Recommended Books/Resources for Children

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Tutors (Some they will be working on with me but by all means use others if material needs to be reinforced)

  • Tunes for 10 Fingers -  Pauline Hall (Oxford Piano Method)
  • Ministeps to Music - Edna Mae Burnham (Boosey &  Hawkes)
  • Me and My Piano - Fanny Waterman (Alfred)
  • Piano Magic - Jane Sebba (A&C Black)
  • John Thomson's Piano Course - by John Thomson (Hal Leonard)

Theory

  • Theory Fun Factory 1-3 - Katie Elliot (Boosey & Hawkes)
  • My First Theory Book - Lina N (Rhythm MP)
  • Theory Made Easy - Lina Ng (Rhythm MP)
  • Theory Made Easy for very little Children - Lina Ng (Rhythm MP)

Blank Manuscript Book

General

  • Improve Your Sight-reading - Paul Harris (Faber).  Exercises and pieces that  progressively builds up the skills needed. 
  • Improve Your Practice - Paul Harris (Faber).  Wonderfully creative ways to explore and practice a piece
  • Lets read Music - Christine Brown (Christine Brown).  Comes as a kit designed to help teach the basics of notation and rhythm.
  • Your local music shop will probably have CDs with Books on composers and their lives aimed at children - great for long car journeys!
  • CDs of the exam pieces - I play the pieces through for a student to decide what they would like to learn but to have the music at home to listen to on a regular basis is a huge help.
  • A History of Piano Masterworks - (Alfred).  This is a brilliant series of four books, covering each of the major musical periods (Baroque, Classical, Romantic and Modern) with pieces of varying grades and information about not only how to perform them (structure/ornamentation etc) but where they, and their composer, comes in a historical context. 

Games - most of these for very young beginners but they can be developed

  • Finding Notes with eyes shut - using the black keys as landmarks
  • Running from the other end of the room to the piano to a named key
  • Bouncing up all the...'F's...
  • Flash cards - you can make up lots of games with these
  • Using the notes on the piano to spell words - use the words to make up a story
  • Drawing a picture to a piece of music
  • Telling a story to music
  • Making a title to music
  • Playing a note - singing the sound back - develop to a few notes/a tune
  • Student to shut eyes and guess high note or low note/which note is higher/how many notes/how far apart (develop depending on age and experience)
  • Play a note while they have their eyes shut - get them to find it by playing notes and trying to recognise the sound
  • Hide and Seek - use high/low, loud/soft etc for hot/cold
  • Playing a few notes - get them to copy - then change round
  • Clapping Nursery Rhymes and guessing the title
  • Clapping and echo clapping
  • Describing Music - mood/ fast or slow/ loud or soft/ hopping or smooth/march skip or sway  - can be developed to how many beats in a bar, major or minor etc
  • Clapping the rhythm of the words in a sentence