Baroque-Classical Repertoire Lesson Plans for teachers
Prelude. Johann Christian Bach (1735-1782). This piece is marked “con moto”.
The easiest to get edition is ed. Snell, KJOS. Progressive Piano Repertoire: Mid-Elementary Piano Music from the 18th to 21st Centuries. (In relative order of difficulty, appears on p. 31 toward the end of the edition).
Lesson Plan 1 - Small Group.
Students must be familiar with # sign, eighth rest, and eighth note notation.
Must understand 2nd, 3rd, fourth, and should be familiar with/ able to recognize a root position triad.
Materials: 2 octave paper piano. Colored coins or “dots”, such as those available from Music Mind Games: https://musicmindgames.com/collections/materials/products/paper-pianos - best to have a wall-mounted white board with the Treble Clef staff. 10 copies of staff cards for each student (see below).
Introduce the activity by having students place three of the same color coins/tokes on a paper piano to form an a minor triad.
Notate this triad on the white board. (1-2 minutes). Have students “copy” this on a single staff card. Label this “a minor - R” (R for root).
On the white board, shift the top two (space) pitches up a step (second inversion d minor). Have students “copy” this on a single staff card. Label this “d minor - I” (I for inverted). Have students then move their color coins on the paper piano.
On the white board, shift the bottom pitch (line) up a step (root position b diminished). Have the students “copy” this on a single staff card. Label this “B (circle)”. Have students then move their color coins on the paper piano.
If time permits, do this activity with G Major (root); C Major Treble C (root); F Major (root) and E Major (root).
Instruct students to practice playing these “chords” at home, and be prepared to present their chords at the next lesson.
At the next meeting (ideally a private lesson), open to p. 31 of ed. Snell KJOS & ask students to take out their chord staff cards from group class. When they play each chord, point to the corresponding measure in the book for “Prelude”. Ask students to play each measure “as written” (i.e. broken).
By the third lesson, teach each “chord” as blocked, continue to use the single staff cards. At the fourth lesson, if students are ready, add the LH bass clef for measures 1-8 (repeat), measures 9-21, possibly measure 22 (bass a minor root position).
Within 5 weeks, your advancing first and second year students will be ready to perform their first “Bach” prelude!
Facilitate a great conversation
When 2 or more students learn the same piece, there is potential for students to learn from one another as well as from the teacher. The key to a successful active listening exercise is to make this a developmental exercise. This is to say that students should not merely listen to one another ”once” - they should come together a second time, after the piece has been performed publicly or shared in an adjudicated environment.
Facilitate conversations that allow students to dig deep. Have them reflect meaningfully on their own performances. Don’t allow the student to be satisfied with vague generalizations. Encourage them to be specific - for example, they may share: I had to practice this section more than another section. Then ask what it was about the “easier” section that made it easier. They will be reluctant to answer, but don’t give in and lead them to an answer (even if you know the answer!). Lead them to answer the question with a prompt - such as the adjudication form and adjudicator comments. Consider also how can you set the stage for this activity when you are introducing the piece to the student.
Introducing a piece to a student is an important moment. You are the agent of how the student will perceive the piece, as well as develop their understanding of the piece. Avoid merely telling them how to shape a phrase. Have students discover basic essentials - together, let’s identify every instance where the “tonic” chord appears. Now, look at where there seem to be “no tonic chords” in the score. Ask if this could be an indication of a modulation / key change? What chord seems to be most prevalent here - is this the tonic of the new key?
Setting the stage in ways like this allows the student to understand more deeply why a particular section may have been easier or more difficult to learn.
Favorite Performances
Valentina Lisitsa - Traumerei - Schumann
