piano safari i love coffee part 1

Piece Pointers – Piano Safari 1

I Love Coffee

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I Love Coffee

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Originally published in Bernard and Carolyn Shaak’s book Piano Partners, this six-variation work will be a smash hit for beginning students! It uses fun elements such as a fist roll and a chromatic scale starting on the top note of the piano. It is also ideal for a group class ensemble piece. This license grants permission for duplication within a single school or studio.

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Reminder Video Part 1

Reminder Video Part 2

Reminder Video Part 3

Reminder Video Part 4

Reminder Video Part 5

Reminder Video Part 6

I Love Coffee Sheet Cards

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Rebekah Maxner

Piano play-along duet: I Love Coffee I Love Tea and Knuckles [Teacher intro]

I Love Coffee, I Love Tea and Knuckles. There are so many reasons we love this medley! First, it can be played by anyone! For generations, children, friends and family members have been passing on this music from piano to piano. Second, the key patterns on the piano have an irresistible sound! It’s fun to learn and fun to play. And play again… and again!

From a piano teacher’s perspective, it’s a dream piece. Whoever created it deserves big credit! The patterns are highly memorable and teach the black and white patterns of the piano before most kids are ready to read complex music notation. Technically it’s all about non-legato touch, playing with a balanced hand on one repeated finger (usually the middle finger, 3), and Knuckles can teach a wrist rotation to students who have little to no prior experience.

The I Love Coffee, I Love Tea medley has traditionally been taught by rote (by demonstrating and copying the patterns on the piano). So, if your students are still staying safe at home with their families, it offers you a unique opportunity to teach them music that they can teach their family members.

If you’re teaching online and teacher duets aren’t possible because of delays in internet transmission, students might be able to play this simple and enjoyable piece with family members at home. Or, they can play along with the duet videos provided in this series.

Treat the I Love Coffee medley simply as one piece of repertoire that your student is learning, alongside all of the other pieces they are working on. Begin by teaching the music to your student as you would any rote piece. Study the blog posts and watch the videos first for ideas.

This teacher intro post opens up a complete suite of blog posts that you can share directly with your students to help them practice between lessons. Ideally, you would share only one until your student has mastered the music or challenge, and then share the next one. It is recommended that you use the student-centred posts in this order:

Learning and Playing the Duet

I Love Coffee I Love Tea and Knuckles piano play-along — Learn the tunes [Part I]

I Love Coffee I Love Tea and Knuckles piano play-along — Learn the duet chords [Part II]

I Love Coffee I Love Tea and Knuckles piano play-along — Duet videos [Part III]

Fun Intro to Keyboard Harmony

I Love Coffee, I Love Tea and ‘Knuckles’ Intro to Circle of Fifths [Part IV]

II – V – I is the most powerful chord progression in music. This post shows how to name chords based on the degrees of a scale and how the lower duet of I Love Coffee, I Love Tea can introduce you the Circle of Fifths. This is a great introduction to keyboard harmony!

Unlocking creativity at the piano

Become a music arranger with ‘I Love Coffee I Love Tea’ and ‘Knuckles’! [Part 5]

This post explores being creative with arranging music. I Love Coffee, I Love Tea helps break down fears and sets students on the thrilling path of putting their own special touches on a famous piece!

Some fun history on this traditional duet

Most of us learned these amazing, fun black key riffs from a neighbourhood friend or a family member. However, this kind of friend-to-friend teaching seems to be in decline these days, so fortunately, the music is now increasingly being taught by piano teachers!

Unlike another popular rote piano piece, Heart and Soul, few can agree on what this black key music is even called. I recently asked around and there were many answers.

• The Black Key Song
• Fisticuffs (middle section)
• Knuckles (middle section)
• Dr. Faust’s Having Fun with Black Keys (Fritz Emonts’s — The European Piano Method 1)
• Down at Papa Joe’s was the runner-up answer
• I Love Coffee, I Love Tea was the top suggestion

[Down at] Papa Joe’s

A quick online search shows that Down at Papa Joe’s was a popular song by American songwriter Jerry Dean Smith and first recorded by the Dixiebelles in 1963. For many years, this title has also been accepted as the name of the traditional piano music.

It was even performed by a flock of chickens on the Muppet show in episode 207, under the name of Down at Papa Joe’s!

I Love Coffee, I Love Tea

When I asked piano teachers what the title of the music is, I Love Coffee, I Love Tea was suggested most often. It’s currently published by that name in Piano Safari, an American piano method. I wondered — is this name popular because of the method, or is the name as old as the piano music itself?

Another question I had was how old is this music ? The earliest date mentioned by people who had learned it as a child was the 1960s. Could this piece be like Heart and Soul, in that the popular song (in this case Down at Papa Joe’s) came first, then people started playing the rote piece on the piano? I needed to know what came first.

Then one piano teacher, Judy Freeman, responded that she learned it from her grandmother who called it I Love Coffee, I Love Tea. Though Judy, too, learned it in the 1960s, her grandmother had also taught the music to Judy’s aunts. A quick consultation with her aunts confirmed that they’d learned it prior to the 1960s by the name I Love Coffee, I Love Tea. This suggests that the music and the title I Love Coffee, I Love Tea both pre-date the 1963 release of Down at Papa Joe’s, and that the latter popular song was based on the original traditional piano music that had already been in wide circulation.

Possible words to the music!

If you already play I Love Coffee, I Love tea on the piano, chances are that you sing the words “I love coffee, I love tea” to the last riff.

But when I was younger my mother taught me a longer coffee-tea verse that may go with the piano music! She learned it on the playground during recess at the one-room schoolhouse she attended in rural Nova Scotia in the 1940s. It was also called I Love Coffee, I Love Tea.

I love coffee, I love tea,

I love the boys and they love me!

Tell your mom to hold her tongue,

She loved the boys when she was young!

~ Traditional

My personal backstory with this piano medley. As a child I’d already heard other kids playing the “Knuckles” part, though with a different rhythm (in 2 with a faster repeat of the single black keys). Also, it was played up 2x, down 2x, up 2x, down 2x, instead of adding the “Coffee-Tea” ending. I’d also heard friends playing the “I Love Coffee” black-white-black pattern. It seemed to be universally known, even by kids who’d never had piano lessons! Back in the 80s kids seemed to teach this music to each other because many homes had pianos, and schools usually had an extra piano in a room somewhere that kids were allowed to play. I first learned it as a medley of three patterns when I was leading a community group piano program through Acadia University’s music department for their piano pedagogy students in the mid-2000s. A piano dad and his son played it prior to one of our group classes while we were waiting to get started. One week I got them to teach it to me by rote and every few years since then I’ve gone through a spell of teaching it to all of my piano students!

In short, this piece is BRILLIANT! It’s a traditional masterpiece. I hope you and your students enjoy!

Do you like this post and want more? In the side menu click “follow” to get notification of my posts each week in your inbox.

I appreciate shares, comments and likes. Happy teaching! <3

Video of the Week

When Puppy gets to Play , Early Intermediate, Level 3. Here’s a piece about a puppy who has waited patiently for their family to return home from work and school and now that they’ve arrived, it’s playtime! The music captures the excitement we feel when we’re surrounded by our favourite people and helps kids play with energy and creativity. Broken chords, staccatos and light touch are featured throughout. This is a companion piece to the piano solo When Puppy has to Stay. Want this piece? Check out the When Puppy gets to Play eSheet in my shop !

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12 thoughts on “ Piano play-along duet: I Love Coffee I Love Tea and Knuckles [Teacher intro] ”

So cute! I’d like to know the history of this song too haha

🙂 It’s one of those mysteries! Someone very smart came up with this music, and I’d love to know who they were!

Java Jive (1975) by The Manhattan Transfer was my first introduction to I Love Coffee, I Love Tea. Such joy when I discovered the tune in Piano Safari for my young pianists years later!

Yes, since I’ve been writing this blog post I’ve been introduced by piano teachers to the Java Jive. It starts with the same “I love coffee, I love tea” words but has a different rhythm and tune than the traditional piano pattern. The Java Jive has syncopations, tied notes and an ascending melody with upward skips that later comes back down. The traditional piano piece has a very steady, almost march-like rhythm with a chromatic tune. Besides the opening words I’m not sure they’re related. And, yes, Piano Safari and the European Method 1 have both printed versions. I’ve seen the Piano Safari’s video on YouTube and really like that version! It’s a great rote piece!

• Pingback: I Love Coffee I Love Tea and Knuckles piano play-along — Learn the tunes [Part I] – Rebekah Maxner
• Pingback: I Love Coffee I Love Tea and Knuckles piano play-along — Learn the duet chords [Part II] – Rebekah Maxner
• Pingback: I Love Coffee I Love Tea and Knuckles piano play-along — Duet videos [Part III] – Rebekah Maxner
• Pingback: Online piano lesson ideas for Beginner and Elementary students: Idea bank – Rebekah Maxner
• Pingback: I Love Coffee, I Love Tea and ‘Knuckles’ Intro to Circle of Fifths [Part IV] – Rebekah Maxner
• Pingback: Top 5 most helpful posts of 2021 [Digest] – Rebekah Maxner
• Pingback: Rote Piano ‘Diddle-Um-Pum-Pum’: Learn the First and Fifth Patterns [FREE printables] – Rebekah Maxner
• Pingback: Rote Piano ‘Diddle-Um-Pum-Pum’ / Shave and a Haircut [Teacher intro] – Rebekah Maxner

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Piano Safari: A Great Piano Method Book for Children

Piano Safari Method Book: A Teacher’s Review

Why do I, a professional piano teacher, think Piano Safari by Julie Knerr is a great method book for children?

It has enjoyable tunes that are humorous and are fun for the young pianist to play and sing. Examples include “I Love Coffee, I Love Tea” and “Charlie Chipmunk.” 

Many of the pieces in the Piano Safari books create analogies for children to understand such as bouncing like a kangaroo when they play the “Kangaroo” technique exercise to practice non legato playing and to create a relaxed and bouncy sound. Another example would be playing a loud, long note with a relaxed hand like a lion stuffed animal arm. 

Learning Techniques & Activities 

The Piano Safari method books consist of many learning techniques and activities that are useful to students and teachers. It contains reading pieces, sight reading exercises, rote pieces, theory, technique exercises, folk tunes, and improvisation. The book leans towards the Intervallic Reading Approach, but primarily uses an Eclectic Method.

Reading pieces in the Piano Safari Repertoire Book One start with just using black keys and printing all the finger numbers on the page for unit one. In unit two, students start playing on the white keys where the hand, note, and finger number are listed. All the finger numbers are also listed on the page. In unit three, students move to the grand staff. They use treble G as the landmark note for right hand and treble clef and bass C as the landmark note for left hand and bass clef. In Piano Safari Book One , students continue to stay on the landmark notes for the rest of the book. 

In Piano Safari Book Two , middle C is added as a landmark note in both treble and bass clef. It is not until the middle of Piano Safari Book Two that the students graduate from the landmark notes and start using all the notes on the grand staff. Piano Safari slowly moves the students from black keys, to white keys, and then the grand staff so that students can feel comfortable with reading notes and move at a slow and steady pace. When students start learning the grand staff, intervals are slowly introduced.

In book one, students start with seconds and then move to thirds. In the rest of book one, students practice moving in between seconds and thirds. In book two, they learn fifths, then fourths, and practice playing all the intervals together. In book three, they learn the other intervals such as sixths, sevenths, and octaves. It is great that intervals are introduced at a slow and steady pace so that students can become comfortable with intervals before moving to harder repertoire and sightreading. 

Sight Reading Exercises

For sight reading exercises, each method book has a set of color-coded sight reading card supplements, corresponding with the different units for each book or level. The cards are like flash cards. Each sight reading card in level one contains a melodic exercise for right hand in treble clef and a melodic exercise for left hand in bass clef.

In level one, the students will start marching the rhythms and use the syllable “ta” for the quarter notes, “ta-two” for half notes, “ta-ti” for eighth notes, and “ta-two-three-four” for whole notes. In level two, students graduate from marching and saying the ta’s. They move to metric counting, which is what professional musicians use.

For metric counting, the students do not march anymore, they tap the rhythms with both hands . The rhythmic exercises start simple at first such as the left hand playing whole notes while the right hand has a busy rhythm. The difficulty gradually goes up through each unit. 

In level two and beyond, the cards will start including exercises where both hands play together. All the cards in every level and unit also contain a rhythmic exercise where the students only practice rhythms. 

These methods help contribute to student reading skills.

Training to Play by Ear

One of the most unique activities that Piano Safari offers in its method books are rote pieces.

Rote pieces are ear training pieces where students learn how to play repertoire by ear. They are taught by playing the entire piece for the student first, and then dividing the music into different parts, usually line by line. I will teach one or two measures at a time to them and tell them to think of an animal or fruit name to help with the rhythm. 

After the first one or two measures are comfortable with the student, I will gradually add on the next one or two measures and review the previous measures consistently until the first part is learned.

After that, I will use the same system for the second part, and the other parts after that. I also constantly review the previous parts. If there are two hands involved with different melodies and rhythms, I will teach one hand at a time and then teach the other hand. 

Rote pieces can take up much time to teach, so typically when I teach a rote piece, I usually stretch it to at least two lessons. Piano Safari includes reminder videos on YouTube for the students to use to remember how to play the piece for when they practice at home. 

In each Piano Safari level, a theory book is included that contains new material that the students learn in each unit. Students get to practice writing the different clefs, time signatures, notes, and intervals. The theory book also contains review material in each unit to keep up the students’ skills and help them remember previous material. 

A unique aspect that the theory book has is compositional practice. This activity is when students are given the time signature, note values, which note to start on, and which intervals to use. Then, they are instructed to write a melody with the given material. The students are given the opportunity to come up with their own ideas or creative variations on the rote pieces.

Piano Safari contains technique exercises in each level that focus primarily on relaxation. In level one, technique exercises are part of the repertoire book and they start with simple exercises such as playing one note at a time with a strong and relaxed sound. In level two, there is a separate technique book from the repertoire book. 

Also in level two, students will start learning basic five-finger patterns in different keys and start early practices into playing scales and arpeggios. Students will start playing triads first before getting into arpeggios. In level three, students start learning Hanon exercises and beginner etudes. Technique exercises are typically taught by rote, then the student reads the music, and lastly the student can transpose the exercise into different keys.

Folk tunes are part of the Piano Safari repertoire books. Usually they are pieces such as “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” “Baa, Baa, Black Sheep,” “The Duke of York,” and “The Bear Went Over the Mountain.” They are similar to the reading pieces where the students practice reading music, but they also use their ears to play the pieces. 

Learning the folk tunes introduces students to playing familiar pieces and how to learn songs and pieces that they know on their own by ear and reading music.

Improvisational Exercises 

Another interesting activity that Piano Safari offers in its repertoire books are improvisational exercises . In these exercises,  the students are told which notes they can play, and the teacher plays a bass line and or a melody. The students play the notes that they are told to play in any order and can make up a rhythm if they stay in time with the teacher. Improvisational exercises allow students to be creative, explore sounds, and imitate the teacher.

Piano Safari Level Breakdown

Here is a break-down of all the different levels. 

In Piano Safari level one, the students learn pre-staff notation, the grand staff is introduced, the intervals seconds and thirds are introduced, landmark notes are utilized, and students “march rhythms.” Level one includes a repertoire book, a theory book, and sightreading cards. 

In level two, students graduate from landmark notes and start reading all the notes on the staff. They start tapping rhythms, have trickier sight reading examples, and they learn the intervals fourths and fifths. Level two includes a repertoire book, a theory book, a technique book, and sightreading cards. In level three, students learn the other intervals, they start playing more advanced music, and start learning early etude technique exercises. 

Level Three 

Level three has a repertoire book, a theory book, a technique book, and sightreading cards like level two. 

Piano Safari offers all these great activities, and that is one of the reasons that I like to use it  with children.  My students who have used Piano Safari have developed good habits such as having excellent and relaxed piano technique, they do not look at their hands while reading music, they have a good understanding of rhythm, they are good at using their ears, and they enjoy music. 

Enjoying music is the most important thing for students when taking piano lessons. The goal, as teachers, is to keep students wanting to practice and get excited to come to piano lessons. Piano Safari aids the teacher in putting together fun pieces that students enjoy playing and the activities keep students happy and engaged during piano lessons. 

Why I Choose to Use This Method Book As a Teaching Guide

As a piano teacher myself, Piano Safari is my favorite method book to use because of all its fun activities it has for children. It goes along with my teaching philosophy which is teaching students good habits at an early age but also teaching them how to enjoy music. 

Piano Safari is very helpful for the piano teacher in that it provides teaching guides and teaching videos for teachers to use. It is imperative that teachers always plan before having students, especially when using Piano Safari, because there is so much information to cover. For beginning students especially, piano teachers must plan to make lessons efficient.  

When students become more advanced, teachers are mostly reactive to students, meaning students bring in repertoire and teachers aid them on what the students need help with. Piano teachers in general have so much to accomplish with their students. Teachers must break down difficult concepts into something that children can easily understand.  

What I appreciate about Piano Safari is that it helps the teachers introduce concepts one at a time to students and slowly walks them through learning how to play piano and become great musicians . 

To Conclude

I like to use the Piano Safari book with my students because it has the learning techniques of reading pieces, sight reading exercises, rote pieces, theory activities, technique exercises, folk tunes, and improvisation.

The blended Eclectic Method and intervallic approach create the best of two worlds. The result is a resource that provides students with a great way to read music notation, while learning interesting musical styles and listening skills. 

All of Piano Safari’s exercises include fun and silly songs that help students learn to enjoy music and is entertaining for the teachers to teach and introduce new material. I am hopeful that Piano Safari will start to become more popular in the piano teaching world and that more piano teachers will start using this method book for beginning students.

My students have really shown great progress with Piano Safari and they continue to play music and be successful with learning new material. As a music teacher, my goal is to introduce Piano Safari to different piano teachers and encourage teachers to introduce good, early habits and techniques to students so that one day they can become successful pianists. 

Author: Marisa Pickard

Marisa Pickard is currently a graduate student at DePaul University studying piano performance and teaches at the Christopher Laughlin School of Music in Northbrook, IL . She earned her Bachelors of Music in piano performance from the University of Alabama. Being an experienced piano teacher, she has taught piano lessons for five years and has served as president of the Music Teachers National Association chapter at the University of Alabama. During one summer, she participated in the Brevard Music Center Summer Institute.

Bibliography

“About Piano Safari.” Piano Safari. Accessed June 4, 2021. https://pianosafari.com/about/about-piano-safari/.

Crappell, Courtney. Teaching Piano Pedagogy: A Guidebook for Training Effective Teachers . New York: Oxford University Press, 2019.

Fisher, Katherine and Julie Knerr. Piano Safari Repertoire Book I . Piano Safari, LLC, 2018.

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I Love Coffee, I Love Tea: A Beginner Duet

I Love Coffee, I Love Tea , beginner piano duet is a wonderful way to introduce beginner students to the piano! Perfect for rote piano teaching, this method lays the foundation for many musical and technical skills and is designed for beginner pianists who want to play the piano immediately.

Originally from Piano Partners, Book 1 beginning method books, this version of “I Love Coffee, I Love Tea” contains the original duet music for all six variations, separate primo/secondo parts, and a stand-alone secondo page for an easier time during performances at two pianos. It also includes a “musical definitions” page, which will help new pianists to better learn the music markings, such as dynamics and articulation. In the Resources tab, we have added many tutorials to help you learn this rote piano piece. Even if you’ve never played before, you can learn this fun duet!   

🍵 I Love Coffee 🫖 I Love Tea is available in both print and downloadable PDF .   * Studio License Available!*

Watch Carolyn Shaak and her student play “I Love Coffee, I Love Tea”.  Carolyn has been teaching this unique beginning piano method since she and her husband Bernard Shaak created it 50 years ago.

Piano Tutorials – Melody 1-6 and Bass Part

In these tutorials, Jamie Shaak demonstrates the unique Shaak method with keyboard techniques, finger placement, and gives tips to help you learn this rote piece. These tutorials will help you learn this rote piece. Even if you’ve never played before, you can learn this fun duet!

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