Ask a Composer Questions

At Compose/Create, a blog I read a lot, the wonderful piano composer Kevin Costely is being  featured.  There is a lot of biographical information about Dr. Costley, an interview with him,  and a review of some of his pieces.

This is a great way for your students to connect with a composer. My students have submitted a lot of questions for Dr. Costley. It has given us a chance to talk a little about composing and to get to know my students better.

One of my students’ favorite is Mighty Eagle. You can actually listen to Mighty Eagle at the FJH Website. Click here and scroll down the page to find Mighty Eagle. There you can see the link to listen to it. It is a dramatic piece that really catches the imagination and makes students sound very impressive! Both boys and girls like it, especially middle school age students.  

You have to get your questions in by Oct. 6, so start asking your students today. There are so many resources available to us as teachers. If Dr. Costley and Wendy are willing to spend some time making this available, lets support their efforts.  All of our composers are so busy, it is hard to find time to feature this kind of direct involvement.

Easy Hymn Solos by Wendy Stevens

There are two ways to arrange hymns for the piano student. You can arrange them harmonically, in more or less a simplified hymnal setting, with words. This is great if the student wants to play an accompaniment for singers. It also helps students learn to play out of a hymnal and to sing along as they play.

 Another way to arrange hymns is for solo piano in a way that is meant to be performed, perhaps as a prelude or during the offertory. For most pianists, this is a lot more enjoyable to play and often more musical.

 Wendy Stevens has written 3 graded books in the solo arrangement style, Easy Hymn Solos, 10 Stylish Arrangements, recently published by Hal Leonard. Each book contains 10 beautiful and sophisticated arrangements of the best traditional hymns, complete with introductions. These are performance-oriented arrangements, but they are student friendly. They have finger numbers where appropriate and they contain all the expression markings needed for a musically sensitive performance. They are obviously arranged by a teacher/composer who knows how to challenge without overwhelming her students and they are enjoyable to play. But what I would like to stress is that these arrangements are interesting and more creative than most arrangements at this level.

 The hymns in level one are at the Elementary level. The book includes a beautiful arrangement of Amazing Grace, Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee, the Doxology, Come, Christians, Join to Sing, and other favorites. The notes are in 5 finger patterns, and there are only a few accidentals. Hands are separate most of the time, but together enough to add interest. More interest is added with articulation and dynamics, creative introductions and endings.

 Level two contains ten hymns in several positions that should be comfortable for a student at the late elementary level. There are 8^th notes and the hands move around in very interesting ways, but they rhythm is not difficult. Included in this level is Come, Thou Almighty King, This Is My Father’s World, and Be Thou My Vision.

 Level three is where the music really sounds satisfying. Here, keys change, hands move up and down, and each piece has a flowing style that is very enjoyable to play as well as listen to. Written at about the early intermediate level, they sound much more difficult than they are. I believe I could perform out of this book and the audience would not guess it was easy piano. Three of the ten hymns are All Things Bright and Beautiful, Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing, and Battle Hymn of the Republic.

 The books are well designed and engraved. Because they contain beloved traditional hymns, not Sunday school songs, and book covers appropriate for all ages, they are especially good for older beginners and adults. If you are looking for good hymn arrangements for your students, I encourage you to check these books out.

Alfred’s Premier Piano Course

Alfred’s Premier Piano Course

When you hear the words Alfred Method, if you think of the old Alfred Basic Piano Library, then you need to read my blog today about the newer Alfred piano method called Alfred’s Premier Piano Course.  With music beautifully written by the wonderful composers Dennis Alexander and Martha Mier, this is a modern method for today’s student.

  Alfred’s Premier Piano Course is an intervallic method that uses landmark notes to teach reading but does not go so overboard on the landmarks that it drudgery for the student.  The word “position” is not used in the method so your students will not think their RH thumb plays only middle C. My student who started in this book never thought about positions,  but rather looked for the note with the correct finger. And this was not a strong student.

 Rhythm is taught through groups of rhythm patterns to help students feel the flow of the meter. In order to play musically, students must learn using these patterns, rather than thinking of individual note values. Those of us who learned the Kodaly method know that students need to feel an entire pattern rather than just learning how long to hold a note. Students will, however, learn to count in this method.

 Lesson, Performance, Theory, Assignment, and Christmas books, as well as flash cards, MIDI disks, Technique, and a unique At-Home Book are available at the early levels. Since this method is still being written, some of the extra books such as the Technique book are not available yet at all levels.

 Books with included CD’s are available at a slightly higher price, so you can choose if you want your student to have the CD or you can keep a CD in your studio for use at the lessons.  The CD’s have both a performance tempo and a practice tempo.

 Recently Alfred published level 5 of this method, which is the 7^th level in the series, following 1A, 1B, 2A, 2B, 3, and 4. Level 6, the final level,  is still in production, and should be available in 2010.

 Level 5 has great music that is fun to play.  The pieces composed by Alexander and Mier sound like recital pieces and your students will love them. Out of the 20 pieces in this book, 8 are original classical pieces from the Baroque to Contemporary periods as well as some arrangements of classical orchestral music. One thing I really like in this book and think is unique to a method book is the music history. There are pages devoted to each classical period including the style,  a historical time line, and melodies of other famous tunes from the period. This should make teaching music history a lot easier.

Gayle Kowalchyk, a co-author of the method wrote the lyrics in this series. The music is co-composed by Alexander and Mier, so on a recital program list them both as the composers. E.L. Lancaster,  Victoria McArthur, and Gayle Kowalchyk worked on the pedagogical concepts. The illustrations are by Jimmy Holder and are a tasteful addition to the book. Timeless in style, they will not insult your older students and will not be dated in a few years.

 If you are looking for something new and haven’t seen these books, check them out. I think you will be impressed.

Review: American Popular Piano

Once upon a time about 250 years ago there was a young boy named Wolfgang who took music lessons with his father. To keep the young squirmy boy interested, his papa tempted him with a steady diet of inspiring music by such top-notch composers as Monterverdi, Palistrina, Byrd, and Gibbons. To make it a little more educational he threw in some 500-year-old plain chant. Little Mozart resisted and begged to play some popular music. Like a lot of young people of his time, he was especially fond of minuets. And his father, wanting to be up to date, obliged the little boy and said he could play some popular music, but only in the summer and only if he learned his other, real music, first.

Of course I just made this up. Leopold Mozart wrote pieces in the contemporary style of the time for his young son. So why do some musicians today only regard music by long dead composers as the only valid music to teach piano students?

Why not have a carefully sequenced method series that uses the music styles of today? Why not seriously teach these styles with a series that starts at the beginning and moves gradually up to the early advanced level? Why not offer this in addition to classical music?

Christopher Norton and Scott McBride Smith, very well known in the field of piano pedagogy, have written a series that does just that. Recently I had an opportunity to hear this series presented in depth. I bought the books and played through all the pieces. I was very impressed with the quality of the music. Christopher Norton has a long history of writing well-composed music in popular styles.  The music is carefully graded to progress gradually. It is meticulously edited by Scott McBride Smith with all the musical elements we want our students to learn. All popular styles are represented. I love the covers, which will work for any age. There are no “popular” hits in these books. All of the music is specifically composed for the piano in popular styles students are used to hearing.

There are 9 levels complete with Repertoire, Etude, Technic, and Skills books. The books can be also be used as a supplement to your regular method. Inside the Repertoire books, there is a CD of backing tracks for the Repertoire and Improvisation Edude books. There is a practice and performance tempo track and all the tracks are carefully listed on the back cover.  I have really playing along with the CDs! This summer I hope to work on improving my improvisation skills. I improvise a lot, but always on my own. These CDs will allow me to improvise within a group. I also like the Glossary at the end of the Repertoire book. You might need to study up on all the different popular styles so you can have more fun teaching them.  

I would like to point out this is not a beginning method book in the traditional sense. Students should be reading notes around middle C before starting the Primer book. If you’re one of those teachers who just has to use a specific primer book or you’ll fall off the bench, your piano will burst into flames, and your students will never get to the conservatory, you can start the students the way you usually do and then move into this series.

Let’s make it our goal to give students quality music in today’s styles as well as the great classics. Check out the web site at http://nvmusicgroup.com/NVWeb/Home.htmlwhere you can view a discussion of these books. The videos will probably answer all your questions. American Popular Piano is published by Novus Via Music Group and distributed by Hal Leonard.

Complementary Sheet Music Offer

Rebecca over at Piano Teachers Retreat recently posted that Elijah Brossenbroek is offering a copy of his piece A Song of Simplicity if we go to his web site and send him an email requesting it. Rebecca always has interesting things on her blog, which is why she is a link on my blog roll. I don’t know how she keeps up with everything!

I always love to hear piano music by new composers so I went to Elijah’s site. You can read about him and listen to his piano music here.  He sent me a copy of his piece almost immediately and gave his permission to blog about it. It’s a lovely 5 page piece at about the late intermediate level with quick broken chords, lots of pedal, rubato,  and needs attention to  dynamic expression. The boys and young men in your studio will be interested to learn Elijah spent 5 years in the Marine Corp. I can guarantee that your teen students will love working on it this summer! Be sure to show them his web site and let them listen to some of his other music they can download to their m3 players. You can also show them several YouTube sites to watch and listen to it.

 Point out the hidden melody in the broken chords. Let them follow the music on the web and notice how the dynamic changes really make this piece.  You can also sneak in some theory as you work out some of the chord inversions, but I wouldn’t do much of that, just enough to show the reason we learn theory!  If you have potential young composers, this might encourage them to sit down at the piano and try their hand at it. If you would like to download A Song of Simplicity, go to his web site and email him.

My father was in the Marine Corp in WW 2 and was injured on Iwo Jima, the island with the famous picture of the Marines raising the flag. He loved music and was always very encouraging of my musical efforts. He would be thrilled to listen to Elijah’s music if he was here. With Father’s Day just around the corner, I thought I’d mention that.

Music Notation Resources

When your students start to compose music on their own, they will need a reference book to answer  tricky questions such as in a 3/4 meter measure with one quarter note, do you use 2 quarter rests or one half rest.   Students need to learn the importance of notating music in the conventional way so that it is easy for the music reader. The book I recommend is Essential Dictionary of Music Notation by Tom Gerou and Linda Lusk, published by Alfred in 1996. It  is a very tiny paperback, about 4″ by 5″ in size, full of illustrations and examples. It also has a very tiny price, $6.95,  making it  affordable for students.  This is really an excellent book, as good or better than some of the more expensive textbooks I have seen, especially for writing piano music.

 

 

 However there is a new book on the block,  Essentials of Music Notation. This book has a similar title and is by the same authors, Tom Gerou and Linda Lusk, and is also published by Alfred. I expect there is going to be some confusion when I suggest one of these books to students and teachers. Essentials of Music Notation is very new, published in March 2009. It is a larger 80 page paperback, 9″ by 12″, and is more comprehensive. Everything you need to know about music notation is in the book and it is still a very affordable $11.95. This new book has an interesting format, two columns on a page, and is also full of  excellent illustrations and examples.  It is quite easy to understand and easy to look up questions, even for a beginning composer. I highly recommend this book to teachers and students who want or need a book with more depth than the Dictionary of Music Notation above.  You really can’t go wrong with either of them. If you want to look inside the book,  do a search in Amazon and you can see that it will answer all your music notation questions.  As soon as I saw it was available, I added it to my collection. Also, since it is larger, maybe it won’t get lost on my desk!

 

Thanks to Alfred Publishing for making these books  available at such a reasonable price!

Lynn Freeman Olson Signature Collection

 Lynn Freeman Olson (1938 – 1987) was a piano teacher, author, and composer. His teaching compositions are a major contribution to 20^th and 21^st century piano pedagogy. Olson introduced new and different contemporary sounds to our teaching repertoire, including interesting meters, rhythmic patterns, harmonies, and quick shifting chordal patterns not commonly found in teaching pieces in the early 1970’s. 

Last year Carl Fischer issued a set of 3 books, Lynn Freeman Olson, Signature Collection, edited by Elizabeth Gutierrez. The 3 volumes complete with CD contain many of the favorite pieces he wrote while associated with Carl Fischer.

 The first volume contains elementary to late elementary pieces such as Silver Bugles, which students love. Electronic Game, written in 1981, is still fun for students today, with its “My turn, your turn, bong, zap” written in the score. Another one my students love is Yankee Doodle Drum, so simple you can teach it by rote, yet very effective. On the Run, with the quick patterns in 5ths that move all over the keyboard is another one that is easy but sounds hard. Few of the pieces in Volume One contain words, making them appropriate for all ages of children. They help students get out of one position and move all over the keyboard and they do it in such a fun way. Students need to have supplemental music they really love to play and show off to others if we expect them to stay in piano. 

  The pieces in Volume Two are late elementary to early intermediate in difficulty. This volume contains one of my all-time favorite pieces, Rhythm Machine.  Some other favorites of my students are are Sunbird, Sonatina Americana, and Wheels, among others.  While they especially appeal to boys, Sunbird was one my daughter’s favorite recital pieces when she was young. And I have never had a student who didn’t love Rhythm Machine, which has become a classic in the piano teaching world. If you are not familiar with L. F. Olson, you might want to start with this volume.

 Volume Three is intermediate to late intermediate and has some wonderfully imaginative pieces with unexpected twists and turns that will intrigue students. Every piece except for the just for fun Yankee Doodle Boy is a National Federation Selection, as are almost all of the pieces in all three volumes. Volume Three contains a varied selection of music in many styles, contemporary, impressionist, and romantic, all of which are fun to play, and are very showy at recitals. There is something for everyone here. Many of the pieces in this volume are only 2 pages in length, which can be helpful with certain intermediate students.

 The CD’s that come with each of these volumes are very well done. I was amazed that Lynn F. Olson himself performs some of the pieces, which were recorded in 1971-1972.  Back when he recorded them I was still a college student and the personal computer was not invented. Now, almost 40 years later I am sitting here at my computer, listening to him perform works my students have played over the years and blogging about them.

The remainder of the pieces on the CD are  thoughtfully and lovingly performed by Elizabeth Gutierrez. Piano pedagogy VIP’s Martha Hilley, Joanne Smith, and Marvin Blickenstaff wrote the forwards at the beginning of the books. This is a testimony to the high regard Olson is held in the piano education field.  In the 2-page biography at the beginning of the volumes, it states Mr. Olson wrote over 1,200 works for piano in addition to writing music for a successful radio show and for the TV show Captain Kangaroo. He studied piano pedagogy with Frances Clark and composed music for The New School for Music Study directed by Frances Clark. She was a great influence to him as a piano teacher and composer. He co-wrote with Marvin Blickenstaff and Louise Bianchi the highly regarded piano method Music Pathways.

For years his piano music has been a favorite of piano students around the world. Whether you are a new teacher and have never heard of Lynn Freeman Olson, a teacher who played this music as a student and wondered if it was still in print, or a teacher with many years experience who would like to use more of his music, check out these volumes. I am so glad Carl Fischer came out with these books, which are leveled better than some of his original collections of pieces. The books are only $8.95 and each includes a CD. You can visit the Carl Fischer web site for more information.

Offer from Hal Leonard

 

The 48 page Spring Catalog from Hal Leonard features  titles that are all 40% off for teacher desk references. This includes the composer statues some teachers give as rewards.  Also included are some Henle and many Schirmer editions with and without CD’s,  popular piano music of all levels, and all of the Hal Leonard Method books and supplements. There is a limit to the amount of copies you can order and Hal Leonard encourages you to order more from your favorite  music dealer. 

The catalog also has a CD sampler enclosed with over 100 excerpts. I love to get this kind of CD sampler because I can listen to it in the car as I run my errands and save a little time.

One new item in the Hal Leonard Piano Method is the All-In-One-Lesson book. It “combines selected pages from the Piano Lesson, Technique, Solos, Theory Workbook, and Practice Games into one easy-to-manage book.”  It looks like only Book A  is  available at this time, but perhaps more levels will come out.  If you like this method and you’re planning  to start a new student in a family that always seems to leave some of their books at home, or if you want to limit the amount of books a student has, you might want to check this out. This method teaches reading by intervals in a sequence that is accessible for every child.

Kitty at the Keyboard and Puppy at the Piano

 

Puppy at the Piano and Kitty at the Keyboard  is a set  of 2 “Mini Finger Suites”  written for  elementary students by Elizabeth Gutierrez and published by the well regarded Carl Fischer music publishing company.  Elizabeth Gutierrez has shown in her other piano solos that she knows what elementary students like and how to write for them. Your students will really enjoy these pieces,  especially if they like dogs or cats.

The first thing you notice about these 2 sheet music suites is the adorable, vibrant,  color covers with student-appealing artwork by Yuru Martinez.  What young child is going to be able to resist the cute kitty playing the piano with his feet on a stool,  or the puppy playing a black grand piano on stage? I want to frame them and put them on my studio wall!  

Each mini-suite includes 4 short pieces with clever titles such as Puppy-Paw Prelude, Wagtime,   Meow-Meow Minuet, and Tabby Tango.  ”Puppy Pointers” and “Kitty Klues” at the end of each piece will help the student develop artistic playing,  which seems to be the goal in these pieces.   There is also a “Kitty Dictionary” and “Doggie Dictionary” on the inside cover of each suite explaining the musical terms used.  I love the definition of a two-note slur: “Drop into the 1st note and lift from the wrist on the 2nd note. The 2nd note should be softer than the 1st. ” This is the kind of definition that is simple and easy to understand. Is there a better way to say it?

The mini-pieces in the suites are fun to play, full of musical elements and opportunities for artistic playing.  There are slurs, staccatos, simple crossovers, dynamic contrasts, some hands together,  and, of course  two note slurs.  Some of the pieces are in middle C position, while about half of them are in different positions that are easy to read by intervals. There are a few accidentals. Each piece has a nice teacher duet that is easy to read while you watch your student play.  The melodies are very pretty and just invite artistic playing.

At the end of each suite there is a cleverly drawn  activity page that I wish I had thought of.  The “kitty” suite has  a puzzle and a fill in the blanks section. The “puppy” suite has a “Doggie Notespeller” for the student to name notes to spell  popular dog breeds.

These suites are labeled Early Elementary, most likely because they contain no eighth notes. Each publishing company has its own leveling system.  Often pieces at this level are labeled “Elementary”  by other publishers,  so be careful about giving these to early level students.   You can also use these suites to introduce new concepts,  especially if you don’t want to wait until you encounter them in a method book.  I suggest this might be a good set of music to give to a transfer student to work on while you decide exactly what level you want to place the child. At a reasonable $3.95,  parents will not complain. And if you have a student who is not quite ready to go on to the next level, try using these pieces as a review.

Carl Fischer has a long history as a music publishing company, but in the recent past it seemed like they weren’t adding to their educational piano music catalog. With these publications and the recent new editions of some of their previously published pieces, I am excited to see the new face of Carl Fischer’s teaching music. It’s not too late to add these to your spring recital.

Beginning Piano Repertoire by Keith Snell

 

I read about  a new method by Keith Snell and it sounded different and interesting. When I checked at a music store for Beginning Piano Repertoire, Progressive Pieces for the Elementary Pianist,  they didn’t have it, but ordered it for me.

I’ve checked out the method,  and I found it very good to prepare instrumentalists and voice  majors for piano proficiency exams. Sometimes piano teachers are asked to help out a student who is going to major in an orchestra instrument or voice, and the student has  no piano training. They come to us to get a head start on their piano proficiency exams and they need to learn piano as quickly as possible.

Or maybe you are going to start an older student who tells you right away they want to learn how to play  classical music and do not want  any silly pictures or songs about soccer or unicorns. (Personally I love silly pictures and songs about soccer and unicorns, but, believe it or not, I can teach without them).

 There is no pre-reading in this method; it starts right on middle C. It stays in 5-finger positions, with an extension to a 6th. Each piece is short, one to four lines, and there are no words.  There is a  theory book,  a technique book,  and a repertoire book, which is the main lesson book and includes a CD with duet accompaniments by Diane Hidy.   The technique book has exercises for phrasing, articulation, and moving around the keyboard.  There is only one level, and the objective is to learn quickly enough to move into the easiest  classical literature, such as  the  Prep level of the Snell Piano Repertoire books (which has only classical music from each period),  as soon as they finish the book.

Beginning Piano Repertoire is printed in black and white with  no pictures (except illustrations in the theory book) and is very business-like. There is no commentary on the page for the student, just the music.  For this reason,  a teacher can adapt the book to fit the needs of the student or use it as a supplement.

You might also be interested in these books if you have been looking for a beginning book that doesn’t have a lot of pictures and explanations, and moves quickly.  Another reason to use these books would be with a student who needs to review beginning piano, but doesn’t need to go back to the pre-reading stage. Since this book doesn’t have a level on it, you could use this with a transfer student who needs to start over. The series is very affordable.

If you are looking for a method book for children by Keith Snell and Diane Hidy,  try Piano Town, also published by Kjos.

Favorite Elementary Sheet Music

A few days ago I wrote about the importance of sheet music and posted some of my favorite Early Elementary Pieces. Today I’m going to post some Elementary level pieces. Most do not have eighth notes, although some do, so keep that in mind. They may have some hands together and move around more. Remember, preview these before you buy. Your taste in music may be completely different from mine!

  Sleepy Cat (Alfred) by Mier is a piece I just couldn’t do without. I hope it never goes out of print. This is an  easy C Major position piece, very cleverly written in 3-4 meter in a slow blues style. Elementary age kids love this piece because of the jazzy feel. It has words, a cute kitty on the front and a slightly larger size of notes, so I usually use it with younger students. However, I have had 5^th graders love it, so use your judgment. There are plenty C major staccato triads, so don’t give it to young beginners.

 Gold Doubloons (Alfred) is also by Martha Mier and it is just broken chords in C minor that moves down an octave on the second page. It is a perfect piece for a first year student who wants to sound like he has been taking longer. Depending on the flair of the student, it can sound very impressive after a few months of lessons because you can almost teach it by rote. It stays in one position, but there are a few hands together measures. While it was written for the  Alfred Prep B book, it is listed as a best seller and for good reason. This is a long time favorite of mine and Martha Mier is my hero. She can do so much with so little!

Somethings Under My Bed (FJH) by Kevin Olson is the elementary piece most requested by my students when they hear another student play it. It has a playful but mysterious tune with fun words. Students love the unusual chords for this level! They tell me they “just like the way it sounds.” Although it is listed as an elementary piece, it is more late elementary. It has a lot of articulation, eighth notes, and some hands together that requires a lot of experience. To use with this with the appropriate age, a student should be at least in the middle of a Level 2 book. This is a NFMC choice piece and you can see a preview on the FJH website. I love all of Kevin Olson’s music because he is so original.

Swans in the Sunset (FJH) by Bober has a beautiful teacher duet. It is very peaceful and expressive. A surprising number of boys pick this piece, especially the more thoughtful.

At the Air Show (FJH) by Gutierrez sounds harder than it is and students like to sound impressive.

 The Baby Dinosaur (KJos) by Bastien has a very pretty cover and is good for a student who wants a sweet piece.

 Rambling Rails (FJH) by Bober is an easy fun piece.

 I have a few others that are on my student’s favorite list, but I can not do a good review because I don’t have them on hand. I’ll list them and later when I get a copy I’ll come back and edit this post.

 Masked Rider by Bober

Creepy Crocodile by Rollins

Chugga Chugga Choo Choo by Gutierrez

Crown Jewels by Chris Goldston

Early Elementary Sheet Music Recommendations

As a piano teacher, one thing I enjoy the most is a student getting a piece that he really loves and is excited about. I’m different from some teachers because I prefer to give a piece of sheet music for a special solo than a piece out of a book. In the child’s mind, it is so much more special if it is sheet music with a great cover.

 Occasionally a student will return their old books to me to use as loaners. No matter the age of the student, they will keep their special sheet music, even pieces they played years earlier. I think that says a lot about the importance of sheet music as a teaching resource.

 Today’s post will list a few Early Elementary Teaching Solos. These have larger notes, no eighth notes, no hands together except in a very easy way, and stay mostly in a 5-finger position.

 Here’s a warning. Over the years I’ve bought a lot of solos that were recommended to me by other teachers. Many times I have been very disappointed by a recommended piece and I wondered why in the world the teacher liked it. It would be a good idea for you to see a preview of the following pieces before you buy them. Some sites on the Internet have previews of these pieces.

 Golden Trumpet by Martha Mier     This is easy and has big notes that skip in an easy way. It becomes a favorite of young students.

 Pony Express by Nancy Faber     This is available as sheet music and I think it is also in the Primer Gold Star book. It is very well liked by students and is a great motivator.

 Sugar Cookies by Glover      An old favorite, it is very easy with big notes. Beginning students love it and all  old  *experienced*  teachers use it!

 I Thought I Saw a Dinosaur by Carol Matz      This piece has funny lyrics and  my young students, girls and boys, love it.

 Once I Caught a Fish by Nancy Faber      This is fun with great lyrics.

 Magic Pony by Mclean      The title and pretty cover catches their interest and then they love the piece.