Music Theory for Young Musicians in the Style of Russian School of Piano Playing - Paperback

by Sophia I. Gorlin (Author)

This Music Theory for Young Musicians in the Style of Russian School of Piano Playing multi-volume collection of books is targeted to pre-college students of all levels, both children and adults, and is drawn largely from the materials the author has developed for her own students over the years.This collection was originally conceived as a supplement to the Russian School of Piano Playing (Russian Piano School) book series. A number of piano teachers, both Russian and American, who use the Russian Piano School method, have noted the need for a comprehensive music theory supplement since the three books of the series provide very scarce theory information. This Music Theory is intended to fill this gap, though it can be used effectively with any piano method. Moreover, the Music Theory books have evolved beyond their original conception as a supplement to the Russian Piano School books, incorporating more advanced concepts and skills than those found in the Russian Piano School series, which stops at intermediate levels.What makes these Music Theory books unique: -This collection is expected to be one of a kind written in English language for the following important reasons: 1) The author applies European and Russian music school musical terminology and classifications in the books; 2) The author offers her own terms and classifications; 3) The author provides some unique illustrations, charts and graphics; 4) Such advanced concepts as tonality, functionality, chromaticism, enharmonicism, all forms of resolutions and modulations, and all forms of cadences/chord progressions have never been included in any pre-college or college introductory courses; therefore, the books of intermediate and advanced levels are extremely helpful for those students who plan to continue their musical education in college. -This Music Theory collection uniquely combines textbook and workbook (theory and practice), teacher and student book components in each volume, providing greater ease of instruction for both teachers and students at every level. -This Music Theory books contain a broad anthology of repertoire at every level. It include not only excerpts/fragments, but also complete music pieces that are offered for analysis and performance. -This Music Theory collection uniquely develops the student's analytic and logical skills through detailed analysis of its large number of musical examples. This is accomplished by accompanying each musical example with a number of questions about various musical components that lead the student to his/her own conclusion about the uniqueness of a concrete musical work. With every analysis of a musical example, the student's attention is drawn to the style and genre of a musical piece, to the historical period in which it was composed and to the background (nationality) of a composer.-Starting with Level 2, each book includes additional biographical articles about the composers and musical genres, either in footnotes or in the appendix/endnotes; this forms a concise "encyclopedia" for the student to turn to when he/she needs to answer the questions about genres or composers backgrounds.-The books include a number of unique comparison exercises. -This collection presents, through the performance tips found throughout the books, the important connection between theory concepts and piano performance. A student's attention is consistently brought to the new music terms as they are introduced in the musical examples. This helps the student to comprehend and memorize important musical terms in relation to performance.The unique teaching tools offered in this Music Theory series will encourage students to look more closely and deeply at the music, and will intensify their ability to read music quickly and effectively. Upon completion of the theory training in these books, a student should be able to sketch a musical image in his/her mind just by looking at the score, before he/she even begins to play

Author Biography

Sophia Gorlin, the author of this book, was born in Odessa, Ukraine, where, at the age of six, she began studying piano at the renowned Stolyarsky School of Music, a preparatory school for gifted children. In high school, Sophia double majored in piano performance and music theory, for which she received her high school diploma with merit. Sophia continued her music studies at the Odessa State Conservatory by Nezhdanova (now the Odessa State Nezhdanova Musical Academy), double-majoring in piano performance, pedagogy and music theory. After graduating from the Conservatory with honors, Sophia was offered a teaching position at the Stolyarsky School of Music. She taught there for almost fifteen years, giving private piano lessons, teaching group lessons in music theory, harmony, solfege, and musical analysis. Since arriving in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States in 1993, Sophia has continued to work as a piano teacher and music theory instructor. Sophia is also the author of several published articles on music theory and analysis, including three articles published in the DSCH Journal in 2007-2008. Throughout her years teaching, Sophia has developed unique materials for piano and music theory instruction that reflect her experience and knowledge of the European musical education system. This multi-level theory book is based entirely on these materials.