Grand Melody 4

One of the hardest things about being a young piano teacher is the lack of 20 years of experience.  I know it takes time to grow a studio.  I know many students stay with the same piano teacher for years.  So, lots of times, if you have an intermediate student, you've grown them through the cute little songs, the later elementary stage that seemed to last forever, you've pushed and prodded, and ta-da! Now they are ready for some early intermediate literature.  That's so exciting.

I know each student blooms at a different rate, and admittedly some get choked out by sports, life changes, or other commitments before they even get to the intermediate stage.  As a younger teacher, (that is, I've been teaching for less than 10 years) I have a handful of students who are working on early intermediate literature or above.  That means I've gotten to try a few books, but not a large variety by any means.  That's one reason I enjoy posting reviews.  I can see what's out there and share it with others.

Grand Solos for Piano book 4 by Melody Bober continues a lovely series.  Once again there are "a variety of keys, styles, meters, and tempos" in this early intermediate book.  That's one thing that makes this series attractive to teachers who would like to expose their student to many new things.

The songs include (videos linked where I could find them)

Antique Music Box

Boogie Shoes

El Matador

I Spy

Pine Tree Rag

Prelude in F Major

Scary Movie

Stormy Night

Whirling Tarantella

Wild Appaloosa

In this collection, most of the songs are only 2 pages so do not involve page turns.  

In contrast to Elementary literature where every little concept is important (Mrs. A this song has notes I don't know!!!) it is expected that intermediate literature has basic keys, notes, rhythms, articulation, and dynamics.  I'll try to give you some of the highlights.

You will find: plenty of hand movement, accidentals, extremes in dynamics such as ff with accent and staccato, hand-over-hand crossovers, D.C. al Coda, 8va, triplets, D.S. al Coda, 6/8, cut time, dotted eighth & sixteenth, sixteenth note and rests.  

You can find this book on Sheet Music Plus for $6.99.  You can also look inside on that website.