PRODUCT DESCRIPTION
Introductory offer: buy all 3 volumes for a 20% discount
From the Beginning is a three-volume collection of over a hundred pieces especially composed for starter pianists. It is designed to take beginners from the very first steps to a level at least equivalent to grade two or three.
Although the main purpose of the collection is to provide repertoire, there are also notes detailing the ‘things you need to know’. The collection, therefore, also functions as a tutor.
However, the text only covers the things needed to know in order to play these particular pieces. It is not necessarily designed to be a comprehensive or complete consideration of music theory, nor of the physiology of piano technique.
In general, the music has a contemporary filmic quality with elements of pop, rock and jazz. There is also a strong flavour of Celtic traditional music throughout. Overall, the pieces are designed to encourage musical and expressive playing, as much as developing music reading skills.
Enhancing the filmic nature of some of the music, backing tracks are available to accompany some of these numbers. This is particularly the case for volume 1 from which even the first three-note melodies can sound as if they are in the middle of an orchestral film score.
The aim is to encourage accurate time-keeping, as well as making the very first steps as interesting as possible. At the other end of the collection, Volume 3 includes a miniature Piano Concerto for Beginner and Orchestra!
From the Beginning should appeal to those who enjoy the more melodic contemporary styles that have become popular in recent years.
The three volume collection is divided into twelve stages:
The pieces in Stage 1 only use three notes: A, B, and C. (Above middle C in the right hand and two octaves below in the left hand.) Stages 2 & 3 add octave transpositions of these notes. Each of the following stages typically add a couple more notes until by Stage 12 a range of over four octaves is covered. The purpose is to give learners plenty of practice in reading music as fluently as possible, progressing step by step from a manageable starting point.
From the outset, flat and sharp notes are introduced not as separate entities, or in respect to keys, but as modifications of the natural notes. (Accidentals are used in this collection more extensively than usually found in most music for beginners.)
The pieces, of course, also progress by the gradual addition of various other new features and techniques.
Whilst introducing new pitches so gradually creates the opportunity to practice reading music step by step in a methodical manner, a potential downside is that some pitches don't get used at all until quite late on in the collection. Most relevant in volumes 2 & 3 (by which time many other aspects of notation have been covered), each stage starts with a couple of pieces that are easier than might have been expected at that point. This makes it practical to zig-zag through the collection or simply miss out some of the later pieces in each stage - should that be deemed preferable.
About Volume 2
Volume 2 of From the Beginning continues the pattern established in Volume 1 by offering the next five stages, each of which add a further two notes to either the LH or RH (three notes in the case of Stage 8).
A word of explanation is required regarding a consequence of this approach:
It is the case that even by the final stage in this volume (Stage 9) some pitches have yet to appear. (In fact the notes F and G two and a half octaves above middle C don’t appear until Stage 11 in volume 3.)
As the final piece in this second volume is easily of a grade 2 standard (in other words of a difficulty that, on average, would take a beginner two years to reach) it would be a very odd to have spent two years at the piano without ever playing these two missing F and G pitches.
Of course, in reality, this is highly unlikely to happen - even my staunchest fans will want to play other composers from time to time!
However, it must be remembered that the hundred or so pieces that make up the three volumes of From the Beginning are not sequenced in order of difficulty. This is despite the gradual addition (stage by stage) of new notes. (It would, in any case, be very hard to do this as different players don't find the same things easy or difficult.)
It should be noted that each stage starts with pieces that are easier to play than the last pieces of the previous stages. This is particularly true for stages 6 to 11. For example the first couple of pieces in stage 11 are easier than some of the pieces in stage 9.
It is designed this way so that some of the pieces from all stages can be tackled sooner rather than later.
It is also hoped that the sequence as a whole will be useful for more advanced pianists wishing to brush up on sight-reading skills.
Unlike volumes 1 and 3, for which some of the pieces have orchestral backing tracks, this volume consists entirely of piano solos.
Pieces included in Vol. 2:
1. Exercise 10
2. Quiet Morning
3. A Little Folk Tale
4. Little Solemn March
5. Sold Out!
6. Plaintive Lullaby
7. Lydian Melody
8. Neoclassical
9. Sleepy Folk Song
10. Top of the Range
11. Almost Minimalist
12. Piece of Cake
13. Too Sharp
14. The Old Gatehouse
15. Beyond the Vamp
16. Bandstand
17. Upstairs, Downstairs
18. Something with a Purpose
19. Walkover
20. Gentle Walrz
21. A window with a View
22. Suo Gân
23. A Good Hand
24. Gothic
25. A Benchful of Flowers
26. Secret Gate
27. It's all in the Wrist
28. Railway Path Tune
29. Work Ethic
30. Neo Baroque
PRODUCT INFORMATION
- difficulty: Beginner - easy
- ISMN Number: 9790570531776
- Size: 305x225 mm
- number of pages: 48
- Brand: Fieldgate Music
- Product Code: FM 177
- Weight: 0.3kg
