When teaching things like the wonderfully eerie whole tone scale, I always start with the physical. After experiencing the look at the feel, we connect it with the way it looks on the page.
The animals in whole tone position.
- I taught The Crystal Ball to Audrey this way:
- She put the animals into an F major position.
- She transformed that into F minor position.
- We reviewed half steps and whole steps.
- She transformed the F minor position into all whole steps.
- She “played the animals” (now in whole tone position) while I held down the pedal. She was astonished.
- I finally showed her what it looked like on the page.
The Crystal Ball from Halloween Level Two
These erasers are handy for teaching:
- whole & half steps
- major & minor 5-finger patterns and scales
- intervals
- triads