Greetings and welcome to our new Music Lesson Blog! I'm so excited to be able to keep in touch with all of my students in this way . . . what an amazing and wonderful world we live in!
I will be using this site to assist and supplement my teaching on a weekly basis. You'll find riddles, musical history trivia, helpful hints and other interesting facts to enhance your musical experience! :) If you'd like to leave questions or comments, please feel free to click on the "comment tag" and I will email you back, as required, as soon as I can . . .
This week I will be focusing on the "Baroque Era" and "Chording". Let's take a closer look, shall we?
Did you know:
-the term "Baroque" is borrowed from the kinds of architecture that was created hundreds of years ago (from about 1600 to 1750). Many beautiful palaces, castles and cathedrals were built during this time and were "ornately" decorated . . .that means that you would see elaborately adorned buildings with carvings and gold plated domes. Does the word "ornate" sound familiar? If you can think of a word that we use in piano that sounds close to "ornate" you can pick a prize out of the Prize Basket! You can use your Music Dictionaries (if you have one)
Did you know:
-music during this era was written with "tonality" - that means that for the first time, we hear music with a KEY SIGNATURE! Do you remember where we see Key Signatures? Here's a hint . . .they're part of your technique and usually are counted in octaves . . . Can you guess? That's right! We see Key Signatures in SCALES! That brings us to our next item for discussion . . .
CHORDS: chords are tones that are sounded at the same time. Pieces during the Baroque era would have had "broken" or "rolling" chords because the harpsichord and early piano could not sustain sound (that means: no LONG sounds). Many of you will have played chords in your technique. Can you think of when? Here's a hint . . . think "three sounds played together at the same time" . . .got it? That's right! a TRIAD is a kind of chord! Once you know the key signature of a piece it is pretty easy to find TONIC CHORDS hidden throughout (A "Tonic Chord" is a triad built on the first note of the scale). You'll usually find TONIC CHORDS at the very beginning and at the very end of a piece.
Here's a simple little exercise for identifying chords . . . choose a scale (preferrably using a key signature from one of your pieces). Now make a triad using the first note of the scale (remember: that's called the TONIC). Now, can you make a triad starting on the fourth note of the scale? (Don't forget your key signature!) How about starting on the fifth note of the scale? Great! If you're struggling - make sure you're playing intervals of a THIRD(Triad=tri=three). Find as many CHORDS as you can in a piece that you've been assigned this week and you can pick a prize out of the prize basket!
For more advanced students . . . let's take it one step further, ok? Now that you've found triads built on the first, fourth and fifth notes of your scale (they should all be MAJOR TRIADS) - try and identify the inversions of these triads. (Remember when you do your technique, how you have to do all the inversions of the triad for one or more octaves?)
Well - I hope this has been helpful. HAVE FUN! And enjoy your music this week! :0)
I will be using this site to assist and supplement my teaching on a weekly basis. You'll find riddles, musical history trivia, helpful hints and other interesting facts to enhance your musical experience! :) If you'd like to leave questions or comments, please feel free to click on the "comment tag" and I will email you back, as required, as soon as I can . . .
This week I will be focusing on the "Baroque Era" and "Chording". Let's take a closer look, shall we?
Did you know:
-the term "Baroque" is borrowed from the kinds of architecture that was created hundreds of years ago (from about 1600 to 1750). Many beautiful palaces, castles and cathedrals were built during this time and were "ornately" decorated . . .that means that you would see elaborately adorned buildings with carvings and gold plated domes. Does the word "ornate" sound familiar? If you can think of a word that we use in piano that sounds close to "ornate" you can pick a prize out of the Prize Basket! You can use your Music Dictionaries (if you have one)
Did you know:
-music during this era was written with "tonality" - that means that for the first time, we hear music with a KEY SIGNATURE! Do you remember where we see Key Signatures? Here's a hint . . .they're part of your technique and usually are counted in octaves . . . Can you guess? That's right! We see Key Signatures in SCALES! That brings us to our next item for discussion . . .
CHORDS: chords are tones that are sounded at the same time. Pieces during the Baroque era would have had "broken" or "rolling" chords because the harpsichord and early piano could not sustain sound (that means: no LONG sounds). Many of you will have played chords in your technique. Can you think of when? Here's a hint . . . think "three sounds played together at the same time" . . .got it? That's right! a TRIAD is a kind of chord! Once you know the key signature of a piece it is pretty easy to find TONIC CHORDS hidden throughout (A "Tonic Chord" is a triad built on the first note of the scale). You'll usually find TONIC CHORDS at the very beginning and at the very end of a piece.
Here's a simple little exercise for identifying chords . . . choose a scale (preferrably using a key signature from one of your pieces). Now make a triad using the first note of the scale (remember: that's called the TONIC). Now, can you make a triad starting on the fourth note of the scale? (Don't forget your key signature!) How about starting on the fifth note of the scale? Great! If you're struggling - make sure you're playing intervals of a THIRD(Triad=tri=three). Find as many CHORDS as you can in a piece that you've been assigned this week and you can pick a prize out of the prize basket!
For more advanced students . . . let's take it one step further, ok? Now that you've found triads built on the first, fourth and fifth notes of your scale (they should all be MAJOR TRIADS) - try and identify the inversions of these triads. (Remember when you do your technique, how you have to do all the inversions of the triad for one or more octaves?)
Well - I hope this has been helpful. HAVE FUN! And enjoy your music this week! :0)
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