Heidi’s Piano Studio: Intermediate Piano Technique Group Lesson Activities

Choose from the activities and tutorials below to learn more about BAPDARP.

Balance

Balance means bringing out the melody line with more arm weight.

Voicing Tutorial

Watch the Chord Voicing and Melody - Graham Fitch Tutorial to hear and see tips for practicing voicing.

Articulation

Pictionary/Cranium

Illustrate a music dictionary as you watch excerpts from the videos below.

Then take turns acting (silently), sculpting or drawing the words for your teammates to guess (large group) or play the VMT Articulation Ivy Game (small group).

14 Types of Articulation (slur, legato, phrases, tie, staccato, staccatissmo, portato, accent, sforzando, marcato, tenuto, tenuto/slur, fp, fermata)

Staccato Tutorial

Watch Graham Fitch's 4 Types of Staccato Tutorial Video to hear examples of how and when to play varying levels of staccato and complete the "Four Types of Staccato Worksheet."

Phrasing

Watch the first 3 minutes of this Shaping Phrases Video to see how speech relates to musical phrase expression.

Dynamics and Architecture

Pianote Dynamics and Expression- How do dynamics and expression add life to your piece?

Illustrate a poster representing various dynamic levels in music.

Watch an excerpt from the video below to hear an example of Micro and Macro Dynamics Example in Moonlight Sonata and move your hands up and down to match the volume in the example. 18:06

Expressive music is often like a story with moments of tension, rising action and resolution. Identify the form and the main phrase goals of each section in a piece to choose appropriate micro dynamics. Watch an example in the Moonlight Sonata Tutorial above starting at 20:30.