For Younger Kids see also CHILDREN'S MULTI BOOK PACKAGE and PRESCHOOL PIANO PACKAGE
In addition to FAVORITE HYMNS BY NUMBER, there are also lots of hymns, holiday songs, and old fashioned traditional folk songs in THE BIG BOOK OF SONGS BY NUMBER. Here's just a partial listing! All songs in THE BIG BOOK OF SONGS BY NUMBER include chords (three notes for the left hand.) With our free DVD video (included with every book package) you'll be playing with two hands right away!
Hymns in the BIG BOOK OF SONGS BY NUMBER:
Amazing Grace, Battle Hymn of the Republic, Bringing in the Sheaves, He's Got the Whole World in His Hands, Nearer My God to Thee, Oh, Them Golden Slippers, Onward Christian Soldiers, Rock of Ages, Swing Low Sweet Chariot, and many more!
Holiday Songs:
Angels We Have Heard on High, Away in A Manger, Deck the Halls, The First Noel, God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, Good King Wenceslas, Hark the Herald Angels Sing, It Came Upon A Midnight Clear, Joy to the World, O Christmas Tree, O Come All Ye Faithful, O Holy Night, O Little Town of Bethlehem, Over the River and Through the Woods, Silent Night, Up On the Housetop, We Three Kings, We Wish You A Merry Christmas, and many more.
Old Fashioned Traditional Folk Songs:
America, Auld Lang Syne, Annabel Lee, Annie Laurie, Aura Lee, Banks of the Ohio, Barbara Allen, Billy Boy, Bridal Chorus, Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie, Buffalo Gals, Carry Me Back to Old Virginia, Cockles and Mussels, Clementine, Down by the Riverside, Down in the Valley, Flow Gently Sweet Afton, Frere Jacques, Green Grow the Liacs, Grandfather's Clock, Hush Little Baby, Home on the Range, Home Sweet Home, I Love You Truly, I Gave My Love A Cherry, In the Gloaming, Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair, Kumbayah, Lavender's Blue, Listen to the Mockingbird, Loch Lomond, Lonesome Valley, Merry Widow Waltz, Michael Rowed the Boat Ashore, The Mulberry Bush, My Old Kentucky Home, My Bonnie, Oh Susanna, Old King Cole, Old MacDonald Had A Farm, Old Folks at Home, Pop Goes the Weasel, Polly Wolly Doodle, Red River Valley, Rockabye Baby, Row Your Boat, Coming Round the Mountain, She Wore A Yellow Ribbon, Shortning Bread, Star Spangled Banner, Streets of Laredo, Sweet Betsy from Pike, Taps, Take Me Out to the Ball Game, This Old Man, Three Blind Mice, Twinkle Twinkle, When Irish Eyes are Smiling, Yankee Doodle, Yellow Rose of Texas, and many more.
Recommended age for children
Piano "by numbers" is appropriate for any child who can count to ten and is able to identify the written numbers. Children as young as four should be able to play the songs.
What is playing piano "by numbers?"
Sheet music uses five horizontal lines and small dots to tell you which piano keys to push. Many find this confusing at first, especially children.
Playing piano "by numbers" is a temporary system devised to give a quick, enjoyable start to music study, just like training wheels on a bicycle.
You put numbered stickers on your piano keys and then play familiar songs right away.
Kids later switch to reading sheet music when they have gained confidence playing familiar songs by number.
Our latest book, I CAN READ MUSIC is the perfect way for kids to make a smooth transition from numbers to sheet music.
Stickers on my piano?
The stickers are like training wheels on a bicycle. They'll be removed when your child feels confident with the geography of the piano.
Adults should help apply the removable stickers to make sure the installation is correct. Kids love stickers, and we've included lots of extra stickers! Good reading skills are required. It's fun!
Is "piano by numbers" a good choice as a music learning tool?
Playing piano by numbers is an excellent choice because most kids and adults find conventional piano methods (sheet music) far too tedious to start with.
Difficulties with conventional methods cause a slow start and, in almost all cases, most students later quit altogether.
But the kids are right: there ought to be a better way to get started, and now there is!
Here's why the old way of getting kids started doesn't work: playing music by numbers is easy, and very much like speaking to a child, whereas reading complex sheet music is very much like writing words to a child, a more complex task reserved, logically, for a child's later learning years.
In short, conventional methods ask far too much too soon, and the child cannot learn at their own pace.
Think of playing piano "by numbers" as a set of training wheels on your child's bicycle: it's something to get you going, and will be discarded later for a more complicated system when the child feels comfortable.
Get a good start!
The objective of using piano "by numbers" at first is to ensure a successful start at piano study.
Students initially taught "by number" usually make a smooth transition to reading sheet music because, in their words, "playing notes (sheet music) is just like playing by numbers, only different."
Why is this method different?
Our books are designed to provide kids with preparation for piano lessons, a fun process kids can do at home, before they start regular piano lessons.
All other piano methods start kids far too quickly, causing early frustration and eventually leading most kids to quit.
We've found this failure can be prevented by starting your child playing piano "by number" at home, and then making a slow, smooth transition to reading sheet music using our new book, I CAN READ MUSIC!
This "Fun Method" has proven results, turning kids into happy, interested experimenters who enjoy tinkering with the piano.
See also EXPLORING CHILDREN'S PIANO FINGERING GAMES USING FAMILIAR SONGS
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