Wanting To Be Born
by Elizabeth Clare Prophet
Category: Body, Mind & Spirit

This volume is the fifth of The Music Theory for Young Musicians in the Style of Russian School of Piano Playing multi-volume collection of books (Music Theory). Music Theory 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 of teaching.This collection was originally conceived as a supplement to the Russian School of Piano Playing (Russian Piano School) book series, which is an English translation of the popular Russian piano method book. 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. 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. Such advanced concepts as tonality, functionality, chromatic intervals, enharmonicism, all forms of resolutions, all forms of cadences and modulations, etc. have never been included in any pre-college or college introductory courses; therefore, the books of high intermediate and advanced levels are extremely helpful for the students who plan to continue their musical education in college.* The Music Theory collection uniquely combines textbook and workbook (theory and practice) and student and teacher books in each volume, providing greater ease of instruction for both teachers and students at every level.* This series of theory books provides the sheer number of musical examples. It focuses on the development of student's analytical and logical skills. This is accomplished by offering a number of questions to each musical example about various musical components (key, tonality, rhythm, melody, harmony, texture, expression tools) 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 the background of a composer.* Starting with level 1B, each book includes additional biographical articles about composers and musical genres either in the footnotes or in the appendix/endnotes - a concise "encyclopedia" for a student to turn to when he/she needs to answer the questions about genres, styles and composers' backgrounds.* The books include a number of comparison exercises that present comparative analysis of two or three music pieces. These exercises largely contribute to students' understanding of a musical style at its every level - from the historical period in which the music work was written to the individual composer's style and the style of a concrete musical work.* This collection offers, through the "performance tips" throughout the books, an important connection between theory concepts and piano performance. This connection is also supported by musical terminology review. Students' attention is consistently brought to the new music terms as they first appear in musical examples. This helps the student to comprehend and memorize important musical terms in relation to performance.* The unique teaching tools offered in this series encourage students to look more closely and deeply at the music, and intensifies 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 it.