Grandma's Animals

This is the first song I sing and play with my students during their first piano lesson. It's a duet, where the student learns to play the treble clef notes with either hand, while the teacher plays the bass and sings the words. It starts off by students knocking 6 times on the piano. The words of the song cue the student on which notes to play. The song is written with the picture of the piano keyboard and the two "houses"on the piano, in mind: The Dog House, and Grandma's House. Students learn the key names by relating the picture of the Cat, Dog, Elephant, Frontdoor, Grandma, Attic, and Backdoor to the keys they play. It gets students playing on the very first day, and teaches a 6/8 rhythm, too!