Brandman.htm

An Old Way and a Better Way:	If you are having difficulty learning to read music the traditional way--using note names and keyboard identification by sight--you might like to try a more versatile and flexible method: a simplified interval approach, which combines the aural, tactile, vocal and visual aspects of music into one neat package. Instead of the old style of learning where the note names are memorized and then the notes themselves located visually on the keyboard, without clear reference to each other, a more direct system uses a language which anyone can relate to his or her daily activities.
The Interval Language:	This is not the usual numerical system of interval sizes, but a way of quickly transferring the picture of the distance between two notes directly to the feeling in the hand. This means that students no longer have to look down at the keyboard to search for each note, but instead rely more on other faculties such as ear and touch. The system thus encourages students to see music as a flowing chart, while moving around the keys by means of spatial reasoning, tactile response, and a consistent use of aural skills for both pre-hearing and correction; as soon as two notes are played in succession the ear begins to recognize the motif, or essential idea, of a song, and can build on that perception.
Representing Intervals Pictorially:	The sizes of intervals can be drawn pictorially by characters on a staircase, to impart the idea of how many keys must be stepped along or skipped over. A few teaching methods use this idea: one of the earliest was the Sickler Theory Books for accordion, which used the terms step (for the interval of a 2nd), skip (for a 3rd), and jump (for anything larger). Other books using a similar concept and terminology include Carole Barratt's "Chester the Frog" series and Edna Mae Burnam's "A Dozen a Day" exercises, which employ the terms walk, run, skip, and leap.
	In my own "Contemporary Piano Method" I use step and skip for 2nds and 3rds, same for a repeated note, skip-plus-one for a 4th, and reserve jump exclusively for the interval of a 5th. The beauty of this language is that for the smaller intervals there can be no confusion of their sizes with either finger numbers or rhythm counting. Then for the larger intervals I refer to the usual terms 6th, 7th, octave, and so on. When the student has been learning for some time and is ready to understand interval qualities--Perfect, Major, Minor, etc.--we gradually get to know the smaller intervals by their own different sizes as well.
"Anchor Points":	While using the interval-reading system and playing in the written positions, the player needs fixed anchor points, or "signpost" notes, from which to work. Again, this saves him from having to think of note names. Some methods do this by using the G on the second line of the treble clef and the F on the fourth line of the bass clef (the clefs are also known as "G Clef" and "F Clef", respectively). Others use the note C in relation to the clefs, and this is my preferred method since the C's are so easy to locate on the keyboard. I find that this also allows the interval reading system to be extended to reading above and below the staff and even in C Clef, where C becomes the middle line. (Many people have discovered the fascinating mirror aspect of the positions of the C's on the Great (combined) Staff, and this helps them remember their positions easily.)
...and even more flexibility and versatility:	Once you understand these easy concepts and can transfer the message to your fingers, you will be able to: play with both hands together more readily, as the reading for both uses similar information instead of two sets of note names play on staff lines or leger lines (lines added above or below a staff) with equal ease transpose the hands to different areas of the keyboard: if white-key patterns are shifted they can produce interesting "modal" sounds transpose to other keys, once the various scale patterns on the keyboard have been learned as a prerequisite [scale patterns will be the topic of a separate article I will write for Muzine] sing the intervals as you play, using the language of step, skip, etc. This will enable you to train yourself in sight-singing and quickly develop your aural perception as well. function more easily at the instrument, using direction concepts:
Direction Concepts:	Using the interval approach, students are more readily able to perceive a larger section of the music at one glance, so that the combined direction of the notes becomes more obvious. The directions include: Same: both hands play the same notes Similar Motion: both hands move up or down together Contrary Motion: opposite directions, out or in Oblique Motion: one hand remains on the same note while the other moves These help greatly in the early stages of learning, during the actual process of coordinating the hands and relaying the messages to the fingers.
Follow the Flow:	Reading by following the flow of the intervals and the contour of the melodic line enhances the sense of shape and pattern, and facilitates sight reading and the rapid learning of pieces. It also provides a strong foundation for the understanding of chords, keys and harmonic structure. So if you've tried to master the piano by the traditional method--learning the names of all the notes in two clefs and then having to locate each one on the keyboard--and have found this process somewhat daunting, why not try a method which uses the interval approach, with its simplified language? As Tony Buzan, author of The Mind Map Book, says:

To write directly to Margaret, Click Here; to view the Margaret Brandman Web Page, just click on her name or picture, below; and for an in-depth interview with Margaret in The Piano Education Page, Click Here.