Waltz Dance

Elephant Dance

A waltz for the weekends... a HEAVY GRUMPY waltz hahahaha!

Big Band

Barking Dog

Piano Scale and Arpeggio Illustration for TCL Grade 2

Transition from playing separate hands in Grade 1 to both hands scales in Grade 2 is not easy, especially for young children. Below are the illustrations to help children to deal with their coordination between hands. Hope it helps.

Barking Dog

Another 5-finger 4 bars piece for the very young kids.

Enjoy!

Jumping Frog

Another piece for the weekend! Teachers may introduce 'slurs' by showing the child how the frog gets ready and jump in a slow motion. 

Rock Band

Another style for students to practise their chords

Super Heroes Hopping Exercise

Little finger exercises in a fun way!

Marching Band

Chord progression and musical style for your children to explore. Chords are only limited to I and V. 

Crawling Tortoise

Crawling Tortoise imitates the slow movement of a tortoise. I think it is best using some styles with heavy beats such as March or Tango, so that children will be able to feel the counts while holding minims and semibreve.

Your feedback is welcome!

Electronic Keyboard for Young Children - 1st attempt

Having to teach electronic keyboard for years, I have found that it is definitely a good option for young children that have shorter concentration span. Even in piano teaching, students can actually learn a lot of musicianship by incorporating electronic keyboard into their lessons. 

Strictly speaking, electronic keyboard teaching is extremely different from classical piano, as it implies using the built-in chord function and accompaniment patterns. Using a lesson book available in the market for electronic keyboard teaching is actually limiting the capability a keyboard can offer. However, since electronic keyboard lesson is relatively new, finding a suitable lesson book (especially for young children) is difficult. I am trying to establish an electronic keyboard curriculum for young children, which can be compiled as a lesson book (perhaps) at a later stage. 

Swimming Jellyfish

I have noticed that we can actually confuse young children if we are to introduce time name, chords and note letter name at the same time. So for now, only coloured note heads are introduced, where the kids can always refer to the "fingers neighbour" on the top right hand side on every page of the piece. Children sing solfege for the right hand notes to avoid confusion with the chord names. Finger techniques can be introduced by imitating jellyfish movements going up and down. Children will be able to feel the rhythm of a waltz by using the style function on the keyboard instead of counting 1 2 3 (which is normal in a piano lesson).

Considering children's shorter concentration span, I try to keep all the imaginative pieces below 8 bars.

Enjoy!