![]() Notice how some notes sound better against the C chord and others against the G chord? And there are some notes that can work comfortably against either chord. Then swap, so the teacher plays the triads (only C or G) whilst the student plays the melody on top. It’s good to note that this closely links in with the skills they would need to develop for the Improvising test (Harmonic Stimulus) at Initial – so a great way to develop musicianship all round! Linking to the repertoireĪn ideal place to start exploring how these chords link in with repertoire is Electronic Keyboard Exam Pieces & Technical Work 2019-2022: Initial – all 8 pieces are in C major, so your students are ready to go! To start, the teacher can play the melody and the student ignores the printed chords, but chooses to play either the C chord or the G chord underneath, fully fingered – notice how some notes sound better against the C chord and others against the G? C C G C – playing each as a block chord or as a broken chord with both hands (as shown in the handout) and see how that sounds. They might want to make up little sequences e.g. Your students can really get a feel for these two chords by playing them firstly as block chords (try holding them for a four beat bar), and then as broken chords up and down the keyboard (you’ll need the auto-accompaniment turned off for this). We’ll return to the other chords in later grades. In particular, the C chord and the G chord are major, and we can think of these as our ‘home’ chord and our ‘away’ chord. Some of these chords are major, some are minor, and are known as the primary chords. We can do this starting with C major, playing each triad in turn, as shown in the handout. One way to introduce the concept of the primary chords is to build triads on each note of the scale. ![]() Initial grade – starting with triadsĪlthough the keyboard exercise does not begin until Grade 1, it’s perfectly possible to start laying the groundwork from the Initial grade. Here it is at Grade 1:Īs we move through from Grade 1 to Grade 5 more chords and more frequent chord changes are introduced in the left hand, and the scale in the right hand increases from one octave to two. It is played with piano voice and auto-accompaniment off, so fully-fingered chords must be used. The keyboard exercise comprises a scale in the right hand, accompanied by chords in the left hand. Developing knowledge of the most common chords, together with other relevant performance and technical skills such as bass clef reading, finger dexterity and a sense of pulse, is what the new keyboard exercise is designed to do. ![]() Chord knowledge is useful, but understanding how chords relate to pieces in a more contextualised way means that you’ll be applying your technique as you perform. So, to bring the best out of the melodies and songs when self-accompanying on the electronic keyboard, it’s important to have an awareness of the underlying harmonies and common chord progressions of these contemporary arrangements.Īt Trinity, we have built our syllabus to be truly authentic and we know that learning musical technique is more effective if it relates also to performance. As the electronic keyboard is used to play a wide range of music, its repertoire features arrangements of well-known tunes. The electronic keyboard is a versatile instrument – it is a harmony instrument, a melody instrument, and a rhythm instrument too. In this article, we give teachers some ideas about how to approach the keyboard exercise and the way in which it can help develop a wider understanding of chord knowledge and common chord progressions, how these link to the pieces candidates select for their exam and how they may also help develop improvisation skills (one of our supporting tests).Īll of the suggested activities are available as a downloadable student handout. In the first part of this series prepared from a selection of advice from electronic keyboard specialists, we introduce the new keyboard exercise and explore how it works at Grade 1.
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