Alfredas Premier Piano Course, Level 4 students explore the full range of the keyboard, playing motivating, fun pieces that use triplets and sixteenth notes. Styles range from jazz and ragtime to original pieces by master composers. New concepts including natural and harmonic minor scales, one octave arpeggios and chord inversions are skillfully woven into intriguing pieces. Each piece on the CD was recorded at a performance tempo and a slower practice tempo. 48 pages.

Designed for the Christian student, this course incorporates the appealing music and activities from Alfred's All-in-One Course with lyrics and illustrations that reflect spiritual and inspirational themes. Students will be exposed to Christian values and principles as well as Biblical lessons while learning basic musicianship skills.

Achieving Musical Success in the String Classroom describes a fully pragmatic pedagogical approach toward developing complete musicianship in beginning through advanced level string players by incorporating the ideas of Mimi Zweig, Paul Rolland, and Shinichi Suzuki. Author Karel Butz's philosophical assumptions are explained regarding the structure and purpose of string teaching contributing to a high level of musical artistry among students. Introductory through advanced string concepts relating to instrument set-up, posture, left and right hand development, music theory, aural skills, assessment procedures, imagery in playing, the development individual practice and ensemble skills, and effective rehearsal strategies are explained in a sequential approach that benefit the classroom teacher and student. In addition, several score examples, sample lesson plans, grading rubrics as well as videos of Butz demonstrating his pedagogical ideas and techniques with musicians are included.

In The Beat Stops Here: Lessons on and off the Podium for Today's Conductor, master conductor Mark Gibson addresses the technique of conducting as an extension of intimate knowledge of the score to the hands and arms. He employs a variety of everyday activities and motions (brushing the dog, Tinkerbelle, the "door knob") to describe the physical aspects of the role. He advocates a comprehensive, detailed approach to score study, addressing major works bar-by-bar in terms of both musical analysis and conducting method. Finally, Gibson explores the various roles a conductor plays, as a teacher, a scholar and a member of the musical community. His writing is highly focused, with an occasionally tongue-in-cheek, discussing everything from motivic development in Brahms to how to hold a knife and fork in public. In short, The Beat Stops Here is a compendium of style and substance in the real world of today's conductor.

Discoveries from the Fortepiano meets the demand for a manual on authentic Classical piano performance practice that is at once accessible to the performer and accurate to the scholarship. Uncovering a wide range of eighteenth-century primary sources, noted keyboard pedagogue Donna Gunn examines contemporary philosophical beliefs and principles surrounding Classical Era performance practices. Gunn introduces the reader to the Viennese fortepiano and compares its sonic and technical capabilities to the modern piano. In doing so, she demonstrates how understanding Classical fortepiano performance aesthetics can influence contemporary pianists, paying particular focus to technique, dynamics, articulation, rhythm, ornamentation, and pedaling. The book is complete with over 100 music examples that illustrate concepts, as well as sample model lessons that demonstrate the application of Gunn's historically informed style on the modern piano. Each example is available on the book's companion website and is given three recordings: the first, a modern interpretation of the passage on a modern piano; the second, a fortepiano interpretation; and the third, a historically informed performance on a modern piano. With its in-depth yet succinct explanations and examples of the Viennese five-octave fortepiano and the nuances of Classical interpretation and ornamentation, Discoveries from the Fortepiano is an indispensable educational aid to any pianist who seeks an academically and artistically sound approach to the performance of Classical works.

The Russian school of violin playing produced many of the twentieth century's leading violinists - from the famed disciples of Leopold Auer such as Jascha Heifetz, Nathan Milstein, and Mischa Elman to masters of the Soviet years such as David Oistrakh and Leonid Kogan. Though descendants of this school of playing are found today in every major orchestra and university, little is known about the pedagogical traditions of the Russian, and later Soviet, violin school. Following the revolution of 1917, the center of Russian violin playing and teaching shifted from St. Petersburg to Moscow, where violinists such as Lev Tseitlin, Konstantin Mostras, and Abraham Yampolsky established an influential pedagogical tradition. Founded on principles of scientific inquiry and physiology, this tradition became known as the Soviet Violin School, a component of the larger Russian Violin School. Yuri Yankelevich (1909 - 1973), a student and assistant of Abraham Yampolsky, was greatly influenced by the teachers of the Soviet School and in turn he became one of the most important pedagogues of his generation. Yankelevich taught at the Moscow Conservatory from 1936 to 1973 and produced a remarkable array of superb violinists, including forty prizewinners in international competitions. Extremely interested in the methodology of violin playing and teaching, Yankelevich contributed significant texts to the pedagogical literature. Despite its importance, Yankelevich's scholarly work has been little known outside of Russia. This book includes two original texts by Yankelevich: his essay on positioning the hands and arms and his extensive research into every detail of shifting positions. Additional essays and commentaries by those close to him examine further details of his pedagogy, including tone production, intonation, vibrato, fingerings and bowings, and his general approach to methodology and selecting repertoire. An invaluable resource for any professional violinist, Yankelevich's work reveals an extremely sophisticated approach to understanding the interconnectivity of all components in playing the violin and is complete with detailed practical suggestions and broad historical context.

Young pianists pursuing a professional career face a barrage of questions, choices, and challenges. In this book, experienced teacher and performer Stewart Gordon offers a new and practical way to approach them by helping readers to plan strategically and build a secure and successful career from the ground up. For decades, Gordon has guided young pianists through the details of how to prepare musically, navigate their college years, and forge a career that will provide a livelihood. In this guide to beginning that musical career, Gordon has assembled the wisdom of decades of teaching: a fundamental body of information emerging pianists will rely on as they work toward their goals. His advice, focused on both mental and practical work, will enhance both motivation and security. Carefully balancing aspiration with reality and inspiration with organization, Gordon creates a blueprint for transforming dreams into achievement, and illustrates his points with examples drawn from the lives of famous musicians. The book also addresses many practical matters, such as developing keyboard technique, acquiring reading and memorizing skills, building repertoire, and balancing the demands of being a musician with living a full life. This volume is a valuable resource for both young pianists and their parents.

A uniquely illuminating memoir of the making of a musician, in which renowned pianist Jeremy Denk explores what he learned from his teachers about classical music: its forms, its power, its meaning - and what it can teach us about ourselves.

In this searching and funny memoir, based on his popular New Yorker article, renowned pianist Jeremy Denk traces an implausible journey. Life is difficult enough as a precocious, temperamental, and insufferable six-year-old piano prodigy in New Jersey. But then a family meltdown forces a move to New Mexico, far from classical music’s nerve centers, and he has to please a new taskmaster while navigating cacti, and the perils of junior high school. Escaping from New Mexico at last, he meets a bewildering cast of college music teachers, ranging from boring to profound, and experiences a series of humiliations and triumphs, to find his way as one of the world’s greatest living pianists, a MacArthur 'Genius,' and a frequent performer at Carnegie Hall.

There are few writers working today who are willing to eloquently explore both the joys and miseries of artistic practice. Hours of daily repetition, mystifying early advice, pressure from parents and teachers who drove him on – an ongoing battle of talent against two enemies: boredom and insecurity. As we meet various teachers, with cruel and kind streaks, Denk composes a fraught love letter to the act of teaching. He brings you behind the scenes, to look at what motivates both student and teacher, locked in a complicated and psychologically perilous relationship.

In Every Good Boy Does Fine, Denk explores how classical music is relevant to 'real life,' despite its distance in time. He dives into pieces and composers that have shaped him – Bach, Mozart, Schubert, and Brahms, among others – and gives unusual lessons on melody, harmony, and rhythm. Why and how do these fundamental elements have such a visceral effect on us? He tries to sum up many of the lessons he has received, to repay the debt of all his amazing teachers; to remind us that music is our creation, and that we need to keep asking questions about its purpose.

Claudio Arrau (1903-1991) was a Chilean pianist who devoted his life to an international performing and teaching career. As a child prodigy, he gained national recognition from government officials in Chile, including President Pedro Montt, who later funded Arrau's education in Germany. He completed his studies in Berlin with Martin Krause, a pupil of Franz Liszt, and later immigrated to New York City, where he began his teaching career and mentored a sizeable group of pupils. His unique and magnetic style impassioned his pupils and motivated them to teach his principles to the next generation of students, including author Victoria von Arx. Piano Lessons with Claudio Arrau highlights interviews with Arrau's surviving pupils (from his class in New York City, which he taught from 1945 to the early 1970s) that give readers an in-depth description of Arrau's principles of technique and performance. Quotations and lesson transcripts make Arrau's voice - and those of his former pupils - audible, and detailed references to over one hundred examples from filmed recordings make his famed technique visible. The bulk of the book features edited and previously-unpublished transcriptions of lessons Arrau gave his pupils, lavishly illustrated with musical examples. The author, herself a teacher and performer, draws information from numerous interviews with Arrau's pupils, from her experience studying with two of them, from videos of Arrau's performances, and from the recorded lessons. By culling these disparate sources of information and presenting them systematically in a single book, von Arx provides an insider's view of the art of piano playing as exemplified by one of the great artists of the twentieth century and offers the reader a virtual piano lesson with Claudio Arrau.

A valuable assortment of teacher/student duets in their original form written by teachers and composers during the 18th and 19th centuries. Arranged in order of difficulty, the student parts are limited to a single five-finger position and fall primarily within the grand staff reading range. Each book includes works by such composers as Diabelli, Gurlitt, Bercucci, Wohlfahrt, Berens and others.

Teach violin with the popular Suzuki Violin School.

The Suzuki Method(R) of Talent Education is based on Shinichi Suzuki's view that every child is born with ability, and that people are the product of their environment. According to Shinichi Suzuki, a world-renowned violinist and teacher, the greatest joy an adult can know comes from developing a child's potential so he/she can express all that is harmonious and best in human beings. Students are taught using the "mother-tongue" approach. Each series of books for a particular instrument in the Suzuki Method is considered a Suzuki music school, such as the Suzuki Violin School. Suzuki lessons are generally given in a private studio setting with additional group lessons. The student listens to the recordings and works with their Suzuki violin teacher to develop their potential as a musician and as a person. This Suzuki book is integral for Suzuki violin lessons.

This revised edition of the Suzuki Violin School, Volume 1 features:

• Revised editing of pieces, including bowings and fingerings
• 16 additional pages
• Additional exercises, some from Shinichi Suzuki, plus additional insight and suggestions for teachers
• Text in English, French, German, and Spanish
• Musical notation guide
• Fingerboard position.

Titles: Principles of Study and Guidance * Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star Variations (Suzuki) * Lightly Row (Folk Song) * Song of the Wind (Folk Song) * Go Tell Aunt Rhody (Folk Song) * O Come, Little Children (Folk Song) * May Song (Folk Song) * Long, Long Ago (Bayly) * Allegro (Suzuki) * Perpetual Motion (Suzuki) * Allegretto (Suzuki) * Andantino (Suzuki) * Etude (Suzuki) * Minuet 1, Minuett III from Suite in G Minor for Klavier, BWV 822 (Bach) * Minuet 2, Minuet, BWV Anh. II 116 from Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach (Bach) * Minuet 3, Minuet BWV Anh. II 114/Anh. III 183 (Bach) * The Happy Farmer from Album for the Young, Op. 68, No. 10 (Schumann)

The ability to improvise a fugue is considered by many to be the summit of practical musicianship. Such skill, combining harmony, counterpoint, form, and style simultaneously, is best learned through the study of figured-bass fugue. The Langloz Manuscript, originating in the era of J.S. Bach, is the largest extant collection of figured-bass fugues. Published here for the first time, this edition of the manuscript includes detailed explanatory notes and illustrates how the art of extemporised fugue was developed in the eighteenth century.

This book contains nine pieces from ABRSM's Grade 6 Piano syllabus for 2021 & 2022, three pieces chosen from each of Lists A, B and C. The pieces have been carefully selected to offer an attractive and varied range of styles, creating a collection that provides an excellent source of repertoire to suit every performer. The book also contains helpful footnotes and, for those preparing for exams, useful syllabus information.

Alfred's Basic Prep Course, Levels A through F, was written to answer a demand for a course of piano study designed specifically for students who are five years old and up. This course offers a careful introduction of fundamentals, music that fits comfortably under the young student's normal hand span, plus constant reinforcement--all leading to results beyond those generated by other piano methods. After Lesson Book B, the student may progress to Prep Course, Lesson Book C or choose to go directly into the faster paced Level 1B of Alfred's Basic Piano Library. The complete Prep Course consists of six books (Levels A through F).

This book contains nine pieces from ABRSM's Grade 5 Piano syllabus for 2021 & 2022, three pieces chosen from each of Lists A, B and C. The pieces have been carefully selected to offer an attractive and varied range of styles, creating a collection that provides an excellent source of repertoire to suit every performer. The book also contains helpful footnotes and, for those preparing for exams, useful syllabus information.

Camille Saint-Saëns 1835-1921: A Thematic Catalogue of his Complete Works defines the achievement of this great French composer. All his musical works are presented: the well-recognized masterpieces, the childhood sketches, the unpublished compositions, and the previously unknown pieces now revealed for the first time. This comprehensive collection fully documents the composer's extraordinary contribution to the musical world. Volume 1 concentrates specifically on his instrumental output, while the two later volumes will cover Dramatic Works and Choral & Vocal Works respectively.

This book of parent-to-parent advice aims to encourage, support, and bolster the morale of one of music's most important back-up sections: music parents. Within these pages, more than 150 veteran music parents contribute their experiences, reflections, warnings, and helpful suggestions for how to walk the music-parenting tightrope: how to be supportive but not overbearing, and how to encourage excellence without becoming bogged down in frustration. Among those offering advice are the parents of several top musicians, including the mother of violinist Joshua Bell, the father of trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, the parents of cellist Alisa Weilerstein, and those of violinist Anne Akiko Meyers. The book also features advice from music educators and more than forty professional musicians, including Paula Robison, Sarah Chang, Anthony McGill, Jennifer Koh, Jonathan Biss, Toyin Spellman-Diaz, Marin Alsop, Christian McBride, Miguel Zenon, Stephanie Blythe, Lawrence Brownlee, and Kelli O'Hara. The topics they discuss span a wide range of issues faced by the parents of both instrumentalists and singers, from how to get started to encouraging effective practice habits, to how to weather the rough spots, cope with the cost of music training, deal with college and career concerns, and help young musicians discover the role that music can play in their lives. The parents who speak here reach a unanimous and overwhelming conclusion that music parenting is well worth the effort, and the experiences that come with it - everything from flying to New York on the weekends to searching a flute convention for the perfect instrument - enrich family life with a unique joy in music.

Designed for use with the Guitar Cards Chord Starter Pack, this pack of 55 cards gives you over 50 moveable chord shapes. Small enough to fit into your back pocket or guitar case, they are an easy way to learn new chords - suitable for beginners, songwriters and teachers.

Titles: Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star Variations (Shinichi Suzuki) * French Folk Song (Folk Song) * Lightly Row (Folk Song) * Song of the Wind (Folk Song) * Go Tell Aunt Rhody (Folk Song) * O Come, Little Children (Folk Song) * May Song (Folk Song) * Allegro (Shinichi Suzuki) * Perpetual Motion in D Major (Shinichi Suzuki) * Perpetual Motion in G Major (Shinichi Suzuki) * Long, Long Ago (T.H. Bayly) * Allegretto (Shinichi Suzuki) * Andantino (Shinichi Suzuki) * Rigadoon (H. Purcell) * Etude (Shinichi Suzuki) * The Happy Farmer from Album for the Young, Op. 68, No. 10 (R. Schumann) * Minuet in C, No. 11 in G Major from Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach, BWV 841 (J.S. Bach) * Minuet No. 2 from Minuet in G Major, BWV 116 (J.S. Bach).
This title is available in SmartMusic.

Designed for the Christian student, this course incorporates the appealing music and activities from Alfred's All-in-One Course with lyrics and illustrations that reflect spiritual and inspirational themes. Students will be exposed to Christian values and principles as well as Biblical lessons while learning basic musicianship skills. This course is most effective when used under the direction of a piano teacher or experienced musician.