This fun traditional Christmas song is one of the oldest known secular carols. This arrangement for mid to late beginner is delightfully bouncy, filled with swing rhythms and staccato. The accompaniment is mostly made up of primary chords and inversions so that it isn’t too challenging while retaining a full and satisfying sound. The final line repeated 8va and 8vb gives a whimsical ending that is perfectly charming for a Christmas piano recital or other holiday performance.
Enjoy this FREE Thanksgiving-related image that helps new musicians identify Bass Staff notes! This hand-drawn image helps with recognition of Bass Clef notes A (bottom space) through G (top space).
Comes as one PDF digital download.
This Product comes with a studio license that allows you as a teacher to share this copy with any number of your own students through the coming years. May not be shared with other teachers or non-students.
Enjoy this FREE Thanksgiving-related image that helps new musicians identify musical dynamics! This hand-drawn image helps with recognition of dynamic markings from pianissimo to fortissimo, including crescendo and diminuendo lines.
Comes as one PDF digital download.
This Product comes with a studio license that allows you as a teacher to share this copy with any number of your own students through the coming years. May not be shared with other teachers or non-students.
Celebrate Thanksgiving with 12 “Color By Note” music theory pages of Thanksgiving- and autumn-related images to help musicians identify note names, rhythm values, and dynamics!
All images are hand-drawn and have been enthusiastically received by students in my own music studio and others.
Comes as one PDF digital download.
Bundle includes:
8 Color By Note pages with Note Names*:
4 images with Treble notes ranging from Middle C to high G (above staff)
4 images with Bass notes ranging from low F (below staff) to Middle C
1 image with rest values (whole/semibreve, half/minim, quarter/crotchet, eighth/quaver)
1 image with note values and rest values (whole/semibreve, half/minim, quarter/crotchet)
1 Color By Note Dynamics page (pp through ff plus cresc. and dim. lines)
COLORED ANSWER KEY included!
* 6 note-name images have only one note value while the other 2 images include various note values for an added challenge.
All theory pages are in black & white / grayscale. No color ink required. (Color ink recommended for printing Answer Key.)
This Product comes with a studio license that allows you as a teacher to share these pages with any number of your own students through the coming years. May not be shared with other teachers or non-students.
Looking for some fun Thanksgiving piano music for Turkey Day? This Studio-Licensed Bundle contains 2 original holiday compositions for beginners!
Thanksgiving Turkey Trot: A playful swinging composition about the Turkey Trot — not the people race on Thanksgiving morning, but the turkey race to escape the farmer! The slowest runnin’ turkey will be served for Thanksgiving dinner, so when the farmer comes a-callin’, the turkeys start a-haulin’! This bouncy, fun, and educational piece is perfect for mid to late beginner turkey lovers this Thanksgiving season. Purchase separately here.
Pilgrim Girl and Boy: A call-and-response type piece about Pilgrim children and what their lives might have been like, with girls baking bread, boys apprenticing in a trade, and both working hard, attending church, playing together, and of course, enjoying Thanksgiving dinner! The music has a memorable rhythm and is perfect for helping beginners stretch and get out of 5-finger hand positions without being overly challenging. Purchase separately here.
This product comes with a Studio License that allows you as a Teacher to share this copy with any number of your own students. (May not be shared with other teachers or non-students.)
Looking for some fun Thanksgiving piano music for Turkey Day? This beginner piece is about Pilgrim children and what their lives might have been like, with girls baking bread, boys apprenticing in a trade, and both working hard, attending church, playing together, and of course, enjoying Thanksgiving dinner! The music takes turns between the pilgrim girl (RH treble) and the pilgrim boy (LH bass), each telling their story before ultimately coming together to share their excitement over the Thanksgiving feast. The music has a memorable rhythm and is perfect for helping beginners stretch and get out of 5-finger hand positions without being overly challenging.
Looking for some fun Thanksgiving piano music for Turkey Day? This playful swinging composition is all about the Turkey Trot — not the people race on Thanksgiving morning, but the turkey race to escape the farmer! The slowest runnin’ turkey will be served for Thanksgiving dinner, so when the farmer comes a-callin’, the turkeys start a-haulin’! This bouncy, fun, and educational piece is perfect for mid to late beginner turkey lovers this Thanksgiving season.
The memorable Carol of the Bells is arranged here for beginner pianists. Even earlier beginners can thrive learning this arrangement of Carol of the Bells due its repetitive four-note motif and simple LH accompaniment that stays mostly in a 5-finger position. Minimal pedal adds a rewarding fullness of sound at key transition points throughout the piece. This arrangement of the Ukrainian Bell Carol is a holiday favorite among new pianists of all ages.
This lesser known French carol has a beautiful melody line written in Dorian mode for a minor feel with a raised sixth that creates a feeling of light and hope in dark times. It is arranged for LH melody in bass clef with rolled RH treble chords as a delicate ringing accompaniment. With many valuable teaching elements for late beginner/early intermediate level pianists, this arrangement is also a beautiful Christmas performance piece.
O Christmas Tree is a German carol about the beauty, constancy, and faithfulness of the evergreen tree that households around the world decorate for Christmas. This arrangement is written with RH treble melody supported by primary chords in the LH. The familiarity of the tune helps beginner pianists recognize what these more complex rhythms look like when reading sheet music. This Christmas carol arrangement works well for piano students of all ages.
Good King Wenceslas is an old Christmas carol that tells a story of generosity that warms both soul and body in the cold winter of Christmastime. This arrangement is written with RH treble melody supported by simple LH chords. The final verse includes additional accompaniment notes and some RH chords to build to a strong finish. This arrangement works well for piano students of all ages.
This beloved holiday carol “Carol of the Bells” is arranged here as a late intermediate to early advanced piano solo. The main 4-note motif is supported by a continually moving accompaniment that begins softly in 4/4 meter and transitions to 3/4 with increasing energy. You can hear the ringing bell tones throughout with changing octaves, crossovers, increasingly broader harmonies, chord modulations, and urgent rhythms that ultimately swell to a climax before returning to 4/4 meter once again for a softer, calming finish. Without question, the Ukrainian Bell Carol is a sure favorite for holiday performances and recitals.
Have you seen the ghost of John?! This spooky D-minor melody is one of the few surviving traditional folk songs for Halloween. It is arranged here for early beginner piano and will really help get you into the spooky spirit of the holiday.
You will receive 1 file with 2 versions (version 2 has the same music but different lyrics). Version 1 has the original lyrics about a ghost with long white bones and no skin on. Version 2 has new lyrics about a spooky ghost costume (for those students who would find the original lyrics a bit too scary!).
At the clang of a mysterious ringing bell, spooky spectres slowly rise from the ground… Before long, the tones of their ghoulish delight can be heard in cacophonous chords and swinging staccato singsong, which gradually compounds and accelerates to supernatural speeds until, with a final clang, the bell calls the spectres back to their resting places.
Spooky Spectres is a delightful Halloween piece that explores a wide range of musicality for the intermediate pianist, including meter changes, tempo changes, LH melody, precise articulations, and more. It combines the best of a full, advanced musical sound with the spooky fun of the Halloween season. A real crowd pleaser, Spooky Spectres is a great piece to perform, teach, and play just for fun!
Lament is a deeply emotional piano solo written for the early advanced pianist. Broad rolled chords develop into a pained, heartfelt melody with arpeggiated accompaniment, which ultimately progresses into quick and fluid arpeggiation in the Left Hand and large, full chords in the Right Hand. Written as rubato with lots of room for interpretation, this piece is a wonderful opportunity to explore the depth of your musical expression. Lends itself well to a beautiful and emotional performance piece.
* Both Licenses come with 2 versions: 1 with suggested fingerings and 1 with no fingerings if you prefer to write in your own.
What goes on in the pumpkin patch on Halloween night? All the pumpkins with their fierce jack-o-lantern faces come to life, grinning and cackling gleefully as they dance the Pumpkin Polka! This catchy, bouncy tune features a staccato melody with classic polka accompaniment in energetic cut time. It’s a great, jaunty choice for an early intermediate student at a Halloween music recital.
This fun, fast, foot-stomping boogie is perfect for a pianist looking to liven up the party. Written in F melodic minor, Banshee Boogie tells the story of an individual who comes across a banshee late a night when suddenly, she starts to dance…and before you know it, you’re joining in! Syncopated rhythms, upbeat stomps, tricky key signature, and tone clusters are sure to make this piece a fun challenge for early intermediate students during Halloween season. Great choice for a lively fall recital piece!
Full moon tonight… look out! This delightfully spooky Halloween waltz warns unsuspecting souls to beware the bite of the werewolf! The beginner-friendly melody line is accompanied by waltz style minor chord patterns and is a great way to get into the Halloween spirit while teaching minor chords and notation. Performs well as a recital piece or can be used as a fun seasonal supplemental piece.
Even a new beginner pianist can appreciate the beautiful complexity of Rachmaninoff’s music. This duet is a medley of two of Rachmaninoff’s most popular Preludes (C# minor and G minor) and is written for an early beginner (Primo) and teacher or intermediate level pianist (Secondo). Strategically transposed to A minor for ease in learning, the Secondo pianist plays the deep accompaniment tones while the Primo pianist plays the main melody for a balanced taste of the original full, resonant pieces. Perfect for a new pianist’s recital performance.
This product comes with a Studio License that allows you as a Teacher to share this copy with any number of your own students. (May not be shared with other teachers or non-students.)
This “Piano Practice Advent Calendar” is perfect for piano students, and for piano teachers who want some holiday spice in their studios! 31 days of music-related tasks provide merry motivation so that piano practice feels fresh and enjoyable as well as educational during the most wonderful time of the year. Each day of December, something special is in store to help you count down the days to a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
“Yankee Doodle” dates back at least to the American Revolution, and the tune may be centuries older than that. The familiar tune lends itself well to teaching a new pianist dotted quarter note rhythms. This arrangement uses primary chords to support the catchy melody.
This joyful Christmas carol is arranged here as a late intermediate to early advanced piano solo. It begins with a recurring theme of treble chords tinkling like ringing bells while the melismatic “Gloria” passage sings beneath. The traditional energetic verse and refrain are repeated several times and carried through melodic variations, unique chord progressions, and modulations before coming to a jubilant conclusion. This arrangement is perfect as a showy, yet time-sensitive Christmas performance piece. (Performance length: less than 3 minutes.)
While not originally associated with Christmas, “What Child Is This?” and many other holiday carols are set to this English folk melody. The beautiful, lilting tune is arranged here with a simple, single-note bass line accompaniment. Greensleeves lends itself well to teaching a new pianist about dotted quarter note rhythms and minor melodies.
A Christmas favorite arranged with jazzy flair! First- or second-year students with a solid grasp of rhythm and note reading will love learning this performance-ready rendition filled with syncopation, staccatos, and mini chromatic passages. Jingle Bell Jazz is an excellent choice for beginner students performing at a Christmas recital or for their families during the holiday season.
