What are these pieces teaching actually?
Wright Pianoforte Tutor -
Around a year and half back, after I started my tentative steps towards learning piano at the ripe age of 50, My then tutor in Mumbai suggested this book to me. While it was available in a city music store I was surprised to see very little reference of this book on the internet. Most recordings of from the book on the YouTube, although not many, came from India only. The book however is printed in England.
I had on my own purchase Alfred's adult all in one level 1.
Side by side, I preferred the latter much more but kept on persevering on the first book as well. However when there was the longish break in my lessons on account of move across the country, I totally weaned off the first book.
I took another break, (not from playing) from my present tutor in this month, and on a whim, reopened the book - and faced these two pieces. And I am totally at a loss!!
My questions are:
Doesn't the first piece sound very un-melodic? In fact, I don't know what that 8th bar is doing?
What are these pieces teaching? Especially the LH movements in the second piece?
And, (I know that this is subjective), aren't these pieces a tad too difficult (technically) as early pieces in a beginner book?!
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"The Wright Pianoforte Tutor" is a bit old-fashioned, but none the worse for that! I've seen it in many British piano stools. We still play melodies in 3rds and 'Alberti' patterns in the LH. (Not sure why @jjmusicnotes says it isn't Alberti?)
If these are too hard for you, come back to them later.
Good question; it's important to know what skills are being emphasized with etudes like these.
The first piece is a little un-melodic, but that's probably because this piece is designed to test right hand parallel thirds. In doing so, they wanted the notes themselves to be very easy, so they stuck with a clear five-finger setup. Notice how your right hand really never moves away from the C–G range; your thumb sticks on C, your pinky is on G, and the other fingers just fall right in place. (The only exception to this is when the thumb hops down to B a couple of times.) By sticking with this range limitation, it's understandably tough for them to create the most memorable melody. (Note: As Todd Wilcox correctly says in the comments, this piece may also serve to introduce the player to the waltz style.)
The second piece seems to be getting the player comfortable with the Alberti bass, a very common left hand arpeggiated figure in the Classical style. If you ever have intentions of playing any Classical piano sonatas, you must become comfortable with the Alberti bass.
Yes, they're probably a bit difficult for early pieces in a beginner's piano book. But that really all depends on how "early" it is and just how "beginner" of a book it is.
I would give my beginning students pieces like these a little bit after they finish book 1 (kid version) of the Alfred series.
I don't find those pieces to be too difficult for a beginner who has built up a little experience, though the second one is significantly more difficult than the first. They are probably grouped together for fitting on the page.
Any note on the piano can be played by any finger, so I try to get my students away from "positions" as soon as possible. What matters is what finger plays each note, because it is fingering that really sets up the pianist's ability to move from place to place on the piano.
Both these pieces are missing articulation, dynamic, and phrasing markings, which contribute to the impression of a lack of musicality. I believe if they were added in, the character of the pieces would improve.
I would recommend this book if you are looking for beginner classical pieces. The book contains pieces of a wide variety of difficulty, though all are at the beginner level. www.amazon.com/Joy-First-Classics/dp/0825680662/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1532859942&sr=8-1&keywords=joy+of+classics+piano
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