The Piano Lesson Companion Book

Studio Edition

Level 1

Student Book
2nd Edition

A Graduated Piano Curriculum

Elise Beckett Russell

Copyright2012 The Piano Curriculum Series LLC

Original Copyright 2003 Library of Congress
Printed in the United States of America
All rights reserved. No part of this book shall be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information or retrieval system without
written permission of the Publisher. This book is protected under the Official Seal of the United States
Copyright Office, Library of Congress.
The Piano Curriculum Series LLC
POB 17651
Sugar Land, Texas 77496-7651

Contract for Piano Lessons

1. Your teacher will write your daily assignments on the Practice Chart.
2. Look at your daily schedule and decide the best time to practice.
I will go to the piano every day at ________________________________.
3. I will begin every practice with my relaxation exercises.
4. I will read my notebook every day.
5. I will complete all of my assignments in my books and The Piano Lesson
Companion Book.
6. I will record my practice time on my assignment sheet.
7. My parent or guardian will sign my practice log each week.

__________________________________________
Student Signature

__________________________________________
Teacher Signature

__________________________________________
Parent Signature

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Syllabus

Lesson and Practice Format

general guidelines

Level 1

30 Minute Lesson:
Relaxation exercises:
Technique: Scales, Exercises, sight reading
Piano and Performance Books:
Theory/Vocabulary/Music Appreciation:

5 minutes
5 minutes
15 minutes
5 minutes

45 Minute Lesson:
Relaxation exercises:
Technique: Scales, Exercises, sight reading
Piano and Performance Books:
Theory/Vocabulary/Music Appreciation:

5 minutes
10 minutes
20 minutes
10 minutes

Relaxation Exercises:
Before each practice session, it is important for you to be relaxed and focused. These exercises will
help you.
1.

Breathing Exercise: In a standing position, inhale through your nose, deeply. Exhale
through your mouth. Do this 10 times each day.

2.

Shoulder Rotations: Sometimes our shoulders are very tight and we need to relax them.
In a standing position, lift your shoulders up, almost touching your ears. Press them
forward, towards your chest, down and back. Do this several times forward and several
times backwards.

3.

Hand Shaking: This may look silly, but it helps the blood flow through your hands,
warming them up and ready to play beautiful music. Raise your arms above your head.
Shake your hands for 15 seconds. Now put your arms out in front, shake your hands for
15 seconds. Finally drop your arms to your sides and shake your hands for 15 seconds.
This should make your hands and fingers feel very tingly.

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Students will progress from Primer level through Level 12.

This course of study is geared towards the DEVELOPING PIANO
STUDENT, beginning in corresponding school grades.
Students with special needs, limited ability or accelerated ability will
move through the books at a different pace.
Students completing all levels of this course should be prepared to
audition at any major universitys college of music, if they so desire.
This course is not intended to be a method series. It is intended to assist
in guiding students smoothly through the advancing levels of piano
education, with an emphasis on musicianship and music appreciation.

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Table of Contents
Pages
Assignments Sheets

Scales

47

Warm-up Exercises

64

Theory

73

Vocabulary

93

Music Appreciation

95

Year in Review

117

Reference Page

118

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LESSON 42
Lesson Day:
1
Total Minutes:

PRACTICE CHART

Parent Signature

Check List:

Breathing Exercise
Shoulder Rotations
Hand Shaking
Adjusting Bench

Weekly Assignments:
Scales:
C Major HT G Major HT D Major HT A Major HT
E Major HT B Major HT F Major HT
Warm-Up Exercises: ____________________________________________
1: _______________________________________________________________

_________________________________________
2: _______________________________________
_________________________________________
3: _______________________________________________________________

_________________________________________
4: _______________________________________
_________________________________________
Teacher Comments:

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Parent Comments:

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SCALES
Musicians study scales, which means ladder in Latin, to help understand how our
music is put together.
You will be learning seven different scales this year.
They are C Major, G Major, D Major, A Major, E Major, B Major and F Major.
All begin on white keys.
Each scale is put together in a pattern.
The pattern for these scales is made up of whole steps and half steps.
The order in which you put each step is very important.
There are five whole steps and two half steps.
The pattern is as follows:

Half-step

Whole-step

Half-step

Whole-step
Whole-step

Whole-step
Whole-step
Starting note

Remember that a half step is just two notes, right next door to one another.
Most half-steps are black-to-white or white-to-black.
There are two white-to-white half steps.
They are E-F and B-C.
A whole step is two half steps put together.
In our Major scales, we always have the half steps between notes 3-4 and 7-8.

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Chords are a group of notes played at the same time.

We will be learning chords that are three notes, stacked in thirds (skips).
Cadences are chords that we put at the end of our scales.
This gives the musician a feeling that the scale is finished.
Our scales (in Levels 1-4) will have three chords at the end of them.
An Arpeggio is a broken chord.
If you take a chord and play it, one note at a time, it is called an arpeggio.
When we write Major scales and chords, we always use CAPITAL LETTERS.

ASSIGNMENT: The following assignment is to be used for all scales.

1. Write the fingering for the scale.
The right hand will be above the notes and the left hand, below.
2. Write the fingering for the cadence.
The right hand will be above the notes and the left hand, below.
3. Write the fingering for the arpeggio.
The right hand will be above the notes and the left hand, below.
4. Practice the scale at 3 different speeds to be assigned by your teacher.

Speed:

1. _________________________
2. _________________________
3._________________________

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C MAJOR SCALE
The C Major Scale has 7 different notes. They are:

(C)

The fingering is as follows:

Right Hand:

C-1

D-2

E-3

F-1

G-2

A-3

B-4

C-5

Left Hand:

C-5

D-4

E-3

F-2

G-1

A-3

B-2

C-1

The C Major Chord is made up of 3 notes:

You play all of these notes at the same time.

The fingering is as follows:
Right Hand:

C-1

E-3

G-5

Left Hand:

C-5

E-3

G-1

The C Major Cadence is made up of two different chords:

(C)

When you play the cadence, you will play the C Major Chord in root position (stacked
in intervals of 3rds-skips).
The G Major Chord is stacked in intervals of 3rds and 4ths.
Notice that the note G is in the same place in both chords.
The fingering is as follows:
Right Hand:

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C-1
B-1
C-1

E-3
D-2
E-3

G-5
G-5
G-5

Left Hand:

2007 The Piano Curriculum Series LLC

C-5
B-5
C-5

E-3
D-3
E-3
PCS002

G-1
G-1
G-1

The C Major Arpeggio is made up of the C Major chord, played one note at a time.
The word arpeggio means, Harp like.
The fingering is as follows:
Right Hand:

C-1

E-2

G-3

C-5

G-3

E-2

C-1

Left Hand:

C-5

E-4

G-2

C-1

G-2

E-4

C-5

Your scales should be practiced HANDS SEPARATELY (HS) first.

Once you have mastered those hands separately, you may play them HANDS
TOGETHER (HT).

Right Hand Scale

Fingering

C Major

Left Hand Scale

Fingering

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Tonic-Dominant

(1st Inversion)-Tonic

Right Hand I-V6-I

Fingering

Cadence
Left Hand I-V6-I

Fingering

Broken Tonic Triad

Right Hand Arpeggio
Fingering

Left Hand Arpeggio

Fingering

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WARM-UP EXERCISES
Each exercise should be played through two times.
Make sure you work on playing slowly, using the correct fingering.
Watch your finger joints, so they dont collapse.
Once completed in the Key of C Major, try transposing into other keys that you have
learned.

3A. Right Hand

5
1

4
3
2

4
3
2

5
1

3B. Left Hand

1
5

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2
3
4

1
5

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3
4

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THEORY
Lesson 11
1. Circle the time signature.
2. Put a box around the half notes.
3. Put an S between the notes that skip.
4. Draw an arrow pointing to all the sharps.

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Vocabulary
1. Chord: three or more notes played at the same time.
2. Double Bar Line: two vertical lines ( || ) placed side-by-side on the staff. It tells
the performer that it is the end of a section or a piece.
3. Duet: A piece written for two performers
4. F Clef: another name for the bass clef.
5. Final Bar Line: a double bar line with one thin line followed by one thicker line
on the staff. It tells the performer that it is the end of the piece.

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Music Appreciation
Lesson 2
The inside of the piano has many different parts.
The largest part is a cast iron frame; just like a frame surrounds and holds a picture in
place, this frame holds the strings and soundboard together. The frame is placed on top of
the soundboard and it holds almost everything.

Cast Iron Frame

On top of the frame sits the strings.

The lowest strings run the entire length of a grand piano. The highest notes have strings
that are less than 12 long.

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The strings cross over a felt pad and are attached to TUNING PINS. The string wraps around
the pin. The pins can be turned to make the pitch of each note higher or lower.

The hammers are below or behind the strings. When you press a note, it pushes the
hammer into the strings, causing the strings to make their sounds.

The dampers, which sit on top of the strings, are also pushed up. When the hammer falls
away from the strings, the damper then falls back onto the strings and quiets the sound.

Have your teacher show you all of these different parts inside his or her piano. Then go home and
see if you can find them on your piano.

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The Year in Review

Print Your Name Here: ___________________________________________________
School year: _________ Grade

Calendar Year: 20____ to 20____

My favorite subject in school is: _________________________________________

My best friend is: ________________________________________________________
My method books are: ___________________________________________________
Written by: _________________________________________________________
My special pieces were:
1. _____________________________________________________________________
2. ______________________________________________________________________
3. ______________________________________________________________________
My favorite piece this year was:
__________________________________________________________________________
Events I participated in:
1. _____________________________________________________________________
2. ______________________________________________________________________
3. ______________________________________________________________________
My biggest accomplishment in piano this year was:
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________

CONGRATULATIONS!
You are now ready to go to Level 2 of
The Piano Lesson Companion BooK
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