Kabalevsky, Op. 39, Play-Along: Post Six (Nos. 17 – 20 Reaction)

Please don’t stress if you’re a little behind on the Play Along (like this post) or if you’ve just discovered the Play Along.  You can start now with the first Reaction post here and catch up a little each day.  You have plenty of time to read through the pieces and post comments until July 31.  The prize drawing for those who have read and posted at least 3 comments (either here or on the Facebook group page) will be held on August 1.

If you missed last week’s reaction post (the 5th one) on Nos. 13 thru 16, you can read it HERE.

Quick-scan thoughts for Nos. 17 thru 20:

• The pieces are now solidly at the early intermediate level and the hands are really moving about.  LH is more technically demanding than seen before.
• More pieces with 16th notes, and there are a multitude of rhythmic patterns present.
• More complexity in the HT playing with opposing rhythms and articulations.
• Kabalevsky seems to favor 2/4 time at this stage and earlier as well. It promotes a more lively character in the faster pieces.
• In these four selections, the hands are approx. one octave apart most of the time.

Thoughts while playing….

No. 17  – Folk Dance  (I see “Dance” indicated in a different edition) 

When presented with the option of this piece, or No. 18, 19, or 20, one of my summer students selected this one in an instant.  She said she liked how the hands matched each other (we’ve seen Kabalevsky’s parallel movement of the hands in several pieces before).

My student is at the intermediate level and she learned this piece hands together in one week! (medium tempo) but….I must admit that she was highly motivated.  She said she really enjoyed how the hands jumped around and imitated each other, first the RH in m. 5  and then the LH in m. 21.  This student was familiar with D major (the scale, chords, and basic cadences) so the keysignature wasn’t a major stumbling block.

She and I worked on using forearm staccato similar to what is demonstrated here:

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Kabalevsky, Op. 39, Play-Along: Post Four (Nos. 9 – 12 Reaction)

PLEASE forgive the delay and the technical glitch in getting this THIRD reaction post up for you.  Nothing like technology keeping your site so secure that it prevents the owner from logging in. Sigh.  Thanks for hanging in there. We should be on a roll now.  I have lots of interesting posts to share with you in the coming days!

It’s still not too late to start the KABALEVSKY PLAY ALONG. Tell your friends.  You can jump in whenever you like and post a thought or two here in the Replies below or on the Facebook “Piano Play Along” group page.  I’d love to hear from you especially if you’ve had experience in teaching any of the pieces below or if you’ve discovered a selection you really like.  Don’t hesitate to post a question.  I’ll answer as quickly as I can.

Did you miss my second reaction post? You can read it HERE.

Quick scan thoughts:

There’s quite a contrast in style within this set of four pieces (Nos. 9 – 12) with a jump in difficulty in No. 10 with its dotted rhythms, movement around the keyboard, cadences, and a heavy use of accidentals.  Kabelevsky is still promoting various keyboard touches with staccatos, slurs, and accents.  He seems to enjoy placing the hands an octave apart, two octaves apart, and as little as a second (step) apart.

Thoughts while playing….

No. 9  – A Little Dance  (I see “Dance” indicated in a different edition) 

If taken too slow, this could sound more like a march than a dance.  If played at the Allegro molto tempo, it sounds more like an effective romp or stomping dance with a feeling of 1 beat per bar.  A student should already be comfortable playing strong clear triads in the LH in order to manage the 4-note chords.  I told a student to think of G minor with an F in m. 5 and then shift to G major against the F.  This seemed to help him know exactly what to look for when targeting these crunchy LH chords.

In the last 4 measures, the LH expands and contracts quite rapidly.  I asked the student in the video below to shift to the new LH positions during the rests so he could manage the chord changes more easily.  Here’s a short video showing this:

This piece is quite effective if the dynamics are played in sharp contrast to each other.  Ask the student what might be happening in the actual dance during the echo sections.  Your thoughts on what it could be?

No. 10  – March  (I see “Quick March” indicated in a different edition) 

This is quite a jump in level compared to the pieces before.  I would teach this later down the line after a student has had solid practice with dotted quarter – eighth note rhythms and a little experience with sixteenth notes.  The student in the video below has had some previous training in 16ths, but not much.  He’s also played a few pieces with 2 sharps or 2 flats in the keysignature.

Here are his thoughts on the challenges he found in this piece (in his words):

“It’s a bit tricky.  You have to be exact with your rhythm.  I can picture a march with this and it sounds like a trumpet playing.  The hardest part was mm. 8 through 12 because of the flats and because the LH jumps in with the melody in mm.  9-10.  The last cadence is also tricky because it moves downward instead of upward like in mm. 3-4.”

In the video below, I asked him to play the dotted 16ths incorrectly vs. correctly.  The first time he plays, the 16ths sound more like triplets and in the second playing he makes the rhythms sound more like true dotted eighths followed by sixteenths (though it’s still a little bumpy; he’s still working on creating a better demo).  Sluggish 16ths are a common problem for students when playing dotted-eighth sixteenth rhythms.  It takes careful listening, and the jumpiness here doesn’t help matters.

No. 11 – Song of Autumn  (I see “Autumn Song” indicated in a different edition) 

This piece reminds me very much of No. 8 “Song” with its parallel melodies, except for the fact that Kabalevsky begins this piece on the anacrusis (pick-up) rather than on beat one.  It gives the piece a sense of lilt despite the somber B minor key.  I might tell a student to imagine the wind blowing leaves in different directions as their hands move upward then downward in tandem through the slurs.  The hands playing 2 octaves apart seems to add a sense of heaviness or a grey, cloudy aura to an autumn day.  Have the student describe what he/she sees on a B minor autumn day.

Here’s a student demo.

The student wanted to achieve a steady Andante feeling.  His brother, standing next to him while taping this, told him he needed to add more shape to his phrases and more dim. where indicated. 😉

No. 12 – Scherzo  

This piece is similar to the No. 6 – “A Little Joke” with the use of a repeated pattern moving stepwise up and down the keyboard.  You could secure the rhythm of the main melodic motive using words like “blue-berry muf-fin” (that’s the first thing that came to my mind – always thinking of sweets!).  The student wouldn’t need have experience with 16ths to play this piece well, but I would at least explain the difference between 16ths and 8ths if the student didn’t already know.

There could be a tendency to rush with this piece once it starts moving along.  Once again, the brother of the performer in this video piped in and told him that he rushed a little at the end.  This was a younger brother informing the elder.  Picky picky…

Look forward to your comments!

REVISED Play-Along Schedule:

1. Introduction Post:  June 1
2. Kabalevsky, Op. 39, Nos. 1 thru 4 reaction:  June 2
3. Nos. 5 thru 8 reaction:  June 9
4. Nos. 9 thru 12 reaction:  June 30
5. Nos. 13 thru 16 reaction:  July 7
6. Nos. 17 thru 20 reaction:  July 14
7. Nos. 21 thru 24 reaction:  July 21

Kabalevsky, Op. 39, Play-Along: Post Three (Nos. 5 – 8 Reaction)

It’s time for the SECOND reaction post for the Kabalevsky Piano Play-Along! Are you playing along?  If so, let me hear from you, even if only to register a “thumbs-up” on piece(s) that grab you.  I will answer the questions posted on Post Two soon!

Did you miss my first reaction post? You can read it HERE.

Quick scan thoughts:

The pieces here are longer than the first four (except no. 8), but highly patterned making it easy for the player to navigate and make sense of the material.  Though it looks much harder, No. 5 –  A Little Joke,  is one of the easiest Op. 39 Kabalevsky pieces to play and memorize (more on this below).  Kabalevsky still highlights treble clef reading in both hands in these pieces (except for no. 8), or at least playing in the middle to upper registers.  It seems to add a lightness to the character as does his meticulous use of staccatos, slurs, tenuto, etc.

Thoughts while playing….

No. 5  – Playing  (I see “A Game” as the title in a different edition, though I do see “Playing” more often in other collections)

I think of kids jumping about when I play this frisky staccato etude.   This is the first time Kabalevsky has the hands alternating and the key of B-flat major could be a little tricky for some elementary students if they haven’t worked with it much. Though it’s marked forte, I would still emphasize a lighter, bouncy staccato and would aim toward a quick tempo of one pulse per bar.

Here’s a short video of some blocking maneuvers I would have a student perform in order to understand the general motion of the hands as they travel.  It would also help the student solidify the fingering which Kabalevsky has abundantly provided in the authentic edition.

First you will see blocking of measures 1 – 8 followed by a 2nd blocking maneuver for measures 8 through 14.  The latter helps declare the LH as the leader in the phrasing at this point.

No. 6  – A Little Joke  (often called “Scherzo,” “A Little Scherzo,” “Running Along,” etc. in other collections)

This piece falls into the “plays easy, sounds hard” category though it doesn’t appear that way at first glance.  Point out to students how the hands remain in a stationery position at first and then travel together downward by step (2nds).  Blocking the chord shapes helps illustrate this point.

Once students get the hang of this piece, they just love it and can’t wait to play it faster and faster.  Warning: they typically want to rush mm. 9 to the end.  A metronome, counting aloud, and slow, very steady practice can easily prevent it. Start the piece quite slowly at first, emphasizing articulation, and gradually increase the tempo each week.  Polishing each hand alone is important for matching the articulation. The major idea here is to acquire the difference in sound between the two-note slur and the staccatos that follow.  Keep working on the “drop-lift idea” for two-note slurs.  The wrist should move forward off the keys (toward the fallboard) as much as the tempo may allow.

Here’s a young student working on this idea:

Ignore the flying R.H. pinky above.  We’re working hard on relaxing it!

No. 7  – A Funny Event (seen in some collections as “Conversation”)

This dialogue piece definitely has a “ha-ha” or “hee-hee” implied while the hands perform a copy-cat.  I often tell young students to add words to the motives to achieve the back-and-forth banter between two people.  They have fun with it.

This is all about bouncing the hands up and down on the keys to achieve a wrist/forearm staccato motion.  Finger staccato alone would slow the bounce effect and it might add some tightness to the sound.  You could definitely block each measure to navigate the matching movement of the hands (and block 2 mm. segments, both hands simultaneously if you like)  Naming occurences of 5-finger patterns also helps.

Here’s a young student demonstrating a tapping technique for developing an awareness of forearm staccato, and then applying it in context.

Notice how he didn’t bounce on the F#, but instead tried to reach for it?  We’re working on a direct vertical bounce on any key, black or white.  Requires trust in your aim.

No. 8  – Song  (seen in some collections as “Conversation”)

Quite a sad tune, isn’t it?  I ask students to describe the type of song and create a story around it.  The young student in this video said this song sounded lonely, as if someone didn’t have anyone to play with.  Clever.  She continued by adding that the melodic movement had hills and valleys as if the person was searching for her friend by walking to the top of a hill to look and then back down again (Andante, hence the “walking”).  I expanded by saying that she needed to reflect this idea in her sound (yay! – instant phrase shaping achieved by an imaginative picture).  I also pointed out that the crescendo in m. 5 sounded like it was leading to “hopeful B-natural” rather than the “sad B-flat” from before.  But then all didn’t end well in the last 2 measures, did it?

In this video, the student is trying to capture the shapes of the phrases while remaining as legato as possible.

Playing the hands two octaves apart is quite a different physical feel for kids though the resulting sound is a much more satisfying.  The student in the video was disappointed in her final octave (written legato, though too big of a stretch for her).  She said she needed to make her hands more like “rainbows” and arch them as if she really could reach the octaves.  This is why I love working with the kiddos.

Are you participating in this play-along? What are your thoughts on Nos. 5– 8? 

Play-Along Schedule:

• Introduction Post:  June 1
• Kabalevsky, Op. 39, Nos. 1 thru 4 reaction:  June 2
• Nos. 5 thru 8 reaction:  June 9
• Nos. 9 thru 12 reaction:  June 16
• Nos. 13 thru 16 reaction:  June 23
• Nos. 17 thru 20 reaction:  June 30
• Nos. 21 thru 24 reaction:  July 7