Piano Safari® Repertoire Book 1Teacher’s Guide

Table of Contents

To find a specific piece in an alphabetical listing to the Teacher’s Guide of all pieces in Repertoire Book 1, see the Index to the Repertoire Book 1 Teacher’s Guide.

Teacher’s Guide Section Teacher’s Guide Page Numbers

Introduction to the Teacher’s Guide 1 - 5

Introductory Unit 6 - 23

Unit 1 24 - 38

Unit 2 39 - 55

Unit 3 56 - 82

Unit 4 83 - 98

Unit 5 99 - 114

By Dr. Julie Knerr

Piano Safari® Level 1

Piano Safari® Level 1 consists of:

• Piano Safari® Repertoire Book 1 with Listening CD• Piano Safari® Sight Reading & Rhythm Cards for Book 1

Additional Resources for Piano Safari® Level 1: (found at www.pianosafari.com)

• Reminder Videos for Technical Exercises and Rote Pieces. Designed to aid students during home practice.

• Instructional Videos for selected pieces. Designed to provide teachers with sample instructional steps.

• Performance Videos for selected pieces. Provided for students to watch peers playing their current repertoire.

• Teacher Guides for all levels.• Pedagogical Resources for teachers. Mini Essays on topics related to piano teaching• Piano Safari Blog

This Teacher’s Guide provides steps for teaching each piece. The instructions are written to the teacher. “You” refers to the teacher. “He” refers to the student, although we are quite aware that many students are female.

Names of specific Teaching Strategies are in bold throughout this Teacher’s Guide. For definitions of the Teaching Strategies, please see Mini Essay 7: Teaching Strategies, at pianosafari.com under Pedagogical Resources. The other Mini Essays present in depth information on various teaching topics.

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Introduction

Repertoire Book 1

We have included several types of pieces in this book in order to provide students with a broad foundation in reading, hearing, playing, and creating music. Hearing pieces that use a variety of sounds and approaching pieces through various learning modalities (by rote, by reading, by finger number) will provide students with the reinforcement and challenge necessary to progress well.

The types of pieces in Piano Safari® Level 1 are summarized in the following table and then explained in greater detail below.

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Type of Piece Purpose How Students Learn the Pieces

Reading Pieces • Develop the ability to read musical notation

• Provide a formal presentation of musical terms and symbols, which students will have already informally encountered in the Rote Pieces

• Finger numbers (Units 1-2)

• Intervals on the staff (Units 3-5)

Sight Reading & Rhythm Cards for Book 1

• Reinforce reading and rhythm skills • Finger numbers (Levels A-B)

• Intervals on the staff (Levels C-E)

Rote Pieces • Allow students to play more complicated pieces than they can read

• Develop aural, technical, musical, and memorization skills

• Develop kinesthetic familiarity with patterns at the piano, which ultimately makes reading notation easier

• Imitate the teacher

• Some reference to the score to see patterns

• Reminder Videos for home practice

• Listening CD for musical understanding

Technical Exercises

• Develop the basic gestures of a effective piano technique

• Imitate the teacher

• Some reference to the score to see patterns

• Reminder Videos for home practice

• Listening CD for musical understanding

Folk Songs • Allow students to play pieces they recognize

• Provide additional practice for finger numbers and letter names beyond the pre- staff part of study

• Finger numbers or letter names

• Listening CD for musical understanding

Improvisation Pieces

• Develop creativity • Various

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Reading Pieces

Students learn the Reading Pieces by reading the music notation.

Reading Pieces are not included on the Listening CD, because we want to be sure students are learning to read notation rather than learning these pieces by ear.

In Piano Safari® Repertoire Book 1, the following table summarizes the introduction of new concepts and intervals in the Reading Pieces:

Unit Main Concepts of Reading Pieces

Unit 1 • Pre-staff notation on black keys with fingers numbers 2 3 4

Unit 2 • Pre-staff notation on white keys with finger numbers 1 2 3 4 5• Pieces begin on various notes with different fingers

Unit 3 • Introduces the interval of a 2nd

Unit 4 • Introduces the interval of a 3rd

Unit 5 • Combines 2nds and 3rds

Taking the time to focus on one interval for an entire unit helps students gain confidence in reading that interval before adding others. All Reading Pieces in Piano Safari® Repertoire Book 1 are composed for one hand. This allows the student to focus on reading intervals without the complexities of adding the other hand. Students play hands together in the Rote Pieces and Folk Songs. Hands together Reading Pieces are introduced in Piano Safari® Repertoire Book 2.

Reading Pieces are not included on the Listening CD, because we want to be sure students are learning to read notation and not just learning the pieces by ear.

Sight Reading & Rhythm Cards

The Piano Safari® Sight Reading & Rhythm Cards for Book 1 correlate with each unit of the Piano Safari® Repertoire Book 1 to provide further reinforcement for reading notation. They are indispensable for success in using Piano Safari®. Each card includes:

• RH Reading Exercise

• LH Reading Exercise

• Rhythm Tapping Exercise

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Rote Pieces

Teaching students by rote (by imitation without reference to the score), allows students to develop the ear, memory, and technique without the added complication of reading notation. Music is an aural art, so students should learn music with their ears as well as with their eyes. A balance between pieces taught by notation (eye) and those taught by rote (ear) will help students understand and internalize music. A Listening CD is available to aid students in understanding the music before they attempt to play these pieces.

Rote Pieces have the following benefits:

• Students play aurally satisfying music from the beginning of study.• Students learn that music is built using patterns, which aids their memorization skills.• Students’ ears are exposed to a variety of sounds and patterns, which gives them many

options for composing and improvising their own music. • Playing Rote Pieces actually aids in the development of reading notation, because

students automatize the feeling of intervals, patterns, and technical motions in their muscle memory. When learning to read notation, this repertoire of patterns allows students to focus on what their eyes see rather than simultaneously having to acquire new motor motions for their hands.

• Students understand pieces in a more musical way, which makes playing with teacher accompaniment more natural.

Technical Exercises

The Technical Exercises presented in this book are designed to help students master important motions that will provide lasting benefits. The animal names make the exercises fun. (We do not currently have stuffed animals available for purchase.) The exercises were developed through my dissertation research with respected teachers of pre college students, in which I observed lessons and interviewed the teachers about how they teach technique.

Mastering the following technical motions will aid the student greatly in playing his first year repertoire and will provide a solid foundation for all future piano technique.

The motions are:

• Arm Weight (Lion Paw) • Fast Repeated notes with a loose arm and firm fingertips (Zechariah Zebra, Kangaroo) • Non legato articulation with an arm bounce on each note (Tall Giraffe) • Legato articulation with an arm bounce on each note (Tree Frog) • Legato articulation with one arm motion for several notes (Soaring Bird) • Rotation (Monkey Swinging in a Tree)

A Rote Piece that uses the technical motion follows each Technical Exercise.

Improvisation Pieces

Improvisation Pieces are “sound pieces” that allow students to create sounds at the piano that relate to moods or objects apart from the instrument. This links the world students live in with sounds they create in their music study. Also, these pieces allow students an organized outlet for their musical creativity. 4

Folk Songs

Folk Songs provide students with familiar songs to play. Also, we believe it is part of our responsibility to introduce students to folk music, since they may not learn these songs elsewhere. Students learn these pieces through a combination of reading finger numbers, reading notation, rote, and by ear. Continuing finger numbers past the initial pre-reading units allows students to continue to pay attention to finger numbers, which is an important part of studying piano music through the advanced levels.

Sample First Lesson Plan

Here is an example of a lesson plan for a student’s first piano lesson. Steps for presenting each activity are included in this Teacher’s Guide.

Piece/Activity Type Time

High and Low Musicianship 2 min.

Steady Beat. Hot Cross Buns Musicianship. Rote 4 min.

Black Key Groups Musicianship 7 min.

Charlie Chipmunk Rote Piece 6 min.

Hungry Herbie Hippo Rote Piece 6 min.

Rhythm Activity 1 (see Teacher’s Guide) Musicianship 2 min.

Lion Paw Technique 5 min.

Finger Numbers Musicianship 2 min.

March Improvisation Improvisation 2 min.

Review Charlie Chipmunk, Herbie Hippo, Lion Paw 5 min.

Posture Technique 2 min.

Assignment• Charlie Chipmunk• Hungry Herbie Hippo on black keys• Do Lion Paws on the piano with your hand or

fingers• Find all the groups of 2 and 3 black keys• Reminder Videos at pianosafari.com• Listening CD

2 min.

Total: 45 min.

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