Yellow Cat Publishing

What Are Levels?

This level is for beginnning piano students. While it is very effective with younger beginners, all ages and students with learning disabilities do well with these books. Adult beginners especially like these books because they are easy to see as well as to understand.

Ideas are presented visually first. The staff and barlines are introduced, but get a thorough development in Level 2 and Level 3 in the method.

Musical concepts covered in Level 1 are as follows:

• keyboard geography
• tempo
• quarter notes, half notes, eighth note pairs, whole notes, dotted half notes, and rests
• piano and forte
• left hand and bass clef development
• binocular reading development
• flight training level 1 (Note- Key- Finger)
• keyboard geography
• keyboard geography
• keyboard geography

Needless to say, without proper development of keyboard geography, students have a difficult time moving on to more complicated music.

In level 2, picture noteheads become smaller, darker and a solid color. Music is longer and more complicated. Music is in a variety of keys and uses a large range of the piano keyboard.

Concepts introduced in Level 2 are as follows:

• Hands together playing (left hand and right hand playing notes at the same time)
• Accidentals
• Bass and Treble clefs (F and G clefs)
• Time signatures and beginning counting
• Level two flight training (Time- Tempo- Take-off)
• Major Scales
• Minor sounds
• Keyboard geography and naming notes with accidentals
• Practice habits

In Level 3 the grand staff is introduced immediately. Yellow cat becomes a black note, the notes become darker and slightly smaller. Music corresponds to the storylines in the storybook. Music is in a variety of keys and uses a large part of the piano keyboard.

Concepts covered in Level 3:

• The Grand Staff
• Vertical reading with a gap between the staffs
• Intervals (major, minor, perfect, octaves, harmonic...)
• larger range of dynamics
• Practice habit development
• Exercises away from the piano which help students prepare for practice and performance
• Recital ettiquette
• Flight training level 3, landing (Approach, Touch-down, Engines off)

In Level 4, all the notes in the staff become black, portrait page orientation is used, rather than the landscape orientation of the first three levels. Music in the book corresponds to the storylines in the storybook.

Concepts covered in Level 4

• Thorough development of all key signatures using the circle of 5ths for both major and minor keys
• greater development of time signatures
• Flight training level 4, (integrates the first three levels of musicland flying and includes mapping out a piece of music, planning the practice of it, planning for turbulence, flight simulation... this is another way of getting students to play and prepare pieces of music)