Letters from the Kingdom of Tune: Music Theory in the Fairy-Tale Series

 

Age: any from preschool. Level of training: beginners.

For individual or group music and piano lessons at school or at home.

Letters are personalized emails. In each message there is a small first-person narrative, colorful illustrations and educational material for printing and teaching.

The presence of a keyboard instrument is required. A digital piano/keyboard with the ability to connect to a computer is desirable.

The scope and sequence:

 

The First Letter:

1. Introduction to Tonic, Subdominant and Dominant concepts.
2. Scale Degree IV. Subdominant key - practice the skill of playing in C major
3. Glissando - practice the skill to play on keys

 

The Second Letter:

1. Skill to distinguish between 2 and 3 black keys.
2. Chromatic scale. Skill to play on keyboard

Repetition: Tonic, Subdominant, Dominant characters

 

The Third Letter:

1. Dominant Second. Skill to play in C-Major
2. Mastering Subdominant Key in C-Major. Skill to find and produce on keys
3. Introduction of V Scale Degree. Skill to find and play in C-Major
4. I - Tonic. Skill to play in C-Major
5. Tonic Fifth. Skill to play in C-Major

 

The Forth Letter:

1. Introduction of the II Scale Degree in C-Major
2. Acquaintance with melodic and harmonic intervals using the example of Dominant and Tonic seconds. Skills to play the intervals.
3. Acquaintance with the part of the Dominant Seventh chord in C-Major. Skill to play.
4. Anchoring the concept of Tonic Fifth. Skill to play.
5. Introduction of Hanon #1 Exercise. Skill to play.

 

The Fifth Letter:

1. III Scale Degree. Introduction of the III Scale Degree in C-Major. Skill to find and play.
2. Anchoring of the skill to play the Chromatic Scale. Learning to play the exercise with different timbers and dynamics.
3. Preparation for mastering the Minor keys
   

 

The Fifth Letter:

1. VI Scale Degree. Acquaintance with the sixth step of the mode and its functions in fairy-tale format.
2. Introduction of the 6th Scale Degree in C-Major. Building the skills to find and to play.
3. Developing skills of drawing sharps, slurs and ties, whole notes
4. Acquaintance with Subdominant Third. Building the skills to find and play.
5. Acquaintance with the intervals inversions on the example of the Subdominant Third - Sixth.
   
6. Skill of finding and playing the Subdominant triad in C-Major
7. Inversions of Subdominant triads - second and third inversions. Skills to play.

 

The Seventh Letter:

1. VII Scale Degree - the Leading Tone. Acquaintance with the seventh step of the mode and its functional features.
2. The development of skills of finding and producing the VII in C-Major
3. Introducing the Tritone Interval
4. Acquaintance with the inversions of the Tritone from the augmented forth to diminished fifth and vice versa. Skills to play.
5. Skill of visual recognition of line and space notes
   
6. Skill playing Tritone resolution in the Tonic Third or Sixth

 

The Eighth Letter:

1. Mastering the skill of finding and producing Dominant Scale Degree in C-Major.
2. The concept of Deceptive Resolution: relationship between Dominant and VI Scale Degree
3. Mastering the skills to find and play Tonic Fifth.
4. Tonic Triad. Learning through production of the triad in C-Major on piano keys.
5. Skills to find and play the Tonic Triad in open or close spacing.
6. First steps of learning the Minor Scale: Minor III Scale Degree
7. Minor Tonic triad from C. Skill to find and play.
8. Skills to play the Minor Triad in the open and close spacing.
9. Minot Tonic Third. Playing from key C
10. Skills to play Major and Minor Tetrachords from C

 

The Ninth Letter:

1. Acquaintance with the main characters of the Soft Mozart system - Butterfly, Oops and Spider
2. Skill of defining Step and Half Step with the help of a butterfly. Measurement of intervals in butterflies - steps and half steps.
   
3. Anchoring the knowledge of the chromatic scale, as a sequence of Half Steps
   
4. Anchoring the skill to recognize, find and produce Triton on piano keys.

 

The Tenth Letter:

1. Introduction to the concept of intervals within 1 octave
2. Formation of the skill to measure the intervals in scale degrees and Steps and Half Steps
3. The structure of Major and Minor Scales. Developing the skills to count and play.
4. Anchoring the knowledge of all the Scale Degrees and playing the, in C-Major. Developing skills to measure the distance between them in steps and half steps,
5. Learning the names of all intervals within one octave
6. Introduction to the concept of the octaves
7. The skill to play C-Major by separate hands and both hands in contrary motion.
8. Anchoring the concept of Minor Scale

 

Eleventh letter:

1. Introduction to the Minor Scale structure
2. Learning the peculiarities of the Scale Degrees in Minor through Visual perception. Developing skills to play natural Minor
3. Anchoring the interval - seconds
4. Major and Minor seconds - skills to play
5. Major and Minor thirds - skills to play
6. Perfect Forth and Fifth. The concept. Skills to play.
7. Inversion of Perfect Forth into Perfect Fifth. Skills to play.
8. Determination of the Perfect Fourth and Fifth by measuring in Steps and Half Steps. Theory skills to measure.
9. Major and Minor Subdominant Triad. Anchoring the triads and developing skills to find and play them from C
10. Minor Dominant Triad in Natural Minor. Skills to find and play in C - Minor.
11. Anchoring the Harmonic and Melodic Intervals. Skills to play.

 

Twelve letter:

1. Harmonic Minor. Introduction. Building blocks. Skills to play
2. Melodic Minor. Introduction. Building blocks. Skills to play
3. Tetrachords. Definition. Introduction. Building blocks. Skills to play

 

The Thirteenth Letter:

1. Sharps and Flats. General view
2. First circle of the Music Alphabet. The  basis for learning scales and tonalities.

 

The Fourteenth Letter:

1. Introduction to Cadence
2. Building skills to play Perfect Cadence in C-Major and C-Minor
3. Primary Chords - introduction to the concept
4. Stable and Unstable scale degrees in music. Introduction to the concept. Building the the skills to play.

 

The Fifteenth Letter:

1. Feature of the Grand Staff building blocks: notes on lines and between lines. Notion and visual presentation.
   
2. The Second circle of the Music Alphabet. The  basis for learning the order of line and space notes, chords and triads. Practical skills to memorize and chant the order.
3. Module "Fruit Lines": creating, developing and improving the skill of reading lines and spaces on the keys and the Grand Staff
   

 

The Sixteenth Letter:

1. Concept of note duration. . Понятие.
   
2. Acquaintance with the sign of the Treble clef. Work on the practical skill of writing the Treble Clefs
3. Acquaintance with the sign of the Bass clef. Work on the practical skill of writing the Bass Clefs