Level 3
Level 3 is intended for students who have completed the Primer, Level 1A, Level 1B, and Level 2 piano lessons. In most instances only one piece will be assigned each week. If you need a bigger challenge, add next week's piece too. If you didn't quite master your piece in one week, work on it for another week.
Goodbye, Old Paint is a traditional American cowboy song that gives you a chance to review the 
time signature and fermata.
Meet the Teacher - Gloria Baughman, Piano Teacher
Lullaby introduces the octave.
An octave is a musical interval that is eight scale steps higher or lower than the original note. The original note and the note at the octave share the same alphabet letter name.
Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) was a German composer, pianist, and conductor during the Romantic period. Lullaby is one of Johannes Brahms' most popular pieces. It was published in 1868 and dedicated to Brahms' friend, Bertha Faber, when she gave birth to her second son. Watch the Meet Brahms | Popsicle Stick Theater Production this week to learn more about his life and music. Print the Brahms Video Lesson Study Guide to reveiw the facts.
Meet the Teacher - Andy Fling, Teacher of Award-Winning Students and Founder of MakingMusicFun.net
Camel Hump, Funny Bump gives you another chance to play a piece based on the Egyptian scale and to review the musical terms and symbols for crescendo (gradually louder) and decrescendo (gradually softer).
Camel Hump, Funny Bump is a great piece to share with a grandparent, so spend 2-3 weeks practicing it and then make a video of your performance. They'll be so happy you did!
A perfect performance should include (in order of importance):
1) Steady Beat
2) Perfect Notes
3) Perfect Rhythms
4) Dynamics (p, mp, mf, f )
This week you'll also learn the first of three major scales that you should know before you graduate from elementary school. It's C Major. Do your best to learn to play the scale with the right and left hand. If it's difficult to play them together, don't worry. You'll have another chance to practice this scale in a few weeks.
Fur Elise is one of Beethoven's most popular compositions. It was not published during his lifetime, but rediscovered by German music scholar Ludwig Nohl 40 years after Beethoven died. It is believed that Ludwig Nohl incorrectly transcribed the title. The original title is thought to have been "Fur Therese," and intended as a gift to Therese Malfatti to whom he proposed marriage in 1810.
There are many challenges in Fur Elise, but nothing you can't play. Every time you sit down to practice, head straight to the phrases that need work and practice them very slowly. You'll be great!
This week you'll learn the second of three major scales that you should know before you graduate from elementary school. It's G Major. Do your best to learn to play the scale with the right and left hand.
Egyptian Dance by French composer, Camille Saint-Saëns, gives you another chance to play a piece based on the Egyptian scale and introduces you to polymeter.
A polymeter is two or more time signatures happening at the same time. The polymeter that Saint-Saëns composed for Egyptian Dance is written with a 
time signature. However, the pattern suggests two measures of and one measure of 
.
Try writing your own composition with a polymeter. Your composition should be two measures long, it should have a time signature, and use the notes D and A. You're ostinato will be similar to Saint-Saëns' in several ways. Try to find one way to make it different. Example: 3 + 2 + 3.
In this lesson you'll learn the third of three major scales that you should know before you graduate from elementary school. It's F Major. Do your best to learn to play the scale with the right and left hand.
Malaguena is an awesome arrangement of a Spanish dance that features a Flamenco guitar-style section near the end. It's really fun to play and not as hard as you might think. Just practice it slowly. When you have this piece mastered, you'll amaze your friends!
The Entertainer is one of Scott Joplin's most popular ragtime piece. It was sold first as sheet music, and in the 1910s as piano rolls that play on player pianos. In 1973 it was included in the soundtrack of the Oscar-winning film, "The Sting."
The most challenging thing about playing The Entertainer is the syncopated rhythms. Be very carefully to fit the right and left hand parts together as they are taught. Reviewing the lesson often will guarantee your success.
SYNCOPATION - Syncopation shifts the emphasis from notes that are played on the beat - or when your tap you foot - to the notes that are played between the beats.
Let's learn about American ragtime composer, Scott Joplin, this week. Print the Scott Joplin Video Lesson Study Guide to get the most out of the lesson and then watch the Meet Scott Joplin | A Popsicle Stick Theater Production.
"Part of Your World" from Disney's The Little Mermaid gives you a chance to continue drilling syncopated rhythms and introduces you to the quarter note triplet.
Playing with the teacher every day this week is the best way for you to understand and perform the quarter note triplet correctly.
This lesson is created through a collaboration with MusicNotes.com, the leading digital sheet music publisher.
Music is interesting when it includes contrasting rhythms, melodies or harmonies. Turkey and the Straw includes contrasting rhythms by asking you to play the rhythms staccato (short) sometimes and legato (long) other times.
If you listen carefully to every example, and practice playing the notes the length they are marked - staccato or legato, you'll be great!
Let's learn about another American jazz pianist and composer, Duke Ellington. Print the Duke Ellington Video Lesson Study Guide to get the most out of the lesson and then watch the Meet Duke Ellington | A Popsicle Stick Theater Production.
Maple Leaf Rag is one of the most popular ragtime pieces ever, and it served as an example for ragtime compositions that followed.
Joplin's use of syncopation makes playing this piece challenging. To be successful with this piece it's important to pay careful attention to how all of the parts fit together and play with a steady beat.
SYNCOPATION - Syncopation shifts the emphasis from notes that are played on the beat - or when you tap your foot - to the notes that are played between the beats.
Great musicians are always practicing scales. This week you'll review the C major scale. Do your best to play it with hands together, even if it's very slowly.
The Irish kids song Wee Falorie Man introduces the 
time signature.
The top number tells you that there are six beats per measure. The bottom number tells you that the eighth note gets the beat.
This week you'll review the G major scale. Do your best to play it with hands together, even if it's very slowly.
The Campbells Are Coming gives you another chance to review meter.
The Campbells Are Coming is a Scottish air associated with Campbell clan. The Campbell clan is one of the largest and most powerful of the Scottish Highland clans. Unfortunately, most of their land and power came through bullying and fighting with other clans. To this day there are signs in restaurants and inns that state, "We Don't Serve Campbells" - and they don't mean the soup.
The bagpipe is the national instrument of Scotland. However, it wasn't always that way. Bagpipes were banned for many years after the uprising of 1745, and were considered an instrument of war.
This week you'll review the F major scale.
Molly Malone (also known as "Cockles and Mussels") is the unofficial anthem of Dublin, Ireland. The song tells the tale of a fisherman's wife who sold cockles and mussels on the streets of Dublin and died young. While many Molly Malone's were born in Dublin over the centuries, no evidence connects them to this song.
Molly Malone introduces the musical "sequence." In music, a sequence is the restatement of a melodic idea at a higher or lower pitch in the same voice. Most of the time a sequenced melodic idea is no more that two measures long.
Russian Folk Song was written by Ludwig van Beethoven. Which pieces have you already played that were composed by him? Scroll to the bottom of the page for the answer.
Morning gives you your second chance to play a piece in the key of D Major.
Morning was written by Norwegian composer, Edvard Grieg. He is best known for his Piano Concerto in A Minor and his music for Henrik Ibsen's stage play Peer Gynt which includes two of his best known works: "Morning" and "In the Hall of the Mountain King."
Simple Gifts gives you another chance to practice playing in the key of D Major.
Simple Gifts is a Shaker song written by Joseph Bracket in 1848. Though often considered a hymn, it is also referred to as a "dance song" or "quick dance." American composer, Aaron Copland, made this song popular when he included it in his score for Martha Graham's ballet, "Appalachian Spring."
Read the Hey Kids, Meet Aaron Copland composer biography and complete the following worksheet.
Musette's Waltz is an aria from "La Boheme" by Italian opera composer Giacomo Puccini. Puccini has been called "the greatest composer of Italian opera after Verdi."
This arrangement of Musette's Waltz introduces the sixteenth note. Sixteenth notes are the shortest note value that you've learned so far. Each sixteenth note lasts for 1/4 of a beat, or 1/16 of a whole note.
Remember to practice slowly and with a steady beat. Slow and steady wins the race - and will help you to play this piece perfectly.
Go Down Moses challenges students in a brand new way. This arrangement asks you to play two different rhythms with your right hand at the same time.
It will seem difficult at first, but you can do it. Just remember to practice phrase by phrase - and very slowly.
This lesson also introduces you to a new musical term.
A TEMPO - This musical term means return to the previous tempo. The A TEMPO marking in this arrangement of Go Down Moses follows a rit. (or ritardando) marking, which asks the player to gradually get slower.
We Wish You A Merry Christmas reviews the musical "sequence" and gives you another chance to play in the key of G Major.
In music, a sequence is the restatement of a melodic idea at a higher or lower pitch in the same voice.
Congratulations!
You've completed the MakingMusicFun.net Music Academy piano lesson course.
There's still so much to learn, but our lessons end at this point because it's time for you to begin growing in ways that only in-person lessons can offer.
Thanks for the opportunity to guide your first steps to becoming a great musician!
Answer: Week 13
Ode to Joy from Symphony No. 9 and Für Elise