(Faber Piano Adventures ). Contents: The Boogie Woogie March * Fiddler on the Roof * I Taut I Taw a Puddy-Tat * Matchmaker (from Fiddler on the Roof ) * Once Upon a December (from Anastasia ) * Over the Rainbow (from The Wizard of Oz ) * Superman (Theme) * This Is It! (Theme from the Bugs Bunny Show) * We're Off to See the Wizard (from The Wizard of Oz ).
Improve your sight-reading! Grade 1 is part of the best-selling series by Paul Harris guaranteed to improve your sight-reading! This workbook helps the player overcome problems, by building up a complete picture of each piece, through rhythmic and melodic exercises related to specific technical issues, then by studying prepared pieces with associated questions, and finally 'going solo' with a series of meticulously-graded sight-reading pieces. This new edition has been completely re-written, with new exercises and pieces to support the Associated Board's new sight-reading requirements from 2009. Improve your sight-reading! will help you improve your reading ability, and with numerous practice tests included, will ensure sight-reading success in graded exams.
The Sight Reading Books teach sight reading in a systematic way by creating exercises based on the same concepts that students are studying in the Lesson Books. Also includes rhythm sight reading drills and improvisation exercises to develop tactile freedom on the keyboard. Exercises are short and the music is generally easier than the corresponding pages in the Lesson Book.
First and foremost: THIS IS NOT A METHOD BOOK. It is precisely what it says it is: 300 Progressive Sight Reading Exercises! Volume One is comprised of 300 progressive eight-bar exercises that train reading skills for both hands equally: Half of the pieces emphasize the right hand, the other half emphasize the left. The first 32 exercises isolate the hands while the remaining exercises combine them. For most of the exercises, the de-emphasized hand stays within a single five-finger position. Time signatures include 4/4 (Common Time), 3/4, 2/4, 6/8, and 2/2 (Cut Time). This entire first volume is in C Major or its relative modes. Key signatures, accidentals, dynamics, tempo, and expressive markings will be covered in future volumes. All of the exercises are eight measures long. If one has done any study of formal analysis, they will find that eight measures is a typical ''period'' of music and usually contains two, four-bar phrases (also typical in length). For example, many sonatinas, jazz standards, and pop songs use "32 Bar Form" (A A B A), "Binary Form" (A B), and "Ternary Form" (A B A), with each section often being eight bars. Thus, eight measures (one period of music) makes the perfect length for sight-reading studies, in my opinion. Various strategies to using this book may be implemented. With my students, I start toward the beginning and zig-zag through the book, skipping the appropriate number of pages to make it into the more challenging sections. The further they are in the book, the more we skip. This approach prevents the student from memorizing the exercises, allowing for them to remain useful. Note: Although Amazon has classified this book as large print, there is also a LARGE PRINT version (much larger print) that for printing purposes had to be divided into two books, and is clearly marked on the cover and in the title. If you have poor vision or want this book to be easier to SEE on an electronic device, you might prefer the LARGE PRINT Version. "These books differ from conventional ''methods'' in that technical and theoretical instructions have been omitted, in the belief that these are more appropriately left for the teacher to explain to the student." - Bela Bartok, Mikrokosmos. I whole-heartedly agree with Bartok''s sentiment and if music teachers would ask their students what they like least (or hate the most) about typical lessons, it is the method books that win this contest EVERY TIME. I have completely eliminated method books from my own teaching practice and have much happier and more productive students than ever. While this book is intended to train sight-reading skills, it may also be used by beginners or those new to reading to acquire basic reading skills, but it assumes one either has a teacher or can at least find C on their instrument. It starts at a very basic level (only three notes) and adds a new note, rhythm, or concept every four exercises and thoroughly reinforces them throughout the rest of the book. Next, the music''s composition is a slave to its function: The purpose of the books is to train reading skill, and the exercises keep challenging the range that has been established by previous exercises as well as less-than-convenient intervalic skips. They are composed from a ''music-first'' perspective, as opposed to an ''instrument-first'' perspective, and are purposely composed to be difficult to memorize. For example, the first exercises begin on C because they are in the key of C, and then go on to sometimes start and end on different scale degrees of the same key. Those familiar with the Fundamental Modes will likely recognize what they are hearing, but those unfamiliar with these modes will likely be hearing something that sounds a bit different, or odd, until their ears acclimate to these sounds. I see many students go through this process with altered dominants and augmented triads as well.
This book of pieces aims to establish good practice and provide an early introduction to the essential skill of sight-reading. In Part 1 the basic keys of C, G, F and D major and A and D minor are explored while keeping the movement limited to steps, skips and repeated notes in a 5-note range. In Part 2 students are encouraged to identify the key for themselves. Accidentals, dotted notes, simple ties and syncopations occur in the exercises. Intervals of 4ths and 5ths are also included.
(Faber Piano Adventures ). Level 1 students can have lots of fun while developing strong sightreading skills. This inventive course uses sets of exercises based on melodic and rhythmic patterns from the Level 1 Lesson Book. Students play one exercise a day, while enjoying the entertaining musical art that guides their sightreading progress.
Sight-reading is a skill which offers a student access to all music literature; a skill through which he can acquaint himself with any composition, unaided by a teacher. Nor can the ability to sight-read be lost. Once musical notation has become a living picture for the student, it will remain so, and he will at any time afterward be able to perform any music whether he practices regularly or not. Sight-reading does not conflict with repertoire study. On the contrary, a good sight-reader has no trouble in perfecting a piece, and is all the more stimulated to do so. After a student has developed adequate facility in sight-reading, he is ready for unrehearsed or little rehearsed performance; this is especially important for chamber musicians and accompanists. Also, to musicians in other fields who take piano lessons as an additional subject, sight-reading will be very welcome. Thus it is suitable for every piano pupil. For the amateur student, however, the sight-reading method is imperative. Not only does it direct him to an appropriate goal-developing musicianship-but it also helps him to attain it. It is not the privilege of especially talented persons. To play a piano piece correctly at sight implies nothing more than a coordination of the player's ears, eyes, and hands. Every normal person can develop that coordination, though it may mean hard work for some. The efficacy of sight-reading has been proven by my own teaching experience and by that of my co-workers over a period of a great many years with numerous students of all ages and types. Most of our students would have failed under traditional instruction. Many actually had failed, but they resumed their piano studies with our new approach and then succeeded.
