I haven't met a child yet who doesn't love a tarantella! The wind, fast nature of this piece brings delight to all ages and encourages the extra practice needed to ensure the necessary dexterity of the fingers.
Feel free to add pedal to enrich the texture..
Early Intermediate Level
2nd Grade AMEB/ANZCA
3rd Grade ABRSM
2. Tip Toe Tango
The mood of this piece is best conveyed through the use of extremely short, light staccatissimo and a strict, tight rhythm.
Early Intermediate - Intermediate Level
2nd - 3rd Grade AMEB/ANZCA
3rd - 4th Grade ABRSM
The key to inspiring children is in stimulating their interest and imagination. The days of standing over our young charges with a stick while they methodically hammered the same passage in a Bach minuet have long gone and these days much of our success as teachers depends on inspiring children to want to practice.
These pieces, as with all of my music for children, have been thoroughly road-tested, often ending up quite differently from the way they began, depending on how my students have responded to them.
Children love to play pieces that sound impressive and difficult but are intimidated by the prospect of learning such music. Part of the appeal of these songs lies in their impact as performance pieces while being deceptively easy to learn.
Each of the pieces in this compilation has been chosen because it is a much-loved favourite and I'm quite sure that your students will enjoy them as much as mine do.
As a guide to teaching these pieces (with the exception of Snakes & Ladders and possibly Tip-Toe Tango) I would suggest the teacher have the student play the left hand while the teacher plays the right, then once that has been mastered, swap over.
The student then gets the feel of the piece right from the word go and can put any clef and octave changes into context. This practice also helps enormously in dealing with the lilting 6/8 rhythms which children love to play but which are inclined to become pedestrian when counted out too religiously.
3. The Dark Phantom
This piece is very popular for recitals as it sounds so impressive but is actually quite easy to learn, mainly due to its repetitive patterns.
The use of pedal will enhance the dark, mysterious mood of this piece and can be used fairly freely throughout. It lends itself to a variety of pedalling options so I've left it to the teacher's discretion to add pedal (or not) appropriate to the student's ability.
The change of clef at bar 49 for the repeat of bars 13 - 16 provides a small challenge in reading familiar notes from a different perspective.
Late Elementary - Early Intermediate Level
1st - 2nd Grade AMEB/ANZCA
2nd - 3rd Grade ABRSM
5. The Sandwich Song
As well as fun words, this is a 'happy' song - partly due to the bright key of D Major.
It fits quite comfortably under the fingers with a number of repetitive patterns which can assist in the learning.
Obviously, this piece also offers the opportunity for the teacher to explore form in music. In the early stages of learning this song, I always encourage the student to double up on the 'filling' by repeating it each time so that it gets as much practice as the 'bread'.
Early Intermediate Level
2nd Grade AMEB/ANZCA
3rd Grade ABRSM
7. Chasing Tornadoes
A study in finger dexterity, this piece needs to flow smoothly between the hands without pause or hesitation and will initially require slow, steady practice to attain this smoothness.
Its full impact is best delivered at high speed and so long as it is worked properly in the early stages, it will fit comfortably under the fingers and the speed will come easily.
Early Intermediate - Intermediate Level
2nd - 3rd Grade AMEB/ANCA
3rd - 4th Grade ABRSM
4. Snakes and Ladders
A study in triads with a few glissandos thrown in for fun.
Reading the high notes will inevitably bring dismay to the student but offers an opportunity for the teacher to create strategies for reading outside of the stave! I often use coloured pencils to 'colour code' difficult elements in music so that they become familiar and comfortable each time they are repeated.
In performance, this piece is most fun when played with very fast nimble fingers but take care not to rush over the glissandos or the final arpeggio run - again, aim to create a sense of mood.
Late Elementary - Early Intermediate Level
1st - 2nd Grade AMEB/ANZCA
2nd - 3rd Grade ABRSM
6. Cagla's Belly Dance
Fingering for the first and third bars are only suggestions and will depend very much on what the student can manage - I've used all sorts of combinations for all sorts of students, but the aim should be to keep it as simple as possible - there will be enough challenges in the 2nd section ie: bars 8 - 11 and 12 - 14 need to be worked very thoroughly separate hands before attempting to put together and then it may be necessary to initially omit the e's in the right hand of bars 9 and 13 to maintain the flow.
Also the left hand of bars 16 - 19 and 34 - 39 will present challenges with maintaining evenness of the 4th and 5th fingers - it may be helpful to supplement with Hanon no 1 'as strong and fast as possible!!'.
Late Elementary Level
1st Grade AMEB/ANZCA
2nd Grade ABRSM
8. Wind Through the Trees
I've reluctantly added dynamics to this piece - however it's preferable that the student be encouraged to embrace the mood of the piece and bring their own expression to it, with the overall tone somewhere around an mp with light and shade added subtly throughout.
The use of pedal will also greatly enhance the colour - the teacher should add whatever the student can manage.
