A Creative Introduction to Gigue by Melanie Spanswick
This piece by the popular composer was recently featured in Pianist Magazine and you can download it here for free
Melanie Spanswick is a popular composer, writer and teacher who works all around the world. I’ve used her books many times, especially Play It Again Piano, which is great for adult students who are returning to the piano. I’m also a big fan of her blog (including the series of guest posts on improvisation from Christopher Norton and on elementary composition in piano lessons from Jeni Warder).
Melanie contributes regularly to Pianist Magazine, both as a writer and a composer, and this piece featured in a recent edition. It’s a lovely elementary Gigue, which serves as a great introduction to playing in 6/8 time. Melanie has kindly allowed me to share the score for Gigue, you can find it here.
Here’s how you can introduce the piece creatively. The activities below will:
reinforce the connection between the piece and the G major scale
give an opportunity for sight-reading
practise ensemble playing
practise playing in time with a recording (see below)
review articulations and dynamics
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 composition
Here are three recordings of the accompaniment:
A fast 140bpm, the tempo of the original piece…
…a moderate 110bpm…
…and a very slow 85bpm, which may be useful for early attempts
What next?
Please let me know what piece you’d like me to feature next!
Thanks so much to Melanie for her support and encouragement with this project.