- Level: Early Elementary
- Pages: 5 pages, 2 pages of music of student music, 1 page of teacher music, cover included!
- Style: Creepy
- Bonus and Features: mp3 performance track; Teacher part clearly depicts what student is to play
- Format:PDF instant download
Once you see them staring at you, you can’t unsee them. But that’s a great way to teach young students keyboard orientation. And since there are 7 sets of beady eyes, your student gets to explore the entire keyboard!
Here’s the story from Wendy :
One day, I was sitting in front of my piano staring at the two black keys. All of the sudden, I saw them differently than I’ve ever seen them before and they were staring right back at me! My mind just couldn’t unsee their beady little eyes and long, stark-white nose! It made me laugh and creeped me out just a little – but in a fun way. I was having so much fun imagining this that I even put some googly eyes on the two black keys just for fun! (A great thing to do at a lesson!)
What level is Beady Eyes?
Beady Eyes is an early elementary piece on the black keys, with a teacher duet included. The teacher duet is a separate page so that students aren’t distracted by seeing other notes on the bottom portion of the paper. Fingerings are included throughout the piece (but not on repeating notes), and the creepy, spooky lyrics are fun for students to sing along! The lyrics are not specifically Halloween related, so it would make a wonderful piece for students who may not celebrate this holiday.
The ending of the piece can be easily taught by rote and is shown on the staff, making it a wonderful opportunity for the early learners to see how location on the staff coordinates with the notes on the keyboard. The ending section also has students playing in all octaves of the piano, giving them practice in not getting “stuck” in one octave. The smallest note value is a quarter note, and the piece is written in 4/4 time. Dynamics are included throughout the piece.
There are fun “snapping” places for the teacher to snap their fingers while the student plays. Not only is this fun sounding, but it also helps the student observe the rest!
Bonus recording included!
Beady Eyes comes with a bonus mp3 recording performed by Wendy Stevens. You are permitted to send this example performance track to your students to help them learn the piece.
As with all our music, also included is this fun cover!
What is the Studio License?
Beady Eyes is delivered digitally (through your email receipt) and is studio licensed. This means that you can print and use this for any student that you directly teach for your entire lifetime of teaching.
Deanna –
Just bought it last week and Beady Eyes is already a hit with my students!
marian –
Just assigned this piece today! My student was delighted with this “mysterious” song. The lyrics are fun and the ending is beyond clever. You’ll love it!
Marcie –
I heard from a parent that their daughter can’t stop paying Beady Eyes!
Phyllis –
My students are loving Beady Eyes!!!! My 6 year old Grandson used it for his little concert for Grandpa and Mommy and Daddy last weekend. He loves it!!! He also played The Bold Escape and likes it. Last year it was Ghastly Beasts, Blast Off, Little Fuzzies and One Eyed Alien. He is a big Wendy Stevens fan – he just doesn’t realize it yet. And teacher Grandma is. 🙂 I started a student on Beady Eyes last week – it was his 2nd lesson. He (and his Mom) thought it was great. A little 3rd grader really likes it, too. I am his 3rd piano teacher and he has struggled. He started in August with me and he just beamed and wanted to show Mom when she picked him up. Sweet success sounding so big – all over the piano.
I also have 3 fourth graders that have taken 2-3 years each that, even though they all read notes very well, absolutely loved it and had so much fun with it. It is such a HUGE hit in my studio.
Carolyn –
My beginning students love the piece Beady Eyes. Easy to read, and short, and the student feels successful when a piece is finished that takes some effort of their part. I love the short sheets for the same reason.
Kelly Jenkins –
My littles LOVE this piece!! Within a week of buying Beady Eyes, I started 6 different beginners on this song – every one of them loving it! They came back the following week, and most had mastered either half or the full song in one week! Now they don’t want to stop playing it!
Susan –
What a fantastic collection of pieces for students in the Autumn Bundle! I am teaching “Beady Eyes” to a beginner who is 6 years old and learning pieces on the black keys. I had him close his eyes while I attached googly eyes with adhesive glue dots to the black keys and he was delighted to see “beady eyes” staring at him when he opened his eyes. It helped him to play the ending with ease and that was his assignment for that week and he approached learning the verses this week with excitement. Even his younger sister helped him with that part.
My students love your music and consistently choose to play it when given a choice. I’ve taught piano for almost 40 years and one thing I’ve learned over the years is that students will practice if they like the music. Thank you for making my job so easy and for helping teachers do their best!
Leanne –
Another fabulous early elementary composition! My students are big fans of “Ghastly Beast” and now “Beady Eyes”. Imaginative, funny, and impressive sounding – it ticks all the boxes.
Rene –
This was a big hit with my beginners from 6 to 11! Easy to learn, simple patterns. They felt like they were playing “real” music, not just the beginning songs in the method books. Will definitely use this again.
michelle amendola –
Beady Eyes is a the current studio favorite with my students who have only had a few lessons! Even my note reading students love it – remembering when they, too, could only play with finger numbers on the black keys. I also have a student who starts off every lesson by quickly sitting down and playing Blast Off before she even says hello! Thank you!
Jennifer –
My older elementary level student loved this piece. The ending is so cute! Getting to play a wide range on the piano makes playing at this level more fun and sound mature. The duet is fun too! This is a great addition to my Halloween repertoire.
Carol –
I have several beginners this year and they really like “Beady Eyes”. The duet is fun to play with them also.
Candace –
I have a young beginning student who really wanted to play on the fall recital. We chose Beady Eyes, and he absolutely loves it! Thanks, Wendy!
Jennifer –
I used ‘should I peek’ yesterday with Miss 8 who forgot to bring her music – She loved it!
Jayne Warner –
My beginning students are LOVING Beady Eyes! The music is “playable”, the words add a lot of fun, and the “special ending” is an additional hit! Thank you, Wendy Stevens for another studio hit!
Patricia Cook –
“Beady Eyes” is a wonderful motivator for the beginners. This is the piece they want to play first for me. In partner lessons we used this piece with the duet part, plus the older brother added spooky sound effects. Now they “can’t unsee it”!! Another great piece added to our Halloween repertoire. Thank you, Wendy!
Teresa –
Beady Eyes and Trick or Treat, Smell My Feet are also hits that will be performed at the Halloween recital from this collection.
Elaine –
Beady Eyes has been such a hit…easy to learn and fun to play!
Caroline –
I was hesitant about “taking the time” in lessons for Halloween/Autumn music, but my students’ reactions to their new, fun pieces changed my mind! “Beady Eyes” was perfect for a couple new beginners, one of which had specifically requested to play a Halloween song!
Daniel Light –
“I LOVE this piece!” first-grader Freya said as she came into her lesson today. She was referring to “Beady Eyes,” which I assigned last week.
She’s in her sixth month of piano lessons, and she’s never expressed a particular fondness for any of the pieces she’s worked on.
I assigned the first half last week and helped her read through that much. Today she sat down at the piano and played the whole piece.
Amy –
Beady eyes is a fun and engaging piece for a beginner. My student loved learning it and played it as a duet for her first recital.
Estelle –
I get happy comments from parents and children every year about this one!
Shelley Lee –
Loved that the students didn’t have to think about notes and just learned a Halloween piece quick! Fun ending!
Suzanne –
My 6 year old student has LOVED playing this piece as she learns keyboard geography, and it was a hit at our fall recital!
Jessica Giuffrida –
My beginner students really enjoy Beady Eyes!!
Keera –
Beady Eyes is so fun! My students and I have a blast playing it together 👏
Phyllis –
I had beginning student do Beady Eyes and Ghastly Beasts and she liked them. Then, she was my first student to do Night Song. She LOVED it. We played the duet and she was so excited that she got Mom to come in (she was waiting in the car). We did the duet and then I had her play with the MP3 and mentioned that she would be able to play with it at home. I asked my student if she liked that style of piece and it was a resounding – YES. Then, I introduced her to Finding Beautiful Places – Misty Meadow. She again was thrilled with it. I had made a list of the 7 books and the titles of the pieces under each book title. I showed her that I had LOTS more of that genre of music. She was excited and had a big smile.
Dianne –
I have assigned Beady Eyes to several beginning students lately and all of them absolutely love it. Its patterns are easy to understand and it lies very well under developing fingers. The last section is fantastic for cementing not only the black key patterns but also for enabling motion from end of the piano to the other. One of my favourites to teach and play with my youngsters. Very highly recommended.
Alyssa Arroyo –
Highly Recommend this one! As I was talking about Halloween music for this year, I had a student remind me of this one they played last year and fell in love with it! They played it for me at the last lesson nearly by heart. Great song for motivation students and getting them interested in both white and black keys.
Erin Mae –
I learned about Beady Eyes in a webinar. I’ve loved using it slowly with my youngest students (3yrs old) and with my elementary students. It has been fun to use with older students too. I hope it opens their eyes to the possibility of communicating the joy of piano to younger ones.
Kerri –
This has been a HUGE hit in my studio for beginners!
Laura –
Just the funnest piece! I love that it combines reading and rote playing and helps students understand keyboard geography. The performer and the listeners love snapping along. Definitely going to be a favorite in my studio…and a go-to for Halloween!