January 2013 Teachers' Guide

 

January Student Page
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Recommended Recordings:
Rachmaninoff wrote lots of piano music, and while most of it is too difficult for beginners or even intermediate students, they can listen to the beautiful music to understand his music better and get a glimpse into their future repertoire.

Here are some recommended recordings:
Rachmaninoff Complete Piano Concertos, Leif Ove Andsnes, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and London Symphony Orchestra (EMI Classics, 2012)
Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 2, Piano Sonata No. 2, Etudes Tableaux, Preludes; Helene Grimaud (Dal Segno, 2012)
Rachmaninoff Plays Rachmaninoff, Philadelphia Orchestra led by Eugene Ormandy (Dutton Laboratories/Vocalion, 2011)
Rachmaninoff: Music for Two Pianos/Asheknazy, Previn (London/Decca, 1995)

Sight reading
After students become proficient in recognizing all notes on the staff it is still important for them to practice and refine the skill, especially so they can get good at sightreading. Try to make sightreading part of the students' daily practice routine; they can read a line or so every day in addition to note naming activities. Even more important than just naming notes is making the connection between the name of each note to its location on the staff. Students who practice sightreading regularly have an easier time seeing musical lines as sentences and looking ahead like in reading. You can make up special sightreading exercises or use lower levels of method books as sightreading material.

Answers to January Puzzles
Word Scramble (page 13)
1. form 2. chord 3. melody 4. waltz

Puzzle (page 13)
1. treble 2. piano 3. natural 4. accent 5. rest 6. sharp 7. flat 8. forte Answer: concerto

Chain Puzzle (page 13)
COMPOSE (hint: go to the O in the top row first after the C.)

Quiz (page 15)
1. d 2. a 3. b 4. various answers

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