A-Hunting We Will Go

Thinking in terms of hand positions is both good and bad for beginning students. Hand positions are great when trying to make sense of all 88 keys on the piano. If you are an absolute beginner, you need to narrow your focus somehow, otherwise all those keys can be overwhelming. Yet over-reliance on hand positions can be deadly in terms of learning how to read music. As a result many teachers have to walk a fine line in their teaching. Without a doubt, the hand position frame of mind must be broken early on, since it severely limits the notes which can be played. On these pages much of the transition out of strict hand positions is in Level 2. This is also the point at which students must study letter names on the staff in earnest. To ease the right hand out of G position when playing in the key of G, "A-Hunting We Will Go": - begins with right thumb on D and the right hand spanning a sixth - then the right hand moves to G position - and then in line 3, it shifts up one key.