Level 3

Music appreciation

We recommend starting introducing classical pieces through playing them for on piano/keyboard with Gentle Piano first *look ar piano sight-reading section. They have to learn the pieces using Right, Left and/or Both hands. Singing the Solfeggio notes of each piece will contribute to voice, ear and music memory training of students.

After ‘hand on’ experience the same piece should be presented as original with the help of CD, You Tube, iTunes and other listening devices. We will provide you with the sample links here, in our curriculum for your convenience, but feel free to brows different interpretations of the same piece.

Movements, dancing, ‘conducting’, loosing attention during the listening to original version is normal. A beginner has to do something happy and enjoyable while the music lasts. Just avoid background noise or ultimate destructions during the music appreciation process.

The piece should be presented during the entire 4 – 4,5 weeks segment of curriculum on different occasions. The structure (playing a piece 1-2 times a day) and spontaneity should be combined.

Every time before or after the piece is being played the name of it and name of composer should be announced. *Finding the information about composer and the piece is a big +*

For parents of young beginners: If the piece is stimulating and exciting we recommend listening to it 1-2 hours before nap or night sleep. If the piece is soft and smoothing, it may be presented to a child, when he/she starts resting and about to sleep.

Every piece of this list after initial introduction during 4-4.5 week segment should be played occasionally with new pieces of the curriculum. It is important to keep all the music in mind and be able to differentiate one piece from another.

Blue Danube Waltz by Johann Strauss. Gentle Piano: Find the piece in Favorite Classic 2 and learn how to play it with the score.

EAR TRAINING

Guess Key Game – playing the game for 10 min and stop it by pressing F1. Always record the score! SING the names of the notes while playing.

If you finish the entire game in less than 10 minutes, switch the icons of the game and play it with Alphabet names (press ’a’ on your computer keyboard for the switch). 

Music Dictations: Gentle Piano Solfeggio and Chords 1 Minor A.

Songs: Godmother, Quail, Birch, In The Garden, A Song, Lyanchiku, On the Hill, Whose are you? Kitty

Play
1. S, R, RH,
2. With no computer
3. Write the music notes down,
4. Place dots under longer notes
5. Connect shorter notes and
6. Check the rhythm on 6th presentation.

Some instructions are here: www.softmozart.com/forum/48-summer-curri...usic-dictations.html 

PIANO

Exercises:

Hannon #1, 2 and 3. Learn to play #3 as it shown on the video and practice with the metronome all 1-3 exercises.

Performance:

With the help of Soft Mozart piano teacher (local or on line) choose the piano pieces for mastery and ‘Butterfly Ball’ recital (will take place from December 15 to January 15). There has to be up to 5 piano pieces of different characters.

Sight – reading

Gentle Piano - Favorite Classic 2: play the first 7 pieces. The pieces with no key signatures en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Key_signature on 5 and 6.

The pieces with the key signatures you may play on 4. Set the goal to make no more then 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1 mistake.

Interactive theory:
Flash Cards Level 3. Sheets 3 – 10. Look at each card and guess, how many ‘sticks’ between them. Use the cards with the visual help (short ‘sticks) first and after that the cards with no ‘sticks’. Check the answers by flipping the cards.