The Bear is Sleeping: Lesson Ideas
The Bear is Sleeping is a traditional song arranged by Alan Bullard. It features in Piano Exam Pieces for Initial Grade in the 2025 & 2026 Piano syllabus.
This resource created by Karen Marshall is designed to be taught over approximately 6 weeks.
Karen Marshall has provided a resource toolkit in the style of her ABRSM Piano Star Skills Builder book. You can find some free sample pages for Karen's book here to download and please visit the ABRSM shop to purchase a copy.
By exploring these activities, you will be:
- Incorporating the other elements of the examination – sight reading, scales/arpeggios and aural skills.
- Teaching to play the piece musically with good technique.
- Using the piece to develop musicianship skills including improvising and performing with expression.
Get started by clicking left and right or using the chapter headings on the right-hand side.
1. What skills are we building?
Aural skills
The aural activities help to develop your pupil’s ability to listen, sing, mark a pulse and echo a rhythm, which are assessed in the aural tests for this grade. Aural skills are foundational in helping your pupil to play musically and have a much deeper understanding of what they are performing.
Reading skills
The reading activities practice all the notation that is included in the piece. The random notation is to help your pupil identify the notes independently. The other miniature pieces also include notes within the piece, but also practise the style of tests in the initial grade exam (including articulation and dynamics). In the exam your pupil will only need to do a C major and D minor position, not F major.
Technical and creative skills
The technical activities are all based on pentascales, the first five notes of a scale. Here C major, D minor and F major are explored, the pentascales used in The Bear is Sleeping. Pupils also get the opportunity to improvise their own tunes using these note patterns.
On the following pages, activities have been suggested in a weekly pattern. These lesson plans may move at a pace too quick or too slow for your pupil, so please feel free to amend these lesson ideas to suit your pupils' needs.