Giant Stew: In the Hall of the Mountain King
- Sarah Lyngra
- Oct 5
- 3 min read
Every year around this time (autumn), I pull out the Halloween and Fall themed materials.
The originals were illustrated by my mom (check out the previous blog for a free pdf).
This year's addition to the collection is an expanded version on Giant Stew. Giant Stew is the Musicland take on Grieg's In the Hall of the Mountain King.
The previous version is on a single staff with the first 4 bars repeated 4 times going up an octave each time. It's in A minor and the lyrics are a recipe. (you can download it here).
Last year I my students did a Hall of the Mountain King challenge where they transposed the first bar or so into all 12 minor keys.
This year's expanded version is the first 24 bars of the original In the Hall of the Mountain King, in the original key of B minor. Giant Stew just keeps getting better and better.
Teaching point 1:
The beginning uses the notes of a 5 note minor scale, and later the same melody is repeated as a 5 note major scale. This is a perfect opportunity to play around the circle of 5ths. My less experienced students use the 5 note major and minor scale cards, students who have been with me for a while don't need them anymore.
Teaching point 2:
I always keep a one of the Key Finder Keeper folders at the piano because we refer to the circle of 5ths in every lesson, and the rhythm reference comes in handy. In the case of this piece, B minor is related to D major, so I have my students show me the connected names on the circle. We spend time going between the B minor first inversion triad to the root position D major triad.
Teaching point 2 bonus:
If the student is more advanced we will play a few other related key triads C major to A minor, E flat major to C minor, or whatever they roll using a 12 sided die.
Teaching point 3:
The B section of the piece is in the key of F sharp major. F sharp is the perfect 5th above B. The left hand plays a lot of perfect 5ths. This is reinforcing of the relationships between the keys.
Teaching point 4:
There is a chromatic parallel 3rd descending line, as part of the main melody. Students will play that melodic snippet starting on different places on the keyboard, one hand or two. It's a perfect segue into enharmonic spellings.
The tools I use to make this easier to get are:
Key name card for enharmonic note names
5 note major and minor scale cards
Triads and inversions chord cards.
Students love the lyrics. The recent addition of the B section in F sharp Major meant we needed more ingredients for the stew. Some of my students live on farms or rural areas and have told me that they can bring them to a lesson to make Giant Stew here. . . Yummy.
I wish you could have seen the last lesson I taught the piece. The room got brighter and brighter as the lightbulbs in his head kept switching on. The student has a Norwegian connection, his grandfather lives in Oslo, so it was especially exciting for him.
This is a perfect way to have your students play around in all 12 keys, both major and minor!
Happy Playing!
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