Introduction by Marvin Blickenstaff
hen I teach a piece
by Kabalevsky, I am aware of the responsibility he seemed to shoulder
as a music educator - a piano pedagogue in the full sense of the
word. He wrote in all of the forms, covered all
of the technical configurations, and opened the entire emotional
landscape our students require in preparation for advanced piano
literature. Kabalevsky's music is both immediately gratifying
and "preparation for style."
We are fortunate in our country to have a wealth of serious composers who write for our students. They, too, compose music which is highly attractive and prepares students' ears and hands and hearts for the standard literature which is to follow. In some cases, a composer may write with a specific style in mind, providing some of the preparation that leads to a Bach invention, a Mozart sonata, or a Debussy prelude. This repertoire serves as a bridge over which our students travel, bringing them to a safe landing in advanced repertoire. We have asked three such composers to write about their compositions and the subject of Preparation for Style.
Ed. note: The print-magazine version of this Department has additional articles by Nancy Faber and Paul Sheftel. Those articles do not contain any multimedia, so they are not included in the website version. However, audio clips for the pieces referred to in Paul Sheftel's article can be found at Carl Fischer's website.
Article by Catherine Rollin
n
writing music which prepares piano students for standard literature,
it has been my goal to identify the distinguishing characteristics
of each era and to incorporate them into my compositions.
This has been my focus in the Spotlight on Style
books.
I would like to highlight three pieces from these collections for discussion.
The "Gigue" is from Suite in C in Spotlight on Baroque Style (Alfred) (see example below). My goal in writing the suite was to give students an opportunity to play a complete three-movement suite. One finds very few gigues at the early intermediate level. When studying this dance form, I always have my students try a simple gigue step. They hear and feel the strong rhythm ... and have fun dancing at a piano lesson! The RH easily learns the repeated broken chords of the A section (mm. 1-8), and the single line LH also shows that it can be melodic. In the B section (mm. 9-16), the RH creates a sequential pattern that can be learned easily by blocking each chord.
In the C section (see example below), I wanted students to experience crossovers as they might in a Scarlatti piece. In order to simplify the challenge, I limited the crossovers to two different note combinations: C to C and G to D.
"Gigue" from Spotlight on Baroque Style by Catherine Rollin. Copyright © MCMXCI by Alfred Publishing Co., Inc. Used by Permission.
"Waltz" from my Spotlight on Romantic Style (see example below) prepares students for expressive melodies and develops the skill of dynamic shaping. In the A theme (mm. 1-8), the melody is beautifully expressive, but is easy to shape dynamically. The rising thirds of m. 1 and the falling third of m. 2 fit naturally with the dynamics of those measures. In the B section (mm. 9-17), my focus was the sequence inspired by the B section of Chopin's "Waltz in C-sharp Minor, Op.64, No.2." In my sequence the student plays primarily on white keys, using strong fingers. Students light up when they realize that this pattern is easily learned and they sound like a true virtuoso! The piece is brought to a very showy close with a pattern derived from the last two bars of the B section.
In this coda (see example below), the music moves up the keyboard with a brilliant crescendo for a flamboyant Romantic style ending.
"Waltz" from Spotlight on Romantic Style by Catherine Rollin. Copyright © MCMXC by Alfred Publishing Co., Inc. Used by Permission.