It’s a lovely day to learn some new music! Actually… it’s a bit cold – but hey, any day’s a great day for new songs! To kick this weekend off right we’re serving up a little bit of Rihanna, a little bit of Dvorak, and other show stoppers! Check out the list of songs we’ve added to our library and songs we’ve added accompaniments for:
Canon – Rookie
Canon in D – Intermediate
Drops of Jupiter – Rookie
Drops of Jupiter – Intermediate
Gymnopedie No. 1 – Rookie
Gymnopedie No. 1 – Intermediate
Gymnopedie No. 1 – Advanced
New World Symphony – Rookie
New World Symphony – Intermediate
Ode to Joy – Rookie
Ode to Joy – Intermediate
Stay – Rookie
Stay – Intermediate
Remember that each song is available as interactive sheet music and printable sheet music! And as an added bonus, use this code to take 20% off song purchases until Monday: NEWSONGS10_16
Harlem Prep
At Playground Sessions, we work very hard to teach people of all ages how to play the piano, and provide them with a platform that allows for fun and engaging ways to do so. With that said, we’re excited to announce that we’ve recently been involved in a very cool program, led by Mr. Brian Duran at the Harlem Prep Elementary School, a K-5 charter school that serves over 400 students as part of the Democracy Prep network.
Mr. Duran runs a keyboard lab, teaching classes of 20-30 kids piano proficiency. To pick up piano skills, each student is assigned his own keyboard and a section of a popular song to play. As the kids play through the songs, they also pick up on the music theory associated with the material! (“Play To Learn” at its finest!)
Mr. Duran chose to use a few of our songs for the children to play – and they loved the experience! Our arrangements were broken up into 4 parts, and each kid was assigned a part to play, based on his skill level (the melody being given to the more advanced players, and the bass being given to those who were still working up the ranks).
Here’s a sample of one of the songs the children played, “Without You” by Usher and David Guetta. As a child’s proficiency improves, they move from playing the bass, to the chords, to the melody, until eventually they are able to play with both hands! The children are broken up into different sections, based on the part of the song they are assigned, and all sections would play the song together as an ensemble!
Needless to say, we’re excited about what the Harlem Prep kids are doing and the approach to learning that they’re being taught under Mr. Duran. We’re happy to be providing Duran’s program with a platform that helps his students improve their proficiency with real-time feedback, scoring, and other elements that make for a fun and interactive learning experience.