Written by Neil Moore on Aug 9, 2019 |
Miscellany & Merriment
Neil Moore
In the BSV series, each video will have a description, written by Neil–some of them are brief and some are longer. To watch the introduction read the first installment in this series “The Ballads, Songs, & Vignettes Collection [Intro]”.
Song #4: “Tear For A Friend”
This small piece touches on sadness. I like that beginning students, children in particular, have the opportunity to experience playing simple pieces that express different moods.
From a compositional perspective, once again, it’s very simple, and has no more than two notes falling together at any time. I really like this piece, I connect with it, and I love that students around the world say the same too.
Song #5: “I’ll Be There”
It’s called “I’ll Be There”. This vignette touches on purpose, contribution and friendship. When I was developing Simply Music I liked the thought of having lyrics that conveyed a message that I considered to be parent-friendly and child-positive. I would ask myself the question, “Can I communicate something that could have relevance to anybody, but be brief and simple enough for a child to understand?” I wanted it to be that if a parent chose to, they could talk about the lyrics with their child, and maybe find further value in the message.
Clearly this is a very simple song, with only two or three notes falling together at any time. It’s so easy to teach, so simple to learn, yet it has a lovely sweet melody and harmonic movement.
More from Simply Music:
- Interested in becoming a teacher? Learn more and join our community of Simply Music Teachers: https://simplymusic.com/teachers/
- Do you know about Simply Music’s online self-study program? Learn more and sign-up—it’s free! https://pianoonline.com/
- Read more of Neil’s approach to music education in his free ebook: https://simplymusic.com/book-maltr/
