This piece is in 5/8 time, which is not very common for beginners to encounter. This would make for a good first piece for a beginner pianist to learn this time. There’s also a reference to a famous piece by Beethoven. Can you guess what that piece is?
Most people have heard Carol of the Bells. This version has a couple of interesting changes that make it different from the original. The chords of this song are fairly simple. There are only three chords that sound off. They are like the chords you would hear from a James Bond theme song. This little change gives Carol of the Bells a simple, but interesting change of pace. Since this is a piece for beginner-intermediate pianists, the student playing this will sound very cool while not worrying too much about the difficulty.
Another feature of this arrangement of Carol of the Bells is a brief interlude. The pianist playing this arrangement will start to improvise for however long he or she wants. Most of Alex’s students do learn some basic features of improvisation. He finds that this is a great way to keep lessons fun and interesting every week. Two students he had became a lot more confident after going through some improv exercises. Many times, these students are really good at playing piano, but they are afraid of standing out. Improvising has a unique way of pulling the performer out of the student. This method doesn’t always achieve that goal, but it is one of the best tools in the piano teacher’s belt.