Trinity Grade 2
Persian Holiday by Sam Cleaver
What tonality?
Persian Holiday uses various palettes of notes to create a non-western ...an exotic, middle-eastern sound. It is written without a key-signature, but F is the tonal centre - the tonic. Bars 1 & 2 use a minor scale with a #4, this looks a lot like the 4th mode of C harmonic minor (F, G, A-flat, B, C, D, E-flat, F). This was also used by Erik Satie in his 3rd Gnossienne. When there is a G-flat too, it sounds more Phygian (or Locrian?). The interval of a minor 3rd is a crucial element in creating this Arabic sound. We hear it between the 6th & 7th notes in a harmonic minor scale. We see this in bar 1 (A-flat to B) and bar 14 (D-flat to E). The only constants are F, A-flat and C which gives us an F minor feel. All the other notes of the scale are sometimes natural, sometimes flattened.
Improv?
One might try noodling with this idea (see above), perhaps in C: chord of C minor in the LH and various melodic ideas in the RH exploring the black keys as well as the white.
Almost a Canon by Johann Fux arr. Haas
Almost a Canon is in The Keyboard Crocodile (Breitkopf & Härtel, 1988).
Can you see in which bar this piece stops being a strict canon?
Balletto by Georg Löhlein
Balletto is in The Keyboard Crocodile (Breitkopf & Härtel, 1988).
Shepherd's Melody by Rainer Mohrs
Shepherd's Melody is from Easy Concert Pieces, 50 easy pieces from 5 centuries (Schott, 2015).
Poor Mouse by Vera Mohrs
Poor Mouse is from Cat Songs, 12 little piano stories (available for download from Schott).
The Ballerina by Ray Moore
The Marionettes by Stanisław Prószyński - duet
The Marionettes (Polskie Wydawnictwo Muzyczne, 1975).
All 6 Exercises
Scales & Arpeggios
Scales
♩= 80, f or p, legato, two octaves, hands together
B♭ major & G minor
D major & B minor
Chromatic scale in similar motion starting on B♭
C major contrary motion
Arpeggios
♩= 60, mf, legato, two octave, hands separately
B♭ major & G minor
D major & B minor
All 9 Pieces
CLEAVER, S. - Persian Holiday
FUX, J. - Almost a Canon
KUKUCK, F, - The Rowboat
LOHLEIN, G. - Balletto
MOHRS, R. - Shepherd's Melody
MOHRS, V. - Poor Mouse
MOORE, R. - The Ballerina
PROSZYNSKI, S. - The Marionettes
TELEMANN, G. P. - Rigaudon