Mrs Curwen's Pianoforte Method - A Guide to the Piano

Mrs. Curwen

Description

Originally published in 1913. A concise and comprehensive step by step instruction book on all aspects of piano playing. Many of the earliest books on music, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. Pomona Books are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

Informations

• Publié par: Read Books Ltd.
• Date de parution: 14 juillet 2020
• Nombre de lectures: 3
• EAN13: 9781528761222
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

THE
TEACHER S GUIDE
(Curwen s Edition, 5048)
TO
MRS. CURWEN S PIANOFORTE METHOD.
(THE CHILD PIANIST.)
B EING A P RACTICAL C OURSE OF THE E LEMENTS OF M USIC .
SEVENTEENTH EDITION .
T O THE M EMORY
OF
RIDLEY PRENTICE,
WHO WAS THE FIRST MEMBER OF THE MUSICAL PROFESSION TO GIVE ME ENCOURAGEMENT IN MY WORK.
PREFACE TO THE SIXTEENTH EDITION.
The Child Pianist series of books, with its accompanying Guide, was published in 1886. Its Lessons were sketched out for my own children and given to them, and they played the exercises and duets from MS. Publication was an after-thought. The Guide was an experiment. Nothing of the kind had been done for the pianoforte teacher. I wanted to do for her something akin to what my father-in-law, John Curwen, had done for the teacher of singing classes. My work was based upon his.
I omitted all instructions from the Child s book, for the simple reason that even the youngest pupils will lose a little of the requisite veneration for their teacher when they know that the instruction given in the lesson comes just out of the book, whereas the person who can teach them out of his own head is felt to have a vast fund of knowledge which commands respect and gives weight to his words.
But the young workman must know how to handle his tools; and the exercises of the Child Pianist would not have been helpful if used at haphazard. I therefore embodied in the Guide the directions for their use.
The hearty reception of the first part of the work (Steps 1 to 4), first by the press and then by the teachers, strengthened my hands in the preparation of the second part, which appeared in 1889. Then came fourteen years of intercourse with teachers and experience of their mistakes and difficulties, and I saw that more was needed than I had done. The book had been made as small and compact as possible, to suit the teacher s pocket in more than one sense. It was over-condensed, in fact, and I found that it was in the very early stages, in the apparently simple matter of teaching the Staff and giving the first lessons in Time, that teachers made the most frequent mistakes. It was just here, where skilled teaching is most needed, that I had taken too much for granted and given an insufficient outline of the method to be pursued. But the little book, imperfect as it was, had helped many, and with its success came the obligation to make it still more helpful; and so, in 1900 a new edition of the first part was issued, in which the Preliminary Course was re-written and very much enlarged.
Another period of thirteen years has now elapsed, an increasing number of teachers use the books, and I take advantage of the issue of the 16th edition to make a further revision. There is no alteration in the method-the pupil s work runs along the same path; but for the teacher there are fresh suggestions (arising in many cases out of questions put to me), and references to other works likely to be of use to them.
But there are some alterations in the arrangement of the book which I think will be an improvement. Each of the Steps was originally divided into four Lessons, and the teaching of Simple Time ran into Step 4 (1st Lesson). This lesson I have transferred to Step 3, so that all the common divisions of the simple pulse are now included in that Step, the pupil s books being correspondingly rearranged and some new Reading Exercises added to Step 3. The alternative edition of the pupil s books (Steps 1 to 4) with the Illustrative Duets by Mr. Felix Swinstead, will be useful to teachers who have many pupils in one school or family.
In the second part of the book (Steps 5 and 6) Scale-building, Chord-building, and Transposition were in separate sections, with directions for keeping them abreast. They are now in one section, each Chord-Lesson following the Scale-Lesson to which it properly belongs, with the Transposition exercises interspersed. This will make the correlation of those three topics clearer. They are practically one subject, applied in three directions. Scale-building and its attendant topics is divided into three courses of lessons. (I) Preparatory keyboard work. (II) The same from a notational point of view, with written exercises. These two are concerned with the Major Mode. (III) The Minor scales; in their dual forms-harmonic and melodic-and their dual relations to the Major-relative and tonic-as before.
There are two additional Chord-lessons, on the dominant 7th, limited to root-position like the other three chords.
The Appendix has a chapter on Technical Training and one on Class Teaching, besides other matter.
Many mothers and teachers write to me telling of their successes or their difficulties. Most of these correspondents are unknown to me; but I should like them to know that their letters are counted among the helps I have had in the preparation of each new edition of the Guide, and that many of the fresh hints as to exercises, etc., are direct answers to questions that have come to me in this way. Lastly, I have to thank my friend Miss Scott Gardner for suggestions arising out of her experiences with students in her training-classes, and other teachers whose good work has contributed so much to the success of the Method.
I have also to thank Mrs. C. Milligan Fox for permission to use the beautiful old Ray-mode tune on page 231 , from a collection in her possession.
A. J. C.
6 P ORTLAND C OURT , W.
September , 1913.
A FEW EDUCATIONAL MAXIMS
Showing the Principles on which the Method of the Child Pianist is founded.
1. Teach the easy before the difficult.
2. Teach the thing before the sign .
3. Teach one fact at a time, and the commonest fact first.
4. Leave out all exceptions and anomalies until the general rule is understood.
5. In training the mind, teach the concrete before the abstract.
6. In developing physical skill, teach the elemental before the compound, and do one thing at a time.
7. Proceed from the known to the related unknown.
8. Let each lesson, as far as possible, rise out of that which goes before, and lead up to that which follows.
9. Call in the understanding to help the skill at every step.
10. Let the first impression be a correct one; leave no room for misunderstanding.
11. Never tell a pupil anything that you can help him to discover for himself.
12. Let the pupil, as soon as possible, derive some pleasure from his knowledge. Interest can only be kept up by a sense of growth in independent power.
CONTENTS.
I NTRODUCTORY C HAPTER
I NDEX TO P RELIMINARY C OURSE
PART I.-PRELIMINARY COURSE.
F IRST N OTIONS OF P ITCH , T IME, AND N OTATION
P ASS E XAMINATION
PART II.-FIRST FOUR STEPS.
NOTES ON THE PREPARATION OF L ESSONS
FIRST STEP.-Reading Seconds-Semibreves-Minims-Crotchets-Quavers
F IRST S TEP E XAMINATION
SECOND STEP.-Reading Thirds-Dotted crotchets-Tied quavers-Semibreve, minim, and crotchet rests-Syncopation
S ECOND S TEP E XAMINATION
THIRD STEP.-Reading Fourths and Fifths-Quaver rests-Semiquavers in various groupings
T HIRD S TEP E XAMINATION
FOURTH STEP.-The Triplet Pulse-Compound Time
F OURTH S TEP E XAMINATION
SPECIAL LESSON ON THE , , AND
FINAL LESSON ON THE D OT
PART III.-FIFTH AND SIXTH STEPS.
I NTRODUCTORY N OTE
SECTION I.-Technical Exercises
SECTION II.-Reading by name (Locality)
SECTION III.-Reading by Interval
SECTION IV.-Scales, Chords, and Transposition-
C HAP . I.-First Scale Course-Major Scale (Keyboard)
C HAP . II.-Second Scale Course-Major Scale (Notation)
C HAP . III.-Third Scale Course-Minor Scale
SECTION V.-Time-Higher pulse divisions-Conventional names-Time-signatures
SECTION VI.-Ear-Training
APPENDICES.
I.-O N T ECHNICAL T RAINING
II.-O N C LASS T EACHING
III.-T HE C LEFS
IV.-N OTES ON THE R ECREATIVE M USIC
V.-N OTES ON THE D UETS OF THE S WINSTEAD S ERIES
VI.-S IGHT-PLAYING
MRS. CURWEN S
Pianoforte Method.
INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER.
When and How to Begin. -People who have the reputation of being musical, especially if they have had experience in teaching, are constantly asked by their less musical or less experienced friends for advice as to the age at which children should begin to learn music. Now, all depends upon what people mean by this question. If they mean, At what age should the musical education of a child commence? I should reply, In babyhood. The musical nurse, who croons old ditties while rocking the children to sleep, or dandles them on her knee to the well-marked rhythm of a country dance, is a powerful factor in their musical development, and such music lessons should be made a part of nursery training long before schoolroom or governess is dreamt of.
Rote Singing. -The next step in musical education is the rote-singing of the home or kindergarten. While children are singing by ear, marching to well-accented tunes, or performing the rhythmical movements of action songs, they are learning music in the concrete, and laying up in their minds a store of experiences to which the pianoforte teacher can appeal when the more formal systematic study of music commences. (See Maxim 5.)
The introduction to notation, or reading music, should be made in the singing class, where the children, unhindered by the manipulation of an instrument, can give their whole attention to the symbols which stand for the facts with which they made practical acquaintance while singing by ear. Here the question arises, What symbols shall we use? The easiest, surely; the letter-notation of the Tonic Sol-fa Method. With its unmistakable names and signs-one