Uncategorized Archives - Piano For Little Fingers

Christmas Video Donation

I would like to invite you to support my Christmas video production of BALD WIRD ES ENDLICH WIEDER WEIHNACHTEN (Soon It Is Finally Christmas Again), I produce for the German International School Chicago.

To make a secure donation online now, please click

About the Production (by Thomas Gunther)

I hope you are as exited as I am about this project!

The video will feature my original Christmas song BALD IST ES ENDLICH WIEDER WEIHNACHTEN, which I composed specifically for the kids at GISC.

The video will showcase the school’s faculty and children singing and performing the music.

Here is how you can help

I would like to invite you to send me any cute Christmas photos of your children, and family photos/videos which I could use in the video, e.g. your child opening Christmas presents under the tree, sleigh riding, playing in the snow, meeting Santa, etc.

Please do this ASAP, because I’d like to start editing the following week. You may email me your footage at tg88keys at gmail dot com, or email me a link to any storage website where I can download your files.

I think this video will be a wonderful gift for your family and friends, and will also help promote the school.

The production will also be very educational for the children. They learn hands-on how a song and video are professionally produced, using state of the art equipment.

Please consider giving to the cause

You can imagine that such a production is very time consuming. The school has no budget for it, so I decided to do the audio and video production for free for the school.

However, It would greatly help if you could chip in a few dollars to compensate me for my time.

I am sure you know that a production like this, which involves composing an original song, recording and mixing the music, and filming and editing the video footage costs usually thousands of dollars.

Simply click the button below to donate a few Dollars (5 to 10 Dollars would be great, I gladly accept more).

Alternatively, you may drop of an envelop with the money addressed to me at the GISC’s office.

Thanks in advance!

Thomas Gunther,
Head of Piano Studies
German International School

Cancan by Jacques Offenbach

Cancan by Jacques Offenbach is one of the most famous melodies ever written.

I created a very simple piano arrangement that is perfect for the beginning piano student.

With this post I included instructional videos and the sheet music which you can download for free.

What you will learn:

How to play the song
Cut Time
C Major Scale
Interpreting basic Chord Symbols
Creating a two-beat left-hand accompaniment from chord symbols

Download the sheet music (pdf with two pages)

Watch the video

Spoiler Alert

I am in the process of creating part two to this video in which I will explain how I created the left hand accompaniment from only the chord symbols!

Definition of Cut Time

Cut Time (in classical music referred to as alla breve) is a 4/4 time
signature “cut”in half to create a two beat feel by putting strong emphasize on the first and fourth quater note in the bar.

It is usually used in very fast tempi for the purpose of creating a more relaxed two-beat feel. Cut time can be written as 2/2, or as a c-shaped symbol with a vertical slash (see image).

Romance

Romance (by Heinrich Wohlfahrt)

This song consists of two parts. It is written in the key of D minor. This means that the most important note is D. D is the first note in the D minor scale, and is therefore also called the tonic of the key. By the way, Many songs, like this one, begins and ends with the tonic.

Kuckuck

Kuckuck, kuckuck, ruft aus dem Wald

This is a very famous old German children song that I arranged for my young piano beginning students. It features plenty of dynamics and articulations, and is written in 3/4 time.

In the video I play it at a fast tempo. As always, the pupil should start learning one hand at a time, disregarding the dynamic markings and articulations until he/she plays the correct notes.

The next step would be to play both hands, and finally we add the dynamics, articulations and phrase markings to bring it to performance level.

Czerny No 3

This little etude by Czerny features eighth notes in the right hand, and octave jumps in the left hand. It also includes thirds in both hands.

Video 1 demonstrates how to play and practice the first 4 bars.

Flohwalzer-V1

Here is my Variation 1 on the famous and all so beloved Flohwalzer.

Renaissance Dance

The Renaissance Dance is all about playing dynamics.

When playing soft, the fingers should never leave the keys. For loud passages we lift the fingers up before pressing down a key, and also use more of the arm to add weight.

Der Flohwalzer 1

Der Flohwalzer is a well known piece and famous for using mainly black keys. It is best taught step by step without the sheet music through imitation. The song is magical. I have yet to meet a child that doesn’t like playing it over and over again.

Click here to open the pdf file

Merrily We Roll Along – 2

“Merrily We Roll Along” arranged for two hands

In this video I demonstrate how to play Merrily We Roll Along with both hands.

Tip to the parents: The child will benefit most from this video when you are watching it together and guide the child during the first few practice sessions, especially when the child is under 7 years of age. Children that young are usually not independent enough to practice efficiently on their own.