Chant Arabe B section LH

By now, you understand that there is a lot to this little piece!  We've worked on balance, we've worked on having a flexible wrist, we've worked on phrasing.  There is this one little bit though at the end of the B section that often gives kids an issue.

To learn this little bit, and to coordinate it later with the RH, I find it is easiest to choreograph the octave leap.  My students practice it as follows:

Body Staff Basics

If you are a parent new to piano lessons, you might be bewildered by the concept of the "body staff."  A staff is the set of lines and spaces used to place notes on to make reading music easy and organized.  At the very basic level, students need to get used to the ideas of highs and lows, steps and skips.  This can be facilitated in an easy and fun way using the body staff.  Pictured below is a diagram of how the body can be used corresponding to notes on the scale (please don't be disturbed that the child in the diagram looks like a gingerbread man).

Some of the most basic songs can be practiced on the body staff.  Here are two examples that you may be working on in your lessons!

Hot Crossed Buns

and Honeybee

Goodbye to Winter, LH

Most kids figure out the beginning of the accompaniment to Goodbye to Winter on their own.  The second bit is a little tricky though!  If your child started this in his/her lesson this week, you might want to watch this video mid-week as a refresher.