The University Course of Music Study, Vol. 3

Book excerpt: Excerpt from The University Course of Music Study, Vol. 3: A Standard Text-Work In this Student's Abridged Edition of The University Course of Music Study, Piano Series, there is contained all of the essential exercises, etudes, and pieces in the unabridged work, and in addition a considerable number of supplemental compositions, which can be drawn on at will to lend variety and an opportunity for choice on the part of the teacher in the treatment of the individual problems. Four books constitute an average year's work, particularly where a student is attending school. Faster progress is possible for those of marked musical aptitude or who devote more than the average amount of time to practice, but thoroughness and a natural development are at all times to be preferred to a superficial development, however rapidly the student may seem to progress. It is recommended that each pupil shall have a Practice Book, in which the teacher will indicate in writing the work assigned for practice and study, that which is completed, and that which is carried over or elaborated upon from lesson to lesson. It also will serve to show all unfinished work which it is planned to review at a later date. With such a record before student and teacher at each lesson, a comprehensive plan can be pursued in a systematic way. At the end of a paragraph of text in this edition, a section number enclosed in brackets indicates the location of additional text in the unabridged work. Under each example number there is found in brackets and in smaller type an exercise or illustration number, by which to locate the same item in the same chapter in the complete edition. If the number in small type is an example number, the material has been carried over from the teachers' manual; if it reads Sup. Tech. it is from a Technical Supplement. Thus: Example No.2 [Illustration No.4] Example No.2 in this chapter of this edition is Illustration No.4 in the same chapter of the complete work. Example No.5 [Exercise No.3] Example No.5 in this chapter of this edition is Exercise No.3 in the same chapter of the complete work. Example No.8 [Example No.3] Example No.8 in this chapter of this edition is Example No.3 in the Teachers Manual for this grade. Example No.10 [Sup. Tech. III-7] Example No.10 in this chapter of this edition is No.7 in the Technical Supplement for the Junior Graduate Division (Grade III). Where no such reference is found it does not indicate the insertion of new material, but the reprinting of earlier exercises for convenience of student and teacher in connection with the Cumulative Review and Elaboration of Fundamental Technic. A reference to an example in a previous chapter of the Same edition is as follows: (I-vii, Ex.6) means Grade i, Chapter 7 and Example No.6. (2-xii, 5) indicates Grade 1, Chapter 12 and section 5. (I-2, p.36) is a reference to page 36 in Book 2 of Grade I, of this Students' Abridged Edition. The review of earlier work is always productive of great good, as is the employing of easy material for practice in sight playing. These are two principles most commonly neglected in connection with piano study, and which have much to do with the cultivation of musical intelligence and that degree of musical understanding which is essential to musicianship. A review of the earlier material of The University Course with each pupil, will enable any teacher to standardize his instruction, and eventually if he so desires, to combine class instruction with private teaching. The chief endeavor in the preparation of this edition has been to supply in simple and compact form a selected and graded collection of material which will serve as the basis for any method of music instruction, and which will be within the reach of every student of the piano, without exception. Every essential phase of piano playing is embraced, ...