PPP250: Ten Standard Teaching Pieces for the Early Years

19Jul 2021 by Shelly Davis

When students begin their piano journey, they often aspire to learn iconic piano pieces. Parents mention melodies like Fur Elise or Moonlight Sonata or The Entertainer to their teachers. I don’t think parents intend to ask too much of their children or their teacher. I believe they are simply trying to connect with this new venture for their child and these are the pieces that pop into their head. Unfortunately, those iconic pieces are far too advanced for beginning students.

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It would be like me meeting an astronaut and saying, “Hey, been to the International Space Station lately?” That’s one of the few things I know about the American space program. There are plenty of other jobs and responsibilities and accomplishments NASA employees achieve every day. I’m just not fluent in space talk. (BTW, I did meet an astronaut once and I am happy to report that I had the presence of mind not to embarrass myself in front of her.)

This list will help you avoid embarrassment, too, dear piano parent. Here are ten of my favorite early standard teaching pieces. I will play a small portion of each one and let you know what my students learn through learning to play them.

Because there are thousands of wonderful teaching pieces that have been written over the last 400 years, I set two boundaries on the tunes I could include on my list today.

Each piece had to be included in one of the four “Journey Through the Classics” books edited by Jennifer Linn.
Each piece had to be included in the University of Iowa Piano Pedagogy Project.

"Allegro" by Alexander Reinagle

Journey Through the Classics, book 1 page 6

Though Reinagle was born in England, he emigrated to the newly-founded United States of America and was the piano teacher of George Washington’s adopted daughter, Nelly Curtis. I love this connection between western classical music and American history.

View “Allegro”, by Reinagle here.

"Little Bird" Opus 117, No. 7 by Cornelius Gurlitt

Journey Through the Classics, book 1 page 19

This piece has both hands playing in the treble clef, a mind-blowing concept for new piano students.

View “Little Bird” Opus 117, No. 7, by Gurlitt here

"Bagatelle" by Anton Diabelli

Journey Through the Classics, book 1 page 28

A bagatelle is a short, unpretentious piece; a sketch. In order to play the first four notes of this melody, students must open their right hand. This melody covers a range of eight notes that must be played with only five fingers.

Another important concept students learn by studying this piece is balance. The left hand chords must play quieter than the right hand melody.

View “Bagatelle”, by Anton Diabelli here.

"Trumpet Tune" by William Duncombe

Journey Through the Classic, book 2 page 8

This melody also requires students to open their right hand to cover a larger range of notes.

In the middle part of the piece, students play a short melodic pattern – a motif, and then move the pattern to a new starting note – a repetition.

View “Trumpet Tune”, by Duncombe here.

"Burleske" by Leopold Mozart

Journey Through the Classic, book 2 page 27

Students may have heard of Wolfgang Mozart but this piece was not written by him. Burleske was written by his father, Leopold. How fun to think that little Wolfgang might have played this same piece when he was learning to play piano!

Do you hear a familiar tune hidden in the melody of Burleske?

View “Burleske”, by L. Mozart here.

"Menuet in G Major" by ???

Journey Through the Classic, book 2 page 28

A Menuet is a dance. There was a lot of dance music written in the old days, just like now. Composers weren’t very concerned with titles in those days so you will see lots of music called, “Menuet” or “Minuet”.

For many years this piece was attributed to Johann Sebastian Bach since it was found in a special notebook he gave to his wife, Anna Magdalena. Historians now believe the piece was written by Christian Petzold.

This is another iconic piano piece that is much more accessible to students in the early years, though its title is not as often mentioned as Fur Elise or Moonlight Sonata.

View “Menuet in G Major”, BVW, Anh 114, from Anna Magdalena Bach’s Notebook here.

"Ecossaise" by Ludwig van Beethoven

Journey Through the Classics, book 3 page 16

If you are a true Beethoven fan but aren’t quite ready to play some of his larger pieces, you might be interested in this Ecossaise.

Ecossaise is another type of dance and this tune is a light, enjoyable piece to play; a departure from many of his other, more serious pieces.

View “Ecossaise”, by Beethoven here.

"Sonatina in C" Opus 36, No. 1 by Muzio Clementi

Journey Through the Classics, book 3 page 28

Similar to the lack of concern for titles of dance music, composers weren’t too wrapped up in titles like this piece. Sonatinas follow a specific formula – you could think of it as a recipe.

In order to differentiate one sonatina from another, catalogers assign Opus numbers (opus simply means work) and selection numbers. This makes me think of locating a specific verse in the Bible by the book, chapter, and verse.

In my opinion, this piece is classically classical!

View “Sonatina in C”, Opus 36, No. 1, by Clementi here.

"The Merry Farmer" by Robert Schumann

Journey Through the Classics, book 4 page 22

(Spoiler alert: PPP246: Musical Mystery Opus 2, No. 5 “Her Declaration of Independence” mentions Robert Schumann.)

This piece begins with a simple melody played by the left hand. Students typically play the melody with the right hand so this is a nice skill to learn.

As the music keeps developing, a second melody is added. You could imagine the first melody was the farmer and now his wife joins along. The harmony added in the middle of the two melodies is complicated to achieve but is so rewarding to play three voices at once!

View “The Merry Farmer”, by Schumann here.

"The Storm" Opus 109, No. 13 by Friedrich Burgmuller

Journey Through the Classics, book 4 page 49

I love this piece because it sounds very dramatic – like a storm! By this time, students are very proficient with reading notes and rhythms so this piece gives them an opportunity to be more intentional with musical expression. Have fun with this one!

View “The Storm” Opus 109, No. 13, by Burgmuller here.

Thanks for listening!

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