Written Preliminary Lesson 3

This lesson should be preceded by:

Preliminary Lesson 1
Preliminary Lesson 2a
Preliminary Lesson 2b
Intervals

Aim of the Lesson: To fix the locality of the pitch sounds by keyboard exercises, which are to be repeated until they can be done rapidly and almost mechanically. Speed of response is very important, but remember that Individuals vary in reaction time.

Preparation:

• What names do we give to the musical sounds on the keyboard?
• How come we only use seven letters? How come we don’t need more?

We aren’t going to learn much new in our lesson today, but since it is so important that we know the keyboard absolutely perfectly, we are gong to drill the letter names and places of the sounds. Let’s see how fast we can do these drilling exercises.

Method:

1. Call for Ds, Fs, Bs, etc to be struck quickly by the pupil.
2. The teacher plays sounds here and there to be named quickly.
3. Let the student run up the keyboard alphabetically beginning with the lowest A. Let him play with one finger running to the top of the piano naming the sounds as he goes.
4. Let the student run down the keyboard naming the sounds as he goes. (This will likely take much more time for than going up.)
5. Let the student go up the keyboard skipping every other key, naming the sounds as he goes.
6. Then ask the student to go down the keyboard skipping every other key, naming the sounds as he goes. (Going down will likely take much more time than going up.)

This is a good time to have a short lesson on intervals.

Time

Aim of the Lesson: To teach the time names for a single pulse and continued sounds.

Preparation:

In the last lesson, we listened to and talked about strong and weak pulses or accents. If we listen again, you’ll also hear that not all the sounds are equally long.

Method:

Listen to these two simple tunes take from Dr. Carroll’s Farm Scenes.

In these tunes, you will notice that most of the sounds last just one pulse. Now and then we hear a sound that last more than one pulse.

(Many hymns are also good examples of songs with just one or two pulse sounds.)

Let’s play them again while you clap along very softly.

We are going to listen one more time. This time, can you raise your hand when you hear a two pulse sound?

In order to talk about these longer sounds, we have to name them. Just like we gave letter names to the names of sounds, we will not give names to the pulse sounds.

a.) One-pulse sound – a sound that lasts just one pulse is called taa.

As a teacher, keep a steady beat clapping or snapping without accent. Sing several one-pulse sounds. Taa, taa, taa, taa. Choose a pitch convenient for the child’s voice and have them imitate you.

N.B. “Never sing with pupils. Let them listen and then imitate. Do not let the name be sung staccato, but have the vowel sound held on for the full pulse.”

The teacher can play a one pulse sound repeatedly on the piano to illustrate, once again, what a pulse sound sounds like.

Now is a good time to use a small white board, black board or paper to write taa. Let the student see how we write it.

Metronome – Here is a tool that will help us keep the pulses even and steady. Let’s set it at 72. If we sing our taa’s at the same pace as the metronome, we’ll sing 72 pulses in one minute.

Let’s set it now to 60. This will be a bit slower.

This may turn into a fun game for the student. Children are interested in these experiments and it is worth while to spend a little time on them during this lesson.

b.) Two-pulse sounds

Now we must find out a name for the two pulse sound.

Below where you wrote taa for a one pulse sound, write taa taa for a two pulse sound. But since these two pulses are connected, we cross out the ‘t’ in the second taa.

The sound for a two pulse sound is taa aa.

Let’s practice a bit. taa, taa, taa aa. taa, taa, taa aa.

N.B. – There is a tendency, even among teachers, to say “taa aa” as two separate sounds. This is objectionable, and contradicts the teaching, for we take away the t to make two sounds into one. In playing it does not interfere with the practical result, for the player holds on during the second pulse. But in singing it is fatal; and we should correlate the instrumental and vocal work in every way. A slight push on the voice is allowable, but the better way is to beat when a continued sound is spoken of or sung. A tap of one hand on the other is enough.” (page 50, 31st edition.)

Practice:

Test the student a bit pointing back and forth from taa to taa aa. Go back and forth while patting a beat on your knee. Ensure the child is following the teacher’s beat.

If the child has any trouble, let the teacher sing the pattern first while point and then have the student imitate.

Here are two lines of patterns a teacher could sing and the child could imitate:

Ear-Exercise:

The teacher can choose any note on the piano. Keep a beat with one hand patting the knee or snapping. Play a short rhythm like shown above.

Let the child imitate and sing that rhythm using taa’s.

(If the teacher sees signs of the child growing weary or disinterested, now is a good time to stop the lesson. If not, continue on with the three pulse and four pulse sounds. These can simply be covered in another lesson as well.)

c.) Three-pulse sounds

Let’s listen to a few more examples. Raise your hand when you hear a sound that lasts more than two pulses.

The following simple pieces are taken from Farm Scenes by Dr. Walter Carroll.

As in the same manner above, sing a pattern of one pulse, two pulse, and three pulse using taa’s. Allow the child to imitate your pattern. Listen that the child maintains the teacher’s tempo and holds the pulses through their entire length.

Once again, take note to sing taa aa aa for a three pulse sound but be sure to CONNECT the sounds. It’s one continuous sound for three pulses.

d.) Four-pulse sounds

Play a simple tune. Let the child listen for a sound that lasts longer than three pulses.

The following simple pieces are taken from Farm Scenes by Dr. Walter Carroll.

Here is an example:

How many pulses did the longest sound last?

As in the same manner above, sing a pattern of one pulse, two pulse, three pulse, and four pulse sounds. Allow the child to imitate your pattern.

(Kelli’s own note. The above work may seem elementary and redundant. Where do I often see where I fell short as a piano teacher? My students were consistently not holding out half notes and whole notes. They just glossed over them. They didn’t see the necessity or didn’t feel the pulse well enough to give the notes their whole value. The above exercises lay a thorough foundation to set a piano student up for success.)

Review:

Just like we did in Preliminary Lesson 2, go back and play varying pieces of music with a variety of accents of meter. Ask the child for a comparison of measures. Say, “In what kind of measure is this tune?”

(Using my page of recordings may be a simple tool for this review section.)

Listen again with the child for STRONG, weak, STRONG, weak, etc.

or STRONG, weak, WEAK, weak, STRONG, weak, WEAK, weak.

Or STRONG, weak, weak, STRONG, weak, weak.

Playing a simple tune like the ones from Farm Scenes, ask the child, “What does this say to you?”

Have him sing the rhythm back in taa’s.

For some time you may have to remind him what it means when you ask the above two questions, but after repeating them at lessons, the student will learn to understand what you are asking.

N.B. – “The teacher who is unaccustomed to giving exercises of this kind, ear or chart, will do well to prepare and practice them beforehand, as the least hesitation will be apt to put the pupil out. The sense of rhythm is strong in most children, and it will be found that the more rhythmical the exercise the more readily the children will follow it.” (page 52, 31st edition.)

Summary

1. Pulse sounds have names as well as pitch-sounds.
2. The name for a 1 pulse sound is taa.
3. The name for a 2 pulse sound is taa aa. The name for a 3 pulse sound is taa aa aa.
4. The name for a 4 pulse sound is taa aa aa aa.
5. In a measure exercise we must listen for accents.
6. To tell the pulses we must listen for what they say to us in time names.

Homework

1. Practice singing the time names at home using taa’s. Come up with your own combinations.

Note from Mrs. Curwen: Do not introduce the note symbols for time (quarter note, half note, whole note, etc) until the above is thoroughly understood by the student.

Prepare for the next lesson here: Lesson 4a.