Last year I did a holiday challenge where I had students learn the major scale in all keys and then play the opening bars of Joy to the World in each one.
Since Halloween is over and we are getting ready for doing a year end something or other, I pulled out Joy again and realized that the whole piece uses only the 8 notes of a single octave scale. (can you guess where this is going)
This week I think I have heard or played Joy to the World hundreds of times. At the moment, my studio is varied. I have students who have been with me for years, and students who have been with me for months. The youngest is 7, I think and after a certain point, you don't ask the age of the adults.
This one has been really interesting. Having such a wide variety of students lets me see individual differences between them.
If you haven't yet read Daniel Levitin's book, "I heard there was a secret chord, Music as Medicine," you should. The first part of the book is about the different areas of the brain which are active when musicians play music. There's a lot. This would explain why it is so difficult for beginning students to play musically, or how easily overwhelmed they can become, and why playing through things can be so fatiguing.
When I'm working on the around the circle exercises, I try to isolate certain things while working on others. With Joy to the World, I'm using the 4X4 major scale fingering. Namely, putting the 4th fingers of each hand on the key of the piece one octave apart. Each time a student plays the piece, their fingers are on the keys of a different scale, but the fingering for all is exactly the same.
The way I have set it up, is a student will play the scale in 4X4 configuration, up and down, then they play the whole melody to Joy to the world, where their hands don't move. We start on C Major and go around the whole circle in order, so the next one is G, followed by D, then A and so on.
Paradoxically, for most students, it becomes easier to play as the keys become harder, primarily because the motor acquisition is kicking in due to a consistent fingering.
Here's the nerd in me coming out more- one round around the circle of 5ths with this has 876 notes, though students may play more because sometimes I have them repeat a key a few times.
Some students need the cards to help them remember the keys of the scales, some don't. Some like having the key name cards on the piano when they are playing (though often they don't look at it), others don't. Some like the music in color, some prefer black notes. Some students have an easier time keeping their fingers on the keys of the scale than others.
However, everyone is playing on all keys on the piano. Everyone is playing the scales accurately, and without question, everyone is simply playing more.
I have been going to physical therapy since both of my knee replacements this year. My physical therapist, Jennifer, is awesome. As I have had to relearn how to walk properly, and retrain how my brain sends signals to muscles which were taken offline years ago because the arthritis was so severe, we were comparing how many parallels there are between physical therapy and relearning how to walk, and learning how to physically play the piano. Even though she's not a musician, she understands what I'm doing with the practice of going around the circle and coming up with work-outs for students to do as warmups. It's been a fascinating process.
I'm working on a video to explain this in greater detail, as well as to highlight some of the longer term benefits I've seen with my students as we orbit around the circle.
In the meantime, I'm sharing the pdfs of the Joy around the Circle here. They won't be free forever, but they are at the moment.
The scale cards I've been using with my students have either been :
Or the major scale card in this set:
My students use the cards until they don't. I let them figure it out, but the rule is that they have to be competent and accurate when they play. There's no such thing as cheating in piano, right?
I have quirky learners, so some may always need a card or two to help them out, which is fine. The cards alleviate anxiety, and help students get their fingers placed correctly.
Repetition, ear training, reorienting hands on the keyboard, becoming familiar with all of the keys in a major scale, shaping melodies, transposing. . . this has been a fantastic exercise!
Thoughts and opinions are always welcome.
Happy Playing!
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