Music As A Language - Lectures to Music Students by Ethel Home
page 51 of 69 (73%)
page 51 of 69 (73%)
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phrase, until every child in the class is sure of the correct notes.
2. The children should now go in turn to the piano, and each play a phrase of the melody, first in C major, then in G. It is important to emphasize the fact that the tune must be well known to them, or an extra difficulty will be introduced. As the children learn more and more keys, these tunes should be transposed into them. Provided the class does not consist of picked musical children, there will always be a few in it who do not learn the piano. This work will be one of their opportunities for learning a little about it. Interesting results have been obtained from such children, if the teacher is enthusiastic and ready to help. By the time that the class has begun the study of three-part chords the transposition will become more and more interesting, as sequences of chords can now be transposed. When the first steps in extemporizing on the piano are begun, the transposition advances by leaps and bounds. The children will be delighted to play their little tonic and dominant accompaniments in every key--to change from major to tonic minor by flattening the third and sometimes the sixth of the scale. There is a sense of freedom and power in such work, to which the class will readily respond. They soon realize that certain melodies 'only sound nice' in such and such a key, and in this way the foundation of a 'colour sense' will be laid. Also, apart from the question of the key in which a melody sounds best to a child, another point comes into notice. |
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