When it comes to level 1 piano students, do any of them actually play legato on the piano?
Legato makes perfect sense to piano teachers and little sense to little students. Telling an 8-year-old that her notes should be fluid or connected is almost meaningless.
Instead, piano students need to hear themselves make legato sounds. When this happens, they will finally get it!
In today’s post, we are sharing a Quick Fix Summer Song that magically makes your students play legato.
Why Kids Struggle Playing Legato On The Piano
One day kids are playing piano music that looks clean and easy. The next day, their piano music is cluttered with long swooping lines that make everything look complicated.
Then, when you demonstrate the fluid sounds produced by legato markings, kids hear roughly what they were playing before… without all of those confusing lines.
And that is the problem!
To the untrained ear, music with legato markings sounds a lot like music without legato markings. The contrast just isn’t clear enough for primer and level 1 piano students.
So, how is a student supposed to learn to play legato? With today’s Quick Fix Piano Solo.
A Piano Solo Designed To Fix Lazy Legato
If it seems like your piano students could care less about playing legato, it is likely that they just don’t know how to play legato.
The key to learning to play legato is finding music that makes legato sounds stand out. And the best way to make legato sounds stand out is to contrast them directly with staccato sounds.
As mentioned earlier, staccato sounds are easy for students to play. They are also easy for teachers to describe.
When legato sounds immediately follow staccato sounds in a single measure, students automatically and naturally play legato by doing the exact opposite of playing staccato.
To be most effective this contrast needs to happen in a single measure and then be repeated throughout the song in order to reinforce the skill.
Obviously, this is unlikely to occur regularly and naturally in a piano song. So, it takes a carefully composed piece of music designed specifically for this skill.
And that is what we are sharing in today’s piano solo.
Before You Download Today’s Quick Fix Piano Solo
Technical exercises should be a part of every piano lesson. But, because these exercises are generally short, students complete them fast and then run out of daily material.
This, however, does not happen when using Andrea and Trevor Dow’s Technical Exercises For Note Reading Success, Book One.
This resource for primer piano students contains 226 technical exercises that are designed to work out your students’ fingers and, most importantly, improve their note-reading skills.
Click here or on the cover below to learn more.
Download Today’s Quick Fix Piano Solo
When adorable lyrics and a loveable melody are combined in a piano solo with technical skill development, your students are destined for success.
With Panda Party, your students will be grinning from ear to ear as they finally learn to play legato.
Click here or on the image below to download Panda Party.
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