Instruction will be by lecture, demonstration and supervised practice.
- Scales: major, minor, modal; two octaves, hands separately.
- Triads and Inversions: major and minor; two octaves, solid and broken, hands separately.
- Dominant Sevenths and Inversions: one octave, solid and broken, hands separately.
- Diminished Sevenths and Inversions: one octave, solid and broken, hands separately.
- Arpeggios: major and minor: root position, two octaves, hands separately.
- Chord Progressions: Expansion of basic formulae incorporating secondary sevenths and secondary dominants as follows:
- V6/5/V-I6/4-V7-I,
- VII07/V-V7-I,
- VII07/V-I6/4-V7-I,
- IV7-V7-I,VI7-V7-I.
- Sight Reading: pentachord range in major and minor keys with limited range of hand positions, chords at random, hands separately.
- Transposition: as above in item 7.
- Harmonization: melodies with extended range; diatonic harmonies, secondary dominants, block style and keyboard style.
- Improvisation: continue a given melodic fragment in similar style.
- Repertoire: easy pieces from the standard repertoire: Bach, Schumann, Bartok, etc.
The successful student will be able to demonstrate the fundamentals of keyboard sight reading, accompaniment, transposition, improvisation, keyboard harmony, technique and piano repertoire.
The grade will be calculated on the basis of progress made in the various aspects of the course as follows:
| Weekly progress* | 40% |
| Regularly scheduled quizzes (minimum of 4) | 20% |
| Mid-term exam | 15% |
| Final exam | 25% |
| Total | 100% |
*Frequent, short evaluations are designed to give feedback on newly learned material and skills, and will include demonstrations of tasks as outlined in the course content.
Attendance
As this is a skill-oriented course, regular attendance is required in order to develop fluent keyboard skills. Therefore, 100% attendance is desired. The failure to attend regularly will result in reduction of a final grade as shown below:
- 4 unexcused absences: minus 10%
- 8 unexcused absences: minus 15%
- students who miss 30% or more of scheduled class time will receive a final grade of UN (unofficial withdrawal)
Frackenphol, Arthur. Harmonization at the Piano, 6th Edition Wm. C. Brown Publishers, 1991
A list of recommended textbooks and materials is provided on the Instructor’s Course Outline, which is available to students at the beginning of each semester.