Week 5
Big jumps and your first scale
Jingle all the way, and climb a whole octave.
This week you play a song that jumps around, and you learn your first scale. A scale is a staircase of eight notes, up and down. Scales make your fingers fast and strong.
Get ready
- 1In the scale, your thumb has to tuck under your hand after finger 3. Think of a tiny tunnel.
- 2Keep your wrist still. Do not twist it.
- 3For the jumps in Jingle Bells, look at the key you are going to, not at your hand.
The colours of the notes:
- Cred
- Dorange
- Eyellow
- Fgreen
- Gsky blue
- Ablue
- Bpurple
Scales
Your scale
C major, right hand
Right hand
Colour is the note. The number is your finger. A wide block means hold it longer.
Press Play to hear it. Then try Your turn!
After finger 3, tuck your thumb under your hand to play F. Keep your wrist still, like carrying a glass of water.
Songs to play
Your tune
Jingle all the way! There are big jumps in this one, so watch your pinky.
Jingle Bells (chorus)
Right hand
Colour is the note. The number is your finger. A wide block means hold it longer.
Press Play to hear it. Then try Your turn!
- Say: jin-gle bells, jin-gle bells, jin-gle all the way.
- In bar 3 your hand jumps from yellow to sky blue, then back down to red.
- Practise bar 3 on its own, ten times, slowly.
Win four stars
Your quests
0 of 4 stars. Tap a star when you finish a quest.
Grown-up corner
Thumb-under is the hardest idea so far. Practise just 'C D E, thumb under to F' on its own, slowly, many times. The jump in bar 3 of Jingle Bells (E to G to C) also benefits from being looped alone.
Plan for the week: about 10 minutes, 5 days. Warm up (2 min), scale or hard bar (3 min), the tune (3 min), then play anything you like (2 min).