Piano

Course Description: This course is designed for the beginning student and progressing student by focusing on learning to play the piano and learning to read piano music.  Little or no experience is expected as the course starts with basic skills.  Students will be taught in a group setting and emphasis is placed upon improving performance skills and reading piano music.  Each student will receive individual coaching, and practice time in class will be a part of the course design.  Daily classes give Moroles students the advantage of frequent reinforcement and the ability to correct unwanted skills before bad habits are formed.  Students will also cover more material and have more performance opportunities.

In order for Moroles’s piano students to become capable and confident music readers, students are expected to maintain a high degree of independence by completing pieces in order from the method book and/or from standard repertoire, as well as the technique exercises and the ensemble literature chosen with the instructor’s approval.  In this way, the students will be prepared for the next level of study and performance.

Course Outline:  The piano curriculum is delivered in a sequential manner, moving from simple to more complex concepts gradually. There will be ample opportunity for practice and review so that the student may gain understanding and appropriate skill development. 

Additional topics covered throughout both years include developing an appreciation for music through Music Memory. With this curriculum, students learn about music themes (melodies), harmonies, instruments, vocal styles, forms, dynamics, tempo, and foreign languages, as well as Social Studies information regarding the lives of the composers.  The culminating contest is a listening contest where teams work together to identify the piece and composer of each of 20 short excerpts.

Field Trips: While the other Expressive Arts classes provide valuable audience experiences, additional opportunities to attend museums, concerts, recitals and other live performances further enrich and support the training of young pianists.  These outside performance opportunities serve as critical motivators to young students, energizing and helping them commit themselves to the further study necessary as they progress through the Dallas ISD Magnet schools. 

Requirements:  All students are expected to develop the discipline of practice both in the piano lab and at their homes DAILY. (A paper keyboard may be used at home.)  This routine builds good solid music skills.  Practice sessions are expected to include technical exercises and selections from a traditional piano method book.  Beginners should practice in frequent, shorter sessions and gradually build up to (but not limited to) a continual 30-minute practice session.  Practice should be slow and steady until the student has mastered the passage.

Piano Teacher: Mr. DeSilva
Adesilva@dallasisd.org