Just Imagine!, Book 1: Piano Book

Mier captures real emotional content in seven short pieces that students genuinely want to play. Each solo explores a distinct mood and musical style, so your students experience variety in texture, character, and technical demands without stepping into intermediate territory. This is exactly the kind of engaging supplementary material that fills the gap between method book lessons and performance repertoire.

This collection captures the discovery that piano music can sound many different ways. One piece might float with impressionistic delicacy; another might stride forward with rhythmic character; a third might bloom with lyrical warmth. Students experience the instrument's range of color and learn that technique matters most when it serves the character of the music.

Elementary piano students looking for repertoire that extends beyond their method book without requiring a dramatic leap in technique. Teachers seeking short, musically complete solos that develop interpretive skills and keep students engaged through variety of mood and style.

• Listen to recordings of different musical styles represented in the collection before your student learns each piece. Familiarity with the idiom (whether lyrical, rhythmic, or impressionistic) makes the mood of the music feel authentic rather than mechanical.
• Encourage students to identify what they hear in each piece: Is it happy or reflective? Fast or calm? Lively or dreamy? Connecting emotional content to the printed music builds interpretive thinking from the start.
• Work on voicing and balance when pieces contain melody and accompaniment. Even at elementary level, students benefit from hearing how the melodic line sits above a supporting texture.

Use individual solos from Book 1 as recital pieces throughout the year, selecting them based on each student's temperament and technical development. The variety of moods means you can program pieces back-to-back and create natural contrast in a student recital or studio performance. These solos also work well as sight-reading assignments or listening examples when teaching about musical character and mood.

• Interpreting musical mood and character through touch and tempo
• Recognizing and performing different musical styles (impressionistic, rhythmic, lyrical)
• Balance between melody and accompaniment
• Reading and responding to dynamic and tempo markings
• Sustaining musicality in short-form pieces