SKU: SP.78349
ISBN 9781585600229. UPC: 728941783492.
The Traditional manner in which most people acquire the skill to play piano is to choose a teacher, commit to lessons and spend many hours practicing. Although there is no substitute for the amount time it takes to master this instrument, we can provide an alternative to the regimented lesson format. Teach Yourself Piano by Bob Hartz, exclusively available from Santorella Publications, was created to support learning the basics of piano on your own schedule and the instructional CD acquaints playing at a pace governed only by you. Bob Hartz begins by presenting the basics and explaining the fundamentals in a logical manner. Additional information is provided in a methodic fashion in an attempt to build on the previously gained knowledge. Teaching yourself is challenging, but quite rewarding as you acquire the ability to read music, play chords, and apply these skills to piano. Contents; Introduction - Some Facts of Interest - Let's Look at the Piano - Posture and Hand Position - Layout of the Keyboard - The Grand Staff - Notes - Lesson #1 - Right Hand Exercises - Left Hand Exercises - Right and Left Hand Together - Note Values and Measures - Quarter Note Exercise - Half Note Exercise - Eighth Notes - Two Octave Melody - Rest Chart - Parallel Play - Contrary Play - Trading the Melody - Accidentals - Dynamics - Dotted Notes and Ties - Chords - Key Signatures - Circle of Fourths - Circle of Fifths - All the Notes over Four Octaves - C Major Scale - G Major Scale - Triplets and New Time - Signatures - Rhythm Review with New Note Value - Chords and Chord Symbols - Anacrusis and Pedaling - Brahms Lullaby - Staccato and Legato - Chord Reference Section.
SKU: PR.110406720
UPC: 680160001316.
I have always been fond of writing works for specific people or organizations. It has been my good fortune during most of my creative career to be asked to compose for many extraordinary performers. The Sonata for Harpsichord Solo is such a case in point: it was written in 1982 for Barbara Harbach, a superb performer, close friend, and collaborator on many musical projects. The Sonata was premiered on March 2, 1984, in a recital given by Dr. Harbach at Nazareth College in Rochester, New York. During my formative years as a composer, one seldom heard of the harpsichord as a modern instrument, though while I attended undergraduate school at Boston University, some of us banded together to construct a small harpsichord from one of the first do-it-yourself kits which began to appear in the late '40s. It was also during this time that I heard the Sonatina for Violin and Harpsichord by my teacher Walter Piston and consequently specified that the accompanying instrument for my second violin sonata could either be a piano or a harpsichord. It was not until recently, however, that my interest in the harpsichord as a solo instrument for new music was aroused. This was because of the emergence of so many young virtuosi, such as Barbara Harbach, who are interested in the performance of new music besides the great harpsichord music of the Classical, Baroque, and pre-Baroque eras. The keyboard music of Domenico Scarlatti has always intrigued and fascinated me. The brevity, excitement, and clarity of this sparkling music is charming as well as exhilarating. It is this type of Baroque sonata that inspired the conception and form of my harpsichord sonata. The entire work is loosely based on the musical translation of Barabara Harbach's name, especially the conflict of the B (B-flat) and H (B-natural in German notation). This secondo rub or dissonance especially pervades the first movement, which is in a modified sonata form, pitting jagged and tense melodic elements against most lyrical and smooth lines. This second movement is a song-like melody accompanied by rolled chords which may be played on the lute stop of the instrument if this sonata is performed on a two-manual harpsichord. The final movement is an ever-driving joyous toccata which brings the work to an exciting close with a coda made up of accelerating repeated chords. --Samuel Adler.
