Do you ever teach pieces to your students by rote? I have a couple of students that absolutely amaze me with their ability to watch me play something once and then repeat it almost perfectly and retain it in their memory all week long! Here are a few pieces that I frequently use for this purpose because students love to play them and they lend themselves well to this sort of approach:
Poet’s Lament by Jon George – a mournful, expressive piece in c-minor that uses some pedal and basic scale and arpeggio patterns.
Cross Current by Ted Cooper – an all-time favorite among my students! In fact, we’ve even joked in the past that it’s a rit of passage in my studio. 🙂 The fast, driving rhythm makes it sound really cool and much harder than it is!
The Storm and the Rainbow by Nancy Faber – a wonderful piece full of imagery with claps of thunder and delicate raindrops. Written in C-Major, this fits easily into the hand of a beginning student.
The Rainstorm by Elizabeth Greenleaf – also in C-Major, with very easy, repetitive patterns, this piece is easy to remember and perfect for incorporating lots of dynamics!
Hide and Seek by Linda Niamath – every student can relate to a game of hide-and-seek and use their imagination while learning this playful piece! It has students moving up and down the keys, creating sounds of fun and pursuit.
These are some tried and true rote teaching pieces in my studio, but I would really love to add to my collection! Do you have any pieces that you use for this purpose? Or any that you think would lend themselves well to a rote teaching approach (due to repetitive patterns and cool sounds!)?
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