Order of introducing arrangements
Found in: Arrangements & Variations
Joy O., Alabama
In Arrangements 1, are we supposed to give students all of the arrangements for one piece before moving to the 1.1 arrangement of the next piece? I’m a bit lost on the order of introduction of these. I have all students who started with me as beginners.
Glenna B., Montana
No, they advance in difficulty as you progress through each arrangement of the piece. You can teach them in the order you feel would best suit their abilities. There is a recommended order somewhere.
Stephen R., California
I made the mistake of going too fast with the arrangements in the beginning. I teach only a few in Level 1 (maybe Dreams 1, Honey Dew/Amazing Grace 1, Night Storm 1), a few more in Level 2, etc. Always in progressive order of difficulty, but spread them out. You really have to get good at gauging how students are processing these. If students are struggling to play or remember, go light or move slower on them. Faster students may eat them up, so they may need them more often in addition to Foundation, Accompaniment, etc. Some arrangements are stepping stones to the next like the Honeys and Jacksons.
Mark M., New York
Gordon Harvey’s TWS programs on Arrangements 1 and Arrangements 2 provide great suggestions on how to order all the arrangements across both programs. In addition, those TWS programs offer many additional teaching strategies, plus printed TTM-like notes. They’re great resources.
Nancy W., Texas
I printed mine out and placed them in order of difficulty. I think that info is found in Gordon’s program. It helped me know what level each piece was without flipping around.
Amy L., California
I highly recommend the “Playlist Management” program created by Jy Gronner and Sheri Reingold. It includes recommendations about which arrangements to teach during Level 1. It also includes lot of fabulous teaching tips. I relied on it heavily when I was new.