what level are those two pieces?

[prelude888]

The teacher just gave my son (will be 9 years old in 2 weeks) two new pieces to learn. 
One of them is Khachaturian Children's Album Book I: Theme Populaire. Have anyone played that piece before? It sounds very effective and exotic to me. The other piece is Chant sans paroles (Song without words) for piano in A minor, Op. 40/6, by Tchaikovsky. what level are those two pieces? Please help!

Thanks!

I found out this board is very resourceful.

[gorbee natcase]

 This little book has really nice music, like Bedtime Story, and Eastern Dances. Some are easy some are a little harder but nothing too hard for an advanced begginner to an intermediate piano player. You will love these ten pieces. Khachaturian has his own special style and I loved the Armenian-ness of his music. This is a must for anyone who likes Khachaturian."

[debussy symbolism]

Greetings.

I like Khatchaturian's Toccata.

[pianistimo]

i'd say level 5 for the last piece.  khachaturian is often harder than he looks.  what level does the teacher say your son is at?  are you concerned that he is playing something very easy with something way more difficult?  sometimes it may look that way - but different pieces work on different techniques of playing and different difficulties. he definately has two very different works.  one with more rhythmic intent and the other melodic.

ok. i found a syllabus that put the tchaikovsky at level 6.  will look now for the khachaturian.

[prelude888]

Thank you so much for your reply! The teacher did not mention the levels to us. We made the copies from her music book in Russian. She also gave us Haydn's Hob. XVI/37, 3rd movement to start with. Looks like all those pieces are at the right levels for my son.  I don't think it i will be easy for him to make all three pieces perfect during the summer time.  My son only practices 45 min a day, and those 45 minutes includes bathroom time, water drinking, and breaks. 
 

[pianistimo]

the haydn is level 8 according to another syllabus.  maybe she's transitioning him to level 8 next year?  she sounds like a good teacher (starting with last movement) with lots of variety.  i hope she is, anyway, for your son.  i understand about 9 years olds needing breaks and things.

starting as young as he is, he has a good chance of having his own reward of being able to teach beginners himself when he is a teenager.  this is much better money than working fast food.  tell him to make notes of his lessons when he comes home.  they really come in handy later!  also, it will keep him remembering from lesson to lesson what she told him.  and, it will impress her that he remembered so much. 

you might do little things to spur him on here and there, too, like buying some cd's of his music - and playing it in the car or whever you can when relaxing.  of enlarging the music 2X and asking him to point out things.  you could put a small piece of white paper over different parts of the piece (fill in the staff lines first) when enlarging and then ask if he knows what notes are missing and if he can write them in.  this really helps when it comes time to do all this from memory.  games like this are endless. 

you can start formulating a list of things to ask him when you're just driving to school or driving home.  questions that you glean from the teacher or make up on your own.  what key signature is 'such and such' in?  what time signature is 'such and such' in?  usually kids, even though they might not show interest at first, can't stand not to know the answers to questions of things they've been working on.   

[prelude888]

Thank you so much for your nice advice. I never thought about these fun activities before. I know little kids like to be chanllenged with the things they already have hands on. I will definitely do that. It will make all those memorization process more fun. I bet you must be a music educator.  Again, we really appreciate your time and inputs.  

[emmdoubleew]

Greetings.

I like Khatchaturian's Toccata.

Greetings, you completely failled at adressing the topic.