Group 1
Welcome to the latest TWO WEEK INTENSIVE on tonebase!
For the next two weeks we will be working through assignments given by Ben Laude to improve your playing and understanding of Schubert!
Pianists of all levels are welcome.
More Detailed instructions coming soon!
- Sign-Up : December 1st - 4th
- Course Period: December 4th -15th
- Class Size: ALL are welcome!
- Optional check-In via Zoom: December 12th at 11am PT
Click here to join the meeting!
Assignment #1
ASSIGNMENT INSTRUCTIONS (WEEK 1)
- Watch the ABOVE video, which will serve as a crash course in chromatic harmony in preparation for your assignment.
- If you have no idea what Iâm talking about in the video, check out these materials to get up to speed:
- Pre-requisite/review course:
- Course: Music Theory Basics
- Other helpful tonebase resources:
- Livestream: Harmonic Analysis Crash Course
- Forums thread: Improve Your Harmonic Analysis with Ben Laude
- Pre-requisite/review course:
- If you have no idea what Iâm talking about in the video, check out these materials to get up to speed:
- Perform a harmonic analysis on Schubertâs Moment Musical #6 (A Section only; you can stop at the Trio):
- Label chords with roman numerals
- Mark cadences (half cadence: ends on V; authentic cadence: V resolves to I)
- Identify the following chromatic devices:
- Secondary dominant
- Augmented 6th
- Modal mixture
- Chromatic mediant
- Common-tone modulation
- Optional: Perform a harmonic analysis on a Schubert piece of your choice (or target specific passages from pieces youâre curious about)
â Donât expect to get everything right! This is an advanced harmonic analysis. The whole point of the TWI is to dive into the deep end of Schubertâs harmony and formâŠ
â Ask questions in the forum! I will be replying to user questions, and weâll be going over the whole thing in next weekâs Zoom meeting.
â For more experienced users, I do recommend analyzing the recommended study piece (and helping your fellow TWIs); but you may want to spend your time on another Schubert piece youâre already working on.
Schubertâs piano music
The âeasiestâ of Schubertâs piano music are probably his collections of Waltzes, LĂ€ndler, and other dances. These capture the spirit of Schubert the dancer, although they arenât representative of his harmonic/compositional exploration, so I donât recommend them for this TWI. Instead, you should take a look through Schubert's core piano repertoire, most of which is listed here:
Level 6-8
- Moment musicals
- Two Scherzi, D. 593
- Impromptus op 90, op 142
- 3 Klavierstucke
Level 6-10
- Sonatas
Level 11
- Wanderer Fantasy
Feel free to venture beyond the solo piano music!
ZOOM CHECK- IN with Ben!
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Good morning, Group 1 Schubert Groupies!
I am so excited about this TWI that if I were a Jack Russell terrier puppy Iâd be jumping up and down and wagging my tail.
Because I only did amateur chamber music before joining Tonebase (played through the Trios, the Trout (dozens of timers!), violin sonatas, etc. with my strings friends) I really need to finally learn some solo piano Schubert.
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PS: I think the link to the score of the Moment Musical might not be activated yet?
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Gail Starr we'll get that fixed! Meanwhile, it's here:Schubert MM 6
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Ben Laude Youâre the BEST!
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Gail Starr Active now!
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Dominic Cheli Thanks!
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Hello! I'm looking forward to sharing two musical weeks under Ben's guidance with everyone. I'm terrible at any kind of harmonic analysis so this first assignment is sure to challenge me! I'm hoping that I will learn new ways and thinking and approaches to mastering a new piece thanks to everyone's advice. Finally, I'm looking forward to choosing a piece and learning some Schubert!
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Mark I donât think I have EVER done harmonic analysis (although I did take a basic theory class about 25 years agoâŠ). Iâm going to watch the harmonic analysis live stream today!
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Gail Starr Yes my real experience is having watched a video on it once so I think that qualifies me for being terrible at it xD I will follow your example and do that as well! Enjoy!
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Mark
Thank goodness for YouTube!
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Hi everyone! Excited to explore Schubert with you these next couple weeks. Let me know what questions you have.
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Hello, I hope this is the appropriate place to say a little about myself, my piano skills and my interest in Schubert.
I'm a flutist who started studying the piano seriously 3 1/2 years ago. I recently did a BA in Music. So, I have a good knowledge of harmony. I'm very interested in this course on account of my love of Schubert's music, born in particular of my experience learning several songs from Die Schoene Muellerin with a voice teacher I had for several years in Europe before I moved back to Canada in 2012. I've also played the Variations on Trockne Blumen for flute.
To give you an idea of how special a composer Schubert can be for people, a few years ago, I was on a German intensive course in Munich and in a conversation with one of the teaching assistants, he and I realized that we both had a deep love for this composer. It created an instant bond.
Obviously, I'm excited to be able to take this course.
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Douglas McCarthy Thank you for sharing! Schubert's music is so unassumingly powerful. There's nothing quite like it.
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Hello group 1 piano friends! Excited to learn more about Schubert and harmonic analysis!
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Hi everyone from this wonderful Schubert Fan Group 1. Looking forward to studying with you! I have a deep love for Schubert already. Canât wait to dive even more into his music.
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Hi! I'm Heidi, an amateur pianist. I'm super excited to delve into Schubertlandia with you all. Theory is definitely not my strong point, so it will be great to get guidance on some analysis and see how Ben goes about arriving at a viable interpretation!
I'm particularly interested in how Schubert seems to effortlessly straddle the classical and romantic realms (just my opinion, of course), and in so doing, create his own very special language. I've always found his music to be haunting and elusive and totally gorgeous.
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Hi Heidi "Schubertlandia" should have been the name of this Intensive...
I think this will be a fruitful couple weeks for you, because I believe the answer to your second paragraph (why Schubert is somehow both classical and romantic at the same time) is in your first paragraph ("theory").
Music theory gets kind of a bad wrap, so we could just call it "harmony," which sounds cooler, and also "form." In a nutshell, Schubert's forms are traditional/classical â as are many of his textures â yet his harmony is romantic (that is, chromatic). Beethoven was sort of the opposite. He employed chromaticism too, for sure (so did Mozart, Bach, etc), but it was how Beethoven pushed classical forms to their limits that was his romantic legacy. For Schubert, forms were like large containers, or life-spans, with clear beginnings/middles/and ends, but within which he often took journeys to other planets that Beethoven never dreamt of.
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Ben Laude Oooohhhhhhhh! I had never heard the form/harmony explanation â that's so interesting (and helpful). Thank you!
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Hi Ben and everyone! Very excited about this course. I've found Ben's video absolutely great; we're going to try to understand the secrets of Schubert harmony.
I love Schubert and I've been playing some of his impromptus for the last months. When I'm playing o listening to Schubert music I feel it very deeply, like it was the music of a very close friend. So, the musical plan for the next weeks couldn't be better
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Juan Carlos Olite Iâm going to start learning the 1st Impromptu today!
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Juan Carlos Olite Well said! I am always so happy when Schubert is in my life too.
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I look forward to doing some Schubert with Ben and y'all! This will be my first time doing a harmonic analysis, so I'm sure this will be a good learning experience.
Now and then I go through a "Schubert phase" where I listen to lots of his music incessantly, but I've never actually learned anything by him. This will be a good opportunity for me to start!
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Marc M Honestly I feel similarly - I haven't played enough Schubert. We're all in this boat together!
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Hi everyone! I just want to start with a quick message to say hello and that I'm so excited to explore Schubert's music with you all.
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This course is particularly timely for me because I decided to start learning the B-flat sonata about a month ago, so really looking forward to delving into the details of Schubert's harmonic language.
