18/05/2021
Sing & Play at the Piano L1' is now available!
'Sing & Play at the Piano L1', inspired by Zoltán Kodály's pedagogical principles, contains 59 pieces for voice and piano organised and proposed according to criteria developed over many years of teaching. They have proven to be reliable music material for a training course where the main objective is the development of a profound coordination by means of singing in tune while playing a second part at the piano. The melodies to be sung are composed on various melodic sets which are gradually introduced and systematically presented. The piano parts, to be contextually played while singing, present different grades of complexity, thus favoring a gradual approach to an increasing coordination, which this kind of practice requires.
All Development Areas from the Piano Method Project (PMP), will contribute to an effective development of the student’s musicianship and ability for control and coordination which may not be guaranteed by the practice of an instrument alone. As progress is made, a new Development Area may be added: the more areas the student manages, the more profoundly competence and skills will grow, according to each student’s poise, level of musicianship, general aptitude, and so forth.
The activities from ‘Sing & Play’ represent one of these development areas, positioning itself between the development of instrumental skills and musicianship. ‘Sing & Play’ consists in short melodies to be sung while accompanying oneself at the piano.
The melodies to be sung have been composed on specific systems of tonal functions, forming various pseudo-pentatonic sets. Every new melodic set is divided into two sections: melodies written combining sol-fa syllables with a rhythmic line without the use of the stave (also known as ‘rhythmic sol-fa’), and melodies on the stave.
All melodies in this book can be sung using the solmisation system known as tonic sol-fa: the sol-fa syllables represent the degrees of the diatonic scale for the tonal model where the doh syllable represents the tonic of the major scale regardless of the key in which it lays. The syllables do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, si (ti) are abbreviated in: d r m f s l t.
At this level all pieces are notated without a key signature: accidentals, therefore, will appear at the moment, ‘in itinere’. This method is adopted to accustom students to using absolute sounds belonging to a specific key, making them clear every time they are needed. At the same time, by using the sol-fa system, the student will adopt a unique syllable combined to a specific tonal melodic function, regardless of which key it is in.
Singing without an instrumental accompaniment contributes to effective development of the inner ear and the ability to mentally represent the tonal functions involved. Getting accustomed to learning and performing melodies without an instrumental accompaniment is, therefore, of utmost importance. Premature use of an accompaniment will barely stimulate a mental representation of the notation to be converted from a graphic melodic profile to a sung melody. When a melody is correctly performed in tune, singing with an accompaniment will become an enriching experience: the accompaniment will not be perceived as a sustenance or support upon which to lazily sing the melody, but as an enrichment of the texture.
Sing & Play at the Piano L1' can be ordered through the leading Online Retailers or at you nearest Bookstore providing the following ISBN code: 9788894112290
More at: http://www.ga-music.com/
