Jennifer Kemmeter - Play It! Christmas Songs: A Superfast Way to Learn Awesome Songs on Your Piano or Keyboard

By Jenni fer Ke mmeter and Antimo M arrone A Superf ast W ay to Learn A wesome Songs on Y ou r Piano or Keyb oard LEVEL 1 CHRISTMAS SONGS

2019 by Je nnifer Kemmete r and Antimo Marrone All righ ts res erve d. No part of this book may be reprod uced or transmitte d in any form or by any mea ns, electro nic or mechanica l, including photo copying, recording, or by any infor mation st orage a nd retrieval sys tem, without written p ermission of the publisher . Library of Congres s Control N umber: 201 99513 ISBN: 97815132 62512 (p aperback) | 9781 513262529 (hardbound) | 97815132 62536 (e -boo k) Proudly distr ibuted by Ingram Pub lisher Serv ices. Published by Gr aphic Ar ts Books an imprint of We st Margin Press West MarginPress. com WEST MARGIN PRESS Publishing Direc tor: Je nnifer Newens Marketin g Manager: Angela Zbo rnik Editor: Olivia Ngai Design & Prod uction: Rachel Lopez Metzger

Content s

Hi Kids! M y Name is Zo oey Im going to teach yo u how to pl ay music Using my awes ome system y ou don t need to know anyt hing fanc y or techni cal all you n eed is to know your co lors be able to follow a tune and maybe e ven sing along It s easy! Once y ou learn m y cool color c oded system youll be able to play a bunch of s ongs you probably already rec ognize j ust by pressing the colors on the k eyboar d Let s play!

Good Piano Po sture also know n as The Pro s Pose! It may not seem import ant at f ir st but when you sit down to p lay the way y ou sit on th e bench or chair plays a par t in how good y our music s ounds Follow th is diagr am to look and sou nd like a pro: Let your u pper arms hang loose and relax ed from y our shoulder Keep you r back stra ight and lean fo rwa rd slightly You want your e lbows slig htly higher th an the ke yboard to get the best soun d from the ke ys (y ou may need to adjust the seat height or sit on a book to get thin gs just right ) Sit on the fro nt half of the benc h or chair s o that yo ur weight is p ositioned forw ard toward the key board Position you rself so that your knees are sligh tly underneat h the keybo ard Keep yo ur feet f la t on the f lo or If they don t touch put some books or a step underneath the m Use rounded h ands to strik e the k eyshold y our wrist s above the keyb oard and arch y our f in gers down toward the k eys That s it! Now yo u look lik e a r ock sta r!

Now that yo u look cool at t he key board you re just f iv e steps a way from playi ng your fi rst song! H ere s how: BCDEF GAB DEFG ABCDE F C MIDDLE How to U se Th is Book is the C ke y nearest the center of the ke yboard Middle C Cut out the color-coded labels on or 67. Be sur e to set aside the re d Middle C label, because t his one is special.

T he letters on the labels r epresent the musical notes on the ke yboard. So, red labels re present C notes in music; yellow labels r epresent E notes; blue labels repre sent G notes; etcetera. TIP: To make t he labels last longer, ask your paren t or teacher to laminate the sheet of labels befor e cutting t hem. Attach the Middle C label t o the ke yboard. Its the one neares t the center of the k eyboard that s shaped lik e an L .

Tw inkle , T w inkle Littl e Star The It sy Bit sy Spid er Again refe rring to the diagram , place your hands in the correct position for playin g the song.

Tw inkle , T w inkle Littl e Star The It sy Bit sy Spid er Again refe rring to the diagram , place your hands in the correct position for playin g the song.

Then, shi ft yo ur atte ntion to the song and begin to play , pressing the ke ys with the colo rs and using the correct f in ger as s hown. Once you hav e atta ched the Middl e C, follow the diag ram on the top of the page s for the song y ou want to pl ay to a ttac h the rest of the color- cod ed labels. TIP: Put any l oose labels into a cover ed container and tuck them into a drawer or your pian o bench for s torage. Have fu n! Once you ge t the hang of i t you ll be able to play a ton of new songs Look for me thro ughout the book I ll be giv ing you ext ra tips and tri cks so you ll be come even mor e of a rock star as you go

there are there are beats i n the meas ure For example if you see: The top numb er tells yo u how many b eats are i n each meas ure (Ignore th e bottom num ber for now ) staff is marke d Before you d ive in and play y our f ir st song I w ant to tell y ou about a few things your e going t o see in the pag es that fol low First yo ull n otice that eac h song is s hown on a seri es of f iv e horiz ontal lines Th is set of li nes is ca lled a staff Y ou don t need to worry about this yet your focus will b e on the colors but the music n otes get placed on the sta ff and represent sp ecifi c keys on the piano Next the sta ff is divided in to individu al sections each separat ed by a ve rti cal line Each sectio n between the vert ical line s is calle d a measure These measur es help di vide the song i nto smaller b its that make it eas ier to learn h ow to play There s also somethin g called t he time signatur e The time si gnature tells you how to count the music Lets Get Start ed! beats i n the meas ure there are beats i n the meas ure The with horizo ntal lin es The measure is marke d with vert ical lines

Follow the diagram below to attach the color-coded labels to the keyboar d. Start ing with yo ur left pinkie a nd ending wi th your ri ght pinki e, play each colored ke y one at a ti me. Do the same thin g again, only backw ards: sta rt w ith your ri ght pinkie and p lay each note until y ou reach your left pinkie.

Repeat steps 2 and 3 a few times until y our fingers feel nice a nd loose. Do this e very time you sit down at the k eyboard. Now let s try some exe rcises Professional r ock star s always w arm up before their gig s Here s a cool way for you to wa rm up toot he scale Time to W ar m Up !