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?
The Rowboat by Felicitas Kukuck
The Rowboat (Schott, 1986).
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 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