Outback Adventure Bundle

This Outback Adventure Bundle includes four pieces depicting animals from Australia. These pieces are all mid-elementary level and are part of our Rote and Reading® series. Each of these pieces can be taught by rote, reading or a combination of both (recommended). Each piece has catchy patterns and typically moves all over the piano.

Each piece comes as a downloadable PDF, complete with it’s beautiful cover, the bonus cover, and mp3 files of the composer playing the piece without voiceovers. These recordings can help your students remember the piece during the week and learn it more quickly as well.

Outback Adventure Bundle Includes:

Hoppy Thoughts – mid elementary (great for learning topography and white key note names)

Koala Cuddles – mid to late elementary

Laughing Kookaburra – mid elementary (contains improv sections for laughing)

Thorny Dragon – mid elementary

What Skills are Required to Play Outback Adventure Bundle?

These pieces are all mid elementary, including Koala Cuddles which has an eighth note pattern. Remember that they are designed to be catchy to learn motives, so even the Koala Cuddles motive with eighth notes can be played by the mid-elementary piano student. Each piece can be taught by rote, reading or a combination, but we recommend using a combination since referring to the score for cues, repetitions, direction, and more can be helpful in teaching students to learn music.

In Hoppy Thoughts, Laughing Kookaburra, and Thorny Dragons, the smallest note value is the quarter note. Koala Cuddles has an eighth note pattern. There are sharps, flats, and naturals in some of the pieces, but they are indicated next to the note, so no key signatures is used.

Only Koala Cuddles contains pedaling which is clearly notated.

Bonuses Included

Your purchase of the Outback Adventure Bundle includes bonus mp3 performance tracks for each piece that you can send to students to introduce or help them learn the piece.

Your purchase also includes the beautiful bonus cover (as well as all the individual covers).

The Power of Rote and Reading® Teaching

Piano students are much more excited about their progress when you combine rote teaching with reading. And when you do this, students stay motivated longer. This is because kids know that they can play music that is much more difficult than they can read.

Think of the way kids learn to read. They first learn to “do” the language (i.e. speak it) before they ever learn to read it. In the same way, students best learn when we show them how to “do” the piano before they learn to read the notes. For more thoughts on the value of rote teaching and how long it really takes a child to learn to read music, read: How Long Does It Take to Learn to Read Music?