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children's music ALIVE continued from page 27 by inadequate methods. The research of Dr. Sallyann Goodall, specialist in music education, helped me to understand what to expect. "Children wake up to music, usually between 18 months and 3 years," she said. "If the child is as keenly interested at 6 years as they were at 18 months, … your child has more interest than average. If the child then goes on to sing, dance or play an instrument with joy and enthusiasm … at 9 years, then you have an above average child. They are one in a thousand." This explains why only 3 out of all my students after 50 years of teaching became advanced level pianists. I was very proud of these few, but it was the happy majority, proficient enough to enjoy playing for friends and family as well as for their own pleasure, that taught me about the true value of music and my role in helping them. Early in my teaching career, I did not like the beginner books that were available, but I had no alternative but to use them. With my daughter, I decided to buy several books and chose only the pretty pieces for her to play. One particular series had interesting selections for my students once they reached the 3rd level, but when I asked for the 4th level book, the local music store confessed it didn't carry them in stock because there was no demand for them. This was another "red flag" that teachers were failing to get their students to this level. Would I be willing to compose new method books to alleviate this problem when the odds would be one in a thousand that I would ever have a student that advanced? What better incentive did I have than to start composing for my 6-year-old grandson? First, I had to figure out a way to pull him away from his favorite TV cartoon programs. The only way was to do it during commercial breaks. He was an energetic child, interested in anything that moved or jumped, and such a fearless climber that he often scared me. I had to take this energy and put it into the music I composed for him. The first song with resounding 2-note chords in the left hand for Santa's "Ho, ho, ho" and a jingle sound for the Christmas bells captured him. Soon he was going to the piano all the time. My daughter said that when they went shopping to a music store, he suddenly disappeared. The sound of his piano playing led her to him. His father was surprised that he learned so quickly and practiced with such enthusiasm. 28 PAN PIPESSPRING 2012 sai-national.org Above, Mary Jane's great-granddaughter inspired her to develop a new style of piano education for children. Below, one of Mary Jane's compositions. When I moved to New York three years later, my task became more urgent when I took on a group of children that were especially sensitive perfectionists who needed to feel accomplished right from the start. The songs I had composed for my grandson served me well; however, I needed to compose much more and figure out a quick way to get their interest so they would practice. By now I had graduated from my composition course, Equal Interval System by Spud Murphy, and had spent many hours composing advanced works. I was reluctant to spend time composing music at the children's level, but necessity won. I needed a "jump start" to get this project up and running. Gladys Swarthout's love for melody caught my attention. "Let me urge young singers not to ignore the work of our so-called 'popular' composers," she said. "Through the Years by Vincent Youmans is so much better than the average encore song … find that gleaming nugget, a lovely song." It was time for me to compose many little nuggets. I first decided to grab the children's attention by asking them to talk about anything exciting, or even "boring" that happened at school. With their words still vivid in my head, I would quickly start thinking of a song pertaining to their story. If I saw them react with surprise and excitement after playing them the finished song, I would then ask them for a title and help with the lyrics. As co-authors of the titles, they now owned these songs, so their practicing tripled! As of this writing, I have completed over 350 songs. There is never an end to songs that