10.1 Hear an enharmonic key change
Study Chopin’s Polonaise in C-sharp minor, Op. 26 No. 1. Bar 49 closes the first section in C-sharp minor, its dominant, G sharp, resolving to the tonic; bar 50 goes on in D-flat major, which is C-sharp major renamed, and writes the G sharp as A flat. This is a respelling at a parallel-minor/major boundary, not one unchanged chord renamed: the tonic’s E becomes F. The card and keyboard task separately show how the same diminished-seventh chord can lead to different keys. At the keyboard: resolve one chord into two enharmonic keys.
- Technique
- C-sharp harmonic minor scale, hands together, 4 octaves
10.2 Explore harmonic colour
Study the harmonic colour of Debussy’s Clair de lune in D flat: chords moving in parallel, notes added to plain triads and long pedal resonance, all within a major key. The octatonic, polytonal and twelve-tone cards go further than Debussy does here: try the octatonic scale in the keyboard improvisation and compare its sound with the piece’s.
- Technique
- D-flat major scale, hands together, 4 octaves
10.3 Hear three independent parts
Study the three-voice Fugue in F major from Book 1 of Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier, BWV 856: two upper parts over a bass, as in a trio sonata, but all in your two hands. Follow each part on its own, then hear all three at once. The trio-sonata card shows the same three layers with a continuo player filling in the chords. At the keyboard: read a bass and two independent upper parts.
- Technique
- F major scale, hands together, 4 octaves
10.4 Trace a whole sonata movement
Study the first movement (Allegro con spirito) of Mozart’s Sonata in C, K. 309. Trace its exposition, development and recapitulation, and mark the main cadences that end each section. At the keyboard: play the main cadences from memory.
- Technique
- C major scale, hands together, 4 octaves
- C major arpeggio, hands together, 4 octaves
10.5 Drive a boogie and stride bass
Study Concert Boogie Etude, a short original study in C: twelve bars of block chords in the right hand over a rolling left hand that shuffles in triplets (C–G and C–A). Keep the triplet boogie bass steady under the right hand’s straight chords. Then, at the keyboard, turn the bass into a stride pattern: play a stride bass and a twelve-bar blues.
- Technique
- C major scale, hands together, 4 octaves
10.6 Compare an edition with its source
Study the closing passage of the Prelude in A flat from Book 1 of Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier, BWV 862, and inspect its ornament signs. Distinguish what this supplied edition prints from the realisation you choose; if you compare another edition, identify it and read its source notes before deciding what an editor added. In the Fugue alternative, compare the written cadence ties and voice-leading with your articulation choices instead: this edition prints no ornament signs or slurs. At the keyboard: compare two readings of an ornament.
- Technique
- A-flat major scale, hands together, 4 octaves
10.7 Keep octaves light at speed
Study the Prestissimo finale of Beethoven’s Sonata in F minor, Op. 2 No. 1: the right hand drives octaves and chords over the left hand’s running triplets. Keep the octaves light, with the arm, and the triplets even under them. At the keyboard, scales a third and a sixth apart train the same independence of the hands; the finale itself has none, and the card on augmentation and diminution prepares later music.
- Technique
- F harmonic minor scale, hands together, 2 octaves
- C major scale a third apart, hands together, 4 octaves
- A harmonic minor scale a sixth apart, hands together, 4 octaves
10.8 Shape the returning dance
Study the Menuetto of Beethoven’s Sonata in F minor, Op. 2 No. 1, with its Trio in F major and the return marked Men. D.C. At the keyboard: play a cadence and improvise an answering phrase that prepares the return of the opening.
- Technique
- F harmonic minor scale, hands together, 4 octaves
- Leading-note diminished-seventh arpeggio of F minor, hands together, 4 octaves
10.9 Improvise a short prelude
Study Chopin’s Mazurka in A minor, Op. 17 No. 4. Its opening bars float before A minor is confirmed, and its middle section turns to A major (bar 61): a model for a prelude that sets up a key and then changes its colour. The card on quartal voicings and upper-structure triads belongs to jazz harmony; this mazurka has neither. At the keyboard: improvise a prelude in the piece’s key.
- Technique
- A harmonic minor scale, hands together, 4 octaves
- A melodic minor scale, hands together, 4 octaves
10.10 Prepare a complete performance
Study Chopin’s Prelude in A-flat major, Op. 28 No. 17, an Allegretto in 6/8 with many pedal marks. At the keyboard: play a cadence in A-flat major and improvise an answering phrase in 6/8.
- Technique
- A-flat major scale, hands together, 4 octaves
10.11 Keep a study’s running line clear and unhurried
Study Debussy’s Doctor Gradus ad Parnassum from Children’s Corner, his fond joke on the old finger studies. Keep the running sixteenths even and quiet under the melody they carry, “égal et sans sécheresse” as the score asks, and use little pedal. Follow Debussy’s tempo words: where the sixteenths give way to eighth notes and sustained chords (bars 33–44) he returns to the first tempo, moves on a little from bar 37 and holds back in bar 43. This is the level’s second study, beside the Concert Boogie Etude.
- Technique
- C major scale, hands together, 4 octaves
