Sophia Gorlin

Music Theory for Young Musicians in the Style of Russian School of Piano Playing (Volume 9) Sophia Gorlin

This current volume is the ninth in this multi-volume Music Theory collection, which is targeted to pre-college students of all levels. This collection was originally conceived as a supplement to the Russian School of Piano Playing book series, which is an English translation of the popular Russian piano method book. A number of piano teachers have noted the need for a comprehensive music theory supplement to the Russian piano method series. Music Theory is intended to fill this gap, though it can be used effectively with any piano method. What makes these Music Theory books unique: ?This collection is expected to be one of a kind written in English language for the following reasons: 1) The author applies European musical terminology and classifications in the books. 2) The author offers her own terms, classifications and charts, such as a ?candelabra scheme? for explanation of tonal symmetry. 4) Such advanced concepts as tonality (stability/instability), functionality (primary/secondary functions), chromaticism, enharmonicism, all forms of modulations, and all forms of cadences/chord progressions have never been included in any pre-college or college introductory courses; therefore, the books of intermediate and advanced levels are extremely helpful for those students who plan to continue their musical education in college. ?The Music Theory collection uniquely combines textbook and workbook (theory and practice), teacher and student book components in each volume, providing greater ease of instruction for both teachers and students at every level. ?This Music Theory book collection contains a broad anthology of repertoire at every level. It include not only excerpts/fragments, but also complete music pieces that are offered for analysis and performance. ?This Music Theory collection uniquely develops the student's analytical and logical skills through detailed analysis of its large number of musical examples. This is accomplished by accompanying each musical example with a number of questions about various musical components (key, tonality, rhythm, melody, harmony, texture, expression tools) that lead the student to his/her own conclusion about the uniqueness of a musical work. With every analysis of a musical example, the student's attention is drawn to the style and genre of a musical piece, to the historical period in which it was composed and to the background (nationality) of a composer. ?Starting with level 1B, each book includes additional biographical articles about the composers and musical genres, either in footnotes or in the appendix/endnotes; this forms a concise ?encyclopedia? for a student to turn to when he/she needs to answer the questions about musical genres, styles and composer?s backgrounds. ?The books include a number of unique comparison exercises. These present comparative analysis of two or three pieces that share musical components and features. These exercises largely contribute to the students? understanding of a musical style at its every level ? from the historical period in which the music work was written to the individual composer?s style and the style of a concrete musical work. ?This collection offers, through the performance tips found throughout the books, the important connection between theory concepts and piano performance. This connection is also supported by music terminology reviews. A student?s attention is consistently brought to new music terms as they are introduced in musical examples. This helps the student to comprehend and memorize important musical terms in relation to performance. The unique teaching tools offered in this Music Theory series will encourage students to look more closely and deeply at the music, and will intensify their ability to read music quickly and effectively. Upon completion of the theory training in these books, a student should be able to sketch a musical image in his/her mind just by looking at the score, before he/she even begins to play it.