This delightful collection of etudes offers a selection of tunes to supplement technique and imaginations. With titles like “Lavender Fields,” “Disco,” and “Russian Roulette,” who wouldn’t want to practice? Most of the pieces are fairly short, but the longer ones do offer nice contrasting sections like staccato vs. tenuto. Within these pieces one can also venture into form with frequent occurrences of ternary, binary and other forms thrown in.
Most pieces in the 2nd year book fall within the notes of the key signatures, but beware of a couple sneaky accidentals like G# and D#! The 2nd year book also features scales/arpeggios before the individual pieces offering clues into what may be coming in the etude, like rhythm or articulation challenges, as well as basic finger builders.
The third year book offers many more accidentals and use of chromatic passages. Some pieces have larger leaps working in the low register with quick transitions to high register. As in the 2nd year book there are a variety of articulations with more ornaments thrown in. One piece even offers a cadenza!
Highlights
Range of notes: E1-F3
Rhythms: quarter notes, half notes, eighth notes, dotted quarter, dotted half notes, syncopation, sixteenth notes
Time Signatures: 2/4, 3/4, 4/4, 6/8, cuttime
Key Signatures: no sharps/flats, one flat, one sharp, two flats, two sharps, three flats
Other: slurs, dynamics, cresc/decresc, staccato, tenuto
Beginning of each book shows range, scales, and time signatures used in the book
Each piece is preceded by a scale/arpeggio to be used in the piece
Covers major and minor keys
Highlights
Range of notes: C1-A3
Rhythms: eighth notes, sixteenth notes, quarter notes, syncopation, half notes, dotted quarter
Time Signatures: 2/4, 3/4, 12/8, 4/4, 3/8, mixed meter
Key Signatures: one sharp, one flat, two flats, two sharps, no sharps/flats, three sharps
Other: dynamics, trill, slur, staccato, cadenza, chromatics, mordent
Cadenza!
Use of mixed meter
Use of chromatics, and more accidentals
Large leaps in one piece
Work within low octave and high octave in same piece
In my next post, I'll talk about the other two etudes books in this collection: Intermediate and Advanced. See you then!