or student.
• In Your Dreams, you will see sharp signs (#) before the notes in the music, for now, ignore them, and understand that these sharps refer to the black keys that are played in all of the songs of Academy Music One.
• Play levels 3 and 4 with the fingerings, and sing them with the student. This cements the bridge from the color coded levels to the black notes only level. Then have them sing the fingerings WITHOUT the fingerings being visible (Go to Visual Tab and "uncheck" fingerings in Premier Mode, or go back to the first screens in Easy Mode and choose Colors instead of Fingerings.) This means that the student has played this melody (which repeats in AA form) about 10 times total at this point, i.e.,

Level 1, (2 repetitions)
Level 2, (2 repetitions)
Level 3, (2 repetitions)
Level 3, (with singing, of the fingerings), (2 repetitions)
Level 4, (with fingerings), (2 repetitions)
Level 4, (without fingerings), (2 repetitions)

• This is the whole secret to this game approach, is repetition, but with gradation (from concrete game to abstract notation) and variation (vertical, horizontal game interface, color coded, black with fingerings and black notation alone).
• Again, early success is always important in learning. Slowing and then gradually increasing the speed, or tempo, of the song by using the computer keypad arrows (+ or -, up or down for tempo changes) allows for many song repetitions and builds confidence in playing.
• The game teaches by doing, the reason you are reading these notes is to subtly add the elements of music that the game cannot on its own, the musical, technical, physical and emotional aspects of music.
  The student is now ready to go to the sheet music with comfort and ease!