Archive for the years 2020 through the end of 2021

You were supposed to bring back the sun last month by playing "Oh Mister Sun!" Instead we are having fewer and fewer hours of daylight. Did you fail play your new November song enough? You don't seem to have convinced Mr. Sun to stick around. Fortunately you get another chance this month with "Keep on the Sunny Side" arranged for Primer and Level 2. By year's end you will surely have encouraged him to show his face more than in the past few months.      --with apologies to Southern Hemisphere users. Write your comments at the facebook group.

How well this piece fits under a child's hand! There are no awkward shifts of hand position, finger crossings or left hand over right. However there are a few places during which the hands are playing together. The song needs a G in one hand so as not sound like it is in D minor. The tune is a great example of Mixolydian mode, though this bit of theory is well beyond students at this level. By the way, another arrangement of "Old Joe Clark" appears near the beginning of Level 3A. Write your comments at the facebook group.

A favorite song of fans from Raffi to Barnie, you are getting "Oh Mister Sun" at a time when we see less and less of him (at least in the northern hemisphere). Please play this song in the hopes that Mr. Sun will hear you and come shine down on us in all his glory once again! Technically the student needs to stretch a seventh from C to B-flat in the left hand and to be able to shift a whole step up from C position. This piece is also a great opportunity to introduce "swinging eighth notes," as explained in the score. Primarily associated with Jazz and Blues, these long-short pairs of eighths are often heard in children's songs as well. You can write your comments at the facebook group.

This version of "Hot Cross Buns" provides an alternative to the one written with staff lines. Just as I frequently omit rests and slurs in beginning music, many piano methods start beginners reading their music without staff lines so as not to complicate the notation. In fact I have found that too many symbols--too much "ink on the page"--makes the music look harder to play than it actually is. In any case, you can now take your pick. Choose whichever one you like--with or without staff lines. Write your comments at the facebook group.

Here is a new Christmas carol for teachers to add to their students' repertoire. Planning for end-of-the-year recitals must be done early in the fall so this October posting of a carol gives you plenty of time to decide who will play it and how long it will take to learn. Fabio Cavicchio graciously arranged this for us in the key of D with the right hand shifted up one whole step above "D position." He prepared this as a sight reading exercise which requires good familiarity with note names in the right hand and little reliance on a hand position. Grazie Fabio! Write your comments at the facebook group.

Tarantellas are so much fun! They are fast but generally not hard technically. In fact you may want to skip the first movement of this Sonatina altogether and go right to the Tarantella. It certainly stands on its own as a piece to show off a student's speed. Write your comments at the facebook group.

This song can evoke some quite personal religious feelings. It is sung slowly and for the most part quietly, as if someone is singing just for him or herself. Ironically this restrained performance communicates a powerful sense of grief. "Were You There" is the first piece on this site in the key of E major. The light accompaniment and slow tempo help the student read in the new key signature of four sharps. So beyond the F, C and G sharps in the key of A--as in "The Ash Grove" and "Cielito Lindo"--the student must also remember that D's are sharp. As always in a new key, familiarize yourself with its chords and scale. Write your comments at the facebook group.

Certainly one of the most stirring pieces of music I have ever heard--just listen to these inspiring performances.--I now offer you the beginning of what is sometimes called the African American Anthem, "Lift Every Voice and Sing." Although the melody flows out of the singers' mouths easily and musically, as an instrumental piece it is quite difficult to play. Nevertheless I was able to arrange a nice shortened early-Level 3 version for you. I hope you enjoy it! Write your comments at the facebook group.

This song makes you want to move! Listen to the choral video for inspiration and play it loudly and with intensity. All around the town, let your little light shine! You are getting an arrangement which provides an early experience with middle C position (or as I like to call it, "thmbs share C"). All you need is fingers 1 to 4 in the left hand and 1 to 3 in the right hand. Write your comments at the facebook group.

I wrote this piece many years ago as a lead sheet (melody and chord symbols only) and it didn't occur to me until very recently to arrange it for piano. It's in a popular or folksy style with a traditional alternation between verse and chorus. Be sure to crescendo to the F chord with the fermata halfway through the chorus. That's a really special moment. I hope you like the sentiment. Write your comments at the facebook group.

This song will make you want to turn around from the piano and just hug your dog. The song is as old as it is easy. Why is the dog's name Blue? I have no idea! "Old Blue" was arranged to be the student's first experience with the C chord. I always make a big deal about him or her playing so many notes at once. "...and there's even a FOURTH note (cresc.) in the other hand! WOW! You've never played this many notes all at once before!" (Tone of voice helps a lot.) Write your comments at the facebook group.

"The Ash Grove" is a Welsh song originally written with words which are too morbid for my site. You know, a young man goes to his dead sweetheart's grave and yadda yadda. Fortunately the more popular version has more uplifting lyrics which reflect a really graceful melody. In fact they begin, "The ash grove, how graceful, how plainly 'tis speaking." It is frequently performed by folk musicians on an Irish harp, or by concert vocalists in an arrangement by Benjamin Britten. The Level 4 version of "The Ash Grove" is only the second piece at beginning levels which is in the key of A major, the other one being "Cielito Lindo." Practice the A major scale and primary chords to prepare yourself. Write your comments at the facebook group.

Who can resist enjoying this catchy song popularized by Raffi? This is another nonsense song (you received one last month too) for which children can make up their own short rhyming verses. The piano and reading skills include stretches from C position up to A and a further finger crossing in the left hand up to B-flat. These are easily within the reach of Level 2 students...And they are sure to enjoy the familiar tune! Write your comments at the facebook group.

Arranging this song has been a work of love for me. My mother and sisters and I would sing the soaring melody with an almost free meter. So it is well within its spirit to end each phrase with a fermata or to speed up slightly during the crescendo and slow down during the diminuendo. I hope you enjoy this song which originated long ago in the Italian Alps and which was sung slowly and almost reverently by my mother's family. Write your comments at the facebook group.

How does someone's beard get blown back into his face by the wind? What?? This silly nonsense song is all the more fun because it just goes on and on and on and never stops. The instructions say to repeat "ad nauseam" meaning to keep playing until someone gets sick of it. This tune is sure to appeal to the mischievous side of young piano students. Write your comments at the facebook group.

Listen to Mahalia Jackson sing this song! What power! What intensity! Let her rendition and the others on the video page inspire your playing. The Level 2 arrangement was contributed by Marjorie Goertzen, a Canadian piano teacher, who writes, "Discovering online music programs has helped me develop teaching materials like music spelling exercises, scale exercises, a few piano duets, and numerous hymn arrangements. To enable elementary students to play with a full sound and to train them to play by ear, I have arranged a number of hymns with a simple right-hand melody and left hand chords." Thank you for your arrangment Marjorie! The Level 4 arrangement is from an old page of sing-along songs which briefly made its appearance on this site. Write your comments at the facebook group.

If you place your right hand in F position and your left hand third finger on middle C--well, that's all you need to do to begin playing! ...But really, there is a lot more to this Vietnamese children's song. First, it uses the notes of a pentatonic scale and this is partially responsible for its East Asian charatcter. Furthermore, despite its pentatonic scale on F, the melody actually avoids its key note F and the F chord at the beginning. That's pretty unusual for the pieces we have on this site. If the lack of tonic at first feels disorienting to western ears, wait til the end of the song where it comes to a satisfying conclusion on F. Write your comments at the facebook group.

Bach wrote two books of Preludes and Fugues organized in a truly historic way. The Well Tempered Clavier Books I and II each contain one Prelude and Fugue in all 24 major and minor keys. Bach's groundbreaking idea was to combine the 24 pairs of pieces into single books so they could be played one after the other without retuning the instrument. This convenient innovation had only recently become possible with the advent of a new "well tempered" tuning, a tuning in which all half-steps were the same distance apart in pitch. Before Bach's time one had to retune the keyboard for each key--what a pain! Bach put the Preludes and Fugues in order chromatically: the first pair in C, the next in C minor, then D-flat, then C-sharp minor, then D and D minor and so on. Since you are receiving the pair in C minor, you will see that they are labeled "No. 2." Of course Bach's theoretical astuteness is more than matched by his artistic genius in each piece. So please don't compare this three-part fugue to the one I wrote and posted last month! Write your comments at the facebook group.

Introduce yourself--or your students--to D major with "Blow the Man Down" as well as with the piece listed immediately afterwards, "J'ai perdu le do de ma clarinette/I've lost the do on my clarinet." Take this new key seriously: practice the D major scale to help remember those F- and C-sharps. And while you're at it, you will be learning a sea shanty, a kind of song that has recently become all the rage. Write your comments at the facebook group.

Back in the day when I was a composition student, I was required to write two fugues, one for keyboard and one for choir. Boy was I nervous! Would I really be able to write these most learnèd and complicated contrapuntal pieces? Long story short, yes I was. And you now have available to you my keyboard fugue in three voices on a theme by Mozart. Many thanks to Luz Manríquez, a collaborative piano and piano pedagogy professor at Carnegie-Mellon University, who gave us the most comfortable and natural fingerings for this piece. Write your comments at the facebook group.

Just a fun piece! Enjoy some silly music in our easiest category. Five fingers of your right hand is all you need. Write your comments at the facebook group.

from: The Mariner's Chronicle of Shipwrecks, Fires, Famines, and other Disasters at Sea New Bedford Whaling Museum

Sea shanties have been all the rage recently--ever since Nathan Evans posted himself singing "The Wellerman." So have fun playing this tune almost exactly as he sings it (I took out some dotted-quarter eighth note rhythms for the sake of simplicity). It is written in "Thumbs on C Position" and has a few flats in it. This shanty is from New Zealand and is about the crew of a whaling ship called the "Billy o' Tea." The crew longs for "sugar and tea and rum" from a supply ship owned by the Weller Brothers--thus the reference to when the "wellerman" comes. Write your comments at the facebook group.

This aria is a favorite among contestants in talent shows, and I arranged it for those of you who would like to sing it as well as play it. You have three transpositions to choose from depending on your vocal range. I can imagine these arrangements being enjoyed by vocalists who want accompany themselves but do not have the skills of a professional pianist. They can also be played by an amateur accompanist or by a Level 4 pianist who is not necessarily interested in singing at all. So as not to clutter the Level 4 page with all three versions, the green dots for this piece link to another small grid of options for download and playback. Write your comments at the facebook group.

A troika is a Russian harness driving combination using three horses abreast, often pulling a sleigh through the snow. At full speed a troika can reach 45 to 50 kilometres per hour (28 to 31 mph), which was a very high speed during its heyday in the 17th to 19th centuries. So the troika became closely associated with a fast ride. The troika was developed in Russia during the 17th century, first being used for speedy delivering of mail. Write your comments at the facebook group.

Soft dynamics and major seventh chords give this piece a contemplative, nostalgic feeling. How our memories seem to flood the mind when we return to childhood haunts! Write your comments at the facebook group.

A favorite marching song in French speaking countries, the words in the second half of this song clearly refer to what is called a "cadence." This is not a harmonic cadence like the ones we teach in Music Theory, rather it is a drum rhythm (or a rhythm shouted by a sargent) which is played to keep everyone in the parade marching in step. This arrangement reinforces playing in the key of D major, especially the D major chord whose middle note is sharp. The feel of this chord is important as it will be encountered later in other major chords. There are also some 16th-note rhythms which either may be new or could provide a review for the student. Write your comments at the facebook group.

Do not be satisfied playing the right notes with the right rhythms in this piece! First of all the dynamics are an often neglected but important part of the performance. But this is probably old news by now. What may be new here is the equally important element of phrasing. Be sure to lift the hand between phrases, shortening the last note under the slur. You may even think of this last note as having a dot. Listen to the .mp3 for guidance. Once the notes are mastered, the addition of these two elements, dynamics and phrasing, is guarenteed to produce a wonderful interpretation. Write your comments at the facebook group.

J.S. Bach with some of his sons. The master may well have used this piece to teach these children to play the harpsichord.

This piece blends three of my favorite characteristics. First, it's a great tune that just sounds good. Second, it teaches skills which students should be learning at this level. In this case the piece has parallel sixths in the right hand--with a skip in measure 2 which might be challenging--and it has arpeggios spanning an octave in the left hand. And third, this is a song from an underrepresented minority which has struggled for recognition. Here an African-American slave wants to fly away in an angel's chariot. Write your comments at the facebook group.

Did you know if you just play the black keys on the piano you are automatically playing music in a pentatonic scale? Pretty cool! What's even cooler is that the well known hymn "Amazing Grace" is a pentatonic tune. I took advantage of these two musical tidbits, and arranged "Amazing Grace" for the First Pieces Level, to be played before students play on the white keys, before they see staff lines, and before they learn letter names. This new piece will bring a lot of satisfaction to people coming to the piano for the first time. Download other arrangements of "Amazing Grace" in Primer Level B and Level 4C Write your comments at the facebook group.

Día de Muertos (Day of the Dead) involves family and friends gathering to pray for and to remember those who have died, and to support their spiritual journey. The holiday is celebrated between Ocotber 31 and November 2. In Mexican culture, death is viewed as a natural part of the human cycle. Mexicans view it not as a day of sadness but as a day of celebration because their loved ones awaken and celebrate with them. Calaveras, or sugar skulls, display colorful designs to represent the vitality and individual personality of the departed. The recent Disney movie "Coco" is about this holiday. I took a well known poem about Día de Muertos and and set it to some spooky music. It is in a minor key, and prominant in the accompaniment is a D-sharp, a tritone above the key note, A. Write your comments at the facebook group.

A children's tune about an unfair official who allows "pretty girls" to board a boat for free while everyone else must pay. "Well I'm not pretty and I don't care to be!" sings the young narrator, with an implied, "And so there!"" Write your comments at the facebook group.

image of Baltimore from: https://twitter.com/downtownbalt

"Li'l Liza Jane" is a "Thumbs Share C" (or "middle C") piece normally associated with very beginning levels. A few challenges however put it in Level 1 rather than Primer. First, lines three and four have a lot of music where both hands play together. Simultaneously the student should be careful about the dynamics and articulation. Dynamics are the louds and softs indicated by f and p between the staffs. Articulation is the "touch:" playing legato (smoothly) under the slurs, and staccato (short and choppy) where the notes have dots. Write your comments at the facebook group.

"The fox went out on a chilly night, He prayed to the moon to give him light." So this song takes the point of the view of the fox, who steals a goose from the farmer and gives it to his family. That's an unusual twist--and kind of fun! Some things for the Level 1 player to watch out for are: the dotted-quarter eighth note rhythm. Both hands going up to A in C position, and the left hand going down to B in C position I hope you like this. This has been a popular folk song for many years and you will find many recordings of it. Write your comments at the facebook group.

How odd that Korobushka emphasizes D so strongly at the beginning--D even appears as the lowest note of the left hand on the very first beat--yet the piece is clearly written in G minor (check out the last note and chord). The first measure would be harmonized with D7 instead of G minor with the D chord giving a stirring sound in a rough and folksy way. For the second line the right hand rises to a high C minor position and, since this is still not common at this level, I put a reminder arrow at the end of the first line. Many will know this tune as the theme to the Tetris game so I put some falling Tetris pieces on the page as an illustration. But please listen to the videos to hear how stirring the tune can be when played by talented folk musicians. Write your comments at the facebook group.

As the title suggests, in this piece you get to play a beautiful flowing melody. After all, "Arioso" means "like an aria," vocal music taken from an opera. Be careful, the third line is a little tricky with a few unusual chromatic notes. Although they are unexpected at first, with practice these notes will have a beautiful yearning sound, a yearning for the resolution that appears in the following notes. And finally, the symbol above the A in the last line is called a "mordent." To perform this ornament simply go back and forth quickly from A to B-flat and back to A again. Listen to the playback to hear how it sounds. Write your comments at the facebook group.

Daniel Gottlob Türk (1750 - 1813) organist, music theorist, composer of piano music

This piece introduces you to the key of C minor. You may need some practice with the three flats in this piece. Try the C minor scale on the piano exercises page and experiment with C minor chords. What are the i, iv and V7 chords in C minor? I encourage you to look in a book, on the web or ask a teacher. (There is another version of this song in the key of E minor in Level 3.) This piece also reminds us of the black experience in the United States. "Go Down Moses" was composed by slaves in America who saw a parallel between their enslavement and that of the Jews in ancient Egypt. Write your comments at the facebook group.

ESPAÑOL: Venezuela es una canción popular venezolana, con letra y música de los eñoles Pablo Herrero Ibarz y José Luis Armenteros Sánchez, compositores de canciones para artistas hispanos de renombre. La popularidad y el sentimiento que evoca en los venezolanos es tal, que se la considera el tercer himno de Venezuela. El primero es el Himno Nacional (Gloria al Bravo Pueblo) y el segundo, "Alma llanera". --Wikipedia ENGLISH: "Venezuela" is a Venezuelan folk song, with lyrics and music by the Spanish composers Pablo Herrero Ibarz and José Luis Armenteros Sánchez, songwriters for renowned Hispanic artists. The popularity and feeling it evokes in Venezuelans is such that it is considered the third anthem of Venezuela. The first is the National Anthem (Glory to the Brave People) and the second, "Alma llanera". --Wikipedia Write your comments at the facebook group.

This month I am giving you the last of your four booklets of tunes selected from beginner levels. If you are overwhelmed by the number of pieces on this site, or if you feel you need guidance in how to progress through this site, these booklets will give you practice with all the skills at a particular level. Remember though, this site does not actually teach these skills. It does not tell you how to do what you need to do, nor does it evaluate how well you are doing it. But as a supplement to lessons and/or careful attention to a piano method, these booklets will help you improve your abilities and enjoy your piano playing. Your new Level 4 booklet includes practice with syncopation, the key of C minor, and grace notes. Also, as the pieces get longer the concept of form (the sections and structure of a piece) is introduced. To properly introduce the key of C minor I re-arranged "Go Down Moses" (there has been another version in Level 3), and I added the key signature to "Big Bad Goblin Blues." Enjoy! Write your comments at the facebook group.

Watch out! finger 2 of right hand is on C for much of this piece! As any piano teacher will tell you this can be a confusing hand position for many beginning pianists, whether young or old. I wonder if anyone is familiar with this piece. We learned it from my daughter's day care teacher, but I can't find it anywhere on YouTube or by searching Google for the lyrics. If anyone knows where the song comes from please tell me (see the link below). Thank you! Write your comments at the facebook group.

This will be the last of your booklets of selected pieces. In it you will find pieces with syncopations, in the keys of A major and C minor, and demonstrating various forms. A few Keyboard Classics will also be included. I hope these booklets are helping you to focus on the skills and concepts you need to learn to play. Sometimes it is nice to browse through a bunch of pieces and play familiar ones for enjoyment. But real progress is made by a more systematic approach. Write your comments at the facebook group.

This is a great piece for practicing arpeggios. They are all played within the octave (no stretches to, or going beyond, the octave in the same hand) and they begin easily enough with C major. A little further into the piece some beautiful and more unusual chords appear. The audio link goes to an mp3 recording, as do most other audio links on the page. I am in the process of replacing midi files with .mp3's. Thank you Beth Longmire Parks for bringing this piece to my attention and my thanks also go out to the library at the University of Maine for allowing me to copy it. Write your comments at the facebook group.

"Sur la glace" means "On the ice" in French

This booklet adds stretches of a seventh and to the octave to what you received last month in the level three selections--sixteenth notes and scales and chords in the key of D. As always in this series of books, the pieces progress smoothly in difficulty and logically in their presentation of skills and concepts. Write your comments at the facebook group.

Here is the theme to this popular piece, a favorite among pianists who have completed intermediate repertoire and are embarking on advanced material. Now you can experience the joy of playing this etherial music in a shortened and simplified version. Stay calm, play the piano, stay safe. Write your comments at the facebook group.

The first part of your new booklet is now available, and you will get your completed version at the beginning of May. Meanwhile you have ten pieces which review 6/8 time, introduce scales and chords in the key of D and introduce sixteenth notes. Write your comments at the facebook group.

The open fifths in this piece convey the empty feeling we have when we are left out of a group. Have you ever felt left out? This piece reminds us to be kind and to try to include those who are different from ourselves. Write your comments at the facebook group.

Your new booklet reduces the number of Level Two pieces from 75 to 29. If it has been hard for you to choose which of those 75 pieces to practice and in what order to practice them, then this booklet is for you. Here you will find the skills taught in most piano methods clearly identified with the appropriate piece in the Table of Contents. I hope you are finding these Selected Tunes booklets useful. Write your comments at the facebook group.

One name for a certain Lebanese, Jordanian, Syrian, Palestinian, or Iraqi dance is "dabke." The similar name "Debka" however usually refers to an Israeli dance inspired by this (usually Arabic) one. In addition the debka you are receiving this month is inspired by the Druze people. The Druze are an Arabic speaking people who are not Islamic--that is, they are not Muslim. Like Judaism, Islam and Christianity, their religion is monotheistic. Another interesting characteristic of the Druze is that they are loyal to whatever country they find themselves--Israeli Druze are loyal to Israel while Lebanese Druze are loyal to Lebanon. What unifies them is their religion and culture. The people of the world are not easily characterized! I arranged "Debka Druze" in memory of my fellow congregant Jerry Rabinowitz, who died on October 27, 2018 in the worst antisemitic shooting in US history. Music is my way of speaking out against such acts of hate and fear. I hope that the international flavor of my site contributes to a climate of calm, tolerance and respect. Write your comments at the facebook group.

The Druz flag

"This month you get eight pieces selected from Level 2. As in the previous "Selected Tunes" booklets you can proceed from piece to piece confident that they are arranged in a logical sequence for building your piano playing skills. Most importantly level two breaks away from strict hand positions by shifting the hand--usually the right hand--up and down the keyboard. Your new booklet also introduces: I, IV and V7 in C, F and G the key of D the G Scale Remember, nothing on this site actually teaches you to play. For consistent learning over a long period of time the student should buy a piano method--there are many excellent ones avaiable--and/or take lessons from a capable teacher. Certainly some progress can be made by just going through my pieces, but students need some guidance from a book or teacher for feedback and introducing concepts and skills. Write your comments at the facebook group.

There are so many versions to this song! Some have the words, "Have you ever been a-Fishing" and others are sung to the tune of "Turkey and the Straw." I am giving you the version which I learned from my wife and which I have found to be so much fun to sing to my kids and my grandkids. I found only one video of this version on YouTube and even this one isn't exactly the same as mine. Anyhow I hope, now that I have written it out for you, that you will enjoy playing it as much as I have enjoyed singing it. Write your comments at the facebook group.

Selected Tunes from Level One has grown to include eight more tunes: A Ram Sam Sam Jingle Bells A-Tisket, a-Tasket Do, do, l'enfant dor Skip to My Lou Ainsi font, font, font Hey, Hey Come out and Play Für Elise Along the way it introduces G position, G and D7 chords and easy switching from one position to another. There is a descending C scale presented as a switch from F position to C position, so this would be a good time to start the student learning scales. Write your comments at the facebook group.