"Jazzy Hymn Arrangements Book Six" has 19 well-known Christian hymns and a bonus Sweet Hour of Prayer Medley that has been arranged with jazz chords and aimed at the intermediate player. The original melodies and rhythms have not been changed. A few important finger numbers have been added to make learning even quicker and easier. Plenty of room has been left for the more advanced pianist to improvise. When printing up your Book Six, be sure to print even page numbers on the left and odd on the right. Then you will have very few pages to turn. Contents include: Amazing Grace-Bluesy, Be Thou MyVision, Brethren, We Have Met To Worship, Christ the Lord Is RisenToday, Come, Thou Almighty King, Faith Is the Victory, GloriousThings of Thee Are Spoken, He Included Me, His Eye Is On theSparrow, It Is Well With My Soul, Joy Unspeakable, Love Divine, All Loves Excelling, O Lord My God! (O Store Gud)(How Great Thou Art), Redeemed(How I Love to Proclaim It), Rescue the Perishing, Sunshine In MySoul, Sweet Hour of Prayer Medley (Sweet Hour of Prayer, Tell It ToJesus, Have Thine own Way), There Is Power In the Blood, Turn YourEyes Upon Jesus, When I Survey the Wondrous Cross. I use these arrangements for preludes, offertories, postludes. They would be appropriate for piano lessons, recitals, funerals and school. If you like these arrangements, please visit https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/publishers/Phil-Hamm-sheet-music/3002027 where you will find a complete listing of all my arrangements and originals. Videos of these and other pieces can be seen on my FaceBook page at https://www.facebook.com/phil.hamm.3 Please message me at FB about any questions you might have concerning these or any of my other arrangements

This is the collection of classical piano repertoire I created for work with my own students, most of whom were not primarily interested in "classical" music.

In my experience, every elementary piano student should be given the opportunity to successfully play:
Spinning Song (even if you leave out the middle section at first)
Minuet in G (page one)
Fur Elise (page one)

Eventually, they should experience (if not master--that's ultimately up to them) each piece in this collection.

All hand positions and finger numbers are presented so that students can spend their time preparing successfully--not "figuring out" with endless frustration and incorrect solutions.

"Minuet in G" from the Bach notebook is a great example. Let's consider just the first page. Many (most) elementary students would love to play this piece. The RH by itself is easy. The LH is also "not difficult", but it's not self-evident, either. The notes are easy enough, and the fingering choices seem inconsequential. You could play it with several different fingering solutions.

Hands Together: Humans can pay attention to only one thing at a time: in this case, the RH or the LH. Whichever hand is receiving the attention, the other must be on "automatic pilot". You can switch focus rapidly to give the appearance that you are paying attention to two things equally, but that is not what is happening.

So... both hands need to be rehearsed (better word than "practiced") until the correct execution is the "default" behavior.

If that (sufficient correct repetetition) has not happened, then consistent successful performance with both hands is never achieved. Students complain that they wish they could be more "consistent". They don't have a chance, sadly.

"Practice Makes... "

If you said "Perfect" then you've fallen into a sinister trap.

"Practice makes Permanent." When a student actually does what has been assigned, in many cases that is the beginning of the end of their piano career.

Here's the process in general:
Students "write in their own fingering" and then, and then practice (repeat) their incorrect solutions. They are unable to perform the desired piece consistently and don't know why. How long can a student tolerate this ineffective approach?

That's something for us professionals to consider.


Perfect for introducing classical repertoire (similar to Suzuki, Bastien Piano Literature, etc). The advantage here is that all fingering is included so that students play more!

Contents

Minuet in G from the Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach
Minuet in G from the Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach
Minuet in G minor from the Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach
Musette in D from the Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach
Minuet in F Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Ecossaise in G Ludwig van Beethoven
Sonatina in G Ludwig van Beethoven
I Allegretto
II Romanze
Sonatina (In the Antique Style) Op. 157, No. 4 Fritz Spindler
I Allegro
The Wild Horseman, Op. 68, No. 8 Robert Schumann
Fur Elise (Famous Page 1) Ludwig van Beethoven
Spinning Song, Op. 14, No. 4 Albert Elmenreich
Arabesque, Op. 100, No. 2 Friedrich Burgmüller
Ballade, Op. 100, No. 15 Friedrich Burgmüller
Solfeggietto Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach
Toccatina, Op. 27, No. 12 Dmitri Kabalevsky
Fur Elise (Complete) Ludwig van Beethoven
Sonatina, Op. 55, No. 1 Friedrich Kuhlau
I Allegro
Sonatina, Op. 36, No. 3 Muzio Clementi
I Spiritoso
La Vélocité, Op. 109, No. 10 Friedrich Burgmüller


These are the documents that I have used to introduce classical music to my piano students. No note is presented without its corresponding proper fundamental technique (fingering). In other words, there is no such thing as a note separate from its hand position and fingering.

The hand position notation is used to better communicate what exactly is being demanded of the student. Students? repertoire is no longer limited by their music staff reading ability. Nor do they suffer from their own painful inability to solve technical issues. This approach restores ?playing music on the piano? to primacy and supports ?helping a student play music on the piano? as the central activity of the piano lesson.

Weak students are able to play real (not simplified) music and not feel penalized. Strong students complete their preparation even more efficiently. In all cases, spending less time on fingering means more time for higher levels of musicianship: coordination, pedaling, physical technique, control, tone, dynamics, tempo, rhythm, articulation, phrasing, expression, emotion, drama, compositional analysis, and historical context.

Good luck!
Scott Camp
scottcampislandpiano@gmail.com