{"id":91627,"plugin_id":"plugin_asdk_app_6ac6c59baa5881919dc6fa7330476942","kind":"skill","collection_source":"plugin_package","comparison_source":null,"observed_at":"2026-11-11T18:09:51.808Z","digest":"b05b1dfb05c38d3cea4f3c4b702b4ab03c2c93380f26d26bd99286b6584cb710","against":null,"payload":{"description":"Simplify or adapt a piano score in PlayableNotes for a particular student or level (beginner, early intermediate, an easier left hand, smaller hands, no octaves).","included_files":[],"name":"arrange-for-student","skill_md_contents":"---\nname: arrange-for-student\ndescription: Simplify or adapt a piano score in PlayableNotes for a particular student or level (beginner, early intermediate, an easier left hand, smaller hands, no octaves).\n---\n\n# Arranging for a student\n\nThe goal is a version this student can play well that still sounds like the piece. Keep the melody recognisable and the harmony intact; remove difficulty, not music.\n\n## First, pin down the student\n\nIf the teacher hasn't said, ask one short question, the level or what the student struggles with, unless the request is already specific (\"no octaves\", \"easier left hand\"). Use the levels below as shared vocabulary. They are a draft based on common method-book sequences (Faber Piano Adventures, Alfred's Basic, RCM / ABRSM grades); the teacher's own description always wins.\n\n| Level | Roughly | Right hand | Left hand | Rhythm | Keys and range |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| **1 · First year** | Primer to Level 1; pre-Grade 1 | Melody only, mostly steps and skips within a five-finger position; one position shift at a phrase | Single notes or open fifths, one per measure or per half note | Whole, half, quarter; dotted half; quarter rests | C, G, F major and A minor; within two octaves of middle C; no ledger lines past two |\n| **2 · Late beginner** | Level 2 to 3A; Grade 1 | Melody with occasional two-note intervals; small shifts | Root-position triads or root and fifth on strong beats; simple broken chords in quarters | Adds eighth pairs, dotted quarter and eighth, ties | Up to two sharps or flats |\n| **3 · Early intermediate** | Level 3B to 4; Grades 2 and 3 | Melody with thirds and sixths and simple ornaments written out | Alberti or broken-chord patterns in eighths; inversions; occasional bass line | Sixteenths in short groups, syncopation, triplets | Up to three sharps or flats; hand-crossing rare |\n| **4 · Intermediate** | Level 5 and beyond; Grades 4 and 5 | Close to the original; thin only the thickest textures | Most patterns kept; octaves allowed | Original | Original key unless asked |\n\n## Techniques (lightest first)\n\n1. **Thin chords**: keep the melody (top) and the bass (bottom), and drop inner doublings. Keep the third of the chord when you can, because it defines the harmony.\n2. **Simplify the accompaniment**: turn running patterns into block chords on the beat. For example, an Alberti bass in eighths becomes one chord per half measure, then one chord per measure.\n3. **Remove octaves**: keep the note in the most comfortable register, usually the upper note in the left hand and the lower in the right.\n4. **Simplify rhythm**: turn dotted figures into even values, sixteenth runs into eighths, and fast ornaments into the main note, while keeping the melody's shape.\n5. **Narrow the range**: move passages by an octave to stay near the middle of the keyboard. Move whole phrases, not single notes.\n6. **Shorten runs and arpeggios**: keep the start and the target note, and cut the middle.\n7. **Change the key** (only if the teacher allows it): to one with fewer accidentals. See `change-key`.\n\nKeep the meter, the number of measures, repeats, dynamics, slurs and articulations. If a measure can't be simplified without losing the tune, simplify the left hand more and the right hand less.\n\n## Doing it in PlayableNotes\n\n1. Call `get_score` and look at the whole piece before changing anything. Identify the melody and the harmony in each measure.\n2. Decide on one consistent treatment for each section. For example, \"LH: one chord per measure, root position; RH: melody only, no octaves\".\n3. For a whole-piece arrangement, send the whole KM to `edit_score`. Every voice line must still add up to the measure, and `s/` spacers must stay where voices drop out.\n4. Summarise what changed for the teacher, and offer one follow-up, such as \"Want the left hand even simpler in the B section?\". Mention `share_with_student` when the version is for a particular student.\n"},"changes":[],"summary":"First saved snapshot. No earlier version is available for comparison.","summary_kind":"deterministic","summary_metadata":{}}