by Grace Huang

Preparation and Presentation

Context: pieces that are helpful to have experienced or played before approaching this one

• Burgmüller: Progress, Op. 100, No. 6
• Gurlitt: Scherzo, Op. 140, No. 17 or Scherzo, Op. 101, No. 16
• Haydn: Allegro Scherzando in F major
• LISTEN TO: Clara Schumann Sonata No. 2 in G minor, III. Scherzo
• LISTEN TO: Beethoven String Quartet in G major, Op. 18, No. 2, III. Scherzo

Get Ready: creative activities to explore before the first encounter with the score to prepare a student for deeper engagement and more immediate success

• Discuss and explore the character of a scherzo. 
• Tell a funny story or joke! Have your student practice the timing and pacing of their story, encouraging them to relish the dramatic pause before the “punchline.” Connect this activity to the piece itself—What are the light, humorous moments in this piece? Where do any surprises and/or dramatic pauses occur?

Initial Focus: features to pay attention to first; priority steps in reading and absorbing the music

• Write in any essential fingerings where needed (leaps, etc.). 
• Note the basic elements throughout: scales, staccato leaps, two-note slurs, chords.
• Color code the dynamics: use a bright hue for fiery “forte,” a pale hue for “piano,” etc. 
• Locate the SILENCES (important in this piece)! Write in the counts for the rests; observe them carefully from Day 1.

Coordination Essentials: physical skills and drills for common technical challenges in the piece

• Achieve clean, even scales by practicing: 1) in dotted rhythms, 2) with accents on every first/second/third/fourth sixteenth note per beat.
• Achieve clean articulations: staccatos, 2-note slurs with marcato downbeats.
• Voice the chords: focus on clear voicing of the RH top note.

Expressivity: ideas to connect with the expressive and musical nature of the piece

• Keep technical passages sounding beautifully artistic—create beautiful crescendo shapes to the tops of scales; voice the tops of blocked chords with a warm, rich tone.

Look Forward: approaches to set up for success with refinements that will need attention a few weeks down the road

• It can be easy to rush the tempo in this piece! Have a periodic “metronome practice week” to help your student maintain a reliable internal pulse.

Process and Practice

Fully present: tips for maintaining focus and engagement over time

• Mental cues: draw eyeballs above/before measures with tricky leaps as a reminder to look ahead. Draw exclamation points to spotlight an interesting or surprising harmonic or dynamic change.
• Can the student perform the piece in slow motion, with ALL musical details in place?  

Break it up: useful practice segments; how to connect them and plug them back into the whole

• Isolate the 1) scale passages, 2) staccato leaps and two-note slurs, and 3) chordal textures. Then gradually link them together, section by section.

Layers and outlines: tips for focusing on how the parts makeup the whole

• Note how the scales (m.1, 13, 39, 52) signal the start of a new phrase/section

Achieving flow: ideas for finding and maintaining tempo, managing modifications artistically

• Choose two different tempi to play in. Can the student still capture the piece’s humor, charm, and/or gravitas regardless of the tempo?

Make it mine: tips for developing and refining a personal, internal sense of the piece

• What images or story does the student envision?
• Tempo is personal—have the student weigh in on the tempo that allows them to fully embody the character of the piece.

Deep knowing: tips for securing memory

• Mental script: take a clean copy of the score and mark (in colors) important items to remember: expressive cues, a particular important fingering, a structural change.
• Practice LH alone from memory; RH alone from memory.

Final stages: tips for ensuring performance readiness, maintaining freshness and spontaneity, and reinforcing an expressive personal connection

• The student gives an informal performance for peers; afterward the audience describes the moods/characters they hear in the performance.  
• The student shares with the audience the personal story/joke that inspires their own musical interpretation, either before or after the performance.

by Bryan Chuan

Preparation and Presentation

Context: pieces that are helpful to have experienced or played before approaching this one

• Sonatinas, exercises, and short pieces in the classical style such as Clementi Sonatinas and Czerny Practical Exercise

Get Ready: creative activities to explore before the first encounter with the score to prepare a student for deeper engagement and more immediate success

• What is a Canzonetta? 
• Can you write lyrics for the RH melody?
• What other composers wrote collections titled Album for the Young? What titles for pieces are used by multiple composers?

Initial Focus: features to pay attention to first; priority steps in reading and absorbing the music

• What section/s of the piece repeat?
• What is the phrase length used throughout this piece? Does this match the length of the slurs?

Coordination Essentials: physical skills and drills for common technical challenges in the piece

• Block groups of two LH notes into intervals and play with the RH. What parts of the piece don’t sound as good with this method?
• Play through the piece with a dotted rhythm
• Check where the LH changes hand positions. Do the slurs help facilitate these hand position changes or not?

Expressivity: ideas to connect with the expressive and musical nature of the piece

• Observe all slurs using a drop-connect-lift motion, hands independently. Next, try to coordinate the hands following the slurs literally. Does this make coordination easier or more difficult?
• Think about how to make an expressive forte and fortissimo without hindering the fluency of either hand
• Play the LH accompaniment while singing the RH melody 

Look Forward: approaches to set up for success with refinements that will need attention a few weeks down the road

• Make sure you can start from the beginning of any four-measure phrase within the piece
• Compare and contrast the exposition and recapitulation, know exactly when and how the musical material in the recap changes

Process and Practice

Fully present: tips for maintaining focus and engagement over time

• Listen to other pieces from Chaminade’s Album for the Young with the score. What features do they share in common with Canzonetta?
• Write chord symbols under the LH accompaniment. Can you come up with an original melody to play against the LH accompaniment?   

Break it up: useful practice segments; how to connect them and plug them back into the whole

• Isolate all difficult LH segments and tap the rhythm of the RH without worrying about the notes
• Next, do the same process but sing the RH melody while tapping the rhythm
• Make sure to put a visual cue before any changes of hand position so your brain and   fingers can anticipate the difficult section

Layers and outlines: tips for focusing on how the parts makeup the whole

• Count the number of measures in the A and B sections
• Note the different LH textures. It will either be outlining a chord, alternating between  thumb and finger, or playing a countermelody. Do the LH textures change between the A and B sections?

Achieving flow: ideas for finding and maintaining tempo, managing modifications artistically

• Make sure the LH stays at a consistent tempo regardless of difficulty
• Work on achieving a tapered ritardando by making each LH eighth note a tiny bit slower
• Try adding a slight ritardando at the end of each four measure phrase

Make it mine: tips for developing and refining a personal, internal sense of the piece

• Add dynamics to the piece to outline the phrase structure
• Are all fortes created equal in this piece? Make up your own dynamics if you think they should be different, like forte+ or forte –
• What lyrics did you come up with for the RH melody? At what points of the piece do you want to change the mood or tone of your lyrics?
• Is there any part of the piece with quirky sounds or intervals? What can you do with dynamics or timing to highlight this part?

Deep knowing: tips for securing memory

• Freeze on beats 1 and 3 to internalize the intervals between the hands
• Alternate between the ending of the exposition and recap to make sure you have the differences memorized
• Make sure you can start memorized from the beginning of any four measure phrase
• Try transposing a 2-4 measure section of the piece

Final stages: tips for ensuring performance readiness, maintaining freshness and spontaneity, and reinforcing an expressive personal connection

• Have others in your studio play different pieces from Chaminade’s Album for the Young so students can hear more of the collection. Different ages and abilities are welcome to participate.
• Try playing with the hands switched over so muscle memory doesn’t become stale

by Heidi Saario

Preparation and Presentation

Context: pieces that are helpful to have experienced or played before approaching this one

• E. Grieg: Solitary Traveler op.32 no.2
• F. Mendelssohn: Consolation op.30 no.3
• E. Grieg: Poetic Tone Picture op.3 nr.1 

Get Ready: creative activities to explore before the first encounter with the score to prepare a student for deeper engagement and more immediate success

• Listen to the piece and discuss the name “The Spruce”; how does the music convey an image of a majestic spruce tree?
• Find photos/paintings of Finnish forests and landscapes to experience what inspired the composer
• Learn some biographical information about the composer and about his famous orchestral works.

Initial Focus: features to pay attention to first; priority steps in reading and absorbing the music

• Break it down to shorter sections
• Discuss the characteristics of each section 
• Make sure the fingering is carefully planned
• Figure out how to play the rhythm correctly hands together

Coordination Essentials: physical skills and drills for common technical challenges in the piece

• Rhythm: learn to play the rhythm accurately hands together in a steady tempo before adding rubato or voicing strategies; practice tapping the rhythm on your lap with both hands while counting aloud
• Chord blocking for better security: block the notes of the chords in each hand in the opening measure as well as in the complete Risoluto section Measures 24-28: Figure out the position of the LH in each measure (over/under the RH)
• Play LH top note B in the chord in m.5 with the RH (together with C#) if you can’t reach all the notes of the LH chord

Expressivity: ideas to connect with the expressive and musical nature of the piece

• Think orchestrally, imagine which orchestral instrument might play each individual melody and accompanying harmonies
• Plan how to use rubato in each phrase
• Develop a warm, and resonant tone to play the melody notes in measures 2-14 and be careful not to play the accompanying chords too heavily in each hand

Look Forward: approaches to set up for success with refinements that will need attention a few weeks down the road

• Listen to some more orchestral music by Jean Sibelius to become familiar with his style and character
• Continue refining voicing in each individual section
• Continue refining your pedaling skills
• Continue working on an expressive rubato throughout the piece

Process and Practice

Fully present: tips for maintaining focus and engagement over time

• Record yourself and listen to your pacing within the phrases as well as the clarity in voicing and pedaling
• Try to hear and sing the melody line in your mind as you play through the phrases to support a proper musical forward flow   

Break it up: useful practice segments; how to connect them and plug them back into the whole

• Mm.3-15: Play RH melody notes (only) with the LH downbeats and aim to hear a musical line through the long dotted half notes. 
• Mm.15-23 & 31-39: Feel more “waltz-like” pulse here, aim to project the top-note melody line with clarity while maintaining a dolce character
• Mm. 23-30: Focus on voice leading and the organization of the hands overlapping each other
• Mm.40 Risoluto:
  • Practice by blocking the chords in each hand 
  • Practice RH 32nd notes in staccatos and in different rhythms 
  • Focus on elastic wrist circles in RH

Layers and outlines: tips for focusing on how the parts makeup the whole

• Work on smooth transitions between each sections using rubato and proper breathing
• Make sure to allow the music to rest properly during all the marked fermatas
• Project the melody line with a singing tone throughout the piece: practice playing the melody without the accompanying notes in the same hand, e.g. measures 3-15, 23-29

Achieving flow: ideas for finding and maintaining tempo, managing modifications artistically

• Aim to feel one big pulse per measure in order to feel a proper connection between the dotted half notes forming the melody line. 
• Strive for long arching phrases in the Risoluto section by allowing the quarter note bass line to lead the musical forward flow
• Sing aloud the melody line

Make it mine: tips for developing and refining a personal, internal sense of the piece

• Record yourself and listen to your own interpretation: Are you successful in bringing out the character and color of each individual section? How well does the music flow from one part to another?
• Discuss what emotions, feelings, images you experience in each section of the piece

Deep knowing: tips for securing memory

• Memorize Stretto and Risoluto sections in blocked chords in a fast tempo
• Memorize mm.16-23 in blocked chords (one chord per measure)
• Memorize RH 8th notes as a blocked chord in measures 24-28
• Memorize hands separately

Final stages: tips for ensuring performance readiness, maintaining freshness and spontaneity, and reinforcing an expressive personal connection

• Practice starting from random parts of the piece from memory in any order
• Continue recording and evaluating your own performance
• Perform for peers
• Focus on the long, overarching melody lines in the phrases
• Practice playing the piece on different pianos

by Jordan Karrigan

Preparation and Presentation

Context: pieces that are helpful to have experienced or played before approaching this one

• Muzio Clementi: Piano Sonatina No. 1 in C Major, Op. 36 – II. Andante
• Anton Diabelli: Piano Sonatina No. 4 in B-flat major, Op.168 – II. Andantino
• Louise Farrenc: Etude No. 2 in A minor, Op. 50 – Andantino
• Friedrich Kuhlau: Piano Sonatina in C Major No. 1, Op. 20 – II. Andante
• Hélène de Montgeroult: Cours complet pour l’enseignement du forte piano – Etude No. 8 in A Minor

Get Ready: creative activities to explore before the first encounter with the score to prepare a student for deeper engagement and more immediate success

• Improvise over frequently used chord progressions built into the piece, e.g., i6–iv–V–i, in the key of F minor
• Compose a small piece with similar features, e.g., with the above chord progression, with the same meter, scalar melodic ideas, same key, etc.

Initial Focus: features to pay attention to first; priority steps in reading and absorbing the music

• Composed in the lyrical/arioso topic and features a cantabile melody over a simple LH accompaniment.
• While St. Georges indicated Adagio, he did not indicate the BPM on the score. Consider playing this piece at a slightly brisker tempo so the lines move.
• Appropriate Classical era stylistic practices with ornamentation involve beginning these on the upper note of the indicated pitch, beginning ornaments on the beat for dissonance.

Coordination Essentials: physical skills and drills for common technical challenges in the piece

• Scalar passages in blocked, parallel thirds are often used in the RH. Technical work to facilitate ease of playing should be assigned either prior to or alongside study.
• Special care is needed for proper balance and voicing by singing the RH over the LH.
• In the LH, broken triads and blocked octave accompaniment played at softer volumes need to be addressed.
• Semi-rapid and light ornamentation comprised of grace notes and trills should be isolated and addressed.
• Shaping repeated pitches over long lines should be practiced with single gestures where possible.

Expressivity: ideas to connect with the expressive and musical nature of the piece

• Great example of rococo style and how to play expressively but without excess sentimentality.
• Loudest dynamic indicated is mezzo forte. While phrases need forethought in how they will be shaped, especially those with repeated notes, care is needed not to go too far because of its thin, transparent texture.

Look Forward: approaches to set up for success with refinements that will need attention a few weeks down the road

• Assign pieces that are “spritelier” in character alongside this one to help keep variety, e.g., first or third movement from a Clementi or Kuhlau sonatina.
• Technical work involving balance and voicing with heavier arm weight in the RH and lighter LH should be broached as soon as possible once a sense of the piece has been established.
• Consider assigning other shorter, simpler pieces in F minor or A-flat major to further facilitate familiarity with the harmonies used and their relationship to one another.

Process and Practice

Fully present: tips for maintaining focus and engagement over time

• Sharing details about the composer’s life, such as his virtuosity as a violinist, skill in fencing, and his decision to abandon an aristocratic lifestyle to fight for civil rights and racial equality in 18th-century France, can spark interest in the work.
• While a fast movement in a similar piece could help retain interest, putting this piece on hold and working on a similarly crafted slow movement in the classical style can help reinforce concepts while giving students variety.       

Break it up: useful practice segments; how to connect them and plug them back into the whole

• Piece is ABCA’ with very little repetition in the B section. Material is often reused, however, and “taking turns” is an effective way to bridge these together. An example of this on p. 6, from the 3rd measure of system 1 to the 2nd measure of system 4; this is essentially the same as the material in F minor as was originally introduced in A-flat major on p. 4 from the last measure in system 2 to the 3rd measure in system 5.
• Phrase structure tends to be asymmetrical throughout and this irregularity should be emphasized. In the A section for instance, the 1st period is made up with a 5+6 bar structure and the 2nd period is with a 5+4 bar structure

Layers and outlines: tips for focusing on how the parts makeup the whole

• Focus on the melody and downbeats by omitting passing tones and non-chord tones to help students understand the contrapuntal approach
• Emphasize how music can be composed predominantly using chord tones 
• The accompaniment, made up of broken triads and simple arpeggiations, provides an opportunity to teach harmonic analysis and how these elements contribute to the overall structure of the piece.

Achieving flow: ideas for finding and maintaining tempo, managing modifications artistically

• Teach the piece with an internalized sense of sixteenth and eighth note subdivisions to help the student navigate the slow macrobeat and maintain rhythmic clarity.
• Use brief pauses at the end of each phrase, whether “half phrases” or entire phrases, to help the student better understand and emphasize the individual musical ideas. 

Make it mine: tips for developing and refining a personal, internal sense of the piece

• As improvisation was much more common in this time period, students can include their own ideas regarding ornamentation where appropriate for more creative ownership.
• With the major-minor dichotomy and the cantabile melody, given programmatic music wasn’t very common, students can make a type of student with a sequence of events or a series of moods that can be used to help play more imaginatively.

Deep knowing: tips for securing memory

• Simplify left-hand arpeggios by playing only the bassline and isolate the melody in the right hand by omitting other notes.
• Play left-hand chords as blocks while the right hand plays the melody to clarify coordination and hand positioning.
• Tie repeated notes in the melody into longer durations to simplify rhythm and maintain focus across both hands.

Final stages: tips for ensuring performance readiness, maintaining freshness and spontaneity, and reinforcing an expressive personal connection

• Assign emotions to pivotal moments in the piece, as it was composed shortly after the Baroque era’s focus on affects, to help the student connect emotionally and interpret the music more meaningfully.
• Use words or stories written in the score to guide the student’s interpretation, pausing before each for reflection.
• Emphasize the challenge of maintaining delicacy on a grand piano and ensure the student practices on one if possible.

by Kaden Larson

Preparation and Presentation

Context: pieces that are helpful to have experienced or played before approaching this one

• For Impromptu Op. 5 No. 5:
• Pieces with “windy” effects and/or lots of leggiero or sweeping motions
• Debussy – Arabesque No. 1, L. 66
• Pieces with octave reach fast 16th notes while maintaining a melody on top
• Schumann – Aufschwung (Fantasiestücke), Op. 12 No. 2
• Chopin – Etude in A-flat, Op. 25 No. 1 (at least trying it)

For Impromptu Op. 5 No. 6:

• Pieces with ostinato bass, such as Nocturnes
• Chorale-type homophonic pieces
• Chopin – Prelude in C minor, Op. 28 No. 20
• Schumann – Norse Song (Album for the Young), Op. 68 No. 41

For both:

• Other Sibelius pieces; there are many that are easy but capture his open, modal, free style such as 5 Pieces, Op. 75 “The Trees”

Get Ready: creative activities to explore before the first encounter with the score to prepare a student for deeper engagement and more immediate success

For Impromptu Op. 5 No. 5:

• Listen to Saint-Saëns’ The Aquarium
• Improvise with augmented 7th chords and half-diminished 7th chords

For Impromptu Op. 5 No. 6:

• Sibelius reused themes from Nights of Jealousy – a melodrama for narrator, vocalise soprano, and piano trio – for these two pieces. Give it a listen!

Initial Focus: features to pay attention to first; priority steps in reading and absorbing the music 

For Impromptu Op. 5 No. 5:

• Big sections
• Where are the texture changes?
• Where are the changes in harmonic areas?

For Impromptu Op. 5 No. 6:

• Identify big sections; primarily, the key change
• Identify textural balance; LH ostinato rhythm and gesture, RH melody

For both: there’s a balance to be found between soundscape / static stillness, and sudden (though often subtle) changes of scene. Listen and discuss.

Coordination Essentials: physical skills and drills for common technical challenges in the piece

For Impromptu Op. 5 No. 5:

• Slow note plucking to get a crystalline leggiero sound
• Wrist circles of contrary motion for both hands

For Impromptu Op. 5 No. 6: 

• LH wrist circles
• RH down-up movements in connection with phrasing, especially when there are lighter eighth notes passing between longer melodic tones

For Impromptu Op. 5 No. 5:

• Watch the opening scene of the movie “Living” – a beautiful historical drama about the story about the bureaucratic battle to redevelop a World War II bomb site into a children’s playground. This piece is used as the opening music score.

For Impromptu Op. 5 No. 6:

• Listen to another recording of this piece and have the student draw out either a picture of what they hear, or a graphic score, based on the rising and falling of the melody, the color changes, or any other elements that stand out to them.

For both:

• Listen to or play through the earlier Impromptus in this set. While not as popular, and possibly not as musically inventive, they set up an introspective sound world that must be felt before it can be played. Discuss the nature of folk music and what folk elements are heard.

Expressivity: ideas to connect with the expressive and musical nature of the piece

For Impromptu Op. 5 No. 5:

• Reduce the piece to a harmonic chord progression and play it.
• Listen to the unprepared dissonances, the resting/pedal harmonies, and the places where the harmonic rhythm moves more quickly.

For Impromptu Op. 5 No. 6:

• Identify phrase beginnings and endings; this piece needs long melodic lines.
• Identify parts of the RH that are texturally in the background.

Process and Practice

Fully present: tips for maintaining focus and engagement over time

For both pieces:

• Listen to how Sibelius combined both impromptus into an arrangement for string orchestra titled simply Impromptu for Strings. This reimagination of both pieces can be a powerfully engaging way to rethink interpretation, color, and character.
• Experiment with playing each piece at different kinds of tempo, and listen to what different elements can be brought out with each. Ask questions of meter and phrase length in this exercise.       

Break it up: useful practice segments; how to connect them and plug them back into the whole

For Impromptu Op. 5 No. 5:

• Each texturally-different type of arpeggio section needs separate practice. Evaluate what kinds of rotational movement are needed in each from a technical standpoint, and practice transitions between these sections.
• In the middle section where the LH takes the bell-tone melody, there are lots of opportunities for expressive rubato that also help the shifting of RH fingering.

For Impromptu Op. 5 No. 6:

• Practice the RH octave melodies alone; do one note at a time too, and listen to how the character of the music changes depending on which octave note is highlighted.

Layers and outlines: tips for focusing on how the parts makeup the whole

For Impromptu Op. 5 No. 5:

• Listen to how the LH melody in the middle bell section relates to the main theme from the opening.
• Compare both static arpeggio sextuplet sections; key area, place in the form, and expressive potential.

For Impromptu Op. 5 No. 6:

• Understand the binary nature of the form in terms of key; how does the mood change?
• Compare the placement of the bar line fermata with where it would go if placed in the first half of the piece too.

Achieving flow: ideas for finding and maintaining tempo, managing modifications artistically

For Impromptu Op. 5 No. 5:

• Use a quick flow and pause method in small bursts to attain easy velocity, gradually trying larger passages.
• Identify where the hands are playing one at a time, and where they are together. Does this change in texture warrant a change in tempo?

For Impromptu Op. 5 No. 6:

• Practice the LH alone a lot; experiment with the opportunity for creative rubato and shaping in the RH, but the LH needs to be like an anchor to the momentum of the piece.

Make it mine: tips for developing and refining a personal, internal sense of the piece

For Impromptu Op. 5 No. 5:

• What tempo is appropriate? Think about the idea of fading away the ending; there’s a steady kinetic energy for the whole piece, and here it really is dying away.
• Listen for dynamic bumps in all arpeggios; practice shaping each small slur very slowly.

For Impromptu Op. 5 No. 6:

• Really listen to the sudden and colorful harmonic shifts. Try transposing this piece to a different key and listen to how that might change things. 
• How does each chord transform and relate to one another?

For both:

• Experiment with reharmonizing the melody. What would you do differently?

Deep knowing: tips for securing memory

For Impromptu Op. 5 No. 5:

• Practice in blocked chords.
• Outline big sections and identify specific changes. Sometimes, the only changes in a repeated section are to the kinds of inversions used in the arpeggios.
• Play the arpeggios with only one finger at a time. Can you still remember all of the notes?

For Impromptu Op. 5 No. 6:

• Learn to sing the melody by heart. Accompany yourself with generic blocked chords as you sing.

For both:

• Practice in altered rhythms.

Final stages: tips for ensuring performance readiness, maintaining freshness and spontaneity, and reinforcing an expressive personal connection

For both:

• Find places in the music that make you smile, or make you feel some other emotion. Write it in the score or draw something to remind you. Remember that emotional memory is powerful, and that it can influence your shaping and phrasing more spontaneously than a simple planned dynamic event.
• Practice performing these pieces both individually and as a set. Reverse the order.
• Find images of Finnish landscapes that you feel connect to the music. Then find some different images.
• Don’t be afraid to put these pieces away for a couple of days and then come back to them with fresh ears.