Wunderkeys Pop 2: The Road Home Practice Tips

 

The Road Home in D Major from Wunderkeys Intermediate Pop 2 Performance Book is a tranquil piece with several repetitive cadences. 

Piano Practice Tips

• Label the chords in your music. 
• Which "road is used the most?  vi-V-I or IV-V-I?
• Can you hear and spot the deceptive cadence IV-V-vi?

Theory

Learning About Cadences

Listen to the samples of different types of cadences in this Teoria Cadences tutorial.

Perfect Authentic: V-I Sounds like the end.

Imperfect Authentic: V-I + inversion Sounds like the end...but less final than perfect.

Half: I-V Sounds unfinished like a question.

Deceptive: V-vi or V-IV   V chord deceives you and doesn't lead to I. 

Plagal: IV-I  aka "Amen" cadence

Then try the Theta Flash Cadences game to practice identifying cadences.

Hint: Perfect Authentic Cadences end with the tonic (1st note of the scale) both in the melody and in the root of the bass.

Improvisation

If you like The Road Home you might like improvising with the different chord patterns in Create First Journey

Rohan Rising in B minor has a cinematic feeling including dramatic dynamic changes and left hand 1-5-8-5 repeating patterns.

• Watch out for the double treble clefs at the beginning.
• Use a flexible wrist aligning your arm behind the playing finger as you play the repetitive left- hand patterns. 

The Ninth Session in B-flat Major is a spinoff of Beethoven's classic Ode to Joy Theme with left-hand syncopated interrupting eighths that sound a bit like the Forrest Gump Theme.

• Tap a long with the rhythms as you listen to the performance to prep for the syncopation in the intro and outro.

The Minuet Session in G Minor begins with simple rhythms with a melodic motif borrowed from Bach's famous minuet but the pedaling and expression are definitely a diversion from Baroque style! 

• Notice the left-hand stride bass on the second page is like a root chord with the root thrown down an octave. Imagine a miniature ball being tossed across the keys as you leap up and down to aim for the roots and thirds.

Blue Stone in A Major is a calm expressive piece that includes many flowing 1-5-8-9-10 left-hand patterns and some rolled chords.

• Practice the left-hand broken chord groups "block style" to gain automaticity shifting up and down between chords groups with ease.
• If you are unfamiliar with rolled chords watch this quick video about arpeggiated chords
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• Adding lyrics to a piece can be helpful because it makes the distinct rhythms of the phrases more memorable. 
• If this piece had lyrics, what would it say to you?

Although this piece has no religious themes, it brought excerpts from some of my favorite scriptures (Isaiah 1:18, Helaman 5:12, D&C 6:36) to my mind that I loosely strung together to create the following lyrics for the first page. 

"Look unto me in every thought. Look unto me and cast your doubts and fears aside.

Look unto me and ye shall find rest. And when the storms shall beat upon you, you can trust The Rock.

I will take your hand I will guide you home. I will make your sins though scarlet be as wool.

I will take your hand, I will guide you home; back to The Father where he waits with open arms."

Taefa's Return in F# Minor begins with a sense of foreboding including many chords in alberti bass style. The piece intensifies with faster passages including "almost scales" in the melody line that are great for scale fingering practice and a few acciacaturas are scattered about. 

• Watch out for clef changes.
• Watch the video below to review how to play acciacaturas.

Sea of Stars in D Major is inspired by themes from Mozart's famous piano sonata.

• Watch the video below to hear the inspiration behind the motifs in this piece.

Aisling's Theme in B minor

• Even though this piece is written in a minor key listen for how occasional major chord patterns in this piece bring a glimmer of hope and shift the mood.
• Practice feeling the subtle rise and fall of the chords and use your peripheral vision when needed to see the larger chord shifts.

The Venise Session in B Flat Major

LH 1-5-10

Triplet Sixteenths

Castle Hill Kick Gm-BflatM

8vb 2 octave leaps

Strong Will in A Major

A Broken inversions 

The Penny Session in F Sharp Minor

Wolf in Bflat Major-GMinor

Watch out for the changing clefs!

Augmented Chords

Keep the inner voicing subdued with a relaxed wrist. Listen for the melody line to sing out clearly

Hand Crossovers

The Renewal in G minor

Left Hand Stride

Saorla Rising in B Minor

Listen to the performance as you tap the repeating syncopated rhythms in the left hand.

Watch out for the double Bass, Transfer to your left "sit bones" without scooting on the bench.

Wunderkeys Intermediate Pop Piano Performance 2 Review

Have you ever had any teen piano students that feel "stuck" in their method book? While some students really love the classics, I've found that branching out to other genres of their choice can really up their excitement and practice. I recently purchased Wunderkeys Intermediate Pop 2 Performance Book after one of my teen students was eager to learn more music like Nik Day's "Trust in the Lord" that I had assigned her as a supplementary choice piece. 

She was enthralled with the lyrical pop sound of the repetitive chordal accompaniment with intriguing syncopation and it boosted her rhythmic accuracy to a whole new level as she practiced over and over as an accompanist to the soundtrack. I had difficulty finding many pieces with a similar style in my collection of classical and supplementary music.

Performance Preparation Practices

Performing can be a shaky experience... literally.  That can definitely complicate things when you are a pianist and shaky fingers lead to wrong notes and then your mind starts feeling like a Jenga game where one slip leads to more shakiness and possibly a total collapse. 

I attended an informative UVMTA workshop this week presented by Dr Stephen Thomas including preparation tips for performance experiences to help you avoid freezing up with mental blocks. I loved many of the ideas he shared and mingled them with some of my own in my notetaking. A resource that kept coming to my mind was the book The Practice Revolution by Philip Johnston. It is loaded with different gamified strategies for structuring and improving practice quality and I find it especially helpful for children who may not naturally know how to organize their home practice sessions.  

My personal key takeaways were

Beginning Organ Playing Tips for Pianists

Almost every pianist who can play hymns in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will at some point be invited to be a ward organist. Unlike many church organists, this responsibility is unpaid and often comes with little training.  

Although I learned to use the foot pedals in my college organ class, the coupler button has become my best friend as I play the organ for church services! It allows me to play the organ much like I would the piano but transfers the sound of the bass line to the deeper foot pedal stops for a richer sound and a less stressful playing experience for me since I am not an organ foot pedal pro!

Thanksgiving Turkey Blues Improvisation

Jazzy Turkey Blues Improv

While Thanksgiving is a fun holiday for people, it might give a turkey the blues! For this improvisation, imagine a turkey is singing his Thanksgiving blues song. Use these lyrics or come up with some of your own.

Distant Bells by Streabbog and Hand Arcs

This post includes activities that correlate with Distant Bells by Streabbog in Keys to Artistic Performance or Piano Adventures 4 Performance Book.

Distant Bells by Streabbog in Keys to Artistic Performance

Musicianship Tips and Free Printables

Musicianship is the key to creating beautiful music instead of robotic flat performances. 

It's similar to the difference between hearing an engaging speaker reading your favorite book versus hearing the artificial intelligence robot voice chant with a monotone voice and little expression.

Following a few of the simple tips below can help you play with more expression and musicality.