I have been using Colorful Tunes for Instruments 1 and 2 since their release, with every single one of my young preschoolers and elementary school students learning to play piano. Both books encompass my beginner pianists’ indispensable repertoire of sheet music. The book’s format and content are tailored to children, making both students and teachers happy to use it.
The first and a very important aspect is that the books’ pages are horizontally oriented, this way young students don’t need to stretch their necks while looking up. Instead, they can follow the sheet music comfortably at eye level. The second benefit, is that the lines, note heads, and font are much bigger than the traditional format. This is not only useful for the youngest children, but it’s also a great help for students struggling with attention deficit, because it makes it easier to see the position of the notes, and helps them read music more accurately.
Another benefit is that the pages are easy to navigate, they aren’t crammed with unnecessary information. There is only one transcribed song per page, in two lines at most. Other graphic elements are easy on the eyes, reading and comprehending them causes no difficulty, and they are consistently in the same place on each page.
One more thing I appreciate, is that the lovely illustrations for each song do not obstruct the view of the music at all. Thanks to this, the children can absolutely concentrate on reading the music.
The Colorful Tunes for Instruments volumes primarily contain Hungarian children’s songs and folk songs. This on its own is enough reason as to why we should use this book to teach, since -sadly- this generation is less exposed to our folk songs. Furthermore, us music teachers are usually the ones to introduce our students to songs that we previously thought were top hits, and supposedly well known children and folk songs. Kodály and Vilmos Gryllus are among the 100+ songs that contain well-known tunes and songs that children love.
Every single song is transcribed in G-clef, the note heads are large and colorful, and each line contains no more than 4 beats worth of musical elements. You can tell that the publisher was very attentive to the musical articulation of each line, from which we can easily recognize the symmetry of the musical questions and answers. Graphics of piano keys are also on the top right corner of every page, with the notes of the given song colored in, with the name of the key written above. This is also a great help in reading the music. The sheet music begins with the most simple, two-note songs. The first volume of the series only uses eighths, quarters, and rests, and around the end of the book, syncopation is also introduced.
I’m very glad that by the end of the sixth song, we see single eights and eighth rests, which loyally match the lyrics, as I think it’s important that students get acquainted with the sight and sound of eighth notes with stems, and they realize that eighths don’t always come in pairs with a beams above their heads. In the second volume, we encounter half notes and dotted quarter notes.
With one, two and three note songs, I have my students play them with alternating hands and alapbillentéssel. I tailor the four and five note songs to each of my students’ abilities. My younger beginner students play with one finger and alapbillentés, while my older students use pentachord fingering, using legato and staccato játékmód. Regardless of the G-clef, we play the songs with both hands.
Another noteworthy aspect of this book series, is that we can find accompaniment for every song. I think that playing together, and having an orchestra-like experience is very important from the very beginning of a child’s music learning journey, because playing music with someone gives such joy to children, that it will definitely inspire them to learn and practice.
To finish off, I would like to mention another absolutely child-centric and playful component, which also motivates the children. There is a hidden ladybug on every page. It could be hiding in the illustrations, or behind the G-clef, maybe in the belly of the note head, or with the piano graphics. My younger students all happily discover where the ladybug has hidden, and can hardly wait to go to the next song, so they can look for the ladybug again. I also have a student who always wants to race to see who can find the ladybug first. I usually lose. This little game really is very useful, since it teaches focus and speed, furthermore, it entertains both students and teachers.
szabadúszó zongoratanár és zenei ötletgyáros. Diplomáját Magyarországon szerezte, de élete egyik meghatározó részévé vált a finn Sibelius Akadémián töltött élményekkel teli időszak. Több kamara formációnak volt a tagja: vonósokkal és zongora négykezes kamarapartnerekkel is koncertezett. 2000 óta a világ minden tájáról, rengeteg tanítvány zenei fejlődésének lehetett a részese. Hitvallása, hogy az álmok megvalósítása legalább olyan fontos feladat, mint az, hogy a növendékeknek élményt szerezzünk a zenetanulás által. Ez a gondolat szövi át minden munkáját.
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