One of my students recently worked on this piece, "Rainbows are Beautiful" by Pat Heldman Johnson. It was absolutely wonderful and since she was a beginning student, it gave us a great opportunity to work on and discuss "musicality". We spent a bit longer on this piece so that we could work on the dynamics and expression, but in the end it was well worth it! She did a wonderful job and she was able to connect the difference between playing a song and "playing" a song even at 7 years of age.
It has also opened up many opportunities since to discuss "how" we play - that getting the notes and rhythm correct are not all we need to do! If you are interested, you can purchase this piece
here.
Are there other pieces that you would recommend? Are there other pieces that your kids LOVE to play and that have made an impact on their playing? I would love to hear your suggestions!
The first one that comes to my mind is "Jazzin on the Soccer Field" by Susan Paradis. I had my 8 year old boy student try this a few months ago and it was fun to watch him jazzin' on this piece!
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