Lizzy’s Cat — a pre-reading piece

Beginning music in the store

Young students often get the 4th and 2nd fingers mixed up. This is because the  child under 6 or 7 does not understands mirror image fingers like an older child. Even some older children get this mixed up when they first start lessons. And then there is me. I still get mixed up and will often write the opposite finger when I am putting finger numbers in my music.

With that in mind, I tried to come up with a way for students to see which finger to start with in each phrase. This is what I finally designed. Let me know if it helps one of your students.

If you have ever tried to write a song using only 3 fingers, you know that it is not as easy as it might seem, especially if you want all steps and no skipping fingers. My little student hasn’t learned to use the thumb yet.

For this piece, I was inspired by folk songs in the mixolydian mode,  with the flatted 7th tone in the melody.  According to my poll, most of you want me to write a teacher duet,  so I added one here. I couldn’t decide if I wanted the  8th notes to be swung jazz style or not, so I’ll leave that to you.

Continue to have the child drop into the keys. Don’t worry about legato playing at this point. Be sure and learn the rhythm well before trying to play the piece.