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The past weeks have been looking over and making YouTube's of some Halloween songs that I haven't taught. Most of these selections are Early and Late Elementary. Two of the selections come from Alfred's Music Book 5 Finger Halloween Fun, created by Tom Gerou. The duets make the 5 finger melody sound full and fun. One of the songs is the Funeral March of the Marionette by Charles Gounod, made famous for The Alfred Hitchcock TV shows. The melody 3/4 includes many accidentals, quarter rests (where counting needs to the focus), staccatos and accents. The original score is actually my favorite to play. Hope the YouTube helps.
The other song from the book is Funeral March by Frederic Chopin. The song is designed with a piano dynamic with some mezzo forte and forte, yet it's mostly soft. Tom Gerou has a tempo marking of "very slow, swing eighth notes". That will be one of techniques you will need to utilize when teaching this song. The rhythm contains repetition, which will help with the swing beat. The accompaniment contains a section of block chords which bring power to the song. Perhaps this would be a fun one to teach.
Another fun song I would like to teach this Halloween time is Sasquatch Stomp, from the book Monster Jam by Kristen Allred. KJOS created this book about different monster dances that they might do. Possibly my favorite part of this song is the bass line, which contains a bit of walking bass, yet has some 50's and 60's feel to it in the Bass Clef. The song utilizes a vast amount of piano keys, which is tons to play and teach, explaining about the ledger line notes or the higher and lower notes of the Grand Staff. Allred makes sure to incorporate a variety of dynamics, which makes the song tons of fun to play. She makes sure the motive is repeated so much that the piano player is able understand how the song works and sounds. I really hope I can teach this song. Had a blast identifying how Allred believes Sasquatch Stomps around the earth.
The last song at this point is called Tarantella (Spider at Midnight), by Glenda Austin. This original solo is from Willis Publishing. Austin creates a melody in A Harmonic Minor of a spider that sounds like a classical Tarantella song. The time signature is 6/8, with a tempo of a dotted quarter note equal to 66-80 beats per minute( the YouTube is at 80) which still sounds slow, yet this is a new favorite song of mine. The song begins with a dynamic of mezzo forte and quickly crescendos to fortissimo, plus the hands move around the piano. These concepts are my favorite parts to play and teach. I hope to teach this song to a student for Halloween.
What are some of your favorite Halloween type songs? Would like to know. Thanks for your support. Blessings.