Advanced Sight-Reading Curriculum - Part 2

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Figuration (7)

Introduction

This module builds on the methods developed in Reading Ahead and Harmonic Reading, while at the same time providing a foundation for the skills to be studied in Playing by Ear and Improvisation. The term “figuration” refers to the manner in which a basic musical line or chord progression is embellished with short, often repetitive, rhythmic and melodic “figures” or patterns. The first prelude of Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier uses a simple arpeggio figure to sustain the basic harmonic progression. In a more complex example, Schumann’s “Figured Chorale” (Album for the Young,...