Primavista

Fit from the sheet are the three volumes by Paul Harris, which were published by Faber Music in 2008/2009 and are now also available in German as a joint publication with Edition Peters. The booklets are clearly organized into levels and lessons and the table of contents gives a quick insight into the author's teaching and learning intentions.

Pulse and rhythm are at the center of this as a basic musical element and are trained and illustrated in various ways. From the very beginning, care is taken to ensure that a fixed pulse gives the reading a direction in order to avoid stagnant playing as far as possible. There are "prepared pieces" in each lesson. Questions at the beginning of each piece consistently require the pupil to gain an overview before playing, to pay attention to recurring patterns (rhythmic or melodic), scale sections, steps or leaps, the position of the hand in relation to the fingering. Special importance is also attached to listening in the head beforehand, which could be quite successful with the necessary practice given the very simple selection of literature.

I like how important topics such as slurs, dotted notes, articulation, major and minor, different rhythm patterns and time signatures, different hand positions, chord playing and polyphonic playing are gradually introduced in carefully sequenced steps. Performance titles such as "With a smile" or "Dignified" require the student to empathize with the emotional content of the pieces. While the first volume is dedicated to the elementary basics of skillful Primavista playing, the second volume already combines several aspects. The pieces are very cleverly composed and are geared towards understanding contexts. In the third volume, advanced sight-readers will find many instructive examples that require precise note-taking, as they prevent intuitive guessing with their enriched harmony and surprising time changes.

Paul Harris, Fit vom Blatt. Sight-reading exercises for piano; Volume 1 - beginners, EPF 2002-1; Volume 2 - intermediate, EPF 2002-2; Volume 3 - advanced, EPF 2002-3, Fr. 19.45 each; Faber Music/Edition Peters, London/Leipzig et al. 2014