Rowman & Littlefield Publishers / National Association for Music Education (NAfME)
Pages: 128
•
Trim: 9 x 11½
978-1-4758-3541-0 • Hardback • May 2017 • $59.00 • (£45.00)
978-1-4758-3542-7 • Paperback • May 2017 • $31.00 • (£25.00)
978-1-4758-3543-4 • eBook • May 2017 • $29.50 • (£25.00)
Patricia Melcher Bissell received BM and MM degrees in piano and composition from Peabody Conservatory and Yale University, and she was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship. Bissell has been a keyboard class teacher at Gateway Community College in New Haven, CT since 2004, taught K-12 music in suburban and inner city schools, operated piano studios, and she was the floor exercise arranger/pianist for two U.S. Women's Olympic Gymnastic Teams.
NOTATION
1
Musical Sound
White Key Names
The Keyboard
Octave and Middle C
Posture and Hands
C position
Playing Keyboards
Step, Skip and Repeat
Pitch Motion
2
Hand Positions
Changing Position
Playing Music
Composition One
3
Rhythm
Notes and Rests
Treble Clef and Staff
Beats and Notes
Lines and Spaces
Notated Pitch Motion
Playing Melodies
4
Time Signatures
Notes and Beats
Bass Clef and Staff
Beats and Notes
Stems & Grand Staff
Composition Two
5
Dots & Ties
Partial Measures
6
Shorter Notes and Rests
Composition Three
CHORDS
7
Overtones
Intervals
Notated Intervals
8
Chords
Notated Chords
Chord Progressions
9
Chord Structure
Chord Inversion
5 Fingers, 7 pitches
Improvised Endings
Composition Four
10
Lead Sheets
Composition Five
11
Chording Styles
Song Accompaniment
Rock Styles
F MAJOR
12
Half and Whole Steps
C Major Scale
Black Key Names
Notated Accidentals
Scales & The Blues
13
Transposition
Key Signatures
14
Scale Degrees
Chord Structure
Chord Inversion
Key Change
Composition Six
15
Chording Styles
Hand Changes
Partial Chords
16
Song Accompaniment
Composition SevenG MAJOR
17
Transposition
Key Signatures
18
Scale Degrees
Chord Structure
Chord Inversion
Ledger Lines
19
Dotted Quarter Notes
Composition Eight
20
Chording Styles
Song Accompaniment
21
Hand Changes
Expression
Composition Nine
MINOR
22
Major and Minor Chords
Chord Symbols
Scale Degrees
Key of C Chords
23
Three Pitch Chords
Any Triad, Any Key
Four Pitch Chords
Seventh Chords
Dominant Seventh
Basic Chord Types
Key of C 7th Chords
Altered Chords
24
Major and Minor Modes
Minor Chords
Scale Degrees
Harmonic Minor Scale
25
Perfect Fifths & Signatures
Circle of Fifths
Keys with Flats and Sharps
Composition Ten
The Keyboard/Guitar strand of the National Core Music Standards calls for students to become not only performers, but also creators of music. Pat Bissell's book presents strategies and sequences — developed over years of dedicated work with urban and suburban children — designed to help students achieve the standards. I applaud in particular her use of authentic musical examples and emphasis on improvisation through aural understanding. Teachers who incorporate this book into their keyboard classes — not to mention their private lessons — will give their students the gifts of joy and creativity.
— Scott C. Shuler, PhD, Consultant, Solutions Music Group; Past-President, NAfME: The National Association for Music Education
This innovative approach to learning the keyboard provides an unique, sequential approach that utilizes iconic notation to teach harmonic structure, intervals, and melodic structures. By starting with finger numbers, students are able to achieve instant success without the anxiety that can sometimes accompany trying to learn traditional music staff notation as a beginner. This approach to keyboard instruction provides a logical sequence that will take the student from finger numbers to reading traditional music staff notation, all the while incorporating improvisation and building an understanding of intervals and chord progressions. The inclusion and explanation of how chord progressions work in music, often absent in more traditional piano instructional methods, is especially useful for teachers who desire to include composition, improvisation, and aural musicianship into their pedagogy.
— Bryan Powell, Executive Director, Association of Popular Music Education
Classroom Keyboard offers students much more than the standard series of keyboard melodies and technical exercises. The authors provide students with the tools for understanding chords, patterns, and scales while they are developing their performance skills. A special feature of the book is the inclusion of composition activities enabling students to make the music their own. The book laudably takes a comprehensive approach to teaching musicianship as a combination of technique, creativity, and musical understanding.
— John Kratus, Ph.D., Professor of Music Education, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI