Description
Book SynopsisThis book is concise, practical, and has modular content that can be taught in several flexible formats. The introduction of one hundred musical elements is supported by three hundred activities.Ten core melodies and seventeen other authentic pieces are carefully sequenced in mostly fixed hand positions. The intervallic reading of melodic notation is emphasized. Melodic repetition and gradually more demanding accompaniments help students with divergent abilities to play successfully. Students with prior musical experience will find that this course introduces them to aspects of musicianship that will enhance their future efforts.This book will facilitate meeting the Core Music Standards for grades 5 through 8, and the novice/intermediate Harmonizing Instruments Strand. It will help prepare students for the novice/intermediate Ensemble Strand, the proficient Composition/Theory Strand and the proficient Technology Strand. It will also facilitate introductory college instruction.
Trade ReviewThe Keyboard/Guitar strand of the National Core Music Standards calls for students to become not only performers, but also creators of music. Pat Bissell's book presents strategies and sequences — developed over years of dedicated work with urban and suburban children — designed to help students achieve the standards. I applaud in particular her use of authentic musical examples and emphasis on improvisation through aural understanding. Teachers who incorporate this book into their keyboard classes — not to mention their private lessons — will give their students the gifts of joy and creativity. -- Scott C. Shuler, PhD, Consultant, Solutions Music Group; Past-President, NAfME: The National Association for Music Education
This innovative approach to learning the keyboard provides an unique, sequential approach that utilizes iconic notation to teach harmonic structure, intervals, and melodic structures. By starting with finger numbers, students are able to achieve instant success without the anxiety that can sometimes accompany trying to learn traditional music staff notation as a beginner. This approach to keyboard instruction provides a logical sequence that will take the student from finger numbers to reading traditional music staff notation, all the while incorporating improvisation and building an understanding of intervals and chord progressions. The inclusion and explanation of how chord progressions work in music, often absent in more traditional piano instructional methods, is especially useful for teachers who desire to include composition, improvisation, and aural musicianship into their pedagogy. -- Bryan Powell, Executive Director, Association of Popular Music Education
Classroom Keyboard offers students much more than the standard series of keyboard melodies and technical exercises. The authors provide students with the tools for understanding chords, patterns, and scales while they are developing their performance skills. A special feature of the book is the inclusion of composition activities enabling students to make the music their own. The book laudably takes a comprehensive approach to teaching musicianship as a combination of technique, creativity, and musical understanding. -- John Kratus, Ph.D., Professor of Music Education, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI
Table of ContentsNOTATION 1 Musical Sound White Key Names The Keyboard Octave and Middle C Posture and Hands C position Playing Keyboards Step, Skip and Repeat Pitch Motion 2 Hand Positions Changing Position Playing Music Composition One 3 Rhythm Notes and Rests Treble Clef and Staff Beats and Notes Lines and Spaces Notated Pitch Motion Playing Melodies 4 Time Signatures Notes and Beats Bass Clef and Staff Beats and Notes Stems & Grand Staff Composition Two 5 Dots & Ties Partial Measures 6 Shorter Notes and Rests Composition Three CHORDS 7 Overtones Intervals Notated Intervals 8 Chords Notated Chords Chord Progressions 9 Chord Structure Chord Inversion 5 Fingers, 7 pitches Improvised Endings Composition Four 10 Lead Sheets Composition Five 11 Chording Styles Song Accompaniment Rock Styles F MAJOR 12 Half and Whole Steps C Major Scale Black Key Names Notated Accidentals Scales & The Blues 13 Transposition Key Signatures 14 Scale Degrees Chord Structure Chord Inversion Key Change Composition Six 15 Chording Styles Hand Changes Partial Chords 16 Song Accompaniment Composition Seven G MAJOR 17 Transposition Key Signatures 18 Scale Degrees Chord Structure Chord Inversion Ledger Lines 19 Dotted Quarter Notes Composition Eight 20 Chording Styles Song Accompaniment 21 Hand Changes Expression Composition Nine MINOR 22 Major and Minor Chords Chord Symbols Scale Degrees Key of C Chords 23 Three Pitch Chords Any Triad, Any Key Four Pitch Chords Seventh Chords Dominant Seventh Basic Chord Types Key of C 7th Chords Altered Chords 24 Major and Minor Modes Minor Chords Scale Degrees Harmonic Minor Scale 25 Perfect Fifths & Signatures Circle of Fifths Keys with Flats and Sharps Composition Ten
