Creative introduction to Prelude VII by Barbara Arens
Creative introduction to Prelude VII by Barbara Arens
A popular Etude in the RCM's Level 3 syllabus
Barbara Arens is a wonderful educational composer, who is very attuned to what teachers need. If your students have injured themselves, you can use her One Hand Piano: 40 Pieces for Left or Right. If your students have smaller hands, use Small Hand Piano: 40 Pieces without Octaves. If your students want to play impressive sounding pieces that are easier than they sound, use 21 Amazingly Easy Pieces. She has frequently appeared in music exam syllabuses in the UK and several of her pieces have recently appeared on the Canadian Royal Conservatory of Music's new piano exam syllabus.
I’m a big fan of Barbara’s. I’m also big fan of the RCM’s syllabus, having studied all of their Piano Teacher Courses. Both good reasons to feature one of her RCM syllabus pieces.
Speaking of which choosing pieces, please let me know what you’d like me to create a “Creative Introduction” for! You can comment below or write to me at hello@pianocreativity.com
About Prelude VII
Prelude VII is one of the Etudes in RCM Level 3 and is taken from 21 Amazingly Easy Pieces, published by Breitkopf & Härtel. Here’s the first four bars:
The piece has simple, expressive melodies above a broken chord pattern with a chromatically descending bassline. It’s a great example of Barbara’s knack for simple but expressive beauty.
The activities below:
reinforce the connection between the piece and its scale, the A minor pentascale (and later the C major and D minor pentascale)
give an opportunity for sight-reading
practise ensemble playing
practise playing in time with a recording (see below)
review staccato and legato articulations
improve aural skills (e.g. play your student one of the five improvisation ideas and ask them to identify which one you played)
practise melodic improvisation
give them a springboard into their own contemporary-style composition
Click here to download Creative Introductions for Prelude VII by Barbara Arens as a PDF.
Audio files
Here is the accompaniment for bars 1-9, where the student improvises in the A minor pentascale:
Here’s the complete accompaniment:
What next?
Please let me know what piece you’d like me to feature next!