Well, Grade 3 Music Craft gets mighty difficult compared to Grade 2, and especially compared to the Theory and Musicianship syllabuses.
The workbooks do not explain much, and what little they do explain is done solely through text, with no examples. I suffered many minor brain explosions trying to make sense of some these explanations. (Particularly in lesson 18 – a whole page of complicated text.)
It’s easiest to present my comments for this workbook in categories (aural is a separate blog/thread):
Pitch/Notes
- I am struggling to understand why each different note in each register must have a name and number. I have never heard a teacher or conductor say ‘go from the c2 in the second bar’. To me, this is simply confusing the reading issue for no apparent gain. However, since it’s part of the syllabus, we must learn it. But it is very hard to understand where the various notes lie on the stave from the way it is presented in the workbooks. It’s all extremely wordy. G3, F1, b1 etc. is all new terminology to the Music Craft student and all we need is a diagram – that is, for the notes to be shown and labelled on a grand stave.
- A lot of time and space in the workbook appears to be devoted to naming notes. This is incongruous with the level of difficulty of some of the other concepts in the book. I feel that those pages would be better used for examples such as is mentioned above.
Harmony/Figured Bass
- It is not made clear that the ‘3’ can be dropped from 6/3 chord figurings.
- Diminished triads are discussed and defined, but it is never made clear that the symbol for the diminished chord is a circle. Students will be left wondering about this in lesson 9. The figuring is shown as #6 in the same lesson, again without explanation. It is also a shame that it is not made clear that the third is the only note that may be doubled in a diminished chord.
- Lesson 12 states that ‘the augmented triad does not occur in a diatonic scale’. Does this mean that the harmonic minor scale is not a diatonic scale? If this is the case, there is now a MASSIVE discrepancy between the Music Craft and Theory/Musicianship syllabuses.
- The examples for completing the inner voices are quite good, but the explanations in each lesson are, once again, gibberish to a student who has never done it before. The introduction of 6/4 figuring in lesson 7 was something I myself had to read at least twice.
- I am also shocked and horrified at the lack of information re doubling when using 6/4 chords. It is simply WRONG to double anything except the bass note, which is the fifth of the chord.
- Lesson 14 is extremely confusing when it talks about chords with roots a 4th or 5th apart. This is a doubling issue, not just a matter of moving in similar motion. It is basically saying that it’s ok for the leading note to drop – I disagree with this. There should be drills for correct voice-leading when the soprano line moves from scale degrees 2-1; we must triple the root in these circumstances. In my experience, many students also omit the third of the chord accidentally – this needs constant attention, but is not even mentioned in the workbook.
- There are also no hints, reminders or rules about consectutive 5ths or 8ves, or about doubling the leading note, until much later on. How can we do the examples correctly without knowing these things?
- In lesson 17, the bass goes down to an E flat below the stave. This is most definitely out of the bass’ comfortable range. However, yet again there is no information in the workbooks about the vocal ranges.
- Lesson 18 talks about passing motion, neighbouring motion etc. – but yet again, not a single example of any of these. It is impossible for us to correctly identify the examples in question 13 of this lesson.
Rhythm and Metre
- It’s interesting that 2/2 is referred to as ‘cut time’. I always thought it was ‘cut common time’.
- The demisemiquaver is introduced in Lesson 7. It is tested once in lessons 8 and 12, then disappears until lesson 38, representing 6 months of no drills.
- Lesson 17 introduces 4/2 metre and talks about the breve and the breve rest, but NO EXAMPLES. This is something I had to struggle to remember how to draw!
Instruments
Brass instruments are introduced in this book. The ranges of these instruments are tested, however, yet again they are not shown in the workbook.
The tuba is defined as low-range sounds, yet the double bass is defined as ‘mostly’ low range sounds!
Intervals
Lesson 2 throws us in at the deep end with the very wordy explanation of diminished and augmented intervals. It would be much better if we had examples. The sentences are likely to come across as complete gibberish to a student.
The exercise for writing and naming intervals are very difficult – especially intervals like B flat to F flat, which we don’t find in any of the scales studied so far.
Terms and Signs
I have always translated ‘calando’ and ‘morendo’ as ‘dying away’ or ‘getting softer and slower’. I wonder if this will be accepted in a music craft exam, or must we write the very full-on answer “to allow the volume to die away gradually while slowing down”?
Set Works
These are good examples for harmony and scales. However, it is not clear whether they need to be learned by heart, or whether the music will be printed in the exam and questions asked from the score.