Book 2 is the second piano tutor in the Dogs and Birds series. The Dogs and Birds approach, allows very young children to learn the piano, even before they know the alphabet. The music in Book 2 is suitable for children between the ages of 4 and 7. The method uses animal symbols to represent the musical notes, for example Cat is C and Dog is D. The animal names are monosyllabic and children are encouraged to sing the names as they play the tunes on the piano or keyboard. This helps children develop musicality and their inner ear. This blank notes edition of the book is recommended for ages 6 and 7. An animal notes edition of the book is also available, for ages 4 to 6, which is the same as this book, but with animal symbols printed in the notes, which aid the children in remembering the musical notation. Book 2 contains full colour illustrations throughout, which are an important stimulus for the child. Discussing the illustrations is an essential part of the learning process and a few words describe each picture. In book 2 finger numbers are introduced. At this stage the children already know the positions of the notes on the keyboard and the staves by reference to the animal names. Here the children learn harder pieces, but the rhythm is still relatively simple. The book also contains many finger exercises as preparation for the pieces. The Dogs and Birds series also contains a book of Nursery Rhymes and Famous Melodies, which is at a level between books 1 and 2.

 

This is book 2 in Dogs And Birds .

There are 50 pages in this book. This book was published 2014 by Dogs and Birds .

Elza Lusher was born in Hungary and obtained a degree in Piano Teaching from the Liszt Academy. She taught piano for five years in Hungary before moving to England in 1991. Elza has always incorporated Kodaly principles into her piano teaching, in particular the use of singing and listening to develop musicality. As piano tutor on the Kodaly Institute of Britain's Teachers' Course run by Prof. Cecilia Vajda she helped many piano teachers to use this approach. She developed the Dogs and Birds method, together with her husband Chris, a senior lecturer in physics at Royal Holloway University of London. The Dogs and Birds approach enables very young children (ages 3 to 7) to learn to play the piano, and includes a strong emphasis on singing. Mark Chambers is an illustrator and author of children's books. He has been shortlisted for the Roald Dahl Funny Prize, and is the winner of the Sheffield Children's Picture Book Prize.

This book has the following chapters: Golden Rules; Finger Exercises 1: Using Finger Numbers; Skips or Steps?; Finger Exercises 2: Steps and Skips; Rainbow Swing; Soaring at Sunrise; Finger Exercises 3: Two Skips Exercises; London Bridge; Finger Exercises 4: Balanced Legato; Love Somebody; Finger Exercises 5: Pentachords; Romp and Stomp; The Whistle Blows; Scottish Steps; Tartan Stripes; Finger Exercises 6: One Skip and Two Skips; Singing Mandarin; Shining River; Finger Exercises 7: Staccato Pentachords; Who is Knocking?; Rain Dance; Petroglyph Staircase; Staircase Transposition; Cecilia at Ballet; Old Stone Mill; Monastery; Finger Exercises 8: Getting Softer; Hang-Gliding; Finger Exercises 9: Finger Repetition; Caving; Finger Exercises 10: Training the Weaker Fingers; Organ Chimes; Stonehenge at Sunset; Finger Exercises 11: Flat Walk; Here We Go Round -; Finger Exercises 12: Waltz Beat; Morning Call; Finger Exercises 13: Sharp Walk; Legend of the Knight; Black Bird Boogie; Finger Exercises 14: Legato Sound; Dream Place; Rise into the Air; Certificate; Notes for Teachers.