- General music theory - Notation, key signatures, time signatures etc. in conjunction with the following: - Rhythm: based on 2's 3's and combinations, down beats, up beats accents, - Scales (The ones most important to me in classical, jazz, blues, rock, bluegrass, Northern Indian Classical, Balkan, Mid. East). - Modal: major, dorian, phrygian, lydian, mixolydian, minor, locrian - Modal subsets and derivatives: Pentatonic, blues,jazz,rock and bluegrass (includes accidentals between whole tone steps in pentatonic scale). - "Hungarian": sometimes called "adorian" is a modified phrygian: The phrygian scale is allowed the 3rd to be raised (major) on resolution from a dominant (such as the 2nd chord). The Hungarian scale keeps this major 3rd and adds the leading tone of a raised 7th (major 7th) as opposed to the minor 7th of the phrygian. - "Thats" of North India not covered in modal above: Primarily Todi & Pervi. Todi "scale" includes minor 2nd & 3rd, augmented 4th, perfect 5th, minor 6th, major 7th (Equivalent scale used in Egypt: see www.debone.com/exoticextremes.html for a sound sample under "Gaziara"). - Diminished (used a lot over dominant and tritone substitutions in jazz and some in classical) - Augmented (whole tone) (mostly jazz and classical) - Harmony (based on scales learned) - Chords using each note in scale as root. Triads and 7th chords first... - Different voicings and their arpeggios are learned - Roles of each chord (dominant, sub-dominant, substitution, etc) and the use of "passing" (dissonant) chords to create tension to be resolved by other more consonant chords - Common progressions based on roles of chords: Cadences, Chaccone, etc. - Counterpoint - Multiple tonal centers (Modern classical and jazz): Building 7th, 9th, 11th, 13th chords by superimposition: For example, adding a major triad with a minor chord whose root is the major third of the first gives a major 7th chord. Melody & counterpoint may progress in either key as long as it is harmonically consistent . - Different voicings and their arppeggios are learned - Modulation: Key (tonal center, primary pitch) Tempo (rhythm, accelerando, decelerando, etc.) Dynamics (loudness: piannisimo to forte) - Ear training including recognition of intervals and listening to music performed by the best performers possible as a reference. Intervals: This is done in parallel to learning scales and harmony: Time separated intervals (all of scale) are learned when learning scales. Learning to pick out notes of chords is learned when studying chords. The teacher can play intervals or chords and have the student state the relative intervals by ear. Listening to best performances: Both live and recorded performances. Playing along with other good musicians or recordings is a great way to calibrate rhythm, tone and playing in general. - Exercises including: - Separation exercises Examples: 1) On a given string, left hand finger 1,3,2,4,4,2,3,1 2) On alternate strings with progressive string separation repeat fingerings above 3) Reach exercises 4) Proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF) exercises - Scales, arpeggios (pick, hammer-on, pull-off, slide, combinations) (in conjunction to theory) - Different voicings and thier arppeggios are learned - I would include the study of harmonics here - Along with the study of arpeggios, I would include double stops and chords - Rhythmic - Especially direct changes from one time base to another - Combinations and permutations of accents various places in the measure of each time signature. - Rhythmic articulation - All combinations of 3's and 2's: 5/8, 7/8, 11/16, 13/8, etc. (See www.debone.com/exoticextremes.html for sound sample examples.) - Pitch modulation: Vibrato (horizontal, vertical), bends, slides, - Modulation - Practice the Key, Tempo, and Dynamics modulations - Performing: - Encourage students to find music they want to play that is within their ability or a practical near term goal. - Sight Reading - Pre-read: Scan the music for the most difficult sections to develop a strategy ahead of time. - Emphasize rhythm, especially when playing with others: missing notes is usually better than playing the right ones at the wrong time or getting totally lost. - Learn to recognize rhythmic, chordal and melodic phrases as one learns words made from letters. This allows you to concentrate on phrasing more so that it sounds more musical. - Improvisation - Know what you want to say Speaking through your instrument about what you think and/or feel at the moment will reduce the probability of being redundant or playing with an apparent lack of focus. - As in sight reading, being aware of the rhythm, chord structure and any melodic precedent and being aware of the effects of phrasing are fundamental to me. - Strategies for improving (teaching oneself): - Identify strengths and weaknesses relative to interests in improvement. - Devote more time to key weaknesses than strengths. - Enhance feedback to increase sensitivity to errors and reinforce successes. - Learn how to identify Cannonical forms and extrapolate ideas to economize memory and effort.