A Creative Introduction to Gigue by Samuel Arnold
This popular classical piece is on the MTB Grade 1 syllabus
If you’re an EPTA UK member like me, you will probably have already seen some of this post in my article “The New (Old Normal: Reintegrating Creativity into Piano Lessons” in the June 2024 edition of Piano Professional.
The editors generously gave me 6 pages, but I could have filled many more! At the bottom of the post you’ll find a bonus activity exploring sequences that didn’t make it into the article due to space constraints.
A Creative Introduction to Gigue by Samuel Arnold
It’s really important to connect exam pieces to a student’s wider development as a musician, and my Creative Introductions are here to help you do just that.
Crucially for me, this activity encourages your student to get creative with a piece of classical music. It’s completely anachronistic that we don’t teach our students to improvise and compose in a classical style: improvisation was very much the norm back in the 18th century.
You can use these worksheet with your student to:
reinforce the connection between the piece and its scale, C major
practise ensemble playing
practise playing in time with a recording (click here or scan the QR code for the recording)
review staccato and legato articulations
improve aural skills (e.g. play your student one of the five improvisation ideas and ask them to identify which one you played)
practise melodic improvisation
give them a springboard into their own classical-style composition
clarify and reinforce the difference between 3/4 and 6/8 time
Julian Lambert demonstrates the original piece with his typical charm below:
Bonus activity
Complete the sequences worksheet
Can you fill in the gaps to complete the sequences?
Hint: in C the sequence is two bars long.