1,000 Days of Piano - Day 45: Sweet and Simple

I appreciate the sweet simplicity of the folk tunes in Book 1. The first book of the Suzuki repertoire is for the beginning pianist. It is designed to increase keyboard skills gradually, but each piece is a milestone. Long, Long Ago gives the budding musician a chance to play both dominant and dominant seventh chords. The plain dominant chord rings with the beauty of stacked thirds while the added seventh gives a richer and spicier flavor to the harmonies. The melody also gives the beginning pianist a chance to try spanning a larger interval (a fifth) between the first and second fingers (thumb and forefinger). It is so gratifying to teach the Book 1 repertoire, even if my current methods are traditional rather than Suzuki. The students have such a sense of accomplishment when they get to the hands together pieces. They are confident and full of the joy of music. My work doesn’t get much better than that.