Did you know that Franz Schubert was one of the fastest composers ever? Although Schubert only lived until the age of 31, he composed over 1000 works in 18 years! Schubert was so fast that he often started and finished a composition on the same day. Schubert wrote 600 songs, 9 symphonies, dances for the piano (especially waltzes), operas, sonatas, and chamber music.

Franz Peter Schubert (1797 – 1828)

Franz Schubert was born near Vienna, Austria on January 31, 1797. His father was a school teacher and ran a private school. He taught Franz to play the violin, and Franz’s older brother Ignaz taught him to play the piano and write music. They soon realized that young Franz was very talented, and he quickly became a better pianist than his brother. By age 10, Franz was the best singer in the local church and com-posed music for the church services.

A year later Schubert won a choir scholarship to go to a school in Vienna. He studied very hard, took music lessons at night, and sang at concerts and church services on the weekends. He was a good student, and his teachers were impressed by his musi-cal talent. During his free time, Schubert preferred to practice and compose instead of spending time with other students. He was very shy and quiet.

Schubert at the piano performing for friends

An Unhappy Teacher

Schubert’s father wanted his son to be a teacher rather than a musician, so after finish-ing his studies in Vienna, Franz came home to teach at his father’s school. He stayed there for three years but he hated the job. Becoming Known as a Composer

Schubert was so unhappy teaching school that he quit when he was 19. He became friends with some important musicians and focused on composing. His friends helped him get started in his musical career. One of them was Johann Michael Vogl, a singer and com-poser who liked Schubert’s music and per-formed many of his songs. Soon Schubert began to gain recognition as a composer.

Schubert’s Life as a Composer On a typical day, Schubert might

compose from 9 in the morning until 2 in the afternoon. Then he would meet with his friends at a café to drink coffee, talk, and read the papers. He was a very fast composer. There are many stories told by his friends about how he would come up with an idea for a work and then quickly write it down. He never com-posed at the piano because it made him lose his train of thought. Instead he preferred com-plete silence.

Unlike Beethoven, who was composing and performing in Vienna during the same time, Schubert was shy and did not like to play his music at public concerts. Because of this, many of his compositions were not well known. Schubert was blessed with kind friends, how-ever, who helped him promote his music. They would throw parties they called Schubertiads, which gave Schubert the opportunity to play his compositions in a smaller setting where he felt more comfortable. Changing Musical Styles

Like Beethoven, Schubert wrote music at a time that was in between the Classical and Romantic periods. Schubert and Beethoven

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Fun Facts • Schubert learned to play

the piano, violin and organ, and was a very tal-ented singer as a boy until his voice changed.

• Schubert did not own a

piano and had to use someone else’s instru-ment to hear his compositions.

• Schubert was only about 5 feet tall, so

his friends gave him the nickname Schwammerl, which in German means little mushroom.

• Schubert fell in love with Therese Grob

when he was just a poor teacher. Her parents wanted a better match for her, so she married a wealthy baker instead.

During the three years when Schubert was a school teacher, he still found time to write more than 400 pieces, including 350 songs.

Schubert’s Music Schubert is best known for his songs

and symphonies. Sometimes he com-posed a group of songs on a single subject, while other works are single songs for voice and piano. Although Schubert lived in the same time and place as Beethoven, his symphonies are very dif-ferent. One of his most famous works is his Symphony #8, which he never fin-ished. Although it has only two move-ments, it is frequently played today. His Music • 9 symphonies (1 was unfinished and

there are unfinished ideas for more) • Over 600 songs (145 of them were

written in 1815!) He also composed many works for piano, four hands, solo piano works, chamber music, a number of masses and other religious works.

are often called transitional composers. This means that their music was like a bridge between the Classical and Romantic styles. They influenced the composers who came after them in the Romantic period. Few com-posers changed their writing styles as much as Schubert did. His early works sound like the Classical music of Mozart, and his later works sound very Romantic, like the music of Brahms or Wagner. All of his works are full of

beautiful melodies, great harmonies, and sud-den changes of key.

Schubert was in poor health for the last few years of his life. He died of a fever in 1828 and was buried next to Beethoven, whom he great-ly admired. Although few people realized it at the time, Schubert was one of history’s greatest composers and inspired many other musicians, including Frédéric Chopin and Robert Schumann.

4

Song Cycles This is a group of songs that are per-

formed together. Often, the composer used poems from the same poet for all of the songs in the cycle. They might all be about the same topic or tell a story.

This idea was invented by Beethoven. Schubert wrote several song cycles, including his famous Winterreise (which means Winter Journey). It has 24 songs and tells the story of a man who is reject-ed by a woman and wanders from place to place. Each song shows his changing mood, from sadness to anger.

Schubert is famous for his beautiful vocal music. He was trained as a singer at school, so he understood how to write songs. He also loved poetry and was inspired to com-pose music when he read poems.

He wrote more than 600 songs that were often based on German poems about nature or love. They were performed in small, informal settings like recitals or parties or just at people’s homes.

Schubert’s songs are called lied or lieder. Lied (pronounced leed) means song in German, and lieder is songs.

Fantasie in F Minor D. 940, for piano, four hands Schubert wrote this piece very quickly during the last year of his life.

This is one of the most significant and famous pieces for four hands. The piece has four movements, but they are played without breaks between them. It takes about 20 minutes to play the whole work. The delicate opening theme is simple and beautiful, and uses dotted rhythms and

returns in the very last movement. Impromtpus

Schubert wrote two sets of four Impromptus. The first is Opus 90, and includes four pieces in different keys. The second set was not published until after Schubert’s death, and is designated by Op. posthumous 142. The word “posthumous” means a work was published after the composer died.

Schubert was a very good pianist and understood how to compose for the

instrument. He wrote beautiful, flow-ing melodies and tried to play the

piano with a lovely singing sound. He was always happy to play for his friends at parties and sometimes

made up the music on the spot.

Schubert’s Famous Piano Works

Schubert’s Songs

Schubert playing for his friends.

5

V E T E B E H N O___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___

M A H B S R ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___

S H A M N U N C ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___

N I C P H O ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___

Scrambled word answer (Unscramble the letters in the circles.)

___________________________________________________

Word Scramble

Missing Barlines The barlines are missing from the music below. Figure out

where they should go and write them in.

1. 2. 3. Start by looking at

the time signatures to figure out how

many beats should be in a measure.

Impromptu An impromptu is a type of composition that became popu-

lar in the 1800s. It does not have a standard form because it was supposed to sound free – as if the performer was impro-vising it or creating it on the spot (although they were actu-ally played from previously written music). They were usu-ally written for piano or another solo instrument. Schubert, Chopin, Schumann, Liszt, Scriabin, and Fauré wrote well-known improptus.

Instrument FamiliesThere are many differ-

ent types of instruments from the tiny piccolo to the large string bass. Musicians group instru-ments that create sound in similar ways together. In addition to the stan-dard orchestra and band instruments below, there are many other instru-ments that are played around the world. Watch for features on these instruments in future issues.

String Family Violin Viola Cello

String Bass Guitar

Woodwind Family

Piccolo Flute

Clarinet Saxophone

Oboe Bassoon

Brass Family

Trumpet Trombone

Horn Tuba

Percussion Family

Various drums and instruments that are

struck

Keyboard Family Piano

Harpsichord Clavichord

Organ

When students begin taking les-sons, teachers talk a lot about the correct way to sit at the

piano. This is called posture. It may seem boring or even a waste of time. After all, you are taking piano lessons because you want to play the piano and you already know how to sit on a bench. However, taking the time to figure out how to sit properly and position your hands and arms can make a big difference.

It is similar to learning how to play baseball or golf. Athletes learn to hold a bat, ball, golf club, and other equipment in certain ways. They also set their feet and body in the best positions to hit or throw the ball correctly. If they don’t do this, they will not be as successful and might even get hurt.

Musisicans also try to position them-selves so they can play freely and easily. While playing the piano seems like a safe thing to do compared to sports, musicians can get injuries too. If you play the piano from a bad position, it can lead to muscle strain and pain.

The goal is to play in a position that feels relaxed and comfortable and allows your hands and arms to move easily about the instrument. Your hands and arm muscles also will not get tired as quickly if you are using proper form.

Your teacher will explain exactly how you should position your hands, wrists, arms, and fingers. Pay close attention and be patient. It is much easier to start playing the right way than to have to fix a bad habit later on.

6

Beginner’s Corner

What is Beginner’s

Corner? Beginner’s Corner is a

regular section of Piano Explorer that is just for students in their first year or two of piano lessons. Each month

watch for practice tips and fun games, as well as information about

the piano, reading music, and more!

Get Answers to Your

Questions If you have any

questions about playing the piano or music in general, email them to

editor@pianoexplorer.net and we will answer

some of them in upcoming issues.

Please include your name, age, and

teacher’s name in the email.

Why is Posture Important?

Practice Tip When you practice, check how you are sitting before you start play-

ing. At first you may get out of position as you play. Each time you stop, take a moment and check your posture. In addition to how it looks, think about how it feels. If you pay attention to what a good position feels like to your body, it will be easier to find it again and to keep it while you play. Making Sure It Looks Correct

Because your teacher is not there to check your posture and hand position when you are practicing, you can ask someone else in your house to help you. You can also put a mirror near the piano so you can see your back and hands in the reflection. Another option is to video record yourself on a cell phone camera and see what happens while you play.

7

The Basics

• Bench at correct height and distance from the piano

• Elbows at the same level as the keys

• Wrists in line with arms • Feet flat on the floor (or on a

box or other support if you can’t reach.)

• Back straight • Shoulders relaxed and down • Head up

The goal is for everything to

be relaxed and comfortable. You want to feel balanced and able to play notes around keyboard easily. Your teacher will help you find the right position – every-one’s body is different so you have to experiment to find what is just right for you. (As you grow you will have to make adjustments too!)

Look at these students. Which one looks more comfortable? Which one do you think would be able to play better? What are three things you would fix (in either student) if you were the teacher?

1. 2. 3.

Take Care of Your Piano!

Because a piano is so big and sits out taking space in a room, people sometimes treat it like a piece of furniture and not the delicate, very complex musical instrument that it is. To play beautifully, you need to take good care of it. 1. Your piano is not a table. Books, plants, and toys should not go on top of it. If something falls inside a piano (like a pencil), don’t go poking around. Unless it is easy to reach, a piano tuner may need to retrieve it for you to avoid damaging the inside of the instrument. 2. Keep the piano dry. It is a wooden instrument and can easily be damaged. Never bring drinks near it. 3. Wash and carefully dry your hands before playing. Even fairly clean hands can have a bit of oil or grime on them. Over time, this will build up on the keys. 4. Pay attention to where you put the piano. Pianos are affected by changes in heat and humidity so if possible, don’t put it next to a window, air vent, or radiator. 5. A piano tuner should check the instrument once or twice a year. This is like a checkup at the doctor.

Keep your piano neat and not like this!

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Pianists often accompany singers, and Schubert’s lieder are a great opportunity for pianists to play with another musician. What is special about Schubert’s songs is that the piano part is just as important as the sung part. The piano not only provides background for the melodies of the singer, but also sets the mood for the song.

The Erlking

Gretchen at the Spinning Wheel

&?

b

b

86

86πœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œsempre legato

œ ‰ œ œ ‰ œ.˙sempre staccato

œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œœ ‰ œ œ ‰ œ.˙

œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œœ ‰ œ œ ‰ œ.˙

œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ.œ œ ‰ œœ ‰ œ .œ

The pianist’s right hand imitates the constant turning of a spinning wheel, and the left hand gives the beat of the foot pedal that keeps the spin-ning wheel in motion.

&?

bb

bb

c

cf

3

œœ œœ œœ3

œœ œœ œœ3

œœ œœ œœ3

œœ œœ œœ∑

3

œœ œœ œœ3

œœ œœ œœ3

œœ œœ œœ3

œœ œœ œœ3

œ œ œ3

œ œ œ œ. œ.

3

œœ œœ œœœ.

In this song there is a frantic ride on horseback with a frightening supernatural creature following. The pounding triplets and bass notes represent a running horse and help create fear in the music.

Look at the famous songs below to see how Schubert used the piano part to paint a picture for the poem’s story.

The Piano and Schubert’s Lieder

A Fresh Start for Fall!

Whether you played regularly over the summer or got busy with other activities, the fall is a great time to make plans and set goals for the upcoming year. Make a Practice Schedule

The most important thing you can do to improve your playing is to practice regularly. Look at all of the things you do each week and find the best times to practice the piano. Write out a schedule (or use a schedule app) to remind yourself. You can even set an alarm to tell you when to practice each day. Look at the practice tips on the next page to make sure you get the most out of your practice time. Take the 100 Day Practice Challenge (see page 11) and see your name printed in Piano Explorer!

Make Goals with Your Teacher

Think about what you learned last year and what you hope to do this year. Then talk to your teacher. What goals does he or she have for you? Is there a particular piece you are interested in playing? It can be helpful to have goals and know what you are working towards achieving. Of course this will change over the course of the year.

11

Practice Tips 1. Practice every day! Even if you only have a few minutes, this will really pay off over time. 2. Look over your assignment after your lesson. Take a few minutes when you get home to make sure you remember what you are to work on. 3. Write down a few notes (either at the lesson or at home) so you won’t forget what your teacher said. 4. Check your hand and body position before you play. Make sure everything feels relaxed and comfortable. (See page 6 for more on posture.) After playing for a bit, stop and recheck everything. 4. Be careful with rhythm. When you get a new piece, try counting the rhythm out loud or clapping it. Play the rhythm slow-ly until you are sure you can play it cor-rectly. 5. Pay attention to the details. When you learn a piece, use the correct fingerings and play the dynamics right from the start. They are part of the music just like the notes, and it is much easier and faster to learn everything correctly from the start than it is to add them in later.

JokesQ: What composer do flies hate? A: Schubert (SHOO-bert) Q: How can you tell when a piano

is angry? A: It gets all keyed up.

Playing Piano with Small Hands

Do you ever feel that your hands just are not big enough to reach all of the notes in some pieces? While some

piano virtuosos like Franz Liszt and Van Cliburn are know for having very large hands that let them play powerful chords and reach intervals of a tenth or more, other pianists are not so lucky. An average adult player can reach about an octave comfort-ably, and students often cannot reach even that far. Here are a few tips that will help you until your hands reach their full size. 1. Stay relaxed. If you keep your muscles and joints free of tension, it is easier to reach the notes. 2. After playing a big stretch, think about relaxing so you don’t stay tense. 3. Notice how your arms, hands, shoulders, elbows, and wrists feel. Tell your teacher if you feel any pain while playing. 4. In legato passages with large intervals like octaves, you can sometimes lift your hand slightly off of the keys to reach the next note. Try to make the break as smooth and as short as possible.

5. Break up large chords. Play the first note as a grace note, followed quickly by the remaining notes.

6. Large chords can also sometimes be rolled. Play all the notes from the bottom to the top in a very quick arpeggio.

& 43 œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ

& ˙̇̇̇jœ˙̇̇

& wwww# wwww#~~~Check with your teacher about how to play the big stretches in your music.

14

Famous Composers in Vienna, Austria

Mozart 1756-1791

Beethoven 1770-1827 (moved to Vienna in 1792)

Schubert 1797-1828Schubert admired the music of Mozart and Beethoven, who were very important composers in Vienna where Schubert lived almost his entire life. (Mozart died just before Schubert was born.)

Antonio Salieri (1750 - 1825)

Antonio Salieri was an important opera composer in the Classical period. He was born in Italy but came to Vienna when he was 15 years old. He held a number of important positions in Vienna, including court composer and music director. His operas were very popular, but today his compositions are not particular-ly well known.

He is primarily respected today as a great teacher. He taught some of the finest musi-cians ever including Schubert, Ludwig van Beethoven, and Franz Liszt. Schubert came to Salieri’s attention as a young boy, and this led to his choir scholarship at the Vienna school. While at the school, Salieri realized that Schubert was a brilliant composer, and he gave young Franz lessons in music theory and com-position. Later when Schubert was unhappily teaching school for his father, Salieri contin-ued to give him composition lessons. He was probably Schubert’s most important teacher.

You may have heard that Salieri hated Mozart, who lived in Vienna at the same time. The movie Amadeus about Mozart’s life and career portrays Mozart and Salieri as enemies, but this is almost certainly not true.

2018-2019 Composer Schedule

September Schubert October D. Scarlatti November Ravel December Chopin January Prokofiev February J.C. Bach March Brahms April Telemann May/June Mendelssohn July/August Holst

Answers to July/August Puzzles Crossword Puzzle (page 5):

Chain Puzzle (page 5): trumpet Quiz (page 15): 1. b 2. a 3. b 4. e 5. a 6. c 7. d 8. b

15

4 - Darius Milhaud (1892-1974) French composer 4 - Anton Bruckner (1824-1896) Austrian composer 5 - John Cage (1912-1992) Modern American composer 5 - Johann Christian Bach (1735-1782) German composer,

youngest surviving son of J.S. Bach

8 - Antonin Dvorák (1841-1904) Czech composer 13 - Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951) Austrian-American com-

poser 13 - Clara Wieck Schumann (1819-1896) German pianist, wife

of Robert Schumann

16 - Nadia Boulanger (1887-1979) French composer and teacher

25 - Glenn Gould (1932-1982) Canadian pianist 25 - Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975) Russian composer 25 - Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683-1764) French composer 26 - George Gershwin (1898-1937) American composer and

pianist

Happy Birthday These musicians were all born in September.

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How to Contact Us

Ann Rohner Callis, editor; Ryan Callis, assistant editor; Malgorzata Bagley, consulting editor. ©2018 Piano Explorer Co., all rights reserved. None of the content may be duplicated or reprinted without advance written permission. Telephone: 888-446-6888 or 847-446-5000 or fax 847.446.6263 www.PEforkids.com, e-mail: circulation@pianoexplorer.net or editor@pianoexplorer.net. Clavier’s PianoExplorer, ISSN-0279-0858, Vol. 39, No. 1, is published monthly except June and August for $6 per student per year for 5 or more copies, $12 each for less than 5 copies (Canada: groups $12 per student, regular $26; Other Foreign Delivery: groups $17 per student, regular $34) Periodicals postage paid at Northbrook, Illinois & add’l. mailing offices. Postmaster: Send address changes to Clavier’s Piano Explorer, 1838 Techny Court, Northbrook, IL 60062.

Quiz1. Franz Schubert lived in ____.

a. Veniceb. Parisc. Londond. Vienna

2. List three ways you can takecare of your piano:

a. _____________________

b. _____________________

c. _____________________

3. _____ was Schubert’s teacher.a. Salierib. Mozartc. J.S. Bachd. none of the above

4. Lieder means _____ inGerman.

a. songsb. symphoniesc. operad. none of the above

5. Schubert loved to perform inpublic.

a. trueb. false

6. Schubert was a talented ____a. singerb. pianistc. composerd. all of the above

7. In Schubert’s songs, the pianopart is very important.

a. trueb. false