Publisher's Synopsis
Building on the very strong reading skills acquired in Level One, Piano ABC's Level Two adds new notes in the same very easy-to-understand format. Pieces have been composed to excite the student's aesthetic imagination, and teachers will find again that students often work ahead reading new notes and learning new pieces on their own. Physical and intellectual exercises support more advanced rhythmic learning. Students play and conduct in Simple Meters of 2, 3, 4, and 5 and in the Compound Meter 6/8. Continuing the presentation of intervals from Level One, intervals of fifths and sixths are studied in Level Two. Students are introduced progressively to key signature concepts in two ways: First, several Check-ups require students to remember to name either flats or sharps that appear after the clef signs, and secondly, two pieces are in the Key of F, the focus for students being that they must remember to play all B flats (with no additional discussion of key signatures until Level Three which will be very thorough. Teachers are, of course, free to elaborate as they choose.) Whole steps and half steps are identified on staff and keyboard leading to a presentation of major pentascales and triads which will then be written on the note identification pages. Frequent check-ups of note reading, intervals, and rhythm ensure that students will continue to consolidate old skills as they acquire new ones. Students' reading is never interrupted and confused by sudden moves to unfamiliar places, new notes are added logically to a growing range of those learned already, so students tend to progress smoothly and at a faster pace. Students are given more opportunities to move around the keyboard in logical ways rather than remaining in one place for the entire piece. Several compositions include sections that are a bit more advanced as compared with other parts of the piece and require more diligent practice to encourage students' development of practice strategies that will prove necessary when learning pieces by master composers. Piano ABC's Level Two Revised 2016 Edition offers several new and engaging repertoire pieces each having specific pedagogical intent. Also, there are extended or new Warm-ups for pieces intended both to help students learn the specific piece and to teach learning strategies for any new challenging piece. In particular, there is a very helpful Block Format Warm-up for "Go to Sleep Little Sister" making it much easier to learn this little lullaby. Teachers often suggest to students this "Block Format" concept for pieces with broken chord or triadic arpeggiated patterns, but students have an opportunity in Piano ABC's books to actually see what this means. Block Formats also appear for one piece in Level Three-A and one piece in Level-Three-B. 126 pages. To learn more or to order books with other binding options (coil or comb-binding), visit www.PianoABCsTheMethod.com
