Second Year Piano Student Theory

Including theory as an integral part of piano instruction is vital.  The second year theory program might include:

1. Subdominant minor chords (inverted position)
2. Augmented chords
3. Diminished chords
4. Writing major scales

Subdominant Minor Chords

In the first year melodies are harmonized with major I, IV and V7 chords.  Minor melodies may also be harmonized with i, iv, and V7 chords.  Students should already have learned minor tonic chords and dominant seventh chords (the same for major and minor), so the only new chord in the progression is the iv chord in minor.  The purpose for learning this new chord is for functional usage in minor tonalities.  It is more practical for students to learn to play this chord in all minor keys than it is for them to learn to write the chord.  Students may first learn the progression i, iv, i in all minor keys.  Following this they can learn i, iv, i, V7, i.

Augmented Chords

An augmented triad is made of a major third and an augmented fifth.  The word augment means to make larger.  Raise the top note (5th) of a major triad 1/2 step to form an augmented chord.

Diminished Chords

A diminished triad is made of a minor third and a diminished fifth.  The word diminished means to make smaller.  Lower the top note (5th) of a minor triad 1/2 step to form a diminished chord.

Writing Major Scales

Sometime during the second year students may be taught the pattern of whole and half steps that make up the major scales.  They should memorize the pattern whole-whole-half, whole-whole-whole-half or WWH WWWH.  They aught to be shown how to assign degree numbers to the eight notes of the major scale and how to formulate the major scale numeric pattern of a half-step between degrees 3-4 and 7-8.

For more information about piano lessons in Basking Ridge, please contact Barbara Ehrlich Piano Studio.

Adding Chords to a Melody

Adding chords to a given melody is a great type of creative work to learn keyboard among beginner piano students. In supplying an accompaniment to a given melody, the student first studies the melody thoroughly until it can be played fluently, and until the child can think the tones away from the keyboard. Then he experiments at the piano with the I and V7 chords until an acceptable accompaniment is evolved. Each child decides for himself the way he thinks the chords may best be used. Then, the student plays his arrangements to the piano teacher and comes to an agreement as to the most effective accompaniment. That may be transcribed to his composition book.

Another creative project might be to have the student complete an unfinished composition. This gives him the opportunity to make up some music. Give the student the first half of a little song, and have him finish it. First have him complete the melody. The part which is given is like a musical question, and the student completes the answer. Then he must complete the accompaniment with chords which sound well with his part of the melody. When it is all done, it will be fun to sing and play some pieces which he has helped to compose.

His attention should be called to the balance and proportion of the two phrases. He should observe the feeling of "question" in the first phrase and of "answer" in the second. Children enjoy the game of musical "question and answer" in which the child or teacher invents the question and the other invents the answer.

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Different Kinds of Drills

Drill on Five-Finger Positions on Treble and Bass Staves. The positions are typically shown in the early literature. The piano teacher drills the student in finding these hand positions and then may call for the "five-finger position of the right hand, treble staff, key of G," or "the five-finger position of the left hand, bass staff, key of A-minor," etc. This drill can be reversed by the teacher playing the phrase and the student pointing to the notation in his book. This helps with early fundamentals in learning keyboard fingering.

Theory of Music. Naming the notations, key signatures, names of chords, and so forth are learned incidentally and not through drill. After a while when these are consistently called by their names, students will soon associate the correct names with familiar characters. Drilling theory is distasteful to young children and unproductive. But once notations and their names are familiar, it is good to occasionally question the student to be sure that the association is correct. Don't explain, merely use and call by name. Organized explanations will come in later years.

The Tonic Chord. The tonic chord is learned as it appears in the literature, and then serves for drill similar to the drill on the five-finger positions. All chord study should be presented as sound, not merely as notes.

Writing Music. As chords are studied in later lessons, students can write chords in predesignated keys. Later students are encouraged to discover experimentally the application of these chords in harmonizing the melodies, and to write the chords in the staves of predesignated pieces themselves.

Two-Handed Melodies. Drills can be developed in finding the two-hand positions and alternating the hands on the keyboard. The alternation of hands must be practiced until it can be done without an appreciable break in the legato passage. These little studies should never be played with both hands together.

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Tempo

Tempo is one of the elements of interpretation through which the nature of an artist expresses itself. The piano teacher needs to make sure that tempo is observed and evaluated in the study of each composition. The student's ability to control and express his interpretation in piano classes will thereby grow in his capacity to be clear and expressive.

The general time gradations in the performance of a piece of music, sometimes called agogics,are important in determining the character of an interpretation. First of all, the rate of speed (tempo) of the piece as a whole should be determined. The composer usually indicates the tempo by such terms as andante, allegro, etc., though these terms are subject to various interpretations depending on the character of the music itself. Sometimes the tempo is indicated by a metronome mark, though even this is subject to variation under different conditions, as, for example, in recital halls of various sizes. Many compositions are printed without tempo indications, and then the general character of the music must determine the rate of speed of the performance.

After the general tempo has been decided comes the consideration of variations of speed during the performance, accelerandos, ritardandos, etc. The more important of these changes in the rate of speed are usually indicated by the composer, though there are infinite subtleties too delicate to be recorded in notation. For instance, an ascending passage sometimes pushes forward, and the close of a composition is liable to slow down somewhat. Few pieces should be played with metronomic precision in classical music tempo - ebb and flow is very desirable. These variations should not be overdone, though, since the effect of exaggeration is as inartistic as is clock-like metronomic regularity. On the other hand, it is important to develop the ability to maintain a given tempo, without hurrying or slowing down.

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Creative Individuality

Encouraging Musical imagination to Self-Expression. Creative work stimulates the musical imagination of the student to self express. Beginning with little musical questions and answers, the student is taught to capture the fugitive melodies which flit through the minds of all people of musical sensitiveness, and to organize them into little compositions. The experience is not intended to develop composers so much as it is to lead the student to a keener appreciation of the music the he hears and studies.

Development of Creative Individuality. From the earliest lessons, a piano teacher NJ should encourage children to play according to their own conception of the spirit of the music they are studying, and as early as possible the study of fingerings, phrasing, etc., to encourage children to think these matters through for themselves. Such piano instruction will also stimulate the student to think between lessons, and lead him to work out his own conception of the interpretations of the pieces assigned him for study. In this way his individuality will be developed on the basis of his growing taste and musical discrimination.

For more information about piano lessons NJ, contact Barbara Ehrlich Piano Studio.