Thanksgiving

• On Sunday and Monday, Nov 18 and 19, we attended the Bobby Jones Gospel Retreat. Our school will be partnering with the new complex Jones is building in Fort Lauderdale.
• I've been blessed. My students are singing two of my songs - The Glory Road and Winter's Comin', the latter to be featured in our Christmas play, The Grinch Who Stole The Holidays written by Sparkle Veasy, our drama teacher.
• A further blessing is the lease on my new apartment, which has been long in the making. I should be settled in by the time I return to school after Thanksgiving.
• Finally, all of my five classes have created a treatment for a music video with a song. We plan to videotape each of the five videos in the coming months. This is very exciting!

Fifth Week of Music Class with Diva JC

This week, we're reviewing all that we've covered in October, including last week's lessons on intervals, chords: triad, Dominant 7, suspension, altered or raised 5th.

We reviewed SOLFEGGIO or SOLFEGE: Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La and Ti.

We are looking at how music moves through the I - V7 - I Chord Progression, from key to key.

Also, we are searching www.ASCAP.com and www.BMI.com to find performers, composers and PUBLISHERS' and songs in their CATALOGUES.

November Lesson Plan

Week of November 4, 2007

1. Publishers (ASCAP + BMI)
2. Musical Careers (making videos)
3. Ear-Training (Solfeggio)
4. Writing Chords
5. Sight-Singing ("Dreamin'")

Week of November 11, 2007

1. Writing Lyrics
2. Writing a Melody
3. Sight-Singing ("Winter's Comin'")

Week of November 18, 2007

1. Writing Lyrics and Melody on Sheet Music
2. Singing 4-Part Harmony
3. Sight-Singing ("Little Drummer Boy")

Week of November 25, 2007

1. Review of songs for Christmas Show
2. Review of writing a song
3. Testing on ear-training and sight-singing

Also, in November, we will get to WOMEN IN JAZZ and Jazzmen that we didn't cover in October.