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 pappeal of the 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.

 

 

Grading: Approx 1st - 3rd Grade AMEB/ANZCA