———_ 4 BOOK 1: STARTING TO PLAY i The Classi¢ \ Piano Course The new piano course for older beginners by CAROL BARRATT ’ 4 A ’ 4Place your right hand in the position shown, ‘You are now ready to play the notes C DEF Play these five notes going up and then down, Look at where the notes are positioned on the stave (ie, on which line or space). Legato ‘As you play the exercises below, hold each note until you play the next note. Then let it go -it isa ‘see-saw’ action. This kind of touch is called degato- Italian for smooth or Joined-up’. Itis used for most of the music you will play. Think of smooth, even, connected, but make sure that one sound does not overlap with the next. Starting points - Right hand Look at the time signature of each exercise and count evenly as you play. ‘Now practise the above exercises saying the letter-names Go Sime) as you play. Notice where each not is written fon the stave e.g. Dis in the space Below the stave, the Ist line and F is in the 1st space,Au Clair De La Lune Repeated notes can’t be played with a frue legato. In bar 1, try to play the three repeated Cs as smoothly as you can ~ the following notes, € to D to E etc. are easily played legato. = Repeat sign- repeat from the beginning or from the nearest | French Folk Song ‘Accompaniment for teacher (or friend/son/daughtert.. Moderato RM. aay LH - Shoo Shaggie (Counts are not usually written in - you should count in your head all the time.) 3 Scottish Lullaby Teacher's accompanimentChange hanas Place your left hand in the position shown, You are now ready to play the notes F GAB ¢. Play these five notes going down from Middle ¢ ang then up. Notice where each note is positioned, Look at page 12: the stems go up on the right ofthe no head from Middle © upwards. (On this page: on these notes the stems go down on the deft of the note head from Middle C downwards. Hints and Reminders 1. Listen as you play ~ make sure that you are playing legato. 2. Try not to look down at your hands, 3. Remember to hold your fingers in a curved shape. Starting points - Left hand Fingering 2 "Now practise the ahove exercises saying the leer-nemeg {in time) as you play. Notice where each note ison the stave eg. Bis inthe space above the stave, Ais on the Sth line, @ is in the 4th space.Air Des Bouffons f= forte = oud P= piano = son When you play a key with a little weight or pressure, you make a soff tone. When you use more weight, you make a /oud tone, French Folk Tune Largo (from the ‘New World’ Symphony ) Adapted from Slowly Antonin Dvorak (1841-1904)Pick ‘n’ mIx A multi-piano work-out “These four exercises will work together - at the same time. paral, You could record one or two of them to lay angie, Ifyou are on your own, just practise each exercise 7 it each exercise at a If you are in a group situation with one, two or more keyboards; Pui comfortable octave for each player - higher or lowe! ‘Two or three players at one piano can be quite an experience! Exercise 1 should be played at the highest pitch and the J exercises must be positioned delow the Geverises Experiment with the different areas of the keyboard. L CB.‘Teacher's accompaniment “This must be played above al the other parts. Play it one or two octaves higher than written, RH ‘Suggested ttoning ‘This ‘workout’ Is written in ‘waltz’ time. Listen to The Bive Danube Waitz by Johann Strauss lI (1825-99) to put you in the ‘ood. You wil be playing an excerpt yourself before you reach the end of this Book. 413Alternating hands Place both hands in the position shown. Play these 9 notes in contrary motion (both hands moving together but in different directions eg, from fingers 1-5 and back) starting from both thumbs on Middle C. The following pieces will contain notes in both the treble and bass staves. Reading Hint When notes move from space to space or line to line, skip out one white key. == eg. EtG GtoB skip out F skip out A Accent >( J f) = Accent (play slightly louder than other notes). Hint Decide how loud or soft you want a key to sound before you play it, A Surprise! Theme from ‘The Surprise’ Symphony Adapted from Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)Canons A canon 1s a piece of music where two or more parts follow each other with the same tune, When you reach # , a teacher/fiiend ean j in in, starting from the beginning, to make a proper canon, Teyou are in a group lesson, other pupils can join in at other octaves or on other pianos. Tallis’ Canon Preves don’t always start with the first beat of the bar, In this piece, the last bar has only 3 counts because the first bar Aqque with count 4. (First and last bars must add up to the time signature.) ‘Count 2.2 3 and then start playing on 4 ‘Thomas Tallis (1505-85) Tos’ Canon was witon dug te reign of QusenEhzabet ater, Sergomin Briton (191376) used in his opera Noyes Pca. Barratt’s Canon!; ition shown, 24 ur left hand in the position shown, Fear nw realy t play the notes © DEFG an octave below Middle ©. Play these S notes going up and down from the new ¢, Stems “Above the third line the stems go down. Below the third line the stems go 1p. On the third line the stem can go up or down, Ode To Joy ‘Theme from the last movement of the Ninth Symphony Fascinating snippet ‘is symphony has more than stood the test of tm: 8 one of he eatest masterpieces ever witten, despite the composer's worsening detness, However when twas fst performed, nota Ihe ees mere complimentary: We find Beethoven's Ninth Srmohony to be precisely one hour and five minutes long fart Peo indeed, which puts the muscles and lungs ofthe band, ond ‘he paence ofthe aucience toa severe trial. te last movement chon, is heterogeneous. What relation it bears to the syshony [= eo pk make out. {The Harmonican, London, ABH 1825.) Adapted from Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) *Your ear may want your finger to play this more correct but “hk Od more difficult *hythm. See page 21. SK ht) 18 LogeQuavers Aquaver 2 (org is twice as fast as acrotchet. J = + J ‘Two quavers are usually joined together to make one count. J = Jd To start with, say the word ‘and’ between the counts. Emphasise the main beats, keeping the ‘and’s quieter. countas = youplay — Se= fu 1+ 2 34 1-2-3 (and) Phrase-marks ‘The long curved lines over the notes below are called phrase-marks. ‘Music, like language, is expressed in phrases. A phrase is a musical sentence or idea ~ imagine taking a breath at the end of each phrase-mark and lift your hand off briefly without changing speed. Unless directed otherwise, play all the notes within each phrase-mark smoothly (legato). ‘Add two phrase-marks to Ode ta Jay on page 18. Ode To Joy (contd. from previous page) . ad. dd) Now play all 16 bars of the Ode to Joy theme continuously, from page 18-19. Suggested listening Beethoven's Ninth Symphony (last movement) and Brahms’ Fist Symphony (see page 22) last movement) This symphony i ene See ee oe eecemes ooDin, Don Spanish Folk Song hse. Shepherd’s Hey Ina bar of ff ifthe first or last two beats are quavers, they can be grouped in fours. English Country Dance oe oS tts Ff cndtime p) Ustening Suteeetet vere folk dance arrangements make Interesting listening,Dotted crotchets ‘A dot placed after a note makes it halfas long again. Adotted crotenet J) = J todd + Id Clap the chythm for bars 1-4 of the Skye Boat Song. glo od) 1d dll od] 12 | 1-243 162 300 2-24 3 2-2-3 K Skye Boat Song \ A Lullaby from the Isle of Skye Fintsh D.C. al Fine = back to the beginning and finish at the word Fine. (D.C. (Da Capo) = repeat from the beginning)Hands together Play these notes = both hands together, © Practise hands separately at first andl theny when each part is perfect, try the pieve hhanals together SLOWLY, Playing it faster is no problem once you know it well, © Practise with the correct fingering, © Practse beginning at any bar of the piece, © Liston as you play, ALWAYS Hint Tethe rhythms are very tricky, try tapping them out = tap out the R.H. rhythm on your right knee and the L.H. rhythm on your left knee, Practise knees separately then knees together! Three ‘Hands Together’ Exercises 1 Follow the directions of the arrows = they have been added to this exercise to help you. Bary 1-2, hands move in similar motion (both hands moving together in the same direction). Bars 3-4, hands move in contrary motion (see page 14). 34 RH. A hint of Three Blind Mice’, . LH. A hint of Frere Jacques’,First Study In the original version the left hand plays chords. This simplified arrangement has been designed to develop co-ordination between the hands. Adapted from Karl Czemy (1791-1857) ery mas Verese composer taut by Baethoven, who made hsb acs reputation a8 pane teacher. His two m8 29 tame wer 1) tne tagt US on 2) ha he wot vst cotestons of sudes and exercisesChords ‘Two or more notes played together are called a chord. Find and play the chords below, saying both letter-names. (Use ar = te =o * tttwo notes of a chord are adjacent notes, the written notes ft sideways. y suitable fingering.) a he f Drink To Me Only An excerpt J In vocal music, singing more than one note on one syllable is shown by a slur, e.g. 4d in bar 3 below. with Traditional English Song =Carefree John Danie! Gottlob Tiirk (1756-1813) 4 Reminder: check that you are still holding your hands in a curved shape. Miserable Mary!Expression marks « rerest re musical. Composers use expression marks to make pieces sound more interesting and mo Most of these derive from Italian terms used since the Renaissance. Dynamics. Notes can be varied by playing them with different degrees of weight and intensity. Composers indicate their intentions by writing a dynamic marking under the note. See page 11 for f and pp and page 23 for cresc. and dim. Here are some other common dynamics: mf (mezzo forte) - moderately loud Aff (fortissimo) - very loud ‘mp (mezzo piano) - moderately soft Pp (pianissimo) - very soft Tempo Indications At the beginning of most pieces you will find a word (or group of words) to show both the speed and the character of the music. They are not usually written in English as on page 27. Here are a few of the most common ones: Allegro = lively, quick (means ‘cheerful’) Andante = at a medium pace (walking speed) Adagio = siow Largo = very slow, stately Presto = fast Moderato = moderately (Allegro moderato = moderately fast) Clog Dance English Folk Dance 3Gavotte Ritardando poco =alitte ritard. = getting gradually slower it. ‘a tempo = in time, indicating a retum to the original speed after e.g. rit. Ritenuto ) riten. \ = getting slower, held back poco rit. = slow down a little rit. lean Adapted from Moderato James Hook (1746-1827)New position Place both hands in the postion shown. You are now ready to play the notes @ A.B C Din both hands = an octave apart. Phy these § notes in similar and contrary mation ‘The D in the left hand i often called Middle D (see page 36). f J Aline over or under a note = # slight stress or pressure on the note. ‘When you lay this exer i you can play this exercise, try closing your eyes and playing it from memory. ‘Then play it with your right hand starting on 2 ‘This is half of a tune you may recognise, Play the repeated 4th finger note qui dor finger note quite firmly, but don't i . ly, but don't allow it to become ‘locked’, f ‘When you can play Exercise 2, close your eyes and play it from mem o ‘Then play it with the Jef hand, starting on ”Der Meyen ‘In the month of May” Teacher's accompaniment ‘With ttt ms a 3aLittle Sonata First movement * Sometimes $ i metime i is written as @ (common time). Hint Practi ‘ tise this piece knees separately and then together (see page 24). Charles Henry Wilton (1761-7) Moderato a aS 1 nfGavotte The Gavotte is a dance originating from France, Acusually begins on the second half of the bar when the dancers traditionally raised their left feet on the third beat. my a ‘Adapted from an excerpt by George Frideric Handel (16851759) Tones [A tone is the distance of two semitones, e.g, €-D or F#-G# or E-FH. In 2. below, the Gavotte you have just played is written out one fone lower. RUHL Change your hand position but the fingering remains as for 4, LH, Seay in the same position as 2, bur it starts one finger lower. z 33 _Naturals Anatural sign § cancels ah ora § sign. Sometimes you will see a 4 sign in brackets (4). This isn’t theoretically required, but acts as a helpful reminder that the note does not have a } or a # sign although it is very near to one that has. Exercise hileGABCDEFGABCD Different Clef - Same Notes ‘The two groups of notes below notate the same pitch. They are written here in both clefs so that either hand may play them. 2 ee oe = withthe) = withthe [85 = Middle Middle Middle vu = a c > Middle Middle Middle B c > Note Mnemonics To help with the ‘geography’ of the keyboard, you may find it useful to remember the letter-names of the notes con the lines and spaces by remembering certain sentences and words, Spaces Lines © Even Great Beethoven Did Fingering Great Beetoven Did Fingering Avaya! eee ee er ge co 8 o fF oO 8 bd - A Sight-Reading (Playing at sight) To become a good sight-reader you need to develop the habit of reading notes ata © Look at groups or phrases of notes. © Observe whether they go up or down, 36 Pattern of shapes, © Look at the pattern of each note group.Two-Part Invention _= These signs tel you to play the note oF notes an octave higher than written. Sve | _ mese signs tell you to play the note oF 2 |” notes an octave tower than written. Suggested listening 1S. Bach wrote a number of two end three-part inventions. for his son Wilhelm Friedemann. Listen to these or Bach's ‘The Art of Fugue, written in the 1740s, 40 D.C. al Fine —L’homme Armé A traditional melody said to have been sung by the Crusaders (E , "sor sr pnd etm tor ov en tone net Th ert pte mus a . ‘ansong eed Souter Geary 03473, 11 Ou mn usronn comgonetLes Cinq Doigts is held on with the left hand , r -14, 16-17, 19-20, the note G is In this piece ord hands play in the treble clef, In. wey 34 a sying ie. two parts are played by thumb for a minim, as fingers 23 4and 5 play the ¢ ¢ ¢ ¢ > called pt-pt cone hand, Watch out for the time signature changes. Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971) Moderato oe = =. t ‘Stray, one of the woatestcomeoses of tweet cent, ‘08 tow fot his ere wt a8 can be obser byte fohonng ot; "Too mar pees rsh 00 og afer the oa.Key signatures A ney signature, when needed, is placed atthe beginning ofeach line of music. It comes after the clef and before the time signature. The composer uses it as shorthand to avoid having to write in the relevant #5 or bs each time. Key signature mabe Fe wa Oe This is the key signature of G major* which + + Fi uniess marked — 5 ———— tthe f is on the F line) a ee He) pas one sharp - F#. Russian Dance Alexander Goedicke (1877-1957) a ‘The termation of major scaies is expisined ia BOOK 2-Extending the hands Prior to this page, the hands have usually played in 5-note hand positions within each group oF phrase: “$6 From now on, the hands may be extending oF contracting so thatthe range of notes within each phrase can be —_— Exercises for the dllemande below. ay Hand see bars 7-8 extending below. 2 Hand ‘see bars 9-10 contracting below. Allemande Johann Hermann Schein (1586-1630) woe 46Another key signature Key signature (The b Ison the B line) ‘Thisis the key signature «over a note pause on j unless marked with @ 4, of F major which has s WY under ante | nel” one flat - Bb Fingers-overthumbs: another way to extend the hands. w 4 w see bars 67 below. Poor Wand’ring One from The Pirates of Penzance Adapted from Arthur Sullivan (1842-1900) 3 Moderate 3, a7Scarborough Fair Changing the fingering on one note. ‘This is a useful technique when running out of fingers. (bars 67 LH. (iy bars 1031 RH. = | enema Traditional English Song Netagety Suggested listening ‘Gaspard de la nuit by Maurice Ravel (18751937) contains some fiendishly dificult repeated notes. Listen in awetSlurs A slur isa curved line over or under a group of two or thee notes, SS=== rink of it as a very short phrase and float your hand from the keyboard between slurs, The weight is put on the gest note of the slur and is released at the end of it. Progress: Now that the pieces are gradually getting more difficult, don't expect instant achievement! Make sure shat you practise hands separately until perfect before attempting hands together. Most of the pieces will take longer than a week to learn and it is worth spending time consolidating what you already know before moving on toa new topic. Exercise — = SV ~ , Now try it with the left hand starting an octave lower than written. The note value of the last note of each slur will be reduced slightly e.g, the first two bars should sound more like tlds dril i det Cradle Song Dmitri Kabalevsky (1904-87) Adagio ois 25German Dance First and second time directions. ‘The end of a section of music which is repeated, can be altered when itis played the second time by the use of fa.) and £2. directions, Don't forget to leave out the [2.1] bar (or passage) when you play the second time ending, Adapted from Franz Schubert (1797-1828)_ Don Giovanni Zerlina’s Aria Batti, batti, o bel Masetto “Do not spare me, dear Masetto" Andante grazioso 5 st Adapted from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-91) Fesatng soot ows lnapn poncincad teeny ute at wasn fo fern trt oy Venoen’ Ton was sme Enpere o (oot, ust ax may a8 ae owed, Your MaenStaccato Study he an ae sre that the noes of both hands sound exactly together. Keep the wrist loose but dont allow the repeated agaccato notes to get abby’ of lazy. Karl Czemy (1791-1857) Allegro a, ne nds really impressive when played on more than one keyboard or with Ifyou are in a group situation, this study sot available octaves. several players at one keyboard, al playing one hand using all she — .hae La Traviata Drinking song Lidiamo from Act 1 ‘Let's drink” “The left hand chord notes in brackets are actually needed (and played) by the right hand tune. You can either omit them in the left hand or play the D in both hands, Adapted from Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901) Allegretto lve hignet sot Ean has wonged the opera house nip ahr Ingo se 8 er YOURE 2 cer ooking ly mpersonate ne oie of en hfemaus Hench nove who ves her retuon by fae pasion. Vers ual, ch geereyéenrencn elo a ines canin th ca86 cam he aMbsEUs met of being ate srry of teste. {The.London Tes, 1856 onposs insde a slur f i ato (half-staceato). The notes should be played slightly ted but not as much as staccato. This kind of touch is used for most of the music of the Baroque era 7 J5-Bash Handel, Parell when played onthe piano rather than harpsichord Attributed to Moderato, Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) a A, 3 2, 4 mp Temes | Deen nite dna Magne ch ors wrorteneonpus wr verona te, many et wre | eet can re we a en wo soo 3725 55The sustaining pedal Sometimes called the damper pedal ‘3 ining pedal ‘ii pin hve te ee por sae ih tly thea tedight ~ Ho _ a pees de (sometimes incorrectly called the loud pedal). When this pedal is pressed down, the dampers 2° iched sound. strings allowing the strings to vibrate without restriction and thereby giving afller and more cor down several Place the ball of your right foot on this pedal and rest your heel on the floor. Now press the peal vn a times as quietly as possible, keeping your heel on the floor. Keep the sole of your foot in contact Wit the pedi the time you use it - the ankle should feel like a hinge. Reasons for using this pedal: 1. To sustain and join sounds which cannot be played legato by the hands (usually notes belonging to the same chord but which are out of reach). 2. To connect different chords and make them legato - this overlapping is often called legato pedalling, “There are several markings to indicate the pedal but the following one is the most common nowadays. “The pedal is pressed down at the beginning and released immediately atthe end of the sign. 4. Try playing the following exercises without pedal to start with, so that you can hear the difference it makes to the sound. Li 2a Jn the exercise below, connect one note to the next by letting the pedal come up just at the moment when he key is played and then pressing the pedal down again before the finger leaves the key. (Change) [ee (Down Hold Up Down Hold) se fingeng below wll make itimpossble to pla legato without che use of the pedal, “Tre counts are given to make it easier for you to see and feel where to change the pedal and the —A— suiking has therefore been exaggerated, i) vo 1-2 2 a-2 262 262 4° ° vo vo vd 4-20 2-2 2-72 Legato pedalling allows the next note or chord to be ‘trapped’ and sustained. ° pee 8 Legato pedalling is used here in the eight bare of The Ble Donut bow: If the pedal was let down for three bars, the effect would be too heavy forthe staccato chords inthe right hand. Johann Strauss Il (1825-99) 5 3Valse Before playing anew piece with the pedal, always practise it without a first. You may not want to use the pedal with every piece. Here the tune isin the left hand, so try to bring it out, Adapted from Frédéric Chopin (1810-49) Fascinating elo proven ty Henry Feri Chorey of @ Chop eto London in ‘ta ‘ropin ncreosingy aes the redest modtatons. Caring most pete connosseurngoed, we whi tstenrg toh muse, avin, tne angucet 100 when WONG NOIR Oe Hayes ‘Suggested tlstoning Famous waltzes, waltzes to listen to are: Op.18 in E flat. 07.94 Not In A fat, p.64 No.4 i . 0.2 in D flat te waltz) and B.34 No.2 In A minor wal epost ine Minute Waltz)Lullaby ‘Adapted from Johannes Brahms (1833.97) 4 1Auld Lang Syne You may be called upon to play this on New Year's Evet oor Soberly! mf Should | auld ac -quain-tance | be forgot and— | ne - ver brought to er days of Auld Lang Chorus Ce 8 or - a sme? ff For | Auld Lang | Sme, my dear, for WTS of | kind - ness yet, for | aula tangTheme from Swan Lake tamoat music, pedal marks are not written in, ‘ry changing the pedal where you think suitable and where the notes of the chord change. gaperiment with the sounds you want, Adapted from Andante Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-93) 2 NSS Pp espressivoFiir Elise Adapted from an excerpt by Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) az eerencend uss eae * see page 64 for eon moto