Dogs and Birds Teachers' Course: What You Get – Cont.

Section 9:

Book 2 Level – Finger Exercises (25 mins)

• How and when to open the “Owl’s Eyes”, “Owl’s Glasses”, “Owl’s Goggles” and “Owl’s Binoculars” finger positions.
• Establishing an excellent and safe technique for using independent fingering.
• Finger exercises are dispersed through Book 2.
• After Pentachords (Book 2, page 10), you can start using “The Key to Scales and Arpeggios – Piano Grade 5 Complete” by Jane Mann ISBN-13 978-1-4706-1221-4.

Section 10:

Book 2 Level – Rhythm and Pulse (9 mins)

• Speeding up the EVEN beat and the counting, with less help.
• Tapping from the Nursery Rhyme Book using different intervals and chords.
• Once you have finished all the Rhythm Exercises in the Nursery Rhyme Book, you can start using “Flip a Rhythm” by Sheila M. Nelson ISMN M-060-09771-3. Books 1 and 2 are combined.

Section 11:

Book 2 – Improvisation and Composition (8 mins)

• Making up our own pieces, based on scales, chords and arpeggios, or on previous finger exercises.
• Making up duets with the teacher by:
• basing them on previous finger exercises,
• adding notes/chords to existing pieces.
• Performing different variations of a piece, maybe in preparation for a concert.

Section 12:

Book 2 – Pieces (13 mins)

• Using different techniques for children at different levels.
• At the beginning of Book 2 do not force opening the fingers if the student is not ready.
• If the child is NOT ready to play with correct hands and finger positions, correct counting, correct reading etc. then we must find the necessary balance to make the child successful. How should we do that?

Section 13:

Book 2 Level – Ear Training (19 mins)

• Using the coloured staves, which is an excellent preparation for leaning to read the grand stave in both hands.
• Introducing singing with Simply Sol-fa.
• Using the pieces in the Nursery Rhyme Book to help with intervals.

Section 14:

Book 2 – Use of the Coloured Staves for Reading (15 mins)

• Using the staves as an introduction to sight-reading.
• Use of the new mnemonics:
• Every-Bird-Flies (for the right hand)
• All-Dogs-Growl (for the left hand)

[Note: You can read the entire grand stave by learning just three notes in the treble clef, and three in the bass. If you focus on understanding Up and Down, and Skip and Step from the beginning, reading notation should be easy.]

Section 15:

Some Final Tips (5 mins)

• Some final tips at the end of Book 2 level.
• Halfway through Book 2 you can start using:  
• Alfred’s Premier Piano Course Lesson 2B ISBN-13 978-0-7390-4139-0 
• Alfred’s Premier Piano Course Performance 2A ISBN-13 978-0-7390-3703-4 
• Even earlier, in parallel with the scale book, you can start using A Dozen a Day Book 1 Primary (blue) by Edna-Mae Burnam ISBN-13 978-0-7119-5431-1.

Supplementary Material:

The Dogs and Birds Piano Method in Action (17 mins)

This short video depicting different elements of the Dogs and Birds approach, is based on a presentation given by Elza Lusher at a music festival and conference dedicated to the works of Paul Kadosa in Budapest on 19 October 2013. Clips taken from Elza's piano lessons demonstrate the various elements of the method – finger exercises, musical pieces, rhythm, improvisation, ear-training, and the use of the animal tiles and coloured staves.