NATURE AND MUSIC
The moon walks over the meadows
1st lesson
Program content. Tell the children about the composer S. Prokofiev. To evoke emotional responsiveness to music of a gentle, thoughtful, dreamy nature, to determine its emotional and figurative content, to compare its mood with poems.
Progress of the lesson:
Educator Children, today you will get acquainted with a play by the wonderful composer Sergei Sergeevich Prokofiev. At the same time, he was both a conductor and a pianist, and wrote operas, ballets, symphonies, concerts, music for films and theater performances.
His works contain many gentle melodies. There is also music in which rhythm plays a big role - clear, energetic.
S. Prokofiev began studying music early. When he was 6 years old, the same age as you are now, he composed his first play, “The Indian Gallop,” and at the age of 9, he composed the opera “The Giant.” He has a variety of music for children: songs, piano pieces, musical fairy tales (“The Ugly Duckling”, “Peter and the Wolf”).
In the fairy tale “Peter and the Wolf,” S. Prokofiev introduces children to the instruments of a symphony orchestra. Each character is characterized by one musical instrument. A bird is represented by a gentle flute, a clumsy duck by an oboe, a wolf by several harsh-sounding horns, and a carefree Petya by string instruments(violins, cello).
The piano collection “Children's Music” begins with the play “Morning” and ends with the works “Evening” and “The Moon Walks Over the Meadows.”
Music conveys, as it were, the events of one day lived by a child, with his joys, sorrows, games, walks in nature. Listen to the play “A Moon Walks Over the Meadows.” What moods and feelings are conveyed in this music depicting a picture of night nature? (Performs a play.)
Children. The music is affectionate, calm, gentle.
P a g o g Yes, the music is calm, dreamy, thoughtful, fabulous, magical, soft. Listen to the poem “Night” by the Russian poet Sergei Aleksandrovich Yesenin. What mood is conveyed in it?
Night. There is silence all around.
The stream only gurgles.
The moon's brilliance
Everything around is silver.
The river turns silver.
The stream is silvering.
The grass turns silver
Irrigated steppes.
Night. There is silence all around.
Everything in nature is asleep.
The moon's brilliance
Everything around is silver.
Children. Calm, gentle.
Pedagogical The poem conveys magic picture night nature, illuminated by the silvery light of the moon. S. Prokofiev's music is also very light, magical, leisurely, calm, dreamy, enchanted (performs a piece).
Now listen to an excerpt from another poem by A. Pushkin:
Through the wavy mists
The moon creeps in
To the sad meadows
She sheds a sad light.
It is bright and sad at the same time and is also in tune with the character of S. Prokofiev’s music.
2nd lesson
Program content. Learn to distinguish between changes in the nature of music, imagery, means musical expressiveness, conveying the image.
Progress of the lesson:
Educator: Children, listen to an excerpt from the work, remember its title and author (performs the fragment).
P a g o g What kind of music is this in character?
Children. Calm, gentle, thoughtful, fabulous, magical.
P a g o r. Correct. Is the nature of the music changing? (Performs the entire piece.)
Children. At the beginning the music is gentle, light, and then sadder, sadder, more serious, it sounds low.
TEACHER: Correct, the second part begins in a low register, mysteriously, a little sadly, warily (performs the fragment). Probably the month hid in the fog or clouds, only its reflection remained, and the music became sadder, frowned, darkened (performs the fragment again).
But then the music briefly brightened, sounded high, quietly, transparently, as if the moonlight had again illuminated nature or the stars were sparkling in the sky (performs fragment). And again she sounds lower, more mysterious, more fabulous (performs the end of the play).
At the last lesson you listened to two poems: S. Yesenin and A. Pushkin. Both of them are in tune with this play. But the nature of the music is changing. Listen to the poems again and say which one is more consistent with the character of this part of the play (perform both poems and a fragment of the second part of the play).
Children. Second poem. It is sadder, sadder (“She pours a sad light onto the sad meadows”).
Pedagogue: Yes, the poem, like the music of the second part of the play, is sad, sad.
3rd lesson
Program content. To strengthen in children the ability to distinguish between the means of musical expression that create an image, the figurativeness of music. Convey in drawings the different characters of parts of the play.
Progress of the lesson:
Pedagogue (reads a poem by A. Pushkin and performs the second part of the play). Children, excerpt from which piece of music did I play for you?
Children. “The Moon Walks Over the Meadows” by S. Prokofiev.
Educator: Whose poems did you hear?
Children. Pushkin.
TEACHER What part of the play did I play and what was the nature of the music?
Children. This is the second part. The music is mysterious, sad.
TEACHER: Why did you define the nature of music this way?
Children. It sounds low, louder than at the beginning.
P a g o g. What is the nature of the first part? (Does it.)
Children. Tender, thoughtful, affectionate, bright, magical, lulling, soft, melodious.
TEACHER: Why did you define the character of this part this way?
Children. Is the music smooth, leisurely, calm? the melody sounds high, quiet, light, melodious.
Pedagogical. That's right, the melody is melodious, reminiscent of Russian folk song, sounds leisurely, affectionate, dreamy (performs one melody). It is so wide, endless, like the expanses of Russian fields and meadows (performs the fragment again).
The accompaniment is also smooth, but more mobile (performs a fragment of the accompaniment). This smoothness and mobility of the accompaniment, combined with a soft, songlike, flowing melody, creates the feeling that the month is floating across the sky over the expanses of Russian meadows and illuminates and silvers everything around (performs the first part of the piece).
Could you draw such a beautiful fairytale picture nature? Try this at home. Anyone who wants can paint a picture depicting the second part of the play, more gloomy, mysterious: the month is hidden behind the clouds, hidden in the fog and only its reflection falls on the meadows and clearings (performs a fragment). Now listen to the whole play and try to imagine the picture you will paint (performs the play).
4th lesson
Program content. Find similar and different mood images in different types art. Define expressive timbres musical instruments that convey the character of the parts of the play.
Progress of the lesson:
Educator: Children, let's look at the drawings. How different they are - both light meadows illuminated by the moon, and darker ones, above which a sky covered with clouds is painted. I will play you S. Prokofiev’s play “A Moon Walks Over the Meadows,” and you will choose the drawings that best correspond to its parts (performs the play, the children choose the drawings).
You listened to poems by A. Pushkin and S. Yesenin about night nature, compared them in character and mood with parts of the play. What pictures do these verses correspond to? (Reads a poem by S. Yesenin, children choose drawings.)
Which part of the play is closer in mood to these poems and drawings? (Performs a play.)
Children. First part. The music is light, silvery, magical, kind, similar to a calm, affectionate song.
Pedagogist: What pictures do these verses correspond to? (Reads a poem by A. Pushkin, children choose drawings.) Which part of S. Prokofiev’s play do they echo?
Children. From the second, the music is sad, mysterious, sad, the moon makes its way through the fog and clouds.
Teacher. Correct (performs a fragment of the second part). Think about what instrument tones can emphasize the magical, light, silvery sound of the piece.
Children. You can play on the triangle.
TEACHER: That's right, it has a very ringing, drawn-out, magical sound. At the beginning of the second movement, you need to play more quietly to emphasize the mysterious nature of the music. (Gives one of the children a triangle and performs the piece with him.)
The moon walks over the meadows
Recommendations for implementation. The play “A Moon Walks Over the Meadows” can be used in classes in a fragment (the first two periods). The first period consists of two sentences that form one whole. It creates an image that is close to Russian folk songs; there is a light, fairy-tale, magical flavor. The dreamy, thoughtful nature of the music is created by a melodious, smooth melody and soft, flowing accompaniment. In the melody it is necessary to avoid accents and achieve unified phrasing of eight bars. For this purpose, the beginnings and endings of leagues are executed softly.
The second period consists of two contrasting sentences. In the first sentence, the melody moves to the lower register and sounds gloomy and sad. The second begins lightly, unsteadily, transparently, but gradually the melody descends again and sounds mysterious.
Morning
Recommendations for implementation. The play is very poetic, full of colorful harmonic combinations. It is difficult to perform because it requires finding subtle coloristic sounds. It is important to feel, hear, and convey the charm of timbre colors and halftones. It is important to play the initial chords (which are repeated several times in the piece), listening to the extreme sounds, that is, relying on the 5th fingers, which creates a kind of “sound arch” of a large range. It is necessary to find expressive timbres (gloomy, mysterious and light, clear).
It is important to play the subsequent melodic intonation (1st, 3rd, etc. bars) with the movement of phrasing towards the middle of the phrase, the soft ending of the lines, and highlight the upper voice.
In the middle part of the piece, which seems to depict the dispersal of darkness and the rising of the sun, the accompaniment consists of small leagues and is performed very softly, like a haze. The rising melody in the bass (bars 10-15) sounds mysterious, gloomy, with a movement towards the peaks. And the melody in the upper voice (bars 18-23) has a clear, full, sunny sound.
Evening
Recommendations for implementation. The play is of a calm, gentle nature. The melody resembles a Russian drawn-out song. At the beginning of the piece in the accompaniment, it is important to hear the small leagues and emphasize their soft endings. In a melody, you need to listen to the long sounds and carefully play its continuation.
In bars 12-20 (the middle of the fragment), the melody disappears, decomposed harmonies appear, which are performed softly, easily, emphasizing the light upper sounds. In the third part of the fragment (bars 21-28), the melody is repeated again and is intertwined with accompaniment from the middle of the fragment.
Presentation
Included:
1. Presentation, ppsx;
2. Sounds of music:
Prokofiev. Morning, mp3;
Prokofiev. Evening, mp3;
Prokofiev. The moon walks over the meadows, mp3;
3. Accompanying article - lesson notes, docx;
4. Sheet music for independent performance by a teacher (piano), jpg.
Sergei Sergeevich Prokofiev - the greatest children's composer of the 20th century
The 20th century was a difficult time when terrible wars and the great achievements of science, when the world plunged into apathy and again rose from the ashes.
The century when people lost and found art again, when it was born new music, new painting, new picture universe.
Much of what was valuable before was lost or lost its meaning, giving way to something new, not always better.
A century when classical melodies began to sound quieter, less bright for adults, but at the same time revealed their amazing potential for the younger generation. One could even say that in in a certain sense Since the 20th century, the classics have lost something important for adults, but somehow they sounded especially vivid for children.
This is guaranteed by the popularity of the melodies of Tchaikovsky and Mozart, the incessant excitement that arises around the animated creations of the Disney studio, whose works are valuable precisely for the very music that sounds for fairy-tale heroes and those to whom their stories are revealed on the screen.
There are many other examples, but the most significant is the music of Sergei Sergeevich Prokofiev, a composer whose intense and difficult work made him one of the most, if not the most, recognizable, quoted, performed composers of the 20th century.
Of course, Prokofiev did a lot, a lot for the “adult” music of his time, but what he did as a children’s composer is unimaginably more valuable.
Prokofiev attached special meaning piano
Sergei Sergeevich Prokofiev is a prominent figure among the musicians of the twentieth century. He was the most famous composer Soviet Union and at the same time became one of the most significant musicians for the whole world.
He created music, simple and complex, in some ways very close to the bygone “golden age” of classics, and in some ways unimaginably distant, even dissonant, he was always looking for something new, developing, making his sound unlike anything else.
For this, Prokofiev was loved, idolized, admired, and his concerts always attracted full houses. And at the same time, at times he was so new and self-willed that they did not understand him, so much so that once at one of the concerts half the audience got up and left, and another time the composer was almost declared an enemy of the Soviet people.
But still he was, he created, he amazed and delighted. He delighted adults and children, created, like Mozart, like Strauss and Bach, something new that no one could come up with before him. For Soviet music, Prokofiev became the same as he became for Russian music just a century earlier.
“A composer, like a poet, sculptor, painter, is called upon to serve man and the people. He must decorate human life and protect it. First of all, he is obliged to be a citizen in his art, to glorify human life and lead people to a bright future,” - this is how Prokofiev saw his role, echoing his words with Glinka.
As a children's composer, Prokofiev was not only inventive, melodic, poetic, bright, they say that he was able, while preserving a piece of childhood in his own heart, to create music that was understandable and pleasant to a child's heart, as well as to those who still remembered what it was like to be a child .
About the three orange princesses
Throughout his life, Prokofiev worked on form, style, manner of performance, rhythm and melody, his famous polyphonic patterning and dissonant harmony.
All this time he created both children's and adult music. One of Prokofiev’s first children’s works was an opera in ten scenes, “The Love for Three Oranges.” Written based on the fairy tale of the same name Carlo Gozzi, this work was light and cheerful, as if inspired by the traditional sound of mischievous Italian theater.
The work told about princes and kings, good magicians and evil witches, enchanted curses and how important it is not to become despondent.
“The Love for Three Oranges” was a reflection of Prokofiev’s young talent, who sought to combine his emerging style and still fresh memories of a carefree childhood.
A new melody for an old tale
No less significant, but more mature and, perhaps, more vibrant, much more famous work Prokofiev became “Cinderella”.
This ballet, dynamic, marked by elements of the beautiful music of romanticism, which the author had mastered and complemented by that time, was like a breath of fresh air when clouds were gathering over the world.
"Cinderella" was released in 1945, when the world was on fire. great war, she seemed to be calling to be reborn, to cast away the darkness from the heart and smile at a new life. Its harmonious and gentle sound, the inspiring motif of Charles Perrault’s bright fairy tale and excellent setting of the distance old story a new, life-affirming beginning.
“...I am especially glad that I saw you in a role that, along with many other images of world fiction, expresses the wonderful and victorious power of a childish, submissive to circumstances and self-true purity... That power is dear to me in its threatening contrast to that, also age-old, deceitful and cowardly , the groveling court element, the current forms of which I dislike to the point of madness..."
This is what Boris Pasternak wrote to Galina Ulanova about her role in the ballet “Cinderella,” thereby paying a compliment not only to the performer of the role, but also to her creator.
Ural tales
Prokofiev was not only a composer, but also an excellent pianist Sergei Sergeevich’s last children’s work was published after his death; they say that even on the fateful day itself he was working on the orchestration of the “Stone Flower” numbers.
Sonorous and unlike anything else, but for some reason very close to many, evoking feelings contact with something mysterious and beautiful, the melodies of this work gave musical life to something no less unusual and unlike anything else Ural tales P.P. Bazhova.
Prokofiev’s music, which he did not hear on stage, and the fabulous, sacred motifs of “The Malachite Box”, “The Mining Master”, “The Stone Flower” became the basis of a truly unique ballet, revealing not only amazing facets musical art, but also the world of hidden legends of the Ural Mountains, which became accessible and close to young listeners, and listeners who have preserved their youth of spirit.
Prokofiev himself said that his children's music contains a lot of important and bright things for him.
The smells and sounds of childhood, the wandering of the moon across the plains and the crow of a rooster, something close and dear to the dawn of life - this is what Prokofiev put into his children's music, so it turned out to be understandable to him and to mature people, but, like him, who retained the heart of a piece of childhood. Therefore, she became close to the children, whose world Prokofiev always sought to understand and feel.
About pioneers and gray predators
Among Prokofiev’s works, the work “Peter and the Wolf” has special significance. This work, where each character is performed by a separate musical instrument, specially written by the maestro for children, absorbed all the best that Sergei Sergeevich sought to perpetuate in music for his most sensitive viewer.
Simple and cautionary tale about friendship, mutual assistance, knowledge of the world, how everything around works and how a worthy person should behave, appears through Prokofiev’s elegant and very lively music, complemented by the voice of the reader, effectively interacting with various musical instruments in this symphonic tale.
The premiere of the work took place in 1936; one might say, by creating a fairy tale for children about a young pioneer, Prokofiev demonstrated that he had returned to his homeland forever.
Important role The reader in the first version of Peter and the Wolf was performed by Natalia Sats, who not only had excellent performing talent, but was also the world's first female opera director.
IN further work Prokofiev, which gained worldwide fame, became close and understandable to children all over the Earth, was repeatedly republished and embodied on stage, on screens, and on the radio.
“Peter and the Wolf” was embodied as a cartoon by the Disney studio, thanks to which the slightly modified Soviet pioneer became on a par with the world famous fairy-tale characters, to which the studio gave the best animated birth.
Jazz, blues, and rock variations of the symphonic tale were released; in 1978, rock idol David Bowie performed as the reader of “Peter and the Wolf,” and a short cartoon based on Prokofiev’s fairy tale won an Oscar golden knight as recently as 2007.
The pedagogical value of “Peter and the Wolf” is of particular importance - the symphonic tale is used, like many of Prokofiev’s works, to train young musicians in specialized schools, but, in addition, the story about the adventures of a brave and kind pioneer almost from its very appearance has become an element of general education school curriculum in music.
For many years now, Prokofiev’s fairy tale has been helping to reveal to children the mystery of music, the right taste for symphonic classics, the idea of morality, of universal human values.
In a simple and accessible form, Prokofiev managed to embody important and necessary things, for other ways of demonstrating which sometimes enormous efforts are spent and thick book volumes are written.
The most children's music
Recent years Prokofiev spent his life outside the city, but continued to work despite the strict medical regime In addition to “Cinderella” and “The Stone Flower,” there are many more works by Prokofiev written for children. A piano piece, soft and nostalgic, “Old Grandmother's Tales.”
Mischievous and dynamic, similar in its daring to “The Love for Three Oranges” is the ballet “The Tale of a Jester Who Tricked Seven Jesters.” A serious and wise “realistic” suite “Winter Fire” based on poems by S. Marshak about the life of pioneers.
A sparkling patter song "Chatterbox", inspired by the poems of Agnia Barto. Prokofiev created for children as if for himself - with great pleasure.
But among the works there is children's composer There is one work by Sergei Sergeevich Prokofiev that is, perhaps, of greater value than “The Stone Flower” or “Cinderella.” Piano cycle “Children's Music” - 12 pieces that tell in the author’s inimitable light and gentle manner about the everyday life of children’s days and those special moments that are so sharp, bright and unexpectedly capable of turning these everyday life into a fairy tale, an adventure or just a memory for a lifetime.
The piano cycle “Children's Music” has become a real treasure for teachers teaching children how to play the keys. Prokofiev himself - genius pianist, has managed to create something that is completely accessible only to children, intended for children who want to hear the music they personally extracted from behind the black lid of a piano.
He made “Children's Music” fully responsive not only to the capabilities, but also to the needs of a young pianist learning the secrets of sound. The piano cycle combines smoothness and sharpness, transitions of rhythms and harmonies, the ability to use either the simplest or complex keyboard combinations in such a way that young virtuoso could study and, while learning, smile at his excellent results.
“Children's Music” - heartfelt, bright, filled with crystal purity and tenderness, unusualness and fabulousness, became Prokofiev's gift to beginning pianists and their teachers, who received an easy and convenient means of maintaining the attention of their student and developing their abilities.
MBOU DOD "GDD(Yu)T named after. N. K. Krupskaya
MHS "VITA"
Analysis piano pieces S. Prokofiev
"Children's music"
Completed by Tikhonova I.M.,
Piano teacher
2015
"Children's Music" by S. Prokofiev
Piano works by S. Prokofiev are one of the most interesting pages his creativity. They are characterized by light and joy, youthful enthusiasm and energy, as well as deeply lyrical features.
The cycle "Children's Music", opus 65, created in 1935, consists of 12 easy pieces. “Children's Music” is pictures of nature and children's fun, a sketch of a summer day from morning to evening. Following the example of children's plays by R. Schumann and P. Tchaikovsky, they all have program titles that help to better understand the content of the works. The music attracts with its novelty of style, captivates with the intonation structure of the melodies, harmonic colors, and modulations characteristic of a mature composer. All pieces are written in three-part form with elements of sonatina.
S. Prokofiev is very inventive in creating a piano presentation. He uses leaps, crossings, clusters, organ points, and ostinato rhythmic figures.
The entire cycle is permeated with Russian song flavor and folk intonation patterns.
World piano children's music has rich, long-standing traditions, so Prokofiev faced tasks of great artistic complexity. He handled them brilliantly. S. Prokofiev managed to convey the worldview of the child himself, and not create music about him or for him.
No. 1. “Morning.”
The picture of a day filled with walks and games, stories and songs that make up the content of the “Children's Music” cycle opens with the play “Morning”. S. Prokofiev creates an expressive musical image through clear harmonies and bright melody. Silence, peace, the joy of meeting a child awakened after sleep with a new day - this is the content of this beautiful play.
A sense of sonic perspective is achieved here by using the extreme registers of the piano. The right pedal plays an important role in this. It must be remembered that the pedal should be pressed after the sound or chord is heard, and the pedal must be removed exactly when the sound or chord is removed.
C major triads in both hands should sound soft but deep; in the bass the lower sound is emphasized, in the right hand part the upper sound is emphasized.
Expressive cues in the second half of bars 1, 3, 5, 7 are performed strictly legato.
The middle episode is divided into two parts. The first is built on a coloristic comparison of the full-voiced, slowly flowing gravemente melody in the bass and the softly swaying background of gentle eighth notes in the middle and high registers. These eighth notes can be imagined as if they were a violin. Leagues of two notes should not break the continuous melodic thread of the accompaniment: creating a wave-like and measured movement is the goal of the performance.
The right hand in this episode should move smoothly and flexibly. Chopin in similar cases liked to say: “The brush must breathe.” The fingers gently touch the keys without plunging deeply into them. On the contrary, the fingers of the left hand, which leads the main melody, penetrate deeply into the keyboard, feeling the bottom of the key.
It is necessary to ensure that each long note is not emphasized; the performer must have enough “breath” for large melodic segments (they are marked with leagues).
In the second part of the middle, the right and left hands change roles. Despite the low register and constant pedaling, a heavy sound should be avoided.
No. 2. “Walk.”
How wonderful it is to take a walk on a warm sunny morning! You can walk along the paths for a long, long time, see a lot of new and interesting things, you can even get a little lost and get lost in unfamiliar places, but then return home safely and laugh about your adventures.
The work is permeated with a lively rhythm, creating a feeling of movement.
All quarter notes that are not joined by a league are played singly non legato, and triplets of eighth notes that do not have a league under them are nevertheless played legato.
An important condition for a good performance of this piece is the feeling of the push-pull nature musical material. Specifically, this means that the first beat in the 1st, 3rd, 5th and other measures is slightly accentuated, and in the 2nd, 4th, 6th and similar measures it is performed easily. Emphasized long notes in right hand should be chanted. From the 20th measure, two-voice appears in the right hand; The first presentation of the theme, sounding piano, is interrupted in the 24th measure by the introduction of an imitating voice, sounding mezzo forte. Both voices are performed extremely legato with precise adherence to dynamic instructions.
The student should pay attention to the fact that the a tempo episode (bars 32-33) sounds truly orchestral, where the melodious expressive phrases of the violas are answered by the soft cues of the cellos.
The sonority of the left hand part in the first part of the work is soft, flying, the performer’s fingers easily play on the surface of the keys. A completely different feeling must be developed to perform the melodic line in the right hand part. The pads should merge with the keys and not hit, but sink together with the keys until they are pressed as deeply as possible.
No. 3. "Fairy tale".
One of my favorite childhood hobbies is listening to fairy tales. How nice it is to sit next to your grandmother and be carried away in your dreams to another, magical world, as if in reality, experiencing amazing events, becoming one of the fairy-tale heroes!
“Fairy Tale” by Prokofiev is truly a fairy tale in a child’s understanding. Here the melodies, which are Russian in nature, dominate, unfolding against the backdrop of a clearly rhythmic movement. How stingy and laconic the strokes are, and how accurately the music depicts the growing threat bursting into the peaceful narrative!
When working on a piece, you need to achieve the correct execution of the rhythmic figure of two sixteenths and an eighth. It should be clear in rhythm, but soft and unobtrusive. Each group should be separated by an almost imperceptible removal of the hand. In measures 9, 10, 14, 22, 26, 27, the legato indication applies to all notes. The hand is not removed anywhere here.
In the 15th and 16th measures, the seconds in the parts of both hands are performed softly and on the pedal. The notes marked with a dash sound especially deep and full.
The last two chords that complete the piece are played non legato and piano.
No. 4. "Tarantella".
Like P. Tchaikovsky, who included dances and songs of different nations in his “Children’s Album,” S. Prokofiev devotes space in his collection “Children’s Music” to the tarantella, a Neapolitan folk dance.
The energetic, sunny, cheerful character of this number is conveyed by the elastic rhythmic pulsation of eighth-note triplets and a fast tempo.
Emphasis throughout belongs to the author; unnecessary, additional accents should be avoided. After the accented sound, you should immediately reduce the strength of the sound and perform the remaining sounds easily. The accents often do not match in the parts of both hands, which poses some difficulty for the performer. Eighth notes marked staccato are sharp but easy to take off.
The figures in the left hand part present a significant difficulty when there is a continuous triplet figuration in the right hand (in measures 6, 18, 22, 26 and others). These places must be taught separately, making sure that the eighth notes match exactly in both hands.
The middle part should under no circumstances be slowed down; the entire piece should maintain a uniform tempo.
The final part - the ceremonial finale national holiday; Jubilant fanfare sounds joyfully.
No. 5. "Repentance".
“Repentance” is perhaps the only play in the cycle that touches on the area of serious, sad, even gloomy feelings. This miniature subtly and expressively depicts a psychological drama, a difficult moment in a child’s life. He is ashamed and bitter for his offense, but sincere repentance brings forgiveness and the play ends peacefully and tenderly.
One should be careful not to get too carried away at a slow pace. The expressive performance of this piece, warmed by a warm feeling, does not imply sentimentality or protracted movement. In measures 9-12, the melody sounds in octave doubling at a distance of two octaves. Schumann loved this technique. In such cases, highlighting the lower voice sounds beautiful.
The reprise is somewhat varied. The theme should emerge clearly through the eighth note movement.
The last eight bars express peace. Harp-like moves in the left hand part alternate with expressive cues in the right hand part.
No. 6. "Waltz".
This captivating, lyrical waltz is completely imbued with extraordinary grace and freedom. This is high lyricism. The amazingly beautiful melody amazes with its huge range. The middle part is more tense and agitated; the melody in it becomes more fragmented, in the form of sequences against the backdrop of active eighth notes.
The student is given not only sound, but also technical tasks. The waltz characteristic accompaniment formula must be carefully worked out: the bass sound is always taken with a downward movement of the hand and, as it were, held with a finger, and the chords are taken with a light upward movement of the hand from the keyboard.
The feeling of melodic phrasing makes us consider the first sound of the sixth bar to be the end of the first phrase, and the second sound of the twelfth bar to be considered the end of the second phrase. The sounds of the melody marked with a dash should be especially melodious and drawn-out.
Much attention should be paid to caesuras. In the middle part, it is advisable to phrase in large segments, feeling the eight-bar length of the phrases.
No. 7. “Procession of grasshoppers.”
The composer paints a picture of a fabulous procession of grasshoppers. The extreme parts are like a fast mass march; in the middle, the general rapid movement turns into a solemn procession.
Brightness, brilliance, energy, humor - all these qualities characteristic of Prokofiev are presented here in full.
When performing the first theme, you need to feel the gravitational pull towards the fourth measure of each phrase and not emphasize the previous strong beats.
The teacher’s attention should also include observation of the student’s accurate rendering of the sharp rhythmic pattern of the musical fabric; It is especially important to perform short sixteenth notes in the 1st-2nd, 9th-10th and other similar measures.
A short, straight pedal is needed to create a clear, light character in the outer parts.
No. 8. “Rain and Rainbows.”
In this musical picture there is nothing from the traditional techniques of depiction in rain music; there is no stream of staccato eighth notes alternating in both hands, no stormy passages across the entire keyboard and other simple attributes of the naturalistic school. Here the author rather conveys state of mind child in dull, rainy weather and the joyful childish smile with which the child greets the arrival beautiful rainbow circling the sky.
This piece is very distinctive with its phonic effects and bold layering of spots. Numerous cases of the composer's use of dissonant chords and intervals should be perceived as a means of coloristic influence on the listener. These harmonies should not be taken sharply, but in a melodious touch.
The piece reveals to the performer the interesting coloristic possibilities of the instrument.
No. 9. "Tag".
Tag is a fun children's game. It brings a lot of joy to the children, there is laughter, bustle, running around everywhere...
This number is essentially a highly artistic etude, in which the composer gave the performer a number of specific technical assignments. “Fifteen” contains many touches of Prokofiev’s pianism with its bold leaps and use of different registers. There are basically two tasks here: mastering the rehearsal technique in fast movement by replacing fingers on one key and mastering the toccata type texture with elements of jumps and crossing hands. The play is useful for developing finger fluency.
To satisfactorily solve both problems prerequisite is rhythmic endurance. The tempo of the piece is determined according to the student’s ability to perform the piece, hearing each sound clearly and distinctly.
No. 10. "March".
"March" - a masterpiece of brevity and precision of intonation - belongs to best pages collection. He is full of cheerfulness, clarity, and a kind of Prokofiev humor.
To convey the character of this piece, it is necessary to achieve the utmost precision in the execution of all, even the most insignificant details of the musical text. The student should understand all fingering instructions, the distribution of large and small accents, and the peculiarities of dynamics.
The performer's hand movements should be subordinated to the sound image this episode. For example, in bars 7-8, separate small leagues of two notes (with emphasis on the first) are performed by plunging the hand into the keyboard (on the first joined note) and removing the hand (on the second).
The middle episode is divided into two phrases of 4 bars each. It is desirable that the emphasized notes are not exaggeratedly emphasized, but rather form a melodic line.
No. 11. “Evening.”
The last two numbers of the collection “Children's Music” are transferred to the setting of an evening landscape. The play “Evening” is extremely good! S. Prokofiev made the melody of this play one of the leitmotifs of his ballet “The Tale of stone flower" A calmly melodious, clear melody, shaded by unexpected turns, which at first glance complicate the tonality, but in reality emphasize and strengthen it.
In order for a thoughtful, tender theme to sound beautifully, you need to take care of the second sound plan. The student will have to seriously study the left hand part, which in the first twelve bars should resemble in sonority a choir singing quietly behind the stage.
A small interlude with replicas imitating each other (the next eight-bar) prepares a more vivid presentation of the main melody, and the left hand part is given in a slightly varied form.
The middle part is built on long organ points that should not be intrusive, but at the same time should be constantly felt, creating the impression of wide space and calm contemplation.
No. 12. “The moon walks over the meadows.”
The last play of the cycle “Children's Music” is one of Prokofiev’s most poetic pages. The day is over, night has fallen on the earth, stars appear in the sky, sounds have died down, everything is falling asleep. This play is similar in character to the previous one. Its melodious melody is perceived as a truly folk song.
The ligature here is not of a phrasing nature. The end of a league does not always mean the end of a phrase and is not necessarily associated with removing your hand from the keyboard. The teacher must find the boundaries of phrases, guided by musical flair; Thus, the caesura is naturally felt at the end of the 5th, 9th, 13th measures. This means you need to “take off” your hand and “breathe” before starting a new phrase.
The first bar of the piece is a short introduction. Here a measured, swaying movement begins, which goes into the part of the left hand.
The syncopated execution of the theme in bars 22-15 from the end is very difficult to perform. While maintaining maximum legato, one must be attentive to the smoothness of the melodic line and avoid shocks on individual chords.
Working on the play “A Moon Walks Over the Meadows” will be of great benefit for the development of the student’s musicality and his sound mastery.
Literature used
1. Delson V. Yu. Piano creativity and Prokofiev's pianism. M., 1973.
2. Nestiev I.V. Prokofiev. M., 1957.
3. Musical encyclopedic dictionary. M., 1990.
Twelve easy pieces for piano
“In the summer of 1935, at the same time as Romeo and Juliet, I was composing light plays for children, in which my old love for sonatina awakened, reaching, as it seemed to me, complete childishness. By the fall, there were a whole dozen of them, which were then published as a collection entitled “Children’s Music,” op. 65. The last of the plays, “A Moon Walks Over the Meadows,” was written in its own language, not folk theme. I then lived in Polenov, in a separate hut with a balcony on the Oka River, and in the evenings I admired how I spent a month walking through the clearings and meadows. The need for children's music was clearly felt...,” writes the composer in his “Autobiography.”
“Twelve Easy Pieces,” as Prokofiev designated his “Children’s Music,” is a program suite of sketches about summer day child. What we're talking about it is about a summer day, it is clear not only from its titles; the orchestral transcription of the suite (more precisely, its seven numbers) is called by the composer: “Summer Day” (op. 65 bis, 1941). Here, as it were, “twice” were synthesized in Prokofiev’s creative laboratory the specific impressions of “Polenov’s summer” and distant memories of the summer in Sontsovka, on the one hand, and the world of childhood experiences and thoughts, children’s fiction and “was” in general, on the other. Moreover, the concept of “childish” for Prokofiev is inextricably linked with the concepts of summer and sunny. Prokofiev is right when he claims that he achieved “complete childishness” in this suite. Twelve pieces, op. 65 - important milestone on creative path composer. They open up a whole world of his delightful creativity for children, a world in which he creates masterpieces that are unfading in their freshness and spontaneity, in their sunny joy and sincere sincerity.
All this is quite natural and deeply symptomatic. Prokofiev - a man and an artist - always passionately gravitated towards the children's world, lovingly and sensitively listened to this psychologically subtle and unique world and, observing, himself succumbed to its charm. In the composer's nature there lived - never fading, but, on the contrary, becoming more and more established over the years - a tendency to perceive the environment from the perspective of cheerful youth, spring-like light and adolescently pure and direct. Therefore, the world of Prokofiev’s children’s images is always artistically natural, organic, completely devoid of elements of false lisp or sentimental beauty, which is not characteristic of a healthy child’s psyche. This is one of the sides inner world the composer himself, who different times found various reflections in his work. The desire for purity and freshness of a child’s worldview can, however, only to a certain extent, explain Prokofiev’s attraction to the sonatina style.
It is also not difficult to establish well-known parallels between the world of children's images and the sphere of charmingly fragile girlish characters in his musical and stage works. Both the Seventh Symphony and the Ninth Piano Sonata, which sum up the composer’s work, are imbued with elegiac memories of childhood.
Prokofiev's "Sonatina style" underwent, however, a significant transformation in his cycle of children's plays. First of all, he is completely freed from the elements of neoclassicism. Graphics are replaced by concrete representation and realistic programming. Neutrality in the sense national color gives way to Russian melodicism and subtle use of folk phrases. The predominance of triads embodies the purity, serenity, and tranquility of the images. Instead of sophistication with the “playing out” of new simplicity, a crystal clear view of the world appears in its clarity through the wide-open, inquiringly inquisitive eyes of a child. It is the ability to convey the worldview of the child himself, and not create music about him or for him, as noted by many musicologists, that distinguishes this cycle from a number of children's plays with seemingly the same focus. Continuing basically best traditions children's music by Schumann, Mussorgsky, Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev not only follows them, but creatively develops them.
The first play is “ Morning" This is like the epigraph of the suite: the morning of life. In the juxtaposition of registers one feels space and air! The melody is slightly dreamy and crystal clear. The handwriting is characteristically Prokofievian: parallel movements, leaps, covering the entire keyboard, playing through the hand, clarity of rhythm and definiteness of sections. Extraordinary simplicity, but not primitive.
The second play is “ Walk" The baby's working day has begun. His gait is hasty, although somewhat swaying. Already in the first bars its initial rhythm is conveyed. You have to have time to see everything, not miss anything, in general, there is a lot to do... The graphic contours of the melody and the nature of the continuous movement with the tapping of quarter notes are designed to create the flavor of a childishly naive, concentrated “businesslike” nature. However, the lightness of a slightly waltzing rhythm immediately transfers this “business” into the appropriate framework of childish “diligence.” (The contemplative theme of the second movement of the Fourth Symphony is close to the music of “Morning” and “Walk” and, apparently, is their forerunner.)
The third piece is “ Fairy tale" - the world of simple children's fiction. There is nothing amazing, scary or monstrous here. This is a soft, kind fairy tale-narration in which reality and dream are closely intertwined. It can be assumed that the images embodied here are not of a fairy tale told to children, but of their own ideas about the fantastic, always living in the minds of children, completely close to what they have seen and experienced. In essence, true fantasy appears only in the middle section on the sostenuto stage direction, while the first and final sections are dominated by a dreamy narrative with a simple melody against the backdrop of invariably repeating rhythmic turns. These rhythmic repetitions seem to “cement” the form of the “Fairy Tale” and restrain its narrative tendencies.
Next comes " Tarantella", a genre-dance, virtuoso piece that expresses the perky temperament of a child captured by the musical and dance element. Lively and lively rhythm, elastic accents, colorful half-tone tonal comparisons, shifts of single-pitch tonalities - all this is exciting, easy, joyful. And at the same time, childishly simple, without specific Italian sharpness, undoubtedly incomprehensible to Russian children.
Fifth piece - “ Repentance"- a truthful and subtle psychological miniature, previously called by the composer “I became ashamed.” How directly and touchingly the sad melody sounds, how sincerely and “in the first person” the sensations and thoughts that engulf a child in moments of such psychologically difficult experiences are conveyed! Prokofiev uses here the type of “singing-talking” (as defined by L. Mazel, “synthetic”) melodies, in which the element of recitative expressiveness is not inferior to the expressiveness of cantilena.
But such a mood is fleeting in children. It quite naturally gives way to a contrasting one. The sixth piece is “ Waltz“, and in this kind of pattern one can feel not only the logic of suite diversity, but also the logic of Prokofiev’s musical and stage thinking, the theatrical laws of the contrasting sequence of scenes. Fragile, gentle, improvisationally spontaneous “Waltz” in A major speaks of the connections between children’s images and the world of fragile, pure and charming female images theatrical music of Prokofiev. These two lines of his creativity, or rather two lines of his artistic ideals, intersect and mutually enrich. His girlish images have a childlike spontaneity. In his children's images there is a feminine softness, a charming love for the world and life. Both of them amaze with spring freshness and are embodied by the composer with extraordinary emotion and inspiration. It was in these two areas that the dominance of the lyrical principle in his work was most clearly expressed. From the naively charming children's “Waltz”, op. 65 we can draw a line to Natasha’s fragile waltz from the opera “War and Peace” - the pinnacle of lyrical waltzing in Prokofiev’s music. This line runs through the Es-dur episode of the “Great Waltz” from “Cinderella,” even intonationally reminiscent of a children’s waltz. It also runs through “Pushkin Waltzes,” op. 120 and “Waltz on Ice” from “Winter Fire,” and through "The Tale of the Stone Flower", where the theme of "Waltz", op. 65 is exactly embodied in the scene (No. 19) depicting the landlady's domain. Copper Mountain. Finally - but already indirectly - it continues in the waltz-like third movement of the Sixth Piano Sonata, and in the waltz from the Seventh Symphony. Prokofiev develops here an in-depth lyrical-psychological line of Russian waltz, which differs, for example, from Strauss, which is more brilliant, but also narrower and more external in its somewhat one-sided joyfulness.
Despite the childish features, Prokofiev’s creative style is felt very clearly in this waltz. The traditional structure of an elegant gentle waltz seems to be updated, intonation and harmonic deviations are far from the stencil (for example, a very unusual ending of a period in a subdominant key), the texture is unusually transparent. This waltz quickly became widespread in pedagogical practice and successfully competes with “generally recognized” works for children.
The seventh piece is “ Procession of grasshoppers" This is a fast and funny play about joyfully chirping grasshoppers, which always arouse the children's interest with their amazing leaps. The fantastic nature of the image here does not go beyond the scope of ordinary children’s fiction and in this respect differs markedly from, say, the mysterious fantasy of Tchaikovsky’s “The Nutcracker.” In essence, this is a funny children's gallop, in the middle part of which you can even hear the intonations of pioneer songs.
Next comes the play “ Rain and rainbow", in which the composer tries - and very successfully - to depict the enormous impression that every bright natural phenomenon makes on the children. Here are natural-sounding bold sound “blobs” (a chord-spot of two adjacent seconds), and slow rehearsals on one note, like falling droplets, and simply “Theme of Surprise” before what is happening (a gentle and beautiful melody descending from a height) .
Ninth piece - " Tag"- is close in style to Tarantella. It is written in the style of a quick sketch. You can just imagine the kids enthusiastically catching up with each other, the atmosphere of a fun, active children's game.
The tenth play was written with inspiration - “ March" Unlike a number of his other marches, Prokofiev in this case did not follow the path of grotesque or stylization. There is no element of puppetry here (as, for example, in Tchaikovsky’s “March of the Wooden Soldiers”), the play depicts marching children quite realistically. Children's March, op. 65 became widespread and became a favorite piece in the Russian piano repertoire for children.
Eleventh piece - " Evening" - with its broad Russian songfulness and soft coloring, it again reminds us of Prokofiev’s great lyrical gift, of the earthiness of his melodicism. The music of this charming piece is full of genuine humanity, purity and nobility of feelings. Subsequently, the author used it as the theme of the love of Katerina and Danila in the ballet “The Tale of the Stone Flower,” making it one of the most important themes of the entire ballet.
Finally, the last, twelfth piece - “ Walks for a month in the meadows"- is organically connected with folk intonations. That is why the author considered it necessary to clarify in the “Autobiography” that it was written not on folklore, but on his own theme.
