Dear Susan,
Will you be posting a version of Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater with notes on a staff? I would like to teach it to my daughter.
–Anxiously Waiting
Dear Anxious,
Oh my goodness, I totally forgot to post this, even though I have a student working on it! So wait no longer, here it is! Click on the link below the picture of the music, and be sure to print it in landscape orientation.
–Susan
I wrote this for a new student right after her first lesson. She saw the all the Halloween sheet music around my studio, and wistfully asked me if she could play a Halloween piece. Of course I had to draw one before her next lesson because she is so darling and wanted one so badly!
Since this student is on the first pages of her book, I wrote it without notes, just finger numbers. I am sharing it with other teachers because it was too much work for just one student! She was having a little trouble with finger numbers, so I’m going to put an pumpkin ring on her 4th finger.
It is intended to be in 3 meter, played on the black keys with the left hand. The last note in each line is a dotted half note. If you tap out the rhythm on your piano cover, students will get a feel for how it goes.
So if you have a beginner or a preschool child of your own, please feel free to use it. Maybe the ending will encourage your students to compose their own song! What will they say at the end?
It’s time for my yearly Halloween post, where I post a new a Halloween song as well as remind new readers of my old Halloween material.
I wrote See the Scarecrow last year for a beginning student who was just starting to read on the staff. The only thing that might be a little tricky is the RH thumb on D. This is a good piece to read something simple that is not in middle C position.
I had never drawn a scarecrow before and it took forever, but it was fun and my students were happy with the way it turned out. There are a lot of noisy crows around the house this time of year, and that’s what inspired me to jot down the song. It was interesting that some of my students did not know the purpose of a scarecrow!
If you are looking for more beginning Halloween music, check out some of the pieces I have posted over the years. Most of them are written in both pre-reading and on-the-staff notation, so they are perfect for beginning students. The last one is 2 pages and a little more difficult.
It’s October (finger numbers only for the first week of lessons)
Hey Mr. Mummy (on staff with teacher duet)
Halloween is Almost Here (pre-reading)
Halloween is Almost Here (on staff)
Halloween, Halloween (pre-reading)
(Halloween Halloween on the staff)
Once A year On Halloween (pre-reading)
Once a Year On Halloween (on staff)
Spooky Spiders (on the staff)
Five Little Pumpkins (pre-reading, but long for a young beginner)
Five Little Pumpkins (on the staff)
Sneaky Sneakers (Level 1)
I don’t know how these little ditties come in my head, but my students like them and I hope some of yours will, too. If so, let me know. All I have to go by are your emails and comments, and I really appreciate those! Some of you have sent pictures, and that is so much fun for me!
This one was especially challenging because I had never attempted to draw a mummy before. I’ve done frogs, ducks, pumpkins, turkeys, but never a mummy. Except for a few older things still on my website that I keep forgetting to update, I don’t use clip art because I want a consistent look, and also I’m not quite sure about the copyright issues.
I added a real simple teacher duet to this piece, so you will not have to improvise one.
Last year a student performed this, and we made it longer by repeating it an octave higher. If you are having a Halloween recital, you might want to try that with this one or some of the pieces I posted earlier.
I remember today that although I had posted these on my website, I had never posted them on this blog, so today I’m posting Halloween, Halloween and Halloween Is Almost Here.
If you read this blog and are starting to get all these Halloween sheets mixed up, well I am too. To make matters worse, I post everything twice, first on my website that this blog links back to. However, I promised to turn all the pre-reading sheets into a grand staff version, so here is Halloween Is Almost Here.
Hey, Mr. Mummy