Micek Music

-- I will not be teaching on Monday, August 9 . Besides that day, my teaching schedule for August will be interrupted. -- The  Ear Power  song for the months of August 2010 is: "Billie Jean" by Michael Jackson ** Beginning this month I won't be embedding videos on my blog of the selected song of the month. As a music teacher I think it's important that I don't promote music piracy any more than it has already become the norm. The Internet is a wonderful thing, but it has unfortunately led to artists of all disciplines losing important revenue streams via rampant file-sharing. By not embedding videos with audio of the monthly song I hope to encourage more individuals to actually purchase the songs and begin to build their own library of music (mp3 or otherwise). I will always provide links to acquire the songs legally. Important News : -- I am opening a new teaching studio at my home in Castro Valley. I will be teaching from home weekly, every Wednesday and Th...

Several students have already wrapped up their work on this song, but I'll post details of our ongoing work here for those who are still learning the song. - "1 2 3 4" is in the key of D Major - The best way to count the song is in 2/2 ("cut time"). - The Introduction is comprised of 16 measures . The Chorus is also comprised of 16 measures . Each Verse is 20 measures long. - The chords featured in the song are these: I , IV , V , vi , and iv .  *The surprising chord (or "mystery chord", as I've been describing it to students) among this bunch is the iv chord - Gm . This is not a chord you'd typically expect to encounter in a song in D Major. But in truth, it's hardly experimental. - The starting melody notes in the Introduction are A F# . The starting melody note for the Verse is F# . The starting melody notes for the Chorus (including the pickup notes for the line "There's only...") are D E D A F# . It's up to you...

-- My teaching schedule for the month of July will be uninterrupted. -- Beginning this month, I will be teaching in Fremont only on Mondays and Tuesdays (no more Thursday). This is a change I have been planning for some time. I will share more details about my new arrangements later this month. -- My  " Ear Power"  program continues this month. I was able to start work on the song "1, 2, 3, 4" with a few students, but progress was limited due to preparations for the 6/27 Recital. We'll make it happen in July. Just a reminder: I will no longer be printing out the template pages for the songs of the month. Students who wish to participate should at the beginning of each month print their own fresh copy at home. The template is  here . A link to this and notation for all past songs of the month will be permanently placed on the upper right side of my  main website  (click on the headphones).   The  Ear Power  song for the months of June/July 20...