Three sittings

This is for a child who already has a small piano with letters on the white keys. Twenty-five keys, low C to high C. The songs never ask for a black key.

Sitting 1. The seven colors

There are seven letters and seven colors. C is red. D is coral. E is orange. F is yellow-green. G is blue. A is pink. B is amber. On this piano those colors come back in the next octave, and C comes a third time at the top.

Open the music page and press “Practice the colors.” The page shows one letter. The child presses the key with that letter. Any octave counts. Seven in a row means the colors are known.

Sitting 2. Mary

Mary Had a Little Lamb starts on E, the orange key. The circles on the staff are the same size because each one is one sound. The words of the line sit under the staff. Where a word is held, the same letter appears again.

Read the letter, find that color, play it, then the next circle. The Play button does the same thing slowly so the child can follow.

Sitting 3. Silent Night

Silent Night keeps the letters and adds time. A small circle is a short sound. A large circle is held. The tune is the 1818 melody, including the quick upper note on “Si,” because that note is in the public-domain line this engraving follows. If the quick note is too fast, play only the larger circles. The song still reads.

Both pieces are on the music page.