Music Moves: For Piano

Music Moves for Piano
By Marilyn Lowe
In cooperation with
Edwin E. Gordon
Teacher’s
Lesson Plans 1
THIS PDF PREVEIW CONTAINS SELECTED PAGES FROM THE PRINTED BOOK.
Dear Teachers, Parents, and Students,
Welcome to an exciting, new approach to piano study - one that teaches music as an
aural (listening) art as well as an oral (performing) art. This piano method is based on
the music research of the world-renowned American music educator, Edwin E. Gordon.
Many can play the piano, but learning to make music is what begins a lifetime of musical
enjoyment. To make music with understanding, you first need to acquire a music pattern
vocabulary. Rhythm and tonal patterns, movement activities, singing, and chanting build both
music vocabulary and musicianship. This “musical language” progresses to enable students to
read music, to improvise, to write original compositions, and to perform. Not only do students
develop strong musical skills that prepare them to play and perform throughout their lives,
but also they gain something more important – love, understanding, and appreciation of music.
Beginning repertoire of this piano series consists of short original compositions and folk songs.
The original compositions were created as games to build technical skills, to provide ensemble
experience, and to help students become familiar with the whole keyboard. The collection of rich
and varied folk songs enables students to quickly learn to play what they sing and provides
a foundation for creating their own pieces, improvising, and transposing.
Teacher lesson plans for each unit ensure sequenced instruction. Students learn all new material
at the lesson. At home, students can work on assignments that are clearly marked on each page.
Because listening is so important for strengthening music skills, accompanying recordings provide
daily reinforcement of the study material. Parent involvement includes encouraging their children
to practice, helping them to read and follow instructions, and listening to and enjoying their
music creativity.
Join me in this wonderful music adventure!
Marilyn Lowe
BOOK 1
Teacher’s Lesson Plans

By Marilyn Lowe
In cooperation with Edwin E. Gordon
A Piano Series Based on the Music Learning Theory

of Edwin E. Gordon
Designed to Develop Audiation and
Keyboard Performance Skills
© 2004, 2011, 2015, 2018, 2020, 2021 Music Moves LLC

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Table of Contents
Overview: About Music Moves for Piano...................................................................................v
Unit 1 (Audio Tracks 1 - 2)
Song to Sing - Duple Meter......................................................................................................1
Popcorn.......................................................................................................................................5
Song to Sing -Triple Meter.......................................................................................................8
Forest Dance.............................................................................................................................13
Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater...................................................................................................16
Song to Sing - Old MacDonald.............................................................................................18
Flute and Bassoon....................................................................................................................22
Lizards........................................................................................................................................23
Falling Leaves............................................................................................................................24
Song to Sing - Big Ben............................................................................................................26
Hide and Seek...........................................................................................................................30
Cotton Candy............................................................................................................................32
Unit 5 (Audio Tracks 13- 15)
Song to Sing - Ring Around the Rosy...................................................................................34
Twin Kangaroos.......................................................................................................................37
Lazy Day....................................................................................................................................39
Song to Sing - Frere Jacques...................................................................................................41
Party Time.................................................................................................................................44
Song to Sing - Down Came a Lady.......................................................................................46
Porpoise at Play........................................................................................................................49
The Bumblebee........................................................................................................................51
Song to Sing - Folk Song From Wales..................................................................................53
Route 76.....................................................................................................................................56
Song to Sing - Latvian Folk Song..........................................................................................58
Old MacDonald........................................................................................................................61
County Fair...............................................................................................................................63
Song to Sing - Major Song......................................................................................................65
Major Tonality - When G is DO...........................................................................................67
Big Ben......................................................................................................................................68
Song to Sing - Hot Cross Buns..............................................................................................70
Sneaking.....................................................................................................................................73
iii
Song to Sing - Russian Folk Song Two.................................................................................75
Spinning.....................................................................................................................................78
Unit 13 (Audio Track 32)
Song to Sing - Daughter, Come Home................................................................................80
Major Tonality - When F is DO............................................................................................81
Song to Sing - Minor Song.....................................................................................................83
Rolling Hills..............................................................................................................................86
Song to Sing - This Old Man.................................................................................................88
Little Bird..................................................................................................................................91
Song to Sing - Handkerchief Dance.....................................................................................93
Rope Swing...............................................................................................................................96
Song to Sing - Circle Dance...................................................................................................98
When C is DO, then A is LA...............................................................................................100
Song to Sing - Slovakian Folk Song....................................................................................102
Folk Song from Wales...........................................................................................................105
Carousel...................................................................................................................................107
Song to Sing - Russian Folk Song One...............................................................................109
Major Tonality - When F# is DO.........................................................................................111
Song to Sing - French Cradle Song.....................................................................................113
Down Came a Lady...............................................................................................................116
Springtime One and Springtime Two.................................................................................118
Appendix
Songs to Sing and Songs for Activities...............................................................................121
Pattern Learning Sequence Activities.................................................................................133
Pattern CD Contents.............................................................................................................135
Teaching Activities.................................................................................................................137
Teaching Rhythm Patterns and Tonal Patterns..............................................................137
Teaching Movement...........................................................................................................139
Teaching Songs...................................................................................................................141
Teaching a Rote Piano Solo..............................................................................................142
Teaching Exploration, Creativity, and Improvisation...................................................143
Teaching Reading and Writing..........................................................................................145
Teaching Tips......................................................................................................................149
‘Watch Please’ Game.............................................................................................................151
Teachers Notes.......................................................................................................................153
Bibliography............................................................................................................................159
Student Book Pages...............................................................................................................161
iv
BOOK 1 • OVERVIEW
Overview
About Music Moves for Piano
Music Moves for Piano is a new, 21st century piano method that applies music learning
theory, or theories of audiation as developed by Edwin E. Gordon, to piano instruction.
Music learning theory and audiation. Gordon’s concept of music learning theory and
audiation are synonymous. Audiation means, in the simplest terms, hearing music in the
mind with comprehension, whether or not the sound is physically present. Many past
musicians throughout history have advocated that music be learned as an aural art. Audiation
is fundamental for developing comprehensive music literacy. If the ear and the mind audiate,
the listener will comprehend music. Gordon developed ways to help students learn how to
audiate.
Music aptitude. Everyone has the potential to learn music. This potential is called music
aptitude, which is a product of innate potential and environmental influences. This means
that an early environment of appropriate listening, singing, and chanting, along with hearing
functional rhythm and tonal patterns (the music vocabulary) affects the level of a personal
music aptitude. Music aptitude is developmental until age nine, at which time it stabilizes and
future testing is based on achievement. Regardless of the personal level of music aptitude, all
humans can learn to audiate.
Questions about music learning. Gordon’s extensive body of research and practical field
testing about how we learn music provides answers to many common questions:
• Why can students play difficult repertoire and not be able to play “Happy Birthday”
without music notation?
• Why can some students play cadences fluently, yet be unable to improvise using a
common tonic - dominant chord progression?
• Why can many adults, after years of study, only play a few pieces they learned in high
school?
• Why are so many adults not able to read unfamiliar music or accompany singers and
instrumentalists?
• Why does creating and improvising seem impossible to many adults who can read music?
The answer: These people do not know how to audiate. Music Moves for Piano teaches
piano students how to audiate and produces dramatic results, because it reverses the
common music teaching process that focuses on learning to read music notation from the
beginning of piano instruction.
An audiation-based piano method. Before Music Moves for Piano, no piano material
existed specifically for teaching audiation skill. Since 1992, the music, techniques, and
exercises for learning how to audiate evolved into both Student Books and Teacher Lesson
Plans. Students assisted in this learning process by helping to explore and discover music
in a new way. Students laughed at mistakes and learned quickly. Piano lessons were fun
as using Gordon’s theories of audiation to teach piano proved possible. When students
engaged in improvisation activities and acquired a music pattern vocabulary, they recognized
that they were developing musicianship and becoming confident performers with internal
understanding.
v
MUSIC MOVES FOR PIANO•LESSON PLANS
Change can be uncomfortable. Understanding something that is a departure from an

established, common tradition requires time and effort. Teachers may wonder if this new way
of teaching is worth the effort. It is, if piano lessons for the mass are going to survive in the
21st century. This audiation-based music learning process guides students’ musical growth in
an enjoyable way. They know they are learning to understand music. Teaching students how
to audiate continues to provide insights and revelations into how music works and why music
sounds the way it does. Music becomes alive, and one intuitively knows that music is intrinsic
to the human spirit.
Compare music learning with language learning. Music is an aural art. Music learning
can be compared with language learning. There are five music vocabularies: 1) listen, 2) sing/
chant/perform, 3) audiate/improvise/think, 4) read, and 5) write.
Students of all ages, from birth through advancing years, should listen to a wide variety of
carefully chosen music. After listening, they should chant, sing, or perform on an instrument
the organized, categorized and functional rhythm and tonal pattern vocabulary that is
the foundation for developing audiation skill. Students will acquire a large music pattern
vocabulary through sequenced pattern instruction to use when learning, performing, and
listening to music. In both language learning and music learning, we listen and speak or
perform before learning to read and write. Students should use their pattern vocabulary
to improvise, just like we converse with language. Improvisation cements learning. Then
students should be able to read what they know.
The audiation approach of Music Moves for Piano. In Music Moves for Piano
students learn specifically organized tonal and rhythm patterns in combination with specific
skills through sequenced pattern instruction. Skills include the following: learning labels or
names of music contexts and patterns; associating rhythm and tonal syllables with patterns;
improvising, arranging, playing by ear, composing; and reading and writing music notation.
Rote (discrimination) and inference (generalization) learning. Rote learning is
purposeful and intentional, not mindless. Rote teaching is used to help students learn
audiation skills and acquire a music pattern vocabulary. Discrimination learning is rote
teaching because the teacher asks the question and then gives the answer. Rhythm and
tonal patterns are learned by rote. Songs and performance pieces are learned by purposeful,
intentional rote teaching. The rote process for learning songs and performance pieces is
“whole-parts-whole.” After listening to the music (the first whole), the parts apply elements
of music context, content, and form specific to the song or piece. Students listen again to the
“whole” with increased comprehension. Comprehension is fundamental for rote learning.
During inference learning, or generalization, students use everything they have learned from
the beginning of instruction through improvisation activities and application of what they
have learned by themselves or with minimal teacher guidance. Improvisation is fundamental
for developing audiation skill.
vi
BOOK 1 • OVERVIEW
Reading music notation. The teacher should individualize instruction for students as they
learn to read music notation. The piano teacher is in a position to recognize a huge variety
of learning exceptionalities that may prevent a student from reading music notation with
fluency. It is suggested that teachers familiarize themselves with developmental issues along
with the huge variety of possible exceptionalities.
Reading music notation with understanding requires abstract thinking, which
developmentally happens around age 11, and sometimes later. Music notation is complex,
but a careful process of learning about music symbols and their meaning on a page of
notation can begin early during instruction. For example, students can learn to recognize and
draw symbols for dynamics and articulation. Students can draw the five basic note parts and
name them without giving a time value name to music notes. This note drawing process is
outlined at the beginning of Reading and Writing, Book 1.
When looking at notation, students can be asked to notice tonal or rhythm patterns along
with phrases that may be the same or different. Apply a large music pattern vocabulary to
reading notation by separating rhythm reading from pitch reading while looking at a music
score. A teacher can sort out music scores to use for reading by following the sequential
pattern instruction categories.
To efficiently read music notation, playing skills are essential. For example, one can only
read in D-flat major if one has the kinesthetic feel for the keyboard and an understanding
of cadences and triads built on scale degrees and their functions in D-flat major. Learning
individual notes and counting do not foster reading. Students who learn from Music Moves
for Piano become good music readers if their eye/brain functions for music reading.
vii
Method Structure and Lesson Content

Activities to develop audiation skills. Music Moves for Piano, developed to apply
audiation skills to music learning, includes many activities to teach audiation skill. The folk
song-based curriculum and lesson-time format are organized to help students learn audiation
skills and apply these skills to learning repertoire. Creativity and improvisation activities are a
regular part of lessons to continue fostering audiation skills.
Activity time. Students sing, chant, and move during the away from the keyboard music
activity time. Students enjoy movement activities. They may arrive tired at lessons, but usually
leave filled with enthusiasm because of the variety of audiation activities that complement
keyboard activities and performances. Activities in lesson plans are sequential and provide
readiness and reinforcement for becoming musically literate.
Habit development. Folk song curriculum, pattern instruction, rote learning, and
improvisation activities start students on a pathway for developing good thinking and study
habits. These habits prevent a piano studio from being “a house of corrections.” Students
learn to:
• Play with flow and musicality,
• Sing before playing,
• Establish meter and tempo before beginning to play,
• Play the rhythm patterns,
• Feel rhythm patterns in a continuous fluid manner while audiating underlying macrobeats
and microbeats,
• Observe good fingering choices,
• Use performer controls, such as dynamics and different articulations,
• Apply efficient study skills to the learning of new music,
• Listen for, label, and play chord changes by first using single-tone root harmony for
clarity,
• Recognize/identify meter, tonality, and patterns in music they hear, and
• Approach music notation through audiation and pattern recognition instead of by
decoding the score.
viii
BOOK 1 • OVERVIEW
Keyboard and Technical Skills

Forearm and large motor movement. In Music Moves for Piano, students use both
hands separately at first, beginning with soft fists and finger three. Gradually, other fingers
are introduced. Beginning keyboard pieces engage the large motor movement of the
forearm. Forearm movement and balance are basic for developing coordinated playing. A
separated touch is used to engage the forearm in playing. Students learn that piano keys are
depressed by forearm movement instead of pushing fingers.
Efficient movement of hands and fingers. Students observe the physical mechanism of
the whole body for efficient movements and avoid tight curled fingers, twisting, reaching,
keybedding and stretching movements. Finger movements and shifts are sequenced in the
folk song repertoire. Students play melodies with each hand alone to equally develop both
hands/fingers.
The whole keyboard. Students learn to use the whole keyboard from beginning lessons.
They become familiar with both black and white piano keys as well as contrasting sounds
of different registers of the keyboard. Students learn cadences, arpeggios, and scales in all
keyalities and tonalities. Familiarity with keyboard geography and a strong kinesthetic sense
provide a foundation for fluent reading.
Keyboard and improvisation skills. As students progress, they learn to recognize aurally,
perform, read, and write all intervals, triads, inverted triads, triads on scale degrees, and
seventh chords. Students play and improvise in all tonalities and meters.
Improvisation activities keep pace with keyboard skills. Students learn how to change tonality
and meter, transpose, make melodic and rhythmic variations, harmonize melodies, play by
ear, make arrangements, create medleys, and compose. Improvisation, using a large variety
of chord changes and progressions, builds facility in creating interesting modulations and
interludes.
ix
Getting Started
Teacher’s Lesson Plans

Lesson plans content. Lesson plans coordinate with every unit of the five student books.
Teacher lesson plans provide sequenced instruction in the areas of audiation skill, pattern
instruction, songs and performance pieces, keyboard technique, creativity and improvisation,
and general readiness. The “whole-parts-whole” approach includes essential tonal and
rhythm patterns for songs and performance pieces as parts of the learning process. Patterns
continuously strengthen audiation skills and help students to learn and remember music.
Categories in the lesson plans are sequenced and are a resource of ideas that may be used
at different times. “Lesson Time Objectives” presents an overview of the lesson plan and
provides an assignment source for students in the student books. Students should read this
column and learn to spell and define all the words that may be new for them. Assignments
may be dated on this column.
Length of lesson plan. Each lesson plan is designed for an hour’s instruction with three
or four students. However, teachers can adapt lesson plans for individual instruction, two
students for 45 minutes, overlapping students, or weekly group activity sessions.
Use the lesson plans. Lesson plans are carefully sequenced within a book and within the
series of books. Follow the lesson plans for each unit of instruction. After students become
familiar with the course of instruction in Music Moves for Piano, Book 1, teachers may
emphasize a particular aspect of the lesson plans for a few weeks. For example, teachers may
spend more lesson time on triple meter, or creativity and improvisation activities for a few
weeks. Or have a multi-week instructional unit for students to review scales, cadences, and
arpeggios in assigned keyalities and tonalities. This approach of using modules adds variety
to lessons and homework while providing opportunities to focus on specific elements of
instruction. However, it is important to complete Student Book 1, with 20 units, in one year
of instruction. Students need to move on to Student Books 2 and 3 to gain the full value of
audiation-based instruction. Otherwise, they may become bored and stuck without making
necessary progress in developing audiation skills.
BOOK 1 • OVERVIEW
Teacher’s Study to Become Familiar with Music Moves for Piano
Ways to study Music Moves for Piano, Teacher’s Lesson Plans, Book 1.
• As with all piano methods, familiarity is necessary. Take time to gain an overview of how
Music Moves for Piano works in lessons.
• First, listen to the audio recording while looking at the corresponding pages in the
student book.
• Next, briefly glance through all of each “Lesson Time Objectives” separate categories in
the Teachers Lesson Plans book, one category at a time. The “Lesson Times Objectives”
provide an overview of lesson content and student assignments.
• Finally, read through each section of the lesson plans for every unit, one section at
a time, to get an idea of the teaching activities. For example, read the “Keyboard
Geography and Technique” section for each unit.
• An understanding of the categories, the material within each category, and how it is
sequenced in lesson plans for the whole series will help in understanding and moving
forward.
• Know that Student Book 1, after students have completed Keyboard Games A and
half of Keyboard Games B, can and should be completed in one year. Review time of
Student Book 1, Units 11-20, continues while students are in Student Book 2.
• Avoid taking time for extra modules that will prevent Book 1 from being completed
within one year of lessons, which usually is from 30+ lessons. It is essential that
students keep moving forward so audiation skills continue to develop in an intentionally
sequenced manner. Students need to be in Student Book 3, which was written for the
developmental progress of the nine-year old student, so they can spend time learning
keyboard skills that promote audiation and prepare for reading and advancing repertoire.
• Remember that this is basically “acculturation” learning and not “mastery” learning.
Lesson plans are intentionally sequenced so that essential material is repeated, reviewed,
and reinforced. Move on.
Questions will arise. As questions arise some can be answered by talking with other
teachers using this method, asking the author at info@musicmovesforpiano.com, reading
material on the website www.musicmovesforpiano.com, attending workshops or seminars,
and discussions in Music Moves for Piano Facebook Groups. Other answers will become
clear after beginning to work with students and as the teacher becomes more experienced
with audiation-based learning. It does take time, then one will recognize how excitement for
learning music grows.
Year after year, teachers will continue to gain insights and new ideas from using this
audiation-based method. Learning music is a spiral pathway. Students’ learning paths will
circle the same concepts, each time at a different level, building on previous knowledge.
xi
Student Books
Basic information. Teacher’s Lesson Plans provide basic information and activities to help
students learn to play performance pieces, learn keyboard skills and geography, develop
improvisation skill, and learn how to apply audiation skills to learning and listening to music.
Music Moves for Piano later student books eventually become workbooks. All student
books have songs, pieces, and projects that can be returned to later for deepening learning.
One is never finished with a book, because there is more to learn. This includes Keyboard
Games books.
Unit pages. Each unit page has a “Lesson Time Objectives” column on the left hand side of
the page. This column communicates to parents and students content that is covered during
the lesson and provides a place for teachers to mark lesson assignments. The center portion
of the unit page includes improvisation activities, special projects, presentation of new
information, and a “Song to Sing.”
Recordings. Audio recordings that accompany each student book includes songs to sing and
performance pieces with tonal and rhythm patterns for each performance piece. Tracks are
indicated by the music source.
Pattern CD listening assignments are on the unit pages at the bottom of the “Lesson
Time Objectives” column with a black track number. Students may listen up to the highest
track number assigned. Students should listen to the accompanying audio recording and
Pattern CD at home. Notice the Pattern Table of Contents and instructions in the beginning
of each book
Page design for performance pieces and keyboard skills. The keyboard/hand
illustrations, or rote notation, serve as a reminder of how a performance piece, learned by
rote, sounds. These illustrations show students the fingers and piano keys used for each piece.
Pictures of scales, arpeggios, and cadences help the student to visualize the keyboard and
connect the fingers and ears to the piano keys.
“Check Lists” provide a place for teachers to date items heard at each lesson and make
assignments. All items on the “Check Lists” do not need to be completed during one lesson.
The music score is basically for parents and teachers. Music examples may be returned to at a
later time for analysis and reading projects.
Learning from the student book. Because Music Moves for Piano is an aural approach,
students first learn songs and performance pieces through guided activities at the lesson.
Students listen to the whole piece, or song, then learn tonal and rhythm patterns from the
piece, or song. By breaking the music into parts, it is easier to understand the whole. This
study process is called “whole-parts-whole.”
To learn performance pieces:
• Students engage in technical readiness activities, often in previous units, specific to each
performance piece before learning to play a piece by rote.
• Students learn how to study the pictures or rote notation.
• Pieces are often “Songs to Sing,” so students are familiar with the piece before they play
it. This is intentional acculturation in the learning process.
• Students also listen to a teacher performance of the music, then listen to the audio
recording at home
xii
BOOK 1 • OVERVIEW
Scheduling the Lesson

Length of lesson. Piano students benefit from longer lessons. 45-60 minute lessons will
provide more guided instruction for two, three, or four students than 30 minutes can with
one student. When students are scheduled in small groups of two, three, or four, or with
overlapping lessons, skills are reinforced through repetition and review. Students learn from
each other and become comfortable performing individually. Performances take place at
every lesson, since there is always an “audience.”
Grouping students. Keep in mind that groupings do not always need to consist of students
of the same level or age. The teacher who understands the strengths and weaknesses of each
student can be flexible with groupings. Learning how to work with heterogenous groupings
will make scheduling easier.
Activities Time and Lesson Organization

Lesson plan outline. The following suggested lesson plan outline is for 45-60 minutes for
two, three, or four-students. As students progress, they need more keyboard time. To provide
more individual keyboard time, the group activity time can be shortened so students may
engage in individual keyboard/audiation activities.
I. Activities to Teach Audiation Skills include musicianship development. Stay with the
sequence.
A. Play the ‘Watch Please Game’ in duple meter.
B. Provide duple meter rhythm pattern instruction or activities.
C. Sing curriculum songs while students engage in movement activities.
D. Provide major or minor tonal pattern instruction.
E. Teach the “Song to Sing.”
F. Play the ‘Watch Please Game’ in triple meter.
G. Provide triple meter rhythm pattern instruction or activities.
H. Sing curriculum songs while students engage in movement activities.
I. Provide major or minor tonal pattern instruction.
II. Keyboard Geography and Technique.
III. Exploration/Creativity/Improvisation.
IV. Book/Listening Assignments. Review previously assigned performance pieces.
V. Teach new performance pieces.
VI. Wrap-up and discuss assignments.
Lesson plans activity time organizes songs, chants, and pattern instruction so that the
teaching of major and minor tonal patterns are separated and the teaching of duple and
triple meter rhythm patterns are separated. Precede tonal pattern instruction with a song in
the same tonality. Precede rhythm pattern instruction with a song or chant in the same meter.
Follow the lesson plan sequence for teaching both rhythm and tonal patterns.
xiii
How to Learn More

Bibliography and conferences. The bibliography at the end of this book lists resources to
learn more about Gordon’s theories of how children learn music. Many of the books cited
discuss audiation and how to teach audiation skill. Use the glossaries. Conferences offer
classes on how to teach audiation skill to students in different music settings. Webinars are
provided for ongoing learning.
New teaching approach and activities. Some of the following teaching approaches and
activities may be unfamiliar to teachers: rote teaching or teaching by imitation; tonal and
rhythm pattern instruction; creativity and improvisation activities; movement and singing
activities; and small-group instruction. Teaching suggestions are included in this book. To get
started, teachers should learn how to use these activities, study and follow the lesson plans,
and grow year-by-year with their students. Facebook groups offer help in understanding
the audiation-based learning process. Questions are asked and answered. Good source of
information and interesting dialogue.
The Piano Curriculum

Music Moves for Piano is a piano series of seven student books, six teacher’s guides/
lesson plans, one Pattern CD, and ten supplementary books. Music Moves for Piano and
accompanying supplementary books are sequenced to advance audiation and performing
skills.
Beginning with Book 3, the focus is on developing advanced keyboard, improvisation, and
audiation skills. Standard keyboard repertory should be selected by the teacher according to
student differences.
Repertoire. Most of the repertoire in the student books consists of international folk
songs in a variety of tonalities and meters. The folk song repertoire is sequenced to advance
technical and musical skills and to provide a common repertoire for future improvisation
activities.
Creativity and improvisation. In the Music Moves for Piano series, students make
variations and arrangements of previously learned songs. These student books can be used
to teach creativity and improvisation to transfer students and adults.
Supplementary books. Supplementary books for students in Books 1-3 include Boogies
and Blues, Music Moves for Two, and Little Gems for Piano Advanced Primer Level.
Christmas Music is for all students. These books, which have accompanying recordings, are
introduced sequentially at different times during the piano series for variety and to enrich and
strengthen the learning process.
Other supplementary books for students in Books 3-5, include: Pattern CD Book,
Keyalities and Tonalities, Reading and Writing Music Notation Books One, Two, and
Three, and Well Tempered Reader Books Red, Blue and Green.
Teacher’s books. Detailed and sequenced activities for teaching Music Moves for Piano
are included in the Keyboard Games Teacher’s Edition and Teacher’s Lesson Plans
books 1-5.
xiv
BOOK 1 • OVERVIEW
Music Moves for Piano Student Books and the Pattern CD
Music Moves for Piano: Keyboard Games Books A and B, and Book 1
Keyboard Games Books are for beginning and transfer students of any age, starting with
four-year old children. Keyboard pieces in Keyboard Games Books and the first half of
Book 1 are game-like. Pieces use the large motor movement of the forearms to play black
keys, white keys, and combinations of black and white keys in all registers, starting with a
soft fist and finger three and gradually adding fingers. Each of the beginning pieces has a
technical or musical “hurdle.”
Finger movement progresses from playing with the third finger, then adds fingers two and
four and finally adds the thumb and finger five. Students learn to play repeated notes and
repeated patterns. Students use both separated (staccato) and connected (legato) styles of
articulation. The first short pieces are not based on major or minor keyalities, but their
duet parts may be and are intentionally composed for acculturation. Student pieces are
constructed using simple two- and four-macrobeat rhythm patterns in both duple and
triple meters. Students learn to think about their hands and fingers, the keyboard register,
articulation, and meter/rhythm pattern. Teacher and student duet parts provide ensemble
experience. Students learn the pieces at the lessons and also engage in an away from the
keyboard activity time where they sing and move, chant rhythm patterns, and sing tonal
patterns.
#
The second half of Book 1 introduces folk songs in major keyalities of G, F, F and C.
Students play folk song melodies with each hand alone. Playing melodies with the left hand
is for technical development. Students begin to play hands together using single-voice root
accompaniments for the melodies. They also transpose melodies.
Plan to teach one unit a week in Book 1. Start a thorough unit review and complete all of the
items on the “Check List” when students start Unit 10. This check list does not need to be
completed until the unit review time.
Music Moves for Piano: Book 2

Book 2 introduces more relative minor keyalities, major scales, major and harmonic minor
cadences, and tonic-dominant arpeggios. Keyalities and tonalities presented include G Major
and E Minor, C Major and A Minor, F Major and D Minor, E Major and C sharp Minor,
and D flat Major. Students continue to transpose and focus on changing tonality and meter
of familiar folk songs, creating medleys and mashups. Students accompany and harmonize
the melodies using a single-tone tonic or dominant root note. They can also reverse hands
and play the harmony and melody in opposite hands. Later these tunes can be reharmonized
using different triad roots or inversions. Notated music provides accompaniments in
different styles as models.
Book 2 will take longer to complete than Book 1. This is because students spend time
reviewing Book 1 and playing supplementary repertoire. However, most students can
complete this book in a year and a half.
xv
Music Moves for Piano: Book 3

Book 3 is designed for the student whose music aptitude has stabilized, around age nine, and
who is still a concrete thinker. Songs still have a five-tone range, but the five fingers move
in more complex ways. Students learn to play in D Major and B Minor and A Major and F
sharp Minor. Students learn the tonic/subdominant cadence. Book 3 continues to emphasize
transposition, changing tonality and meter, creating medleys and mashups, and playing/
creating accompaniments.
Book 3 unit pages cover keyboard concepts and skills that are essential for advancing
as a musician and a pianist. Keyboard skills, such as all major and minor triads, triads in
inversions, triads on skill degrees, understanding intervals, should be mastered. Students
may be in this book for several years, or return to the unit pages periodically for review
and mastery.
Music Moves for Piano: Books 4 and 5

Folk songs in Music Moves for Piano, Books 4 and 5 have wider melodic ranges. Melodies
have finger shifts, cross-overs, and cross-unders. Emphasis is on creating melodic and
rhythmic variations and new accompaniments for melodies. Students continue to transpose,
change tonalities, and change meters. Students learn all major and relative minor keyalities
and cadences and songs in other tonalities. Other tonalities include Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian,
Mixolydian, Aeolian, and Locrian.
Students learn to perform and improvise in combined meter and in unusual meters of five
and seven. Seventh and ninth chords are introduced. Students are given instructions for
making rhythmic, harmonic, and melodic variations of folk songs. Consider these books as
workbooks for many projects that advance audiation skill.
Projects on Unit pages cover advanced theory concepts.
Music Moves for Two

This book supplements Music Moves for Piano, starting with Student Book 1. Music is in
a variety of tonalities and is more adventuresome in style and content than Book 1. Students
continue to grow musically and learn to apply audiation skill when they engage in ensemble
playing and improvisation. Students can use these pieces as common studio repertoire for
several years.
Boogies and Blues

This supplementary book of light pieces reinforces the harmonic changes of tonic,
subdominant, and dominant. Ensemble parts serve as models for improvisation on chord
changes. The difficulty level ranges from easy, for students who have started Music Moves
for Piano Book 1 to more difficult, for third- and fourth-year students. Students can use
these as models for original blues composition and improvisation for several years. As
students advance, they can refer to the music notation and learn where the tonic resting
tone is located on the bass staff along with other root notes for dominant and subdominant
chords. Other students can accompany these pieces using rhythm instruments that denote
tonic, subdominant, and dominant.
xvi
BOOK 1 • OVERVIEW
Christmas Music
The Christmas Music book of 20 carols is designed to help students build a large, permanent
playing repertoire that will last a lifetime. Music arrangements are in two voices: melody and
single-tone root accompaniment. This two voice arrangement is intentional, so students
can learn the melody and root chord changes. An accompanying audio recording reinforces
hearing a melody and a bass line, since chord changes are more obvious when only two
voices exist. Tonal and rhythm patterns for each song are included on the audio recording.
Each year students make variations to songs learned previously. Changes can be made to
the voicing of the bass line, harmony, and accompaniment style. Medleys can be created.
Students may make melodic or rhythmic variations. Because of the short Christmas season,
these songs may be started early in the fall, or, it is even possible to teach these songs
throughout the year. For example, have a “Christmas song for the month” and ask students
to play the song in different keyalities, change tonalities, make variations, and so forth.
The Christmas book includes tonal and rhythm patterns for each song. Students remember
melodies and strengthen their audiation skills when they associate specific patterns with a
melody. Students can play games with patterns from the songs. The solfege in the written
patterns provide reinforcement of functional patterns and students learn to recognize a song
by rhythm patterns or tonal patterns. Besides introducing a light side to learning, Christmas
music reinforces singing melodies, chord changes, and tonal and rhythm patterns.
Pattern CD
Rhythm patterns and tonal patterns for the complete piano series are on the Pattern CD.
Rhythm and Tonal Patterns from the Pattern CD, Book

Rhythm and tonal patterns from the Pattern CD for the complete piano series are notated
in this book for teacher reference and students to use with the Reading and Writing books.
Keyalities and Tonalities: the Complete Book of Arpeggios, Cadences and Scales.
All major and harmonic minor tonalities are presented with cadences, scales, and key
signatures.
Other tonalities include characteristic tone, primary cadence, and melodic cadence.
Reading and Writing Music Notation, Books 1, 2, and 3

Students learn how to write music symbols and familiar tonal and rhythm patterns. Music
is for analysis and there are activities for composition, which help to build reading skills.
Students need the Pattern CD and the book of Rhythm and Tonal Patterns to complete
the writing activities. Age of students to begin Reading and Writing Book 1 is around 11,
after almost completing Student Book 3.. If a student has difficulty with the first Reading
and Writing book, wait for a while before continuing. Other general notation exploration
activities precede using these books.
xvii
The Well-Tempered Reader Books, 1, 2, and 3

These repertoire books are collections of short elementary and lower intermediate piano
pieces in all major and minor keyalities by composers from the Baroque, Classical, and
Romantic periods of music. There are five one page pieces in every major and minor keyality.
The Well-Tempered Reader books emphasize mastery of music-reading skills through
using an analysis form for learning new music. There is no recording or performance by the
teacher, because students are expected to learn these pieces quickly and independently.
It is suggested that the teacher supplement with other pieces in each major or minor keyality.
The student should use the Keyalities and Tonalities book with these books.
Teachers Editions and Lesson Plans
Keyboard Games Teachers Edition

The Keyboard Games Teachers Edition includes all the songs, keyboard pieces, chants,
and tonal and rhythm patterns used in Keyboard Games A and B, along with suggested
activities. Descriptions of this audiation-based approach along with specific characteristics of
beginning students are included in this book.
Teachers Lesson Plans, Books 1-5

Individual lesson plans for each unit of the student books are sequenced to include the
following: pattern instruction, songs and chants, keyboard geography, improvisation activities,
general readiness and preparation activities, study of all tonalities and keyalities, and tonal and
rhythm pattern activities for each performance piece. Improvisation activities include how to
make melodic, rhythmic, and harmonic variations along with a variety of arrangements.
xviii
BOOK 1 • OVERVIEW
Rise to the Challenge

Teaching piano in a nontraditional way using a nontraditional curriculum is challenging.
However, the impressive results warrant serious consideration of this new approach that
applies Edwin E. Gordon’s music learning theory to piano instruction. After using this
approach, teachers will find:
• Students enjoy piano lessons.

• Parents will encourage their children to study piano and to continue lessons because of
the lifelong musicianship skills they acquire.
• Students learn and remember music with ease.
• Students become confident performers.
• Students are aware of their physical playing mechanism and take care to avoid tension-
producing movements.
• Students’ minds benefit immeasurably from creativity and improvisation activities.
Everyday music activities should include some kind of improvisation, just as
conversation using language does.
• Students understand that improvisation complements performance, both with and
without music, and enhances the learning of standard piano repertoire.
• Students apply audiation skills to the music they listen to, read, write, and perform. They
learn how to identify and recognize familiar patterns in unfamiliar music and recognize
and label different tonalities and meters.
• Students retain the music pattern vocabulary they have acquired and continue to build on
it. They audiate rhythm and tonal patterns and chord changes.
• Students hear and perform music with musicianship and understanding.
Teaching skills in a creative way takes both teachers and students into a wonderful, magical,
aural world that reaches deep inside the human spirit. This world renews and heals and
delights.
xix
NOTES
xx
MUSIC MOVES FOR PIANO • LESSON PLANS
Unit 4
Track 10
LESSON TIME OBJECTIVES BOOK/LISTENING ASSIGNMENTS

1. Review “Flute and Bassoon,” “Lizards,”
ACTIVITIES TO TEACH AUDIATION SKILLS and “Falling Leaves,” (with emphasis on
playing with a consistent tempo). Teach
1. Movement activities: pulsating and continuous
students to play “Hide and Seek” and
fluid.
“Cotton Candy.”
2. Use the voice to sing and chant:
2. Practice all pages marked in the student book.
• Sing songs.
3. Use the “Check List.”
• Sing Major tonic and dominant tonal
4. Study skills: Chant the rhythm while playing.
patterns using BUM.
Keep hands/fingers close to the keys when
• Chant two- and four-macrobeat rhythm playing.
patterns in Duple and Triple meter.
5. Learn to sing the “Song to Sing,” but do not
• Name (label) macro/microbeat patterns try to play it or watch someone play it.
in Triple meter.
6. Listen to this unit on the recording, echo
the patterns, and listen to the next unit for
KEYBOARD GEOGRAPHY AND TECHNIQUE
familiarization.
1. Practice movement of two adjacent fingers in
7. Listen to Track 3 on the Pattern CD.
Duple and Triple meter.
2. Practice playing repeated keys.
3. Practice playing both separated and connected
styles of articulation. PATTERNS, SKILLS, AND
TERMINOLOGY
EXPLORATION/CREATIVITY/IMPROVISATION
1. Chant then play on one key a four-macrobeat, 1. Duple and Triple meters: Aural/Oral.
macro/microbeat Duple meter rhythm Macro/microbeat patterns.
pattern. 2. Duple and Triple meters: Verbal Association.
2. Improvise with four-macrobeat, Pattern function labels (DU DE for Duple
macro/microbeat Duple meter rhythm macro/microbeat patterns and DU DA DI
patterns. Use any keys. Use a soft fist to gently for Triple macro/microbeat patterns).
“knock” the rhythm pattern. 3. Major tonality: Aural/Oral. Sing
3. Chant then play on one key a two-macrobeat, tonic/dominant patterns.
macro/microbeat Triple meter rhythm
pattern.
4. Improvise with two-macrobeat,
macro/microbeat Triple meter rhythm
patterns. Use any keys.
26
BOOK 1 • UNIT 4
TEACHER’S NOTES 2. T plays “Lazy Day” two times (p. 18, student
book):
1. Tap macrobeats or microbeats lightly on • S fold their arms and rock.
a student’s shoulder while the student
• S move their whole bodies very slowly.
is performing. This reinforces beat
consistency.
Triple Meter
2. Engage students in macro/microbeat
1. Have S stand and engage in the Triple meter
movement as often as possible during the
“Watch Please” game. Continue movement.
lesson. Macrobeat movement establishes
and maintains tempo and microbeat 2. T and S sing “Triple Meter.”
movement establishes a feeling for meter. 3. Have S chant macrobeats using BAH.
With practice, students eventually will be 4. Have S chant Triple meter microbeats
able to audiate the underlying macrobeats using BAH.
and microbeats while performing.
3. Students should experiment with performer Triple Meter Rhythm Pattern Instruction
controls and sound “ideas” using tone 1. Rhythm 2A2–Verbal Association,
clusters. Clusters remove the fear of Macro/microbeat patterns.
sounding “correct” and place importance 2. Use patterns from the Rhythm and Tonal Pattern
on character and quality of sound. CD/Book.
Song to Sing: “Big Ben” (M/T)

1. T sings the song using BUM. S roll
their arms.
LESSON PLAN 2. T establishes tonality and S sing the resting
tone using BUM:
ACTIVITY TIME (12 minutes) • T sings the song.
• S move their hips. S freeze and sing the
Duple Meter resting tone when the T stops singing.
1. Have S stand and engage in the Duple meter Use BUM.
“Watch Please” game. Continue movement. 3. T establishes tonality. Have S imitate tonal
2. T and S sing “Duple Meter.” patterns. Use BUM, then use tonal syllables.
3. Have S chant macrobeats using BAH.
4. Have S chant Duple meter microbeats using
BAH.
5. Ask S to, “Echo my patterns” (use BAH for
four-macro/microbeat patterns and continue
movement).
6. T sings “Old MacDonald” using BUM:
• S do a shoulder dance.
4. Establish Triple meter and have S echo the
7. T sings “Ring Around the Rosy” using BUM: following rhythm pattern from “Big Ben.”
• S move to macrobeats and microbeats. Use BAH, then use rhythm syllables.
8. T sings “Frere Jacques” using BUM:
• S do a whole body dance with feet glued.
Duple Meter Performance Piece

1. T tells S how to move while listening to a 5. Teach S to sing the song.
performance. Establish meter and play the
piece.
27
Major Tonality Pattern Instruction • Have S play a key one, two, three,
1. Tonal 1A1– Aural/Oral, or four times.
Sing the first pitch of the pattern. • Have S play a key softly or loudly with
2. Tonal 1A2–Aural/Oral, a gentle tone.
Sing the resting tone.
3. Tonal 1A3–Aural/Oral, How to Play a Key: Physical Gestures
Students sing tonic/ dominant patterns. 1. Have S choose any black key, then feel the
4. Use patterns from the Rhythm and Tonal Pattern arm-hand-fingers as a unit “float” into the key.
CD/Book. Feel a downward movement.
2. Have S play repeated notes. Ask them to feel
Triple Meter Performance Piece as if the bottom of the key is sending the
1. Tell S how to move while listening to a finger to the top of the key.
performance. Establish meter and play the 3. Have S practice feeling the fingers respond
piece. to forearm movement.
2. T plays “Twin Kangaroos” two times
(p. 17, student book): Articulation: Separated and Connected
• S move their elbows in all the space 1. Have S play any two black keys separated.
around. 2. Have S play any two black keys connected.
• S move their fingers very quickly.
Preparation for “Twin Kangaroos”
KEYBOARD GEOGRAPHY AND TECHNIQUE 1. Teach S this Triple meter three-note melodic
(10-15 minutes) pattern.
Activities Away from the Keyboard
Body Awareness Activities

1. S stand and swing both arms. • Have S play this pattern two times without
2. S feel the arms hang easily from the shoulders. a pause (the repeated note may need extra
3. S raise their shoulders as high as they practice).
can. Hold the shoulders up, then drop them. • Use each hand alone.
4. Ask S how they feel with the shoulders 2. Have S play a set of two black keys at the
dropped (“good”). same time. Play hands together.
Keyboard Activities Preparation for “Lazy Day”

1. Teach S to play different combinations of
Locating Keys the three black keys in Duple meter. Use the
1. Have S line up by the piano and play all the middle fingers. RH fingering is given. Also
sets of two black keys gently. Use a loose fist use the LH.
(remind S to use their eyes to look before
playing).
2. Have S play all the sets of three black keys
gently with a loose fist.
3. Show S a keyboard flash card with one circled
black key:
• Have S look at the circled key, look at the
key on the keyboard, then play it one time
when T reaches the count of three.
• Have S find the same key in different
places.
28
BOOK 1 • UNIT 4
EXPLORATION/CREATIVITY/IMPROVISATION
(10 minutes)
Complete the “Exploration/Creativity/
Improvisation” activities in the student book
unit as well as the following activities.
Triple Meter Rhythm Patterns

1. T establishes Triple meter, then plays a
two-macrobeat, macro/microbeat pattern
on one key.
2. Have S echo the pattern with the voice
using BAH.
3. Have S play the rhythm pattern on one key.
Audiate or chant the pattern.
4. Repeat this activity.
Duple Meter Rhythm Patterns

1. T establishes Duple meter, then plays a
four-macrobeat, macro/microbeat pattern
on one key.
2. Have S echo the pattern with the voice
using BAH.
3. Have S play the rhythm pattern on one key.
Audiate or chant the pattern.
4. Have S form soft fists and “knock” the
rhythm pattern on sets of black keys.
5. T may answer S creative “knock.”
REVIEW (5 minutes)
1. Review “Flute and Bassoon,” “Lizards,” and
“Falling Leaves.”
2. Tell S that the piece is in Duple meter because
they are audiating DU DE for microbeats.
Establish meter and play the piece. Have S
move to macrobeats and microbeats while
chanting the rhythm. Use BAH or DU DE.
3. Follow the procedure for learning a new
piece:
• Have a book on the keyboard opened to
the review piece.
• S sits in the middle of the keyboard area
where the piece is played.
• S prepares hands and fingers on the keys.
• T and S establish meter before playing.
4. T should help S with any difficult parts.
5. T or S may perform a duet part with the solo.
Encourage ensemble experience.
29
PERFORMANCE PIECE (10 minutes)
Track 11
Meter: Duple PREPARATORY GAMES AND ACTIVITIES

1. T plays the piece. Have S move to macrobeats.
Macrobeats: Microbeats:
Have S move to microbeats to decide if the
meter is Duple or Triple. (If S cannot feel the
microbeats, have them move in two and chant
DU DE for microbeats.)
2. Tell S that the hands do not move for “Hide
Tonality: Mixolydian and Seek.” Have S tap the hand-finger
movements in the air (or on the legs) while
chanting the rhythm. Use DU DE.
Resting Tone:
Keyality: Eb
STUDENTS LEARN TO PLAY
“HIDE AND SEEK”
1. Compare “Hide and Seek” and “Falling
Form: A A1
Leaves.” Talk about what is the same or
different.
2. Have S line up and go to the keyboard one at
a time. (Have a book in place opened to “Hide
and Seek.”)
3. Have S count the sets of two black keys to
locate the starting place for the piece.
4. Have S sit (or stand) in the middle of the keys
used to play the piece.
5. Have S prepare hands and fingers on the keys.
6. T and S should establish meter. Have each S
plays the first two macrobeats..
7. Tell S that this pattern is played three times.
The hands echo each other.
30
BOOK 1 • UNIT 4
8. Have S play the piece up to the last measure.

9. Have S listen with closed eyes while the T
plays the last half of the piece. Ask S to
audiate the ending to hear which of the
two black keys ends the piece. Have S play
that key. (All S cannot do this, so provide
immediate help).
10. S should be able to play the piece through
with a consistent tempo while chanting
the rhythm.
11. T may play the duet part with the S.
12. Some S may be ready to learn the student
duet part. However, S may learn the duet part
at a later lesson during the unit review time.
31
PERFORMANCE PIECE (10 minutes)
Track 12
Meter: Triple chanting the rhythm using DU DA DI.

4. S may need practice tapping the LH moving
Macrobeats: Microbeats:
macrobeats.
STUDENTS LEARN TO PLAY

“COTTON CANDY”
1. Have S line up and go to the keyboard one
at a time. (Have a book in place opened to
Tonality: Dorian “Cotton Candy.”)
2. Have S count the sets of two black keys to
locate the starting place for the piece.
Resting Tone: 3. Have S sit (or stand) in the middle of the keys
Keyality: Eb
used to play the piece.
4. Have S prepare hands and fingers on the keys.
Form: A A1 5. Tell S that one hand plays macrobeats.
Establish meter and have each S play the
PREPARATORY GAMES AND ACTIVITIES first phrase with the LH while chanting
1. T plays the piece. Have S move to macrobeats. DU DA DI.
Have S move to microbeats to decide if the 6. Tell S that this pattern repeats except for the
meter is Duple or Triple. (If S cannot feel last note. Have S play the second phrase with
the microbeats, have them move in three and the LH.
chant DU DA DI for microbeats.) 7. Have S play the piece with the LH while the
2. Have S echo this rhythm pattern. Use BAH, T plays the RH. Chant the rhythm.
then use rhythm syllables. 8. Have S play the RH microbeats while T plays
the LH.
9. S may have difficulty playing the entire piece,
or playing with a consistent tempo, but most
S can play this piece after a few weeks.
3. Tell S that the hands do not move for 10. The T may perform the duet part with the S.
“Cotton Candy.” Have S tap the hand-finger 11. Some S may be ready to learn the student duet
movements in the air (or on the legs) while part, or wait until a later lesson and teach the
duet part during a review time.
32
BOOK 1 • UNIT 4
ASSIGNMENT DISCUSSION FOR THE

NEXT LESSON (5 minutes)
STUDENT HOME PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS

1. Tell S to review all marked performance
pieces.
2. Tell S that items played at each lesson are
checked and dated by the T for home practice.
3. S should check items when practiced at home.
Items not checked by the T will be completed
during a review time.
4. Tell S to listen regularly to the recordings and
to echo the patterns.
5. Tell S to improvise and create every day.
6. Remind S to chant the rhythm patterns when
they play.
7. Remind S that the assignments are printed in
the “Lesson Time Objectives.”
WRITE ASSIGNMENTS IN THE STUDENT BOOK

1. T dates all items on the “Check List” that
were studied at the lesson.
2. T places a sticker or makes a mark by the
page numbers to indicate pages studied at
the lesson. These pages are for home practice.
NOTES:
33
BOOK 1 • SONGS
Songs to Sing and Songs for Activities
Unit 1
Unit 2
Unit 3
121
BOOK 1 • TEACHING ACTIVITIES
Teaching Activities
Teaching Rhythm Patterns and Tonal Patterns

Rhythm and tonal pattern instruction is the cornerstone of music learning theory. Formalized
pattern instruction helps students acquire a music pattern vocabulary that becomes the
foundation for building audiation skill. Learn the sequenced, functional patterns and learn how
to teach them by using Gordon’s Learning Sequence Activities. Videos are posted on YouTube as
examples. Music Moves has a set of LSAs through Unit 6 posted in the files that uses Gordon’s
words from his summer teaching seminars.
Here are some general guidelines about music patterns. Patterns have labels (or names). Patterns
are always taught in a metric or tonal context. Meter and tonality are the context, and patterns
are the content.
Teachers present the patterns in a context and sequence, separating rhythm and tonal patterns.
Tonal patterns function as tonic patterns, dominant patterns, and so forth. Rhythm patterns
function as rest patterns, upbeat patterns, tie patterns, and so forth.
Combine the teaching of patterns with skills, such as using neutral syllables first, then associating
the patterns with tonal and rhythm syllables. Other skills include singing the first tone of
a pattern; singing the resting tone; recognizing same/different; generalization in creativity,
improvisation; reading, and writing. Avoid counting because counting is not rhythm. Functional
(not based on note value) rhythm syllables were created by several teachers including Weikart,
Froseth, and Gordon. The moveable DO with a LA–based minor solfege system is the most
effective tonal syllable system for teaching audiation skills.
Rhythm Patterns
Music Moves for Piano recognizes six categories of rhythm patterns, although elongation
patterns are also introduced and would create seven categories. Categories are macrobeat/
microbeat, division, division/elongation, (elongation), rest, tie, and upbeat. The system of
rhythm solfege used is based on beat function rather than on duration or notation. Rhythm is
layered into three parts that are felt simultaneously: pulse (tempo beat), divisions of the pulse
(meter beats), and melodic rhythm. Movement flows.
• The macrobeat is the fundamental beat in a rhythm pattern. The macrobeat is the pulse
(big beat or tempo beat), and its name is DU (pronounced “doo”). DU is the label for the
macrobeat in all meters.
• Macrobeats are split into equal parts for duple and triple meters. These equal parts are called
microbeats. Microbeats are the meter beats (little beats or small beats). Microbeat rhythm
syllables are DU-DE (pronounced “doo day”) for duple meter and DU-DA-DI (pronounced
“doo dah dee) for triple meter.
• Macrobeats in unusual meters, such as five and seven, move in a crooked way, in contrast
with duple and triple meter macrobeats.
• Microbeats for unusual meters, such five and seven, begin with the letter “B.” These
microbeats are paired in twos and threes or may be unpaired, using a single microbeat. The
pairings are DU-BE (“doo bay”) and DU-BA-BI (“doo bah bee”). The microbeats are split
in uneven ways, such as two-three, three-two, two-three-two, or three-two-two.
• The syllable name for anything that is not a macrobeat or a microbeat is TA (pronounced
“tah”).
137
Students learn to move to macrobeats and microbeats at the same time during the ‘Watch
Please Game,’ presented in this book. Students chant rhythm patterns while moving to
macrobeats and microbeats. They also learn to audiate underlying macrobeats and microbeats.
In addition to sequenced rhythm pattern instruction, patterns that are specific to performance
pieces and songs should precede learning the music.
Steps for teaching rhythm patterns
1. The teacher establishes a meter context by chanting a four macrobeat pattern or
performing a song or chant. All practice moving to macrobeats and microbeats.
2. The teacher chants a rhythm pattern. Use a neutral syllable, such as BAH, at first. Use
rhythm syllables after students are familiar with the pattern.
3. The teacher cues the students on the fourth macrobeat to echo immediately without a
pause between patterns.
4. After the student(s) response, the teacher immediately chants a new pattern.
5. Use the three E(asy) M(oderate) D(ifficult) patterns in the LSA book/pamphlet followed
by other patterns from the Pattern CD/Book. A minimum pattern vocabulary consists
of around 8-12 patterns. Then both teacher and students can create other rhythm
patterns. The size of a language vocabulary affects communication. Likewise, the larger
the music pattern vocabulary the better one can audiate.
6. Teach students labels, or names, during pattern instruction.
7. Combine the teaching of skills with the teaching of patterns (see Edwin E. Gordon.
Learning Sequences in Music: Skill, Content, and Patterns. Chapters 5 through 9. GIA,
2012).
Useful reminders for teaching rhythm patterns sequentially include:
1. Teach rhythm patterns without pitch.
2. Chant two-macrobeat rhythm patterns if four-macrobeat patterns are too difficult at first.
3. Teach duple meter and triple meter rhythm patterns (and patterns for unusual meters)
separately.
4. Teach duple macrobeat/microbeat patterns and triple macrobeat/microbeat patterns
before teaching new patterns, such as divisions.
5. Teach rhythm patterns in both duple and triple meter in the sequence established by
Gordon (macrobeat/microbeat, divisions, division/elongations, and so forth). Teach
the patterns as listed in the Pattern CD Table of Contents in these books, which is the
sequence Gordon established.
6. There are three steps:
a. Students echo a variety of patterns with the group
b. When the teacher feels the student can echo a pattern alone, the teacher FIRST chants
the pattern with one student
c. If the student responds with accuracy, then the student is asked to echo the pattern
alone. If the response is correct, this indicates that the student has ownership of the
pattern.
138
Tonal Patterns
Tonal patterns consist of two, three, and sometimes four pitches. Patterns are functional:
tonic, dominant, subdominant, and so forth. Major and minor patterns are taught back-
to-back, with the teacher establishing different tonalities with a cadence or a song. Teach
the tonic pattern first with the dominant pattern, then add the subdominant. Eventually,
over time, teach all pattern functions (content) and tonalities (context). These include the
supertonic, mediant, submediant, leading tone, and subtonic functions. Students should
learn how to spell all the major and minor triads. Major triads = DO, FA, SO and minor
triads = RE, MI, LA. Teach the two-triad primary cadence in all tonalities. Students will
learn syllables for all the pattern functions. In addition to the sequenced tonal pattern
instruction, teach patterns that are specific to performance pieces and songs.
Steps for teaching tonal patterns
1. The teacher establishes tonality by singing a song or cadence and helps students
audiate the resting tone.
2. The teacher sings a tonal pattern with a separated, musical sound. Use a neutral
syllable first. Use tonal syllables after students are familiar with the pattern.
3. After a pause and a breath, students echo the pattern. This is called the ‘audiation
breath.’ Students should not respond immediately to the pattern (imitation) or wait a
long time before responding (memorizing). The teacher cues the students to breathe
and sing at the right time.
4. After a student response, the teacher takes a short breath and sings a new pattern.
5. Sing patterns in any comfortable range. Generally, E-flat provides a good singing
range.
6. Both teacher and students can create other patterns after students acquire a familiar
pattern vocabulary from the Pattern CD/Book. Teach students labels, or names,
during pattern instruction.
7. Combine the teaching of skills with the teaching of patterns (see Edwin E. Gordon.
Learning Sequences in Music: Skill, Content, and Patterns. Chapters 5 through 9. GIA,
2012).
Useful reminders for teaching tonal patterns sequentially include:
1. Teach tonal patterns without rhythm.
2. Teach major and minor patterns, as well as patterns from other tonalities, separately.
3. Teach major tonic and dominant and minor tonic and dominant before teaching new
patterns, such as subdominant. Teach the patterns as sequenced in Music Moves for
Piano, which is the sequence Gordon established.
4. There are three steps:
a. Student echoes a variety of patterns with the group.
b. Student sings a pattern alone with the teacher to find out if a student is accurate.
c. Student response, if accurate, means the student should echo the pattern alone. If
the response is correct, this indicates that the student has ownership of the pattern.
5. Be aware of the ‘audiation space’ of time between the teacher’s pattern and the
student’s echo. The time sequence after the teacher’s pattern is: “pause-breath-echo.”
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Teaching Movement
Body movement is the foundation for rhythm and develops the feeling for continuous
movement (flow) in audiation, a feeling that is essential for rhythm to exist in music. Movement
activities develop the physical coordination necessary for a rhythmic, musical performance.
In addition, movement activities release the body from unnecessary tension and free the mind so
learning can take place. Students of all ages enjoy movement activities.
Movement activities only need a small space. A few guidelines should keep students focused:
• Do not touch any other person or thing.

• Keep the feet “glued” to the floor unless the teacher asks for locomotor movement.
• Listen to the movement directions and follow them.
• Model the movement of the teacher or other students.
Rudolf Laban, the famous movement dance educator, used four words to describe movement:
time, space, weight, and flow. Students learn to move to and audiate time, space, weight, and
flow. These four types of movements interact with each other to create rhythm. Time is
sustained or quick (traditionally called tempo). Space is direct or indirect (traditionally called
duration.) Weight is on a strong to light continuum. Flow is on a free to bound continuum.
Continuous fluid movement, using weight and flow, is especially important for developing
musicianship. Using body weight while moving to macrobeats and microbeats helps to maintain
a consistent tempo.
Movement can take place without sound. However, moving while listening to, singing, or
chanting music is enjoyable. Students get the added benefit of hearing songs they will be
performing. Music Moves for Piano lesson plans contain many activities for using weight and
flow. Have students engage in different kinds of continuous free-flowing movement activity
games at every lesson. For example:
• Have students move their whole bodies in a non-pulsating (continuous fluid) way.
• Have students move in a variety of ways using weight or flow. For example, tell students to
move like a toy soldier, a giant, a honey bee, an elephant, or an astronaut floating in space.
• Ask students to use specific body parts. For example, move one arm as if it is very strong.
Or wiggle shoulders very quickly.
• Make movement activities into games. Ask students to keep feet “glued” to the floor and
pretend they are fish floating in water while the teacher sings a song. Have students pretend
they are frozen in a cube of ice and must get out by the time the teacher finishes singing. Or
have students pat their hands in the air as if they are tapping soap bubbles.
• Have students freeze their movements in a silly way and sing the resting tone of a song
when the teacher stops singing. Be sure to establish tonality and keyality and practice singing
the resting tone before beginning this activity.
The pulsating movement of the ‘Watch Please Game’ helps students internalize and audiate the
three rhythmic layers: macrobeats, microbeats, and melodic rhythm. Students use large body
movements while moving to macrobeats and microbeats in different meters while chanting
rhythm patterns. This internalization is the basis for rhythmic and musical performances.
Have students engage in this pulsating movement activity, with flow, in both duple and triple
meters, at each lesson.
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Teaching Songs
Music Moves for Piano is based on a rich folk song repertoire. Students learn that singing
voices differ from speaking voices and find that singing can be fun as well as essential for
developing tonal audiation.
Song lyrics, however, can be confusing and may prevent singing the rhythm or melody of
songs accurately. Eliminating words lets students focus on the pitch and melodic rhythm of
the song. Singing songs using neutral syllables encourages singing in tune.
Units in this piano method have a “Song to Sing” printed on unit pages of student books
and lesson plans. Songs are also on recordings that accompany student books. Suggestions
for teaching songs are included in unit lesson plans. Songs in contrasting tonalities and
meters are sequenced in the “Activity Time” section of the lesson plans along with suggested
movement activities. These “activity” songs are printed for use in each unit in a section in
the back of the teachers books. Sing them as sequenced in the lesson plans, because they will
eventually be performance pieces, and familiarity is important. Songs are used for reading
exercises so students will return to the songs in every book for more in-depth study.
After students are familiar with a song, prepare them to sing it:
• Have students echo rhythm patterns from the song.
Demonstrate where these patterns occur.
• Have students echo tonal patterns from the song.
Demonstrate where these patterns occur.
• Talk about the phrase structure of the song. Ask if the phrases are the same or different
and how they are the same or different. If students do not immediately hear where a new
phrase begins or where the differences are, demonstrate for them.
• Establish tonality, and have students echo each phrase of the song. Sing the song in a
comfortable range. Students do not need to sing a song in the same keyality used to play
the song.
Students may not be able to sing a song perfectly at first. Have patience and help students
feel at ease with singing. Some other tips include:
• Isolate difficult patterns that prevent students from singing a song accurately.
• Continue to use the song in activities for several lessons.
• Have students sing the song with the teacher. Eventually they will be able to sing the
song alone.
• Tell students that if they can sing a song they will be able to play it.
• Have students sing and play tonal and rhythm patterns from the song.
An additional activity is to have students change tonality and meter of songs they know. Sing
in parallel keyalities to change tonality, such as singing a major song in minor tonality. Keep
in mind that playing songs in relative keyalities (when C is DO then A is LA) is the first
choice. To change meter, move to macrobeats and microbeats in the new meter. Sing the
song while moving.
Students use Music Moves for Piano folk song repertoire for a variety of creative keyboard
activities for many years. Songs are used to learn how to transpose, harmonize, change
meter, change tonality, make melodic variations, make rhythmic variations, and to create
accompaniments, mashups, and medleys.
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Teaching a Rote Piano Solo

Learning rote piano solos in different styles adds variety to lessons. If the “whole-parts-
whole” approach is used to prepare the student for learning a piece, the piece will be learned
quickly and accurately. Introduce new rote pieces during several, consecutive lessons.
The following preparations can take place during private or group activities:
• Have students move to macrobeats and microbeats while listening to a performance.
• Establish meter and chant rhythm patterns from the piece for students to echo.
• Establish tonality and sing tonal patterns from the piece for students to echo.
The following game activities will help to familiarize a student with a new, rote piano piece:
• Have students respond to a musical idea in the piece. For example, ask students to wave
a hand each time they hear the beginning melodic pattern if it is a pattern that recurs.
• Have students move in a different way when the second phrase of a piece begins.
• Chant a recurring short rhythm pattern and have students respond when they hear it in
the piece.
• Sing a tonal pattern from the piece and have students respond every time it occurs in the
piece.
• Have students describe similarities and differences in the phrases or form of the piece.
• Locate spots that may be technically difficult and create practice exercises to help the
student become comfortable with the finger-hand coordination.
• Show students the music notation so they can see the “sound picture” of the piece.
Have students identify in the music score same/different patterns and phrases or large
parts of the piece.
Have students prepare to learn to play the piece by thinking about or doing the following:
• Name the meter.
• Name the tonality and keyality.
• Name the keyboard register.
• Know where each hand begins to play.
• Know which fingers begin the piece.
• Know how each hand moves throughout the piece.
• Establish meter before playing by chanting out loud or silently a meter/tempo
introduction.
• Breathe before beginning to play.
Recordings of rote solos may be sent to students for home listening. The teacher can draw
a finger/hand/keyboard illustration of the piece, similar to pictures in the student books.
Include the meter, tonality, keyality, and starting tones.
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Teaching Exploration, Creativity, and Improvisation

Creativity/improvisation activities are an integral part of this piano method. Students are
naturally creative, and they will learn much about music from improvising. Older students
may feel uncomfortable with creativity/improvisation activities. Help them to realize that
improvising is not threatening. Follow the guidelines described below and accept each new
creation. Then, improvisation will become an exciting part of students’ musical lives.
Creativity and improvisation activities develop audiation skills. When students improvise,
they have a sense of control and confidence that makes playing performance pieces from
memory comfortable. Improvisation is fundamental for reading music notation.
To help the creating process, students need a few basic instructions such as “chant a rhythm
pattern and play it on one piano key,” “create on random keys using a rhythm pattern,”
or “create a melody using a triple meter rhythm pattern and the notes from a G Major
tonic triad.” Any concept or skill can be used for an improvisation activity. Transposing,
harmonizing, creating rhythm and melodic variations, and improvising on a given pattern all
promote retention of musical concepts and develop musicianship.
Patterns from the Pattern CD can be used for improvisation at the keyboard or with the
voice. Students can chant or sing a different pattern. For example, if listening to macrobeat/
microbeat patterns, echo with a division pattern. If listening to tonal patterns, sing the
opposite pattern: tonic vs dominant.
Give students specific sounds to use when they create or improvise. For example, use
random notes, a set of five black keys, whole tone scales, pentascales, tones from major or
minor tonic and dominant chords, two primary triads for the tonality, and complete scales
(with their distinctive cadences) in different tonalities.
Students can also improvise using patterns learned during group activities and from solo
pieces. Lesson plans contain many activities for improvising.
Encourage creativity/improvisation as temporary events. This removes fear of making a
musical idea sound “right.” There is no “wrong” when improvising. Have students strive
for flow and continuity when they improvise. Using rhythm patterns that repeat or contrast
makes a successful form and phrase structure.
Some ideas for creativity/improvisation activities include:
• Ask students to play a rhythm pattern on one piano key, then improvise with the pattern.
• Have students explore the whole keyboard. Use both black and white keys. Assign a
specific register. Play rhythm patterns but disregard pitch and use random keys.
• Have young students improvise using two-macrobeat rhythm patterns at first. When
students can remember longer patterns, have them improvise using four-macrobeat
patterns.
• Have students improvise using the same rhythm pattern two times. Then have
students improvise using the same rhythm pattern four times. Stress the importance of
maintaining continuity when improvising.
• Use this activity for a group of older students in a line-up or seated. Decide on a rhythm
pattern or use any rhythm pattern decided by a student. Then, one after the other, use
the rhythm pattern for improvising. Use any piano keys and improvise in any style. See
how long this activity can continue before a student breaks the continuity.
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• Assign a performance control (dynamics, articulation, or tempo) for students to use while
improvising.
• Have students improvise melodic ideas using notes from a tonic tonal pattern, or from
tonic and dominant tonal patterns, and so forth, using a four-macrobeat rhythm pattern.
Make variations and medleys using songs from the familiar folk song repertoire learned
throughout this course of study. Following are some ideas:
• Transpose the song to several keyalities. One useful tip: When a song begins on SO and
ends on DO, think of the ending DO as SO for a new keyality. Students can play a song
around the circle of fourths.
• Change the meter of a song. To change meter, first move to macrobeats and microbeats
in the new meter, then sing the song. Keep the same macrobeat when changing from
duple to triple meter.
• Change the tonality of a song. Play the song in a relative minor or major keyality when
changing tonality. For example, when C is DO then A is LA. Examples of changing
songs to other tonalities, such as Dorian and Mixolydian, are in Music Moves for Piano:
Books 4 and 5.
• Use passing tones, neighbor tones, and appoggiaturas to improvise melodic variations.
Examples of melodic variations are in Music Moves for Piano: Books 4 and 5.
• Change the rhythm of the melody to create rhythmic variations. Examples of rhythmic
variations are in Music Moves for Piano: Books 4 and 5.
Create accompaniments for melodies:
• Play single-tone root chord changes to accompany melodies.
• Substitute other chord tones for the root to improve voice leading in the bass line.
• Create new accompaniment patterns. Printed accompaniments in the student books are
models. Feel free to make changes.
• Create accompaniments in different styles. For example, older students can use a jumping
bass or different rhythmic patterns for an accompaniment.
• Create an accompaniment to play with a soloist. Do not include the melody with this
accompaniment.
• Re-harmonize the song. Experiment with substitute chords. For example, a “ii chord”
is a substitute for a “IV chord” in Major tonality. Also, experiment with different chord
sounds.
• Add color tones to chords. For example, substitute a second or a fourth for the third of a
tonic chord (playing DO FA SO or DO RE SO).
Include short creative and improvisation activities in every lesson. One can also emphasize
improvisation activities as a focus, or module, for short periods of time. For example,
organize a small unit of study for a few weeks where students make rhythmic variations or
melodic variations of favorite folk tunes.
Have students create short, original pieces. Organize ideas by two- or four-macrobeat phrases.
With each phrase have students decide how to respond: Is the responding phrase contrasting,
the same, or almost the same? Organize musical ideas into short pieces of eight or sixteen
macrobeats.
Use different forms for short pieces, such as two-part (A A, A A1, A B, or ABAB) or three
part (A B A), or rondo (A B A C A). Original pieces may be notated by the teacher or a
student and placed in a special composition notebook.
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Teaching Reading and Writing

Questions most asked about Music Moves for Piano are when and how students learn to
read music notation, since this method is ‘sound to notation.’ Traditional piano methods are
basically reading primers, explaining music notation. Common instruction teaches reading
music by naming notes and counting. However, twenty-first century neuroscience shows
that fundamental aural and playing skills should precede learning music independently from
notation. Playing skills, the acquisition of a music pattern vocabulary, and a lot of experience
improvising provide a foundation for reading music notation. Reading and writing skills are
developed slowly, over a long period of time.
A large, acquired personal tonal and rhythm pattern vocabulary is the foundation for
reading and writing music notation. Students apply this music pattern vocabulary when they
recognize, identify, analyze, create with, and write patterns. Learning the meaning of music
symbols and how music notes are created is fundamental for understanding music notation.
Another prerequisite for reading fluently is knowing how to play the piano in many keyalities
and tonalities. Students can read in a keyality/tonality for which they have a kinesthetic feel
and audiation understanding of the resting tone/tonic, primary cadence, and triads on scale
degrees.
Printed music notation is complex. It includes many elements: pitch, rhythm, harmony,
fingerings, expressive controls, and sometimes words. We can only learn one new thing
at a time. By first isolating each different element, students will be able to understand the
complete piece when the parts are put together as a whole.
Students’ natural abilities to comprehend music symbols and music notation vary. Most
students will be able to read tonal and rhythm patterns, essential for reading music notation
with comprehension, when they can think abstractly, at around eleven years of age. If
music education is based on a skill-building sequence, most students can learn to read music
at different levels of fluency. But for some students, the path is long. Do not discourage
these students from learning how to play the piano. Teach them to play by ear, arrange, and
compose, and they may be fulfilled with music skills that will last a lifetime.
Reading and writing readiness activities. Using rhythm and tonal patterns in singing,
chanting, performing, and improvisation activities provides readiness for reading and writing
music notation. Lesson plans include other readiness activities as students advance. For
example:
• Teach students to draw music symbols, including notes and rests. There are five note
parts that students can name and use to create music notes. Follow the description for
how to draw music notes in the book Reading and Writing 1.
• Have students practice reading, writing, taking dictation, and creating with rhythm
patterns in different meters during the end of Student Book 3. Use enrhythmic notation
when reading and writing patterns. (Note: Enrhythmic means that two rhythm patterns
will sound the same but be notated differently.) Have students write patterns for other
students to read and use for improvisation. Have students play or chant rhythm patterns
for other students to hear and write.
• Have students practice reading, writing, taking dictation, and creating with tonal patterns
in different tonalities and keyalities in both treble and bass clefs during the end of
Student Book 3. Have students write patterns for other students to read and use for
improvisation. Have students play patterns for other students to hear and write.
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• Have students sing or chant and label patterns in songs and piano repertoire they are
performing.
• Have students sing or chant and label patterns in unfamiliar songs and piano repertoire.
• Encourage students to identify and read rhythm and tonal patterns from advanced
repertoire, while looking at notation away from the keyboard.
• Have students notate familiar songs in different keyalities. Help students recall and
recognize by sight rhythm patterns and tonal patterns from the “Songs to Sing.”
Learning to read music is a continuous process that requires teacher direction and student
application of a music pattern vocabulary. In the beginning, students learn pieces by
purposeful rote, using the ‘whole-parts-whole’ learning process. After hearing a piece or
song, patterns from the piece are echoed by the students with their voices and/or at the
keyboard. Returning to the whole, the teacher can play the piece and have students respond
to questions. After students learn to play the piece, show them the music notation and
observe familiar patterns in the piece.
Students, including young children, can experience notation from the beginning of lessons
by looking for same/different patterns in a music score. The teacher should observe how
students respond to music notation. Does it have meaning? What do you think their eyes
are observing? Some students will not have a connection between printed notation and what
the brain can perceive. Watch these students carefully, and if they appear to not be able to
understand symbols, teach them how to play.
Understanding music notation is different from decoding it. In traditional teaching, children
learn to decode music notation by naming notes and counting. Those who decode do not
hear the sound without playing it. Those who audiate and understand music notation hear
the sound before they play.
From sound to sight. Nudge students from rote learning to learning from music notation
by using audiation skills. Teach a new piece of music away from the keyboard, looking at the
notation. The teacher’s continued guidance at the lesson will show students how to approach
the printed page. This approach works well for groups as well as for students in private, one-
on-one, lessons:
1. Have students determine the meter. Meter can be recognized by looking at the music
notes on the page. Notes will be grouped in sets of two/duple meter, three/triple
meter, or something else/unusual or combined meter. Looking at the time signature is
not necessary.
2. Have students decide what note value they will name the macrobeat. This is subjective.
Any note value can be the macrobeat. The half-note is often the best choice for
the macrobeat in duple meter. However, when sixteenth notes are in a duple meter
piece, the quarter-note may be the best choice for the macrobeat. In most cases, the
dotted half note or the dotted quarter note is the macrobeat in triple meter. After the
macrobeat is decided, name the note values that are microbeats and divisions.
3. Have students read rhythm patterns. Compare rhythm patterns that are the same and
different.
4. Have some students chant the rhythm patterns of the melody while others chant the
rhythm patterns of the accompaniment. Do this in small sections.
5. Have students analyze the form of the piece.
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6. Have students look at the DO signature. First, name DO from recognizing the look
of the sharps or flats, then look at the first and last measures of the piece to name the
tonality and keyality. Naming sharps and flats will not help in performing the piece.
Remember, for example, what 2 flats mean.
7. Have students look for essential tonal patterns in both the melody and the
accompaniment, and then have students sing the patterns. Essential patterns omit
neighbor and passing tones. Use tonal syllables and neutral syllables. Name the
patterns and the tonality: tonic major, tonic minor, dominant, and so forth.
8. Have students sing part of the melody from the notation.
9. Have students locate cadences in the music.
10. Have students identify chord progressions. Label harmonic changes using Roman
numerals (I or i for tonic, V for dominant, and so forth).
11. Have students look at the music for finger shifts and changes, such as cross-overs and
cross-unders. Help students isolate these spots, and mark them for practice.
12. Continue to have students listen for and identify patterns in all stages of study.
As students progress in their music study, teach them how to study new, “difficult” music
away from the keyboard. By applying audiation study skills, students should be able to learn
short, technically easy pieces by themselves at home when they are 12-14 years old. Students
can study easy repertoire independently, but the teacher should continue to guide them
when learning difficult repertoire. Teach students to learn how a piece of music sounds by
applying audiation skills to music notation before beginning to play it.
Suggestions for Preparing Students to Read and Write Music Notation

Teaching reading and writing is a process that continues for many years. Use the Reading
and Writing books. The following is a learning sequence for teaching reading and writing.
Have students:
1. Listen to, sing, and perform rhythm and tonal patterns in different tonalities and
meters. Acquire a music pattern vocabulary.
2. Chant, sing, play, and improvise with rhythm and tonal patterns.
3. Learn to draw music symbols, including music notes and rests.
4. Read and perform rhythm patterns in different meters using enrhythmic notation.
5. Read and perform tonal patterns in different tonalities and keyalities in bass and
treble clefs.
6. Write rhythm and tonal patterns. Write rhythm patterns in enrhythmic notation.
Write tonal patterns in different keyalties and tonalities. Write tonal patterns in both
treble and bass clef.
7. Chant or sing rhythm and tonal patterns from a familiar music score.
8. Name the tonality and the meter from a music score, and determine what note value
will be the macrobeat. After students choose the macrobeat, they should name the
microbeat and the divisions.
9. Study a new piece of music away from the keyboard. Chant and play rhythm patterns,
sing and play tonal patterns, and identify other characteristics about the piece, such as
form, cadences, expressive elements, and chord changes.
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10. Have students learn new, short and technically easy pieces independently at home.
Continue to review how to apply audiation skills to reading music. Use the Well-
Tempered Reader books.
11. Study new, difficult repertoire at the lesson, away from the keyboard. The teacher
should combine some rote teaching with the learning process to ensure that students
do not overlook technically challenging areas and fingerings.
12. Have students notate familiar songs in different keyalities.
General Teaching Tips

1. Establish meter for and with students before chanting rhythm patterns and playing a
performance piece. Have students listen for and name the meter. Listening for meter is
an important habit for students to develop.
2. Establish tonality for and with students before singing tonal patterns, singing a
song, or playing a performance piece. Have students listen for and name the tonality.
Listening for tonality is an important habit for students to develop.
3. Have students move to macrobeats and microbeats while chanting rhythm patterns.
4. Recognize that the macrobeat is not defined by the time signature, but rather by how
the piece feels. Any note value can be the macrobeat. The choice is subjective.
5. Chant rhythm patterns using either a neutral syllable or rhythm syllables. Do not count
using numbers.
6. Ask students to locate piano keys after naming a resting tone/tonic. For example,
when DO is F, or when LA is D. Students should sing tonal syllables, not note names,
when playing tonal patterns from a piece.
7. Avoid terms such as up, down, high, low, right and left. These words may confuse
some students. Instead, say “this way and that way” and “this hand, that hand.”
Students will recognize which hand to use from the pictures in the student books.
Use the words melody and accompaniment when describing a piece.
8. Teach labels during pattern instruction and other activities. Labels include macrobeat,
microbeat, duple meter, triple meter, major tonality, minor tonality, major tonic, major
dominant, minor tonic, harmonic minor dominant, resting tone, duple macrobeat/
microbeat pattern, triple division pattern, and so forth. We need labels to retain and
understand symbols used to write music. Have students read, write, and define terms.
It may take time before students use terminology with ease and understanding.
Be patient.
9. Have students sing songs from the unit lesson plans while moving. Most of these
songs become performance pieces. Students will be able to play what they can sing.
10. Teach new or difficult technical moves for performance pieces in lessons before
teaching the pieces. In the beginning, these moves include repeated patterns, moving
distances, using two adjacent fingers, and coordinating two hands.
11. Engage students in pattern activities before they listen/watch the performance piece
being played. This should help students remember how a piece sounds. Students
benefit from watching the teacher play, because they will imitate how the teacher plays.
This helps to develop good playing habits.
12. Teach each performance piece at the lesson before the student practices it at home.
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Engage in readiness activities to prepare a student to play a new piece. Encourage

them to listen to the recording at home. Isolate difficult parts of a piece during the
lesson to help a student learn a performance piece more quickly.
13. Help a student in whatever way is needed to complete a successful performance.
This may mean learning only part of a piece at first.
14. Teach students to think and prepare before beginning to play. Expect students
to know information about a performance piece such as meter, tonality, keyality,
fingering, starting hand, and starting notes.
15. Teach to students’ individual differences and continue to build music vocabulary
through pattern instruction. Apply patterns to repertoire. Have students experience
patterns in music notation. Rote learning leads to inference learning and the
development of audiation skills.
16. Use tonal and rhythm patterns at every lesson. Rhythm and tonal patterns are the
foundation for successfully reading and writing music notation. Students will use
familiar patterns to make inferences so that they can read unfamiliar patterns.
17. Keep a permanent student order for group line-up activities. For example, organize
students alphabetically by first names. Students will always be in the same order, but
an activity can start with any student.
18. Use the “Songs to Sing” and “Songs for Activities” at every lesson. Students will
perform these songs later and use them for developing improvisation skills.
19. Teach students chord changes for their songs and performance pieces. Use Roman
numerals (upper case for major chords and lower case for minor chords) to label
tonic, dominant, and so forth. One can audiate and transpose more easily when
chord changes use function names rather than letter names.
20. Teach students to breathe before chanting rhythm patterns, tonal patterns,
and before beginning to play a piece or sing a song. Breathing is an important
expectation for making music.
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NOTES
150
BOOK 1 • ‘WATCH PLEASE’ GAME
‘WATCH PLEASE’ GAME
Coordinated Rhythm Movement Activities
General Guidelines 9. Work patiently for success. By engaging

1. Have students stand for these activities in this activity, students develop the
so they can use full arm movement and body habit of audiating underlying macrobeats
weight. Make adaptations when students need and microbeats while performing or
to sit on the floor, at a desk, or in a chair. listening to music.
2. Macrobeats are the pulse, or tempo beats. 10. Macrobeat and microbeat movements
Microbeats are the meter beats. Suggested are inseparable from rhythm pattern chants.
tempos for the macrobeat are: mm = 76 for
Duple meter, mm = 63 for Triple meter. Macrobeat Movement Activities
The mm =192 is suggested for Unusual 1. Stand and swing both arms sideways at
meter microbeats. the same time (unilateral movement).
3. Tell students to listen for the teacher to Use large movements and gently tap the
say “watch please” as a signal for changing sides of the body. When sitting, rest the
movement. Movements are described in elbows on the floor, lap, or table and
the next section. move the forearms.
4. The teacher (not the students) chants “NS” 2. Swing both arms from the front of
or “Du” for macrobeats while both teacher the body to the back of the body
and students move to macrobeats and (unilateral movement). Move full arms
microbeats. Students do not chant unless from the shoulders.
the teacher asks them to. 3. Move both heels up and down at the
5. Students should model the teacher’s same time (unilateral movement). Bend
movements and echo the teacher’s rhythm the knees so that the body movement is
patterns. Use both neutral syllables and free and not rigid.
rhythm syllables. 4. Alternate moving the heels while the toes
6. Piano teachers should engage students in remain in contact with the floor (bilateral
both Duple and Triple meter movement movement). Sway from side to side with
‘Watch Please’ activities for every lesson. a little hip swing. Keep the knees flexed
Separate the meters with singing and other as the weight is shifted from one foot to
kinds of movement activities. Later, add the other.
Unusual meters of five and seven. 5. Combine step one with step four. Two
7. The coordinated ‘Watch Please’ movement body parts are moving at the same time to
activity is a good beginning lesson activity but macrobeats: arms and heels.
can also be used at other times during
the lesson. Use this activity when listening to
or learning new music.
8. Students require practice in order to learn
how to coordinate macrobeat-microbeat
movement with rhythm pattern chants.
151
Macrobeat and Microbeat Movement • Have students improvise rhythm patterns

using two “DUs” or four “DUs.”
1. Sway from side to side. Shift the weight
from one heel to the other and move to • Have students label rhythm patterns
the macrobeats. that the teacher chants, such as
Continue movement, and add the movement Duple macro-microbeat pattern or
Triple division pattern.
of full arms to microbeats (not just the hands),
touching the sides of the body on • Have students individually chant a
the microbeats. designated category of rhythm patterns,
Keep the movement quiet. such as macro-microbeat, division,
or rest pattern.
For Duple meter there are two hand-touches
• Have students chant, all at the same time,
for each sway.
a designated category of rhythm patterns.
For Triple meter there are three hand-touches The teacher should establish meter first.
for each sway.
• Have students decide if the two patterns a
2. The goal is for students to achieve coordinated teacher chants are the same or different.
macrobeat and microbeat movement while • Have students decide if the pattern
feeling the weight of body movement. the teacher chants with a neutral syllable
3. Have some students chant macrobeats while is Duple meter or Triple meter.
others chant microbeats.
Use “NS” or rhythm syllables. Audiation and the ‘Watch Please’ Game
Internal audiation in the mind begins with
Rhythm Patterns external movement and chanting. Use some
1. The teacher chants rhythm patterns for of the activities described above when students
students to echo while everyone moves listen to music or learn new music.
to macrobeats and microbeats. Use the
pattern learning sequence provided in the Steps for beginning to learn a new piece
Teachers Lesson Plans and on the are:
Pattern CD.
Also, chant rhythm patterns from pieces • One. Listen and feel flow.
students are performing or will be learning. • Two: Find the macrobeat in the heels.
First, chant patterns using neutral syllables. • Three. Split the macrobeat into two or three
Later, chant patterns using rhythm syllables. parts with hand/arm touches to find the
2. Play games during the lesson with rhythm microbeats and meter.
patterns. Remember to always establish • Four. After establishing the macrobeat
tempo/meter before any activity. (tempo beat) and the microbeats (meter
Following are game examples: beats), chant rhythm patterns.
• Have each student chant a pattern using
“NS.” The teacher and/or other students
echoes the pattern using syllables.
• Have students echo patterns chanted
by the teacher or other students who use
“NS” with rhythm syllables as a response.
152
BOOK 1 •TEACHER’S NOTES
Teacher Book 1 • Teacher’s Notes
Unit 1 7. Establish meter before playing a piece or

1. The letters “T” and “S” are used throughout chanting rhythm patterns. Chant the following
this book to refer to teacher and student(s). rhythm patterns using BAH or rhythm syllables.
Have S sense an inner breath on the fourth
2. The sequenced tonal and rhythm pattern
macrobeat.
instruction is from Edwin E. Gordon’s Tonal and
Rhythm Register Books (additional patterns are for Duple Meter
enrichment).
3. Instructions for tonal and rhythm pattern
delivery are in the “Appendix” of this book.
Teach S when to respond and when to breathe.
4. During pattern instruction, it is important Triple Meter
for a S to first echo the pattern with the T.
If the pattern is echoed accurately, the S should
echo the pattern alone.
5. Teach Duple meter rhythm patterns at the
conclusion of Duple meter activities. 8. First, chant or sing patterns using neutral
Teach Triple meter rhythm patterns at the syllables. Then T and S should chant or sing the
conclusion of Triple meter activities. patterns using rhythm and tonal syllables.
Teach Major tonal patterns after singing 9. Use labels when talking about songs and
Major songs. Teach Minor tonal patterns performance pieces: Duple meter, moves
after singing Minor songs. in two, macrobeats, microbeats, Triple meter,
6. Suggested words: Major tonality, etc.
• Finger names (avoid finger numbers): thumb, 10. Point out same/different contrasts.
pointer, middle finger (or tall finger), ring 11. Use the process for teaching “Popcorn” for
finger, pinky. teaching rote piano pieces. Engage S in many
• Keyboard movement: move this way or play on activities in preparation for learning a new
this side. performance piece.
• Hands: this hand and that hand. 12. Perform songs and chants with neutral syllables.
Use BUM for songs and BAH for chants
• Avoid saying right-left, up-down, high-low.
(words are not used).
13. Emphasize ensemble performance. Teach S
to play the student duet part after teaching the
performance piece if there is time and if the
S can learn the duet part quickly. You may
wait until a later lesson and teach the duet part
during a review time.
153
14. All of the items on the “Check List” do not 3. The T should mark assignments in the student
need to be studied during one lesson. Complete book during the lesson. At the end of the lesson
the list during review times. Date the items make sure that all of the materials studied are
when heard at the lesson. marked.
15. Important activities in the “Check List” (lesson 4. While the T is checking books at the end of the
and home) are: Chant, perform, and create with lesson, S may take turns performing a piece or
rhythm patterns (RP) from the piece. Later tonal creating with a rhythm pattern.
patterns (TP) are added. 5. The lesson may finish with the T playing a
16. Have S chant the rhythm while playing. They performance piece. Have S move as directed (to
should learn to “play the rhythm.” This habit macro/microbeats or continuous fluid).
leads toward maintaining a consistent tempo. 6. Establish tonality for tonal pattern instruction.
17. Students who have completed preparatory Use BUM for Aural/Oral and tonal syllables for
keyboard classes will move more quickly Verbal Association.
through the early lesson plans. For these
Major Tonality
S, many of the preparatory and keyboard
geography activities may be omitted.
18. Keep a permanent student order for keyboard
performance activities. Then start with a
different student for each activity. For example,
line up by alphabetical first names. Harmonic Minor Tonality
19. Aural/Oral patterns use a neutral syllable.
Verbal Association patterns use rhythm or tonal
syllables.
20. Photocopy the “Songs to Sing and Songs for
Activities” music in the “Appendix” to keep
separate for quick and easy reference.
Unit 2
1. The T tells S how to move, then models
movement while singing songs.
2. Some students will not be able to play
performance pieces at a consistent tempo:
• The T may move S hands to help get the feel of
playing at a consistent tempo.
• With patience and continued T performance
and S chanting of rhythm patterns, S will
soon be able to play at a consistent tempo.
Ensemble playing helps to maintain a steady
tempo.
154
BOOK 1 • TEACHER’S NOTES
7. Establish tonality for the “Song to Sing.” Sing Unit 3

“Read-y sing” on the starting tone of the song. 1. Word choices and ideas the help prevent
Duple Meter: Major Tonality tension:
• Trampoline. (This avoids tension when moving.)
• Feel the elbow to the finger tip in one piece for
forearm movement.
• Shape the hand like it is a paw or is in a mitten.
(This keeps fingers loosely together.)
Duple Meter: Minor Tonality
• Parachute into the key. (Feel the arm floating to
the keyboard rather than pushing.)
• Rest on the bottom of the keybed. (This relieves
tension after a key has been played.)
• Balance the arm over the hand. Keep the arm
Triple Meter: Major Tonality light.
• The weight of a key is light. A “floating” arm
will depress a key. Do not push, shove, or use
much strength.
• Feel as if the fingers are walking along a track
when several keys are played. (Move the arm
Triple Meter: Minor Tonality
behind each finger.)
• Pretend the hand is bouncing a light ball to
make the keys sound. (Have the S bounce
one hand into the other hand to achieve this
feeling.)
8. Creativity/Improvisation activities begin with • Let the key throw you to the next key. (Sense
rhythm patterns. Tell S to remember a rhythm that an outside agent is responsible for
pattern, then use it for improvisation. Some S movement, rather than having the arm lift the
may need help in remembering the pattern. hand.)
9. Tell S that they should see their finger nails 2. S may not sing songs and tonal patterns with
when playing. This helps to prevent curling the accuracy at first, but S eventually will sing in
fingers and avoids building tension. tune. Keep moving forward with tonal pattern
10. “Aural/Oral” means to use neutral syllables instruction.
BAH or BUM. “Verbal/Association” means to 3. If S cannot think of a rhythm pattern to chant,
use rhythm or tonal syllables. give them one (whisper it).
4. Teach S how to take an audiation breath. Have
S hold up one finger and pretend it is a candle,
then blow it out. This preparatory breath, or
“audiation breath,” is when one hears the pitch
before singing it. Have S practice “breathe/
sing” when singing tonal patterns and songs.
155
Unit 4 Unit 10
1. Tap macrobeats or microbeats lightly on 1. Write numbers 1-20 on the front cover of the
a student’s shoulder while the student student book. Tell S that after all pages in a
is performing. This reinforces beat consistency. unit are reviewed and the “Check Lists” are
2. Engage students in macro/microbeat completed, a sticker will be placed over the unit
movement as often as possible during the number on the cover. Begin a thorough unit
lesson. Macrobeat movement establishes and review with Unit 10.
maintains tempo and microbeat movement 2. An important new S activity on the “Check
establishes a feeling for meter. With practice, List” is to sing, perform, and create with tonal
students eventually will be able to audiate the patterns (TP) from the performance pieces.
underlying macrobeats and microbeats while 3. Students are now expected to read the “Music
performing. Information” box. Have S read it out loud to
3. Students should experiment with performer ensure understanding of the terminology.
controls and sound “ideas” using tone clusters. 4. Check S hands and arms for tension at each
Clusters remove the fear of sounding “correct” lesson. Have them “shake it out” and keep a
and place importance on character and quality loose feeling.
of sound.
Unit 12
Unit 5 1. Have S identify meter and tonality.
2. To identify meter, have S move to macrobeats
How to Teach Creativity/Improvisation while they listen. Then have S audiate
Activities microbeats by chanting silently DU DE or DU
1. Establish meter: DA DI. Ask S if the music moves in two or in
three. Are they audiating DU DE or DU DA
Duple Meter
DI?
3. To identify tonality, ask S if they hear DO or
LA as the resting tone.
Unit 13
Triple Meter
1. The unit review does not need to be finished
in one lesson. The teacher should decide which
items need intensive review and which items
need a casual review. Make the review time
enjoyable. Unit reviews toward the end of this
2. T chants a rhythm pattern.
book should be completed after a student has
3. S echo the rhythm pattern. started the next book in the series.
4. S plays the rhythm pattern on one key. 2. Have students sing and play tonal patterns from
5. S or T decide what piano keys to use. the performance pieces.
6. S improvises with the rhythm pattern.
156
BOOK 1 • TEACHER’S NOTES
Unit 15 Unit 18
Review the location of the white keys S learned 1. Show S how to audiate the melodic patterns on
with each new keyality (G/DO and F/DO). the Home Study Audio recording. It is not always
Continue to teach the names of piano keys when practical to play the patterns. Have S sing or
each new keyality is introduced. This way, S can audiate melodic patterns to reinforce the phrase
quickly locate the piano keys by letter name. structure of the melody.
2. Have S sing and play the tonal patterns
Unit 17
and chant and play the rhythm patterns for
1. Teach a scale during several lessons if necessary. performance pieces.
First, have S play a one-octave scale with one
finger. This way, the fingers respond to arm
Unit 20
movement and the black/white key arrangement
becomes familiar. Then, have S play the scale Use “Springtime One” and “Springtime Two”
with the scale fingering. Use these guidelines: to teach S how to move the arm so it is balanced
behind each finger. Help S play a five-finger
• Use a separated touch.
pattern. Use a little “in and out” arm movement
• Begin with the first five notes for the LH .
to help the fingers strike the keys in a straight line.
• Learn the finger cross-over. The fingers should not curl.
• Add the ending notes
• Teach S to play the descending scale.
• Teach the first three notes for the RH .
• Teach the thumb cross-under.
• Add the ending notes.
2. Teach Major and relative Harmonic Minor
together.
3. Teach the arpeggios, cadences, and the Major
scale during several lessons.
4. Teach S labels: arpeggio, melodic cadence, and
scale (continue to use labels).
5. Note: Creative response activities may be
challenging, but are necessary activities for
developing audiation skills.
157
NOTES
158
BOOK 1• BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bibliography
General Information
Berenson, Gail, Jacqueline Csurgai-Schmitt, William DeVan, Dr. Mitchell Elkiss, Seymour Fink,
Phyllis Alpert Lehrer, Barbara Lister-Sink, Robert Mayerovitch, Dr. Norman Rosen,
Dylan Savage, Luiz de Moura Castro. A Symposium for Pianists and Teachers: Strategies to
Develop the Mind and Body for Optimal Performance. Dayton: Heritage Music Press, 2002.
Bluestine, Eric. The Ways Children Learn Music. Chicago: GIA, 2000.
Curwen, Mrs. A.J. Mrs. Curwen’s Pianoforte Method – A Guide to the Piano. 17th Edition. From Amazon.com.
Eskelin, Gerald. Lies My Music Teacher Told Me. Woodland Hills, CA: Stage 3 Publishing, 1999.
Fink, Seymour. Mastering Piano Technique. Portland: Amadeus Press, 1992.
Gordon, Edwin E. The Aural/Visual Experience of Music Literacy,. Chicago: GIA, 2004.
Gordon, Edwin E. Awakening Newborns, Children, and Adults to the World of Audiation. Chicago: GIA, 2007.
Gordon, Edwin E. Clarity by Comparison and Relationship. Chicago: GIA, 2008.
Gordon, Edwin E. Corybantic Conversations. Chicago: GIA, 2008.
Gordon, Edwin E. and others. Experimental Songs and Chants Without Words. Chicago: GIA, 1993.
Gordon, Edwin E. How Children Learn When They Learn Music. Chicago: GIA, (reissue of 1968 edition).
Gordon, Edwin E. Improvisation in the Music Classroom. Chicago: GIA, 2003.
Gordon, Edwin E. Introduction to Research and the Psychology of Music. Chicago: GIA, 1998.
Gordon, Edwin E. Inseparabiltiy of Space and Time in Rhythm Improvisation. Chicago: GIA, 2014.
Gordon, Edwin E. Learning Sequences In Music: A Contemporary Music Learning Theory. Chicago: GIA, 2012.
Gordon, Edwin E. Music Learning Theory for Newborn and Young Children. Chicago: GIA, 2013.
Gordon, Edwin E. Music Listening Experiences for Newborn and Preschool Childern. Chicago: GIA, 2012.
Gordon, Edwin E. Preparatory Audiation, Audiation, and Music Learning Theory. Chicago: GIA, 2001.
Gordon, Edwin E. Rhythm: Contrasting the Implications of Audiation and Notation. Chicago: GIA, 2009.
Gordon, Edwin E. Space Audiation. Chicago: GIA, 2015.
Gordon, Edwin E. Structuring Comprehensive and Unified Music Curriculums. Chicago: GIA, 2015.
Gordon, Edwin E. Study Guide to Learning Sequences In Music. Chicago: GIA, 2007.
Gordon, Edwin E. Takin a Reasonable and Honest Look at Tonal Solfege and Rhythm Solfege. Chicago: GIA, 2009.
Mark, Thomas. What Every Pianist Needs to Know About the Body, Chicago: GIA, 2003.
Martin, Michael E. Parents’ Guide. Chicago: GIA, 2002.
Seymour, Harriet Ayer. How To Think Music. 1910. Free download: Available through interlibrary loan.
Seymour, Harriet Ayer. Philosophy of Music: What Music Can Do for You. Harper, 1920. Print from Espresso
Music Machine. Interlibrary loan. 159
Taggart, Cynthia, Beth M. Bolton, Alison M. Reynolds, Wendy H. Valerio, and Edwin E. Gordon.
Jump Right In The Music Curriculum, Teacher’s Guide Book 1. Chicago: GIA, 2000.
Valerio, Wendy H., Alison M. Reynolds, Beth M. Bolton, Cynthia C. Taggart, and Edwin E. Gordon.
Music Play Book 1, The Early Childhood Music Curriculum. Chicago: GIA, 1998.
Pattern Instruction
Gordon, Edwin E. Reference Handbook for Using Learning Sequence Activities. Chicago: GIA, 2001 .
Gordon, Edwin E. & David G. Woods. Rhythm Register Book One. Chicago: GIA, 1990.
Gordon, Edwin E. & David G. Woods. Tonal Register Book One. Chicago: GIA, 1990.
Enrichment Materials
Grunow, Richard F., Edwin E. Gordon, and Christopher D. Azzara. Three CDs:
Don Gato -100 Familiar Tunes Performed on a Variety of Instruments. Chicago: GIA, 1995.
Simple Gifts - 100 Familiar Tunes Performed on String Instruments. Chicago: GIA, 1996.
You Are My Sunshine - 100 Familiar Tunes Performed on a Variety of Instruments. Chicago: GIA,
1997.
Grunow, Richard F. and Edwin E. Gordon. Jump Right In, The Instrumental Series -
Solo Book One -Reading. Notation for melodies on the CD: Simple Gifts. Treble clef or bass clef.
Chicago: GIA, 1993.
Solo Book Two - Reading. Notation for melodies on the CD: Don Gato. Treble clef or bass clef.
Chicago: GIA, 1993.
Solo Book Three - Reading. Notation for melodies on the CD: You Are My Sunshine. Treble clef or bass
clef. Chicago: GIA, 1996.
Lowe, Marilyn. Music Moves for Piano. A piano method based on Edwin E. Gordon’s
Music Learning Theory. Music Moves, 2004-2021.
Testing Materials
Gordon, Edwin E. Advanced Measures of Music Audiation (Grades 7-12 & College). Chicago:
GIA, 1989.
Gordon, Edwin E. Am I Musical? Music Audiation Games (Adults and Children Ages 7 and up).
Chicago: GIA, 2003.
Gordon, Edwin E. Intermediate Measures of Music Audiation (Grades 1-6). Chicago: GIA, 1986.
Gordon, Edwin E. Musical Aptitude Profile (Grades 5-12). Chicago: GIA, 1995.
Gordon, Edwin E. Primary Measures of Music Audiation (K-Grade 3). Chicago: GIA, 1979.
Website Contacts
GIA Publications, Inc.: www.giamusic.com
Gordon Institute of Music Learning: www.giml.org
Music Learning Academy: www.musiclearningacademy.com
Music Moves for Piano: www.musicmovesforpiano.com
160
STUDENT BOOK 1 - PREVIEW PAGES
Music
Moves
for Piano
Improvisation
Keyboard Skills
Ensemble Playing
Movement
Creativity
Book 1
By Marilyn Lowe
In cooperation with
Edwin E. Gordon
BOOK 1

By Marilyn Lowe
In Cooperation With Edwin E. Gordon
A Piano Series Based on the Music Learning Theory of Edwin E. Gordon

Designed to Develop Audiation and Keyboard Performance Skills
© 2004, 2007, 2011, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2020, 2021 Music Moves LLC
All Rights Reserved
161
BOOK 1

By Marilyn Lowe
In Cooperation With Edwin E. Gordon
A Piano Series Based on the Music Learning Theory of Edwin E. Gordon

Designed to Develop Audiation and Keyboard Performance Skills
© 2004, 2007, 2011, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2020, 2021 Music Moves LLC
All Rights Reserved
G-6439
© 2004, 2007, 2011, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2020, 2021 Music Moves LLC
www.musicmovesforpiano.com
info@musicmovesforpiano.com
ISBN: 1-57999-343-5
Distributed by GIA Publications, Inc.

7404 S. Mason Ave., Chicago, IL 60638
(708) 496-3800 or (800) 442-1358
www.giamusic.com
All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored

in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or means–mechanical, photocopy-
ing, recording, or other–without prior permission of
Music Moves LLC.
Printed in the United States of America.
162
Unit 4
Lesson Time Objectives
Activities to Teach Audiation Skills Exploration/Creativity/Improvisation
1. Movement activities: pulsating and Student Activities
continuous flowing.
• Sing songs. Rhythm Context: Duple Meter Project One
• Sing Major tonic and dominant
tonal patterns. Use NS. Lesson Home
• Chant two- and four-macrobeat patterns ______ ______ Think about an animal.
in Duple and Triple meters. Use RS.
______ ______ Sound Area: What area of the piano “sounds” like this animal?
Keyboard Geography and Technique
1. Practice moving two adjacent fingers in ______ ______ Rhythm Pattern Chant: Chant a four-macrobeat, Duple meter
Duple and Triple meter. rhythm pattern.
2. Practice playing repeated piano keys.
______ ______ Echo the Pattern: Play the rhythm pattern on one piano key.
3. Use both separated and connected styles
of articulation. ______ ______ Musical Idea:
Exploration/Creativity/Improvisation Use this rhythm pattern to improvise a sound description
1. Chant and play four-macrobeat, Duple for the chosen animal.
meter rhythm patterns on one piano key.
2. Improvise with four-macrobeat, Duple
meter patterns. Use a soft fist to gently Rhythm Context: Duple Meter Project Two
“knock” the rhythm pattern on any keys.
3. Chant and play two-macrobeat, Triple meter Lesson Home
patterns on one piano key. ______ ______ Musical Idea: Play a Duple meter rhythm pattern on different
4. Improvise with two-macrobeat, Triple sets of three black piano keys.
meter rhythm patterns on any piano keys. Use one hand. Use individual fingers or a “soft fist.”
Book/Listening Assignments
1. Review “Flute and Bassoon,” “Lizards,” ______ ______ Musical Idea Answered:
and “Falling Leaves.” Students learn to play Play a Duple meter rhythm pattern on different piano keys
“Hide and Seek” and “Cotton Candy.” with one hand. Answer the musical idea with the other hand.
2. Listen to this unit on the recording and Use the same rhythm pattern.
echo the patterns. Listen to the next unit.
3. Practice all marked pages.
5. Study skills: Chant the rhythm while playing.
Keep the hands close to the keys. Track
10
6. Learn to sing the “Song to Sing.” Track
3
7. Listen to Track 3 on the Pattern CD.
13
Unit 4
Music Information
For the Teacher
Duple Meter
Mixolydian Tonality
SO is Eb
Separated Style
Check List
Lesson Home
________ Solo ________ Track

11
________ Performed with Duet ________
________ Student Duet ________
________ Connected Style ________ Student Part

Student Duet
Fingers and Hands
________ Separated Style ________ (Upper Staff)
S2 S1
________ Played Loudly ________ Hand Does Not Move Hand Does Not Move
________ Played Softly ________ S 2

S1
S2
________ Chant RP ________
________ Perform RP ________
________ Create with RP ________

S1
S2 S1
14
172
Unit 4
Music Information
For the Teacher
Triple Meter
Dorian Tonality
RE is Eb
Separated Style
Check List
Lesson Home Track
12
________ Solo ________
Performed with Duet

________ ________
Student Duet
________ Student Duet ________ (Lower Staff)
S1 S2
________ Connected Style ________ Student Part
Fingers and Hands
________ Separated Style ________
________ Played Loudly ________ Moving Hand Hand Does Not Move S1
________ Played Softly ________ S1 S2
________ Chant RP ________

S2
________ Perform RP ________
________ Create with RP ________
S1 S2
15
Unit 5
Lesson Time Objectives Exploration/Creativity/Improvisation
Activities to Teach Audiation Skills Student Activities
1. Movement activities: pulsating and
continuous flowing. Rhythm Context: Duple Meter Project
• Sing songs. Lesson Home
• Sing the first tone from Minor
tonal patterns. Use NS. ______ ______ Chant a four-macrobeat rhythm pattern in Duple meter.
• Chant two- and four-macrobeat patterns ______ ______ Play the rhythm pattern on one piano key.
in Duple and Triple meters. Use RS.
______ ______ Improvise with the rhythm pattern.
Keyboard Geography and Technique Use any keys and any fingers.
1. Practice moving three adjacent fingers in
Duple meter. ______ ______ “Knock” the pattern gently with a soft fist.
2. Practice playing repeated piano keys.
3. Use both separated and connected styles
of articulation. Rhythm Context: Triple Meter Project
Exploration/Creativity/Improvisation Lesson Home
1. Chant and play four-macrobeat, Duple ______ ______ Chant a two-macrobeat rhythm pattern in Triple meter.
meter rhythm patterns on one piano key.
2. Improvise with two-macrobeat, Triple ______ ______ Play the rhythm pattern on one piano key.
meter rhythm patterns on any piano keys.
______ ______ Improvise with the rhythm pattern.
Book/Listening Assignments Use any piano keys and any fingers.
1. Review “Cotton Candy,” “Hide and Seek,”
and “Popcorn.” (T plays the duet part.) ______ ______ “Knock” the pattern gently with a soft fist.
Play with a consistent tempo. Students learn ______ ______ Improvise with the rhythm pattern in the middle
to play “Twin Kangaroos” and “Lazy Day.” of the keyboard.
2. Listen to this unit on the recording and
echo the patterns. Listen to the next unit. ______ ______ Improvise with the rhythm pattern on either side
3. Practice all marked pages. of the keyboard.
5. Study skills: Play with the eyes closed. Track
13
6. Learn to sing the “Song to Sing,” but do
not try to play it or watch someone play it.
7. Listen to the Pattern CD.
16
173
Music Moves for Piano is the first piano method
of its kind. It applies Edwin E. Gordon’s Music Learning Theory
to the teaching of piano. When music is taught as an aural art,
lessons build a foundation for lifelong musical enjoyment and
understanding. With guidance, “sound to notation” leads to fluent
music performance, reading, and writing. Following are some of
the major concepts of this approach:
• Rhythm is based on body movement: Feel the pulse
and meter then chant rhythm patterns. Move in both
a continuous fluid way and a rounded, pulsating way.
• Tonal audiation is developed by singing. Singing songs
and tonal patterns develops pitch sensitivity, singing in
tune, and a “listening” ear.
• Music pattern vocabularies are acquired and applied to
listening and performing
• Various elements of music, such as rhythm, meter, pulse,
tonality, harmony, style, and form, are studied.
• Creativity is fostered by using different elements of music,
such as rhythm, pitch, harmony, and form to create with. Credits
• Improvisation activities apply everything a student learns.
Use familiar patterns from folk songs, transpose, change Music Engraver: Doug Lowe
tonality and meter, create variations and medleys, and Assistants: Louis Claussen
create melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic variations. William Chiles
• Perform with technical freedom. Students learn how to
Layout/Design: Mary E. Geise
use the playing apparatus from the beginning of lessons.
Cover Designs:
Marilyn Lowe, who has taught piano for more than William Chiles
40 years, has used her experiences and knowledge to create a non- Brad Scott
traditional piano method based on Edwin E. Gordon’s theories
Lori Tack
of audiation. Other influences include the techniques and
theories of Carl Orff, Shinichi Suzuki, Emile Jaques-Dalcroze, Editor: Amber Stenger
Zoltan Kodaly, and Dorothy Taubman. Lowe has Consultant: Jennifer Lowe
been using this approach successfully with her students for more
than 20 years. Her academic credits include degrees in liberal Original Music/Arrangements:
arts and piano from Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois, and a Andrea Apostoli
master’s degree in piano from Indiana University in Bloomington. Michael Brill
Lowe completed additional graduate study in organ and Marilyn Lowe
music theory at Indiana University. She would like to express Francesca Tortora
appreciation to her former music teachers: Nadia Boulanger, Performers:
Murray Baylor, Walter Robert, and Menahem Pressler.
Marilyn Lowe, Piano
Edwin E. Gordon is known throughout the world as John H. Morton, Vocal
a preeminent researcher, teacher, author, editor, and lecturer in Jerry Pollock, Vocal
the field of music education. In addition to advising doctoral Tina Sibley, Vocal
candidates in music education, Gordon has devoted many years Betty Warren, Vocal
to teaching music to preschool-aged children. Through extensive Julie Wilkins, Vocal
research, Gordon has made major contributions to the field of Recording Studio:
music education in such areas as the study of music aptitudes,
Music Precedent Ltd.
stages and types of audiation, music learning theory, and rhythm
in movement and music. Engineer: John H. Morton

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Music Moves for Piano

A Piano Series Based on the Music Learning Theory

© 2004, 2011, 2015, 2018, 2020, 2021 Music Moves LLC

Distributed by GIA Publications, Inc.

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced,

Change can be uncomfortable. Understanding something that is a departure from an

Method Structure and Lesson Content

Keyboard and Technical Skills

Teacher’s Lesson Plans

Teacher’s Study to Become Familiar with Music Moves for Piano

Scheduling the Lesson

Activities Time and Lesson Organization

How to Learn More

The Piano Curriculum

Music Moves for Piano Student Books and the Pattern CD

Music Moves for Piano: Book 2

Music Moves for Piano: Book 3

Music Moves for Piano: Books 4 and 5

Music Moves for Two

Boogies and Blues

Rhythm and Tonal Patterns from the Pattern CD, Book

Reading and Writing Music Notation, Books 1, 2, and 3

The Well-Tempered Reader Books, 1, 2, and 3

Teachers Editions and Lesson Plans

Keyboard Games Teachers Edition

Teachers Lesson Plans, Books 1-5

Rise to the Challenge

• Students enjoy piano lessons.

LESSON TIME OBJECTIVES BOOK/LISTENING ASSIGNMENTS

Song to Sing: “Big Ben” (M/T)

Duple Meter Performance Piece

Activities Away from the Keyboard

Body Awareness Activities

Keyboard Activities Preparation for “Lazy Day”

Triple Meter Rhythm Patterns

Duple Meter Rhythm Patterns

PERFORMANCE PIECE (10 minutes)

Meter: Duple PREPARATORY GAMES AND ACTIVITIES

8. Have S play the piece up to the last measure.

PERFORMANCE PIECE (10 minutes)

Meter: Triple chanting the rhythm using DU DA DI.

STUDENTS LEARN TO PLAY

ASSIGNMENT DISCUSSION FOR THE

STUDENT HOME PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS

WRITE ASSIGNMENTS IN THE STUDENT BOOK

Songs to Sing and Songs for Activities

Teaching Rhythm Patterns and Tonal Patterns

• Do not touch any other person or thing.

Teaching a Rote Piano Solo

Teaching Exploration, Creativity, and Improvisation

Teaching Reading and Writing

Suggestions for Preparing Students to Read and Write Music Notation

General Teaching Tips

Engage in readiness activities to prepare a student to play a new piece. Encourage

‘WATCH PLEASE’ GAME

Solo Track

Student Duet

Connected Style Student Part

Played Softly S 2

Perform RP

Create with RP

Solo

Played Softly S1 S2

Chant RP

Create with RP