|
Many more schools are using keyboards as the basic instrument for classroom music teaching. However the hardware developments have often not been matched by the supporting software. For many teachers the start of group keyboard lessons involves a fruitless search for suitable teaching materials and then a scramble to write their own. Some of this work has been developed sufficiently to be published.
Susan Nares reviews one in a number of books received at thew CODA Music Centre:
My interest was kindled when I heard that the new Keyboard Plus tutor was being aimed at class teaching as well as for individual tuition. In the words of the author, Derek Hobbs, the aim of the first volume is, 'to provide sufficient material to give beginners a thorough grounding in the basic skills of the keyboard.' The pieces are original and well thought out, providing some entertaining material...
Lots of Material
The layout of the book is clear and...uses a minimum of words in preference for plenty of material. This leaves the teacher free to expand, where necessary, on any information given. This book does not attempt to be a 'self-tutor', a point which is definitely in its favour!
Derek Hobbs uses some very innovative approaches in this tutor. He introduces some of the pieces in bits and assembles them step by step, a process he names 'Tune-Builders'. This encourages the students towards the development of good practice technique, an invaluable lesson.
The inclusion of rhythmic drills is very helpful giving plenty of practice in all three areas of reading, recognition and performance of rhythms. In these 'rhythmic drill' sections there a plenty of suggestions for extension activities such as getting one player to perform a rhythm and then asking the others in the group to identify which one it was.
The saying of rhythms using the French time names is encouraged as well as clapping. There is also an opportunity given to attempt some simple improvisations choosing your own group of notes and using one of the given rhythms to turn it into a tune.
G hand position
One very noticeable difference in Derek Hobbs's tutor is that he uses the G hand position in preference to the more usual 'middle C' approach. I personally welcome this as a much more comfortable position for the usual six octave electronic keyboard than holding fast to the more traditional piano tutor approach. However, some teachers may find this limiting if they are using any accompanying material which favours the 'C' method.
Single Fingered Chords
The Keyboard Plus tutor encourages students to play using single-fingered chords throughout this first volume. This is one of the things which makes this book so usable, especially for groups of mixed ability. Right from the start the pieces use a rhythm or one chord accompaniment which should result in everyone getting satisfaction from their music making whilst learning to make use of all the fun elements that keyboards offer.
When the student progresses on to using more than one chord in a piece, Derek Hobbs turns this into a manageable task by presenting the new piece and its chords in a staggered way. 'Spaced-out tunes', as he calls them, may take some of the pain out of playing hands together particularly with such titles as 'Spaced-out Blues'!
Ensemble Playing
Of particular interest to those of you teaching in groups will be the inclusion of plenty of opportunities for ensemble playing (more is promised in volume two.) Also included is an easy to use 'Progress Checklist' for pupils' self-assessment which could be adapted for use by the teacher for assessment and differentiation.
All in all I feel this book offers a very welcome alternative choice to those tutors currently available, particularly for key stages 3 and 4+. It encourages good practice through lively material. The emphasis seems to be in developing note reading and technical skills, possibly at the expense of aural development. This is, however, offset by the inclusion of ideas for improvisation...I look forward to seeing volume two, due out this summer. Christmas Keyboard Plus is also available. |
