We started off the lesson by going over some arpeggios, and reviewing the pieces/exercises I'd been working on since my last lesson.
Bill assigned the "groups of 4" exercise to me again this week, because I'm still not placing my fingers simultaneously all the time. Then he taught me "overlapping": when you are descending from the higher notes to the lower notes, you place all 4 fingers, play with fingers 1, 2, and 3. Then, before playing finger number 4, place finger 1 on the next string, play finger 4, then place fingers 2, 3, and 4 before playing finger number 1. It sounds complicated, but it's really not!
Then we went over some new songs: "Together" in which I get to play with both hands at the same time for the first time! "Round and Round", a short little exercise, and "Little Ditty".
Since Christmas is coming up, I asked if I had time to learn a Christmas song so I could play in my church's Christmas program. Bill thought that we might have time, so he got out his book "50 Christmas Carols for all Harps" by Sylvia Woods and we started working on a French carol called "Il Est Né" (pronounced eel-ay-nay).
Bill told me that I could borrow his "50 Christmas Carols" book until I buy my own. I think I'll also get a copy of Sylvia Woods' "75 Disney Songs", because I LOVE Disney!
I'm very excited to play in the Christmas program!
