OHN THOMPSONS GASIESE BIAN® GeURsE Part One Design, llustration and Typesetting by Kheight Limited Music Setting and Printing by Halstan & Co. Ltd., Plantation Road, Amersham, Bucks. ©1955 The Willis Music Co. International Music Publications Limited Southend Road, Woodford Green Essex IG8 8HN, England Reproducing this music in any form is illegal and forbidden by the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.Teachers and Parents PURPOSE This course is designed to present the easiest possible approach to piano playing. Part One is devoted to developing fluency in reading by note, solving c problem that still seems to rate as ‘musical enemy, number one’ with most young students. The Work Sheets together with the Reading Aloud Exercises, appearing frequently, atford plenty of dril for all students, SCOPE The range covered in Part One is purposely limited. Only five notes up and five notes down from middle C are. presented ond time values do not go beyond crotchets. This makes it possible to include many examples in the form of review work ‘ond obviates the necessity of using supplementary material. in short, each book of the course is complete in itself and contains its own Writing Exercises, Sight Reading Drills, Review Work and (in later books) Technical Studies. ACCOMPANIMENTS Accompaniments for teacher or parent are supplied with most of the examples, They have been carefully composed to make the fittle pieces sound as much as possible like fragments from lorger compositions, Valuable in severcl ways, they not only make it possible to play in various keys, avoiding the deadly monotony of C major, but their use imposes strict, time and sharp thythm, especially when they are played with somewhat vigorous accents, thus helping the pupil to ‘feet the rhythm from the very beginning. GRADING The books in this course do not represent ony certain grade. They simply follow in proper sequence as Part One, Part Two, Part Three, etc. Nor are the Jessons measured page by pags. Some pupils will master severat pages per lessonothers only one. The course progresses ‘Point by Point’ rather than ‘Lesson by Lesson,’ and it is left to the teacher, (who, after all, is the only one qualified), to decide how much or how little each pupil can absorb in one lesson. PART TWD Parr Two proceeds from the exact point reached at the end of Part One. New notes, time.valves and rudiments are presented. Technique also begins in Part Two - first in the form of simple finger drills and later, more extended technical figures. Part Two remains in what is generally classified as Preparatory Grade. The prime objective of the entire course is to show how early, thoroughly; entertainingly and musically — rather than how fast ~ each pupil can progress. ft tSTEACHERS and PARENTS . THE KEYBOARD - Showing Middle C .... KEYBOARD CHART .... RUDIMENTS MIDDLE C AS A SEMIBREVE - ‘Let's Play’ MIDDLE C AS A SEMIBREVE — ‘Let's Play’ MIDDLE C IN MINIMS. ‘Grandfather's Clock’ MIDDLE C IN CROTCHETS “Moccasin Dance’ WORK SHEET NEW NOTE — D in the Treble ‘The Train’ ‘NEW NOTE — B in the Bass ‘The Seabees’ sessed WORK SHEET TWO-FOUR — New Time Signature “March of the Gnomes’ THREE-FOUR — The Dotted Minim ‘Dance of the Gnomes’... NEW NOTE ~ E in the Treble "Mary Had a Little Lamb’ NEW NOTE ~ A in the Bass “The Paratrooper’ in the Treble In the Bass Contents om BO REVIEW - ‘Marching Up and Down! REVIEW ~ ‘Rag-Time Raggles’. WORK SHEET NEW NOTE - G in the Bass “The Chimes’. - REVIEW ~ ‘Funny Faces’ REVIEW — ‘Old MacDonald Had a farm’ RESTS WORK SHEET 0 seein REVIEW ~ ‘Blow the Man Down’ ....... NEW NOTE - F in the Treble “The Church Organ’ REVIEW ~ Yankee Doodle’ REVIEW — ‘Carry Me Back to Old Virginny’ THE TIE ~The Old Cotton Picker’ NEW NOTE ~ G in the Treble Theme from ‘The New World Symphony,’ Dvofak REVIEW - 'Bugles’ —.... REVIEW ~ ‘Row, Row’... REVIEW — Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen’ NEW NOTE - F in the Bass ‘Ina Rickshaw’ REVIEW ~ ‘The Banjo Picker’. REVIEW ~ ‘Princess Waltz’ WORK SHEET CERTIFICATE 28 at a2 2B BA a 26 a7 28 ae 30 ut 82 55 a4 BS 56 a7 a8 a a0The Piano Keyboard There are WHITE KEYS and BLACK KEYS on the Piano Keyboard. pe ‘The BLACK KEYS are grouped in TWOS and THREES. This is how to find Be, € on your Piano. Touch all the groups of TWO BLACK KEYS on your Piano. Cis found to the left of the TWO BLACK KEYS. The WHITE KEYS are named Recite the letters of the Musical Aiphabet several times. Letter all the C’s you can find on the Keyboard Chart, next page. Now, on your piano, PLAY all the C's you can find — using the thumb.Keyboard Chart as you learn the name of each new key, turn back to this page and mark ALL the This is a picture of your keyboard keys having the same name. D6 Middle C on the Music Music is written on the LINES and SPACES of the STAVE. The NOTES on the music tell us which KEYS to play. The Stave There are different kinds of notes, but first we shall learn the SEMIBREVE. A SEMIBREVE looks like this, © itis held for FOUR COUNTS. Clef Signs Treble Clef sign é e This is how MIDDLE C looks in the Treble. Itis written as a SEMIBREVE, and gets FOUR counts. Itis played by the RIGHT HAND thumb. Play it and count FOUR. Bass Clef sign oS 7 This is how MIDDLE C looks in the Bass, Written as o semibreve, it gets FOUR counts. It is played by the LEFT HAND thumb, Play it and count FOUR.The numbers after the Music is divided by bar lines into bars. Clef Signs tell us how to count. In this book we need only read the TOP number. it shows how many counts to each bar. Count 4 to each bar Left Hand Count 3 to each bar Count 2to Each finger has a number. The thumbs are both numbered 1. % Right Hand each barMiddle C as a Semibreve In the Treble nate HALA SETS rey im Play with right hand thumb and count four to each note, let's Play With the Right HandMiddle C as a Semibreve te ALAN ANN Accompaniment Let's Play With the Left Hand Play with left hand thumb count four to each note.Middle C in Minims When a note has an open head and a stem, like this, ( 6 or Pp itis called a MINIM and gets TWO COUNTS. Play the following, counting TWO to each note - ‘ONE, TWO to the first note and ‘THREE, FOUR’ to the second note of each bor. ' Count four to each bar. Grandfather's Clock — @ oe 1 Count: one-two three-four AccompanimentMiddle C in Crotchets cach bar. , A CROTCHET looks like this (-#. or peneges one count Moccasin Dance oe seo ee T Count: Ong Two Thee Four | gw wo wo | ; oe 6 3 ———— | é — SSE= Se = = “3 eee = a | = — _ 7 ee 2 ¢ ¢ # I ——— Accomponiment gages THT tiiet ro “7 eo 1 2 Stems Up Make Minims of the following by adding stems. Change the following into Crotchets by filing in the heads and adding stems when necessary. Write Middle C in each Clef. Semibreve MinimsAccompaniment New Right Hand Note The Train and do exercises 1 and 2. Turn to the work sheet on page 15 poco Note to teacher | From this point on, be sure to stress the importance of accenting the first count of each bar.Accompaniment Now = Do writing excercises 3, 4.and 5 on page 15. "ork Shee Write letter names under the notes. Write the new note D as indicated. 1 OE. —T c Write letter names under the notes. 2a eee. 2 c Two “Four Minimns Crotchets Semibreve Write the new note B as indicated. - - is Two Minims Crotchets In the following exercise, first draw the Bar Lines where they belong, (Note Time Signature). Next write the letter names of the notes. Finally, mark the Time Values - using 1 for a Crotchet, 2 for a Minim and 4 for a Semibreve. a —— ae 5 ye i = Letter Names C Time Values 2Two-Four gap ay Wh : : Count two to each bar. ‘ oe Right = March of the Gnomes Left Hand 3 i a4 5S BE PorterThree-Four and The Dotted Minim , Accompaniment The dotted minin : & looks like this ( gor Pp and is held for 3 counts. Count 3 to each bar. Do you see the importance of correct counting? These are the same notes you played in ‘March of the Gnomes’ ut they make a new piece when you count 3 to each bar.Write the new note E below. OR #1 —t sent Accompaniment Read Aloud 2g o 8 gg 90. Write the new note A betow. =) vey a Bere Semibreve Minim Doited Minim Crotchet |Read AloudRag-Time Raggles | re AccompanimentWork Sheet First, look at the time signatures. Next, draw bar lines in their proper places ~ then, write the letter-names under the notes.Read Aloud new note G below. Semibreve Minim Dotted Crotchet Minim24 Funny PacesRead Aloud Read Aloud 3 [po oe Ee-eye, Ee-eye, | oh! And i SS Cees o 6 oe oe oe Ee-eye, Ee-eye| oh! | Quack, Quack, here | Quack,Quack, there a =a a welt app £ fee eS \Quack, Quack, Quack, S Old Mac-Don-ald | had a farm, | Ee-eye,Ee eye,} ch! s £. yg e ee e = a 7 _ E = ERE = =26 Rests RESTS cre signs of silence. Each kind of note has a rest sign of equal value. Semibreve Awhole bar's rest Gets 2 counts Gets 1 count Draw the bar lines in the following example, so that each bar will have the number of silent counts shown in the time signature. eee Accompaniment ta Blow The Mon Down (next page)Blow the Man Down See Accompaniment on opposite page.Read Aloud Semibrev fe Minim Dotted Crotchet Minin |Read Aloud Read Aloud eoarry Me Back to Old Virginay James A. Blane! eH back to a p= I a é oo”. —- eee There's where the | cot-ton and the [com and ‘tatogs | grow, There’s where the | birds — war-bie as ao iE : Accompaniment ssWhen two notes ate tied together, the second note is ‘not struck but held for its fll a = = —— 3 = icot-ton, {I’ve [not ee got-ten, The |hours I've |spentin the | sun__| ___ fpe aaa = ete E Eo = ee = oe 9- ver, you're) not eee! clo-ver, The |work eee is | no-bod-y’s Accompaniment32 Write the two G's you have learned Theme from ‘New World’ SymphonyBugles!Row, Row row, yourBo New Note Dotted Minimn, Crotchet [- ee EarAdapted froma8 Princess Waltz Accompanimentwe Sota oe (Write fetter names) Clap the time (one clap to each count) while reciting the letter names of the notes. Afterwards, play the example on your piano, first marking the fingering for each note Clap the time and recite the notes as above. Mark the fingering, then play on the piano.Certificate of Merit This certifies that has successfully completed PART OHE oF John Thompson’s EASIEST PIANO COURSE and is eligible for promotion to PART TWO