Poco Piano for Young Children Book 1

With its highly attractive, full-colour, age-appropriate layout, Poco Piano
for Young Children encourages young children to take the first steps on a
difficult, but thoroughly rewarding journey. Together with the Music Theory
for Young Children books, the Poco Piano for Young Children series leads the
child from the very beginning to grade 1 level.

Poco Piano for Young Children includes exercises to help thechild develop
technique, rhythm and reading, and it involves the child in activities such as
pasting, colouring, tracing, circling and clapping.

Book 1 introduces the child to the keyboard, staves, clefs, simple time
signatures, note values and rests. Reading encompasses notesto a 5th above
and a 5th below Middle C. The notes A and E are introduced first, played by a
braced 3rd finger of each hand. This encourages free movement of the whole arm
from the shoulder, and develops a natural, balanced hand position, before the
5-finger position is gradually mastered. The first line of the treble stave
and the fifth line of the bass stave are highlighted, and further lines are
similarly treated as the child learns more notes. Staccato, slurs, ties,
upbeats and repeat signs are all experienced in Book 1. Tempo and dynamic
markings encourage musical playing, and are in English, in order to avoid
“knowledge overload”.