Premier Piano Course Technique Book 1b

The technical tools and artistic skills learned in Technique 1A are enhanced and expanded in Technique 1B. Four new technique tools are introduced that relate to smooth legato, crisp staccato, rising wrist and amazing phrasing. Patterned exercises provide repetitions that make technique feel natural and artistic etudes showcase a student’s technique in an expressive musical setting. New to this level are Hands-Together Workshops that focus on developing the skills necessary for coordinating hands-together playing. Each page in the Technique Book correlates with a specific page in the Lesson Book.

Beautifully presented and intelligently paced, the Lesson Book combines unusually attractive music and lyrics. The book features note reading, rhythm reading, sight-reading and technical workouts. While most teachers find audio recordings very useful at the lesson and for home practice, others prefer not to use the audio. To accommodate all teachers, this version of Alfred's Premier Piano Course Lesson Book 1B does not have audio included.

The technical tools and artistic skills learned in Technique 1A are enhanced and expanded in Technique 1B. Four new technique tools are introduced that relate to smooth legato, crisp staccato, rising wrist and amazing phrasing. Patterned exercises provide repetitions that make technique feel natural and artistic etudes showcase a student’s technique in an expressive musical setting. New to this level are Hands-Together Workshops that focus on developing the skills necessary for coordinating hands-together playing. Each page in the Technique Book correlates with a specific page in the Lesson Book.

Now your students will have the technical tools needed to achieve artistic performances. They will encounter skills in four areas—playing naturally (physical aspects), moving freely (around the keyboard), playing beautifully (tone production) and playing artistically. The technical goals are accomplished through three types of activities—patterned exercises with necessary repetitions to make the technique feel natural, artistic etudes that showcase the student’s technique in an artistic musical setting and appealing and descriptive exercises called Technique Tools. The nine Technique Tools in Level 1A relate to relaxed shoulders, arm weight, moving freely, strong fingertips, finger weights, repeated notes, thumb position, finger independence and gentle hand rock. Each page in the Technique Book correlates with a specific page in the Lesson Book; when the Lesson, Theory, Performance and Technique books are used together, they offer a fully integrated and unparalleled comprehensive approach to piano instruction.

Technique 2B continues and expands on the technical and artistic tools learned in Technique books 1A, 1B, and 2A. The seven new Technique Tools introduced are: three-note slurs, preparing quickly for hand crossings, feel the downbeat, finger stretches, legato pedal, finger 1 under finger 3, and finger 3 over finger 1. Artistic Etudes showcase a studentäó»s technique in an expressive musical setting, and Hands-Together Workshops focus on developing the skills necessary for coordinating hands-together playing. Masterwork etudes provide training to play standard masterworks. Each page in the Technique Book correlates with a specific page in the Lesson Book.

Correlated page-for-page with the Lesson Book, each new musical concept is reinforced through fun-filled writing, listening and playing exercises. With games and puzzles added to compositional and creative activities, students retain concepts more easily and learn more thoroughly.

Technique 2A continues and expands on the technical and artistic tools learned in Technique books 1A and 1B. The seven new Technique Tools introduced are: dynamic shaping, crossing over the thumb, solid-sounding chords, two-note slurs, seamless melodies, balance between melody and accompaniment, and damper pedal footwork. Artistic Etudes showcase a student’s technique in an expressive musical setting, and Hands-Together Workshops focus on developing the skills necessary for coordinating hands-together playing. Each page in the Technique Book correlates with a specific page in the Lesson Book.

Technique 6 continues and expands on the technical and artistic tools learned in Technique books 1A--5. Four new Technique Tools clearly present technical goals through appealing and descriptive exercises. Artistic Etudes showcase a student's technique in an expressive musical setting and Masterwork Etudes provide training to play standard masterworks. Each page in the Technique book correlates with a specific page in the Lesson book. Technique Tools: * Slur Gestures * Voicing the Melody * The Soft Pedal---Una Corda * Trills