KHS Distance Learning - Spring 2020 KHS Piano Classes
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KHS Distance Learning - Spring 2020
KHS Piano Classes
Distance Learning Assignments
Mr. Jacob Cortez
For: Piano Classes periods 4 & 6
Week 1 (Option C weeks 1-2)
Contact information and officer hours
jcortez@tusd.net or Zoom ID #: 523-438-7326 (Zoom will be available only during temporary office hours:
11am-1pm, Monday through Friday, from April 20 – Friday May 15) During these office hours, I am available
for texts through Remind, answering emails, and zoom if you’d like to set up a face to face meeting.
Assignments
Beginning April 20, 2020, during the distance learning period, All students must complete and submit one of
the following three assignment options each week for the next four weeks to Mr. Cortez by Friday, May 1st,
2020 in order to receive course credit for fourth quarter and the Spring semester 2020; there will be no final
exam. Each week’s assignments are worth 100 pts for a total of 400 pts for the quarter.
Each week, choose one of the following three assignment category options (these can be the same or different
options each week – your choice) and then complete & submit each one by the weekly deadline (example,
week one is due by Friday, April 24th, week two is due by May 1st, etc); all assignments have an absolute
deadline of Friday, May 15, 2020.
• OPTION “A” - PRACTICE CARD (Digital or paper only access): Complete & submit the weekly practice
card, including a parent signature, demonstrating a minimum of 150 minutes of focused, individual
practice per week. For band and jazz band students, some time needs to be dedicated to warm ups,
i.e: scales, long tones, blue book exercises, intonation, etc.
• OPTION “B” - LISTENING LOG (Digital access only): Complete & submit the weekly ranking form,
listening to the required samples and writing the reviews and ranking activity.
• OPTION “C” - MUSIC APPRECIATION & THEORY BINGO CARD (Digital or paper only access): Complete
& submit the attached worksheet and prompts that assign work to be completed.
Accessing assignments in Options A, B or C may be done digitally through the Kimball High Website will
send. This is the most preferable, efficient, economic method!
If digital distance learning is not an option, then submitting assignment Options A or C may be done on paper,
receiving and returning the printed assignments in person at the Tracy High School office.OPTION “A” - PRACTICE CARD
(Digital or Paper Only Access)
Piano Students: If you have a piano/keyboard at your house
Complete & submit the weekly practice card, including a parent signature, demonstrating a minimum of 150
minutes of focused, individual practice per week. If you are able to practice, start off with scales/chord
progressions that we’ve worked on and wrote out. You may work on the remainder of the current checklist
that we were finishing up for the end of the first book and can record material, or you can learn a song for fun.
Complete & submit this form once each week:
• Week 1 (Monday April 20 – Sunday April 26)
• Week 2 (Monday April 27 – Sunday May 3)
• Week 3 (Monday May 4 – Sunday May 10)
• Week 4 (Monday May 11 – Friday May 15)
If you submit this form digitally, you will need to have your parent send a separate email/message as well as a
picture in order to verify that you did do this practice log.
If you are submitting this as a hard copy to the school, you will need a clean copy for the next week.
Student Name:
Teacher Name: Mr. Cortez
Class Name/Subject:
Period: 1
Assignment Week #:
Practice Log (record total, daily minutes of focused, individual practice time):
DATE MINUTES PARENT SIGNATURE
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday (OPTIONAL)
Sunday (OPTIONAL)
TOTAL MINUTES (minimum of 150min/wk):OPTION “B” – Music History Research Activity
(Digital Only Access)
This is your chance to learn more about the composers, time periods, or simply the different styles of music
that we study, work on and perform. For all of my piano students, this is the perfect time to do some
research into the various modern composers, as well as some of the older composers of today’s music. For
the first day, I would like you to read up on this article on the history of the piano. There is also a YouTube
video that is at the bottom of the link that you can access if you have access to the internet.
http://pianonet.com/all-about-pianos/history-of-the-piano/. You will need to highlight key information or anything that
sticks out to you and write/type out a one-two page response paper. If you can’t access the article, here is the
information. For the remainder of the week, I would like you all to read through this article discussing the life of the
father of music, Johann Sebastian Bach. This page is great when it comes to looking up other composers if any one is
interested, such as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Since there is a lot of information on Bach on this site, take time
throughout the week to read through most of the biography. Highlight any key pieces of information that stuck out to
you and write/type out a 2-3 page response to the article. Take some time to listen to some of the compositions that
are included on the webpage as well so that you get an understanding of the music that he wrote. You can either
submit your responses to me via email or you can submit your hard copies to the front office on Friday, April 24th.
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Johann-Sebastian-Bach/Reputation-and-influenceHISTORY OF THE PIANO The story of the piano begins in Padua, Italy in 1709, in the shop of a harpsichord maker named Bartolomeo di Francesco Cristofori (1655-1731). Many other stringed and keyboard instruments preceded the piano and led to the development of the instrument as we know it today. Mankind’s knowledge that a taut, vibrating string can produce sound goes back to prehistoric times. In the ancient world, strings were attached and stretched over bows, gourds, and boxes to amplify the sound; they were fastened by ties, pegs and pins; and they were plucked, bowed or struck to produce sounds. Eventually, a family of stringed instruments with a keyboard evolved in Europe in the 14th century. The earliest of these was a dulcimer, a closed, shallow box over which stretched wires were struck with two wooden hammers. The dulcimer led to the development of the clavichord, which also appeared in the 14th century. These were followed by the spinet, virginal, clavecin, gravicembalo, and finally, the harpsichord in the 15th century. The harpsichord, however, was limited to one, unvarying volume. Its softness and loudness could not be varied while playing. Therefore, performing artists could not convey the same degree of musical expression as that of most other instruments. The artistic desire for more controlled expression led directly to the invention of the piano, on which the artist could alter the loudness and tone with the force of one’s fingers. The harpsichord was a particularly important development leading to the invention of the piano. Its ability to project sound more loudly than its predecessors, and refinements in the action (or touch) inspired many more musicians to compose for the keyboard and thus, to perform keyboard works. First exhibited in Florence in 1709, Cristofori’s new instrument was named gravicembalo col piano e forte (roughly “soft and loud keyboard instrument”). Eventually, it was shortened to fortepiano or pianoforte, and finally just piano. His earliest surviving instrument dates from 1720 and is on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Despite many improvements during the past 300 years, it is truly astonishing to observe how similar Cristofori’s instruments are to the modern piano of today. New Technology in Pianos We are living in perhaps the most exciting time in history to buy, own or play that eternal instrument, the piano. Whether your goal is to purchase something as small as software that can record what you play, a newly designed player piano, a digital instrument or a classic acoustic model, there have never been as many choices for the consumer. Player Pianos Also called “reproducing pianos,” this class of instrument represents a modern update on the paper-roll player pianos you remember from old movies, and they’ve grown enormously in popularity over the last decade. These are not digital instruments – they’re real, acoustic pianos with hammers and strings that can be played normally – but they can also “play themselves” using sophisticated electronic technology. Instead of punched paper, they take their cues from floppy disks, specially formatted CDs or internal memory systems. Several manufacturers offer vast libraries of pre-recorded titles for their systems—music in every genre from pop to the classics—recorded by some of the world’s top pianists. These sophisticated systems capture every nuance of the original performances and play them back with startling accuracy—providing something that’s actually much better than CD fidelity, because the performances are live.
Thanks to these new systems, many people who don’t play the piano are enjoying live piano music any time of the night or day. Whether they’re accompanying dinners for two or entertaining a houseful of partygoers, these high tech pianos take center stage. For people who do play the piano, these systems can be used to record their own piano performances, interface with computers, aid in music education, assist with composing and many other applications. In short, these modern marvels are not your grandfathers’ player pianos! Digital Pianos To the uninitiated, digital pianos may appear related to the inexpensive toy keyboards than can be purchased over the counter at electronics stores. But that’s like comparing a go-kart with a fancy touring sedan. The digital pianos produced by many of today’s top piano companies produce sophisticated, sampled piano sounds taken from their own top models. What’s more, they offer other instrument voices – sometimes by the hundreds – with striking realism. Because digital pianos are software-driven, they also open up exciting new ways for beginners to make music. For example, some keyboards feature lights over the keys to help you play a favorite tune, or learning programs that combine the music with an on-screen display. Digital pianos help home musicians get more out of the Internet as well, and they can be connected not only to a computer, but to other instruments for arranging and orchestration. With memory storage setups such as Flash ROM, users can download and store new music. There are also a number of digital pianos that offer a variety of unique functions—such as providing you with a lot of different preset and combo sounds, ones that can give you a layering effect to your playing. Some of these instruments also include a Karaoke/Video output for the next time you want to put a little life in your party. Software There is probably no more exciting area of growth in the piano industry than that of software technology. Science fiction writers of the past would be impressed by today’s advancements – like software that converts music files to sheet music… downloads and unzips music files and Karaoke files from the Internet… or even lets musicians print entire musical scores and analyze their harmonies and chord names. Today’s software will even let users shop for, purchase and print sheet music over the Internet, if you can’t find the score in a store. Kurt Vonnegut, who wrote “Player Piano” in the 50s, would not believe the new software that currently exists for these instruments. For example, there is now software for the piano that will allow it to load hours of pre-recorded music, with no discs or CDs to change; everything from jazz to the classics. Should you be looking for music by a specific pianist, you will be able to find it: everyone from Floyd Cramer to Peter Nero is represented, and can keep your piano (or your get- together) humming. But software is not just for the player piano. For the budding composer, there is also new technology galore. For instance, the first ensemble piano that features CD-R technology is now available. This piano has the capability of CD-R – meaning you can put a disc in this piano, record a CD of a song you have written or played, and, immediately play the disc back in your boom box or PC. And not just keyboard sounds; vocals, too, can be ‘burned,’ enabling any budding songwriter to produce a 16 track studio-quality ‘demo.’ Synthesizers are still very popular among jazz and rock musicians. Among the newest is a synth that offers multiple oscillator technologies and has real-time control over pitch, time and format. There are also synthesizers that give players
the ability to control audio with the same flexibility as any music file, all due to new technology. This new software can take on all sorts of new musical and recording functions. The Traditional Piano And what of traditional concert pianos? Have they been lost in the technological shuffle? Far from it. With countless artists from Bruce Hornsby to Michael Feinstein using them, the acoustic piano is still very much in demand. While the basic design of the acoustic piano is remarkably simila to the first models from around 1700, manufacturers are including innovations at a rapid pace. Some of the updates draw on materials science, to find special woods or newly available materials that make a piano more durable and tonally stable. Some use engineering know-how to strengthen the piano and keep its sound deep and rich for years. And 300 years of experience with the mechanics of a piano’s action has resulted in keyboards that feel great and stay in tune better. Concert grands are used by numerous conductors, composers and songwriters—and are more available and affordable than ever. And although concert grands are the choice of performers, there are many high quality baby grands that are designed to meet the needs of the home owners and players of all levels. Whether you are looking for a compact instrument or a larger one renowned for its lower register and power – whether you want a piano than can keep up with the loudest orchestra, one that re-creates a classic style from the past, or an instrument made of a particular kind of wood – you should have no trouble finding the traditional piano that suits your needs. It’s very clear in 2004, that whether you want to play, record, mix, have a player piano entertain you, or sit down and practice Brahms or Bach, there probably has never been a period in which the piano has been available in so many different and useful forms. Whatever your musical needs, there is a piano (and perhaps software) out there waiting for you.
OPTION “C” - MUSIC APPRECIATION & THEORY BINGO CARD
(Digital or Paper Only Access)
Spring Music Challenge
Rules: You have 2 weeks to complete the square and get as many signatures on your bingo card as possible.
(You must get a signature from a parent/guardian to verify completion) A regular “BINGO”
(Vertical/Diagonal/Horizontal) earns 50 points. A “BLACKOUT” (all boxes have a signature) earns 200 points.
Squares signed more than once will earn an extra 10 points each.
When you are asked to list, draw or write something down, do so on a separate piece of paper and attach it to
this BINGO card as evidence. If you prefer to have a hard copy of the assignment, you will need to turn this
into the KHS office on the specified date. You may also take pictures of your bingo cards and work if you
prefer to email them to me. Your parent ALSO needs to email myself in order to verify the work completed.
These are the two best options.
You may turn this in once a week or at the end of week two – no later than May 1st.Student Name:
Teacher Name: Mr. Cortez
Class Name/Subject:
Period: 1
Assignment Week #1:
Spring Music Challenge
Rules: You have 2 weeks to complete squares and get as many signatures on your bingo card as possible. (You must get a
signature from a parent/guardian to verify completion) A regular “BINGO” (Vertical/Diagonal/Horizontal) earns 50 points. A
“BLACKOUT” (all boxes have a signature) earns you 300 points. Squares signed more than once will earn an extra 10 points
each.
When you are asked to list, draw or write something down, do so on a separate piece of paper and attach it to this BINGO
card. You may turn this in the first week (then get a new card) or at the end of week 2 – no later than May 1st.
B I N G O
Write a short Explore one of your Figure out and clap the Explore music in nature! Create a piece of
parent’s favorite songs. rhythm of any song. Write down a list of
essay about your Have them tell you why
art while listening
Clap it for someone and sounds you hear as you
favorite musician they like that song. take a walk outside. to music.
see if they can identify
Write down their
or genre. it. See if you can write Attach it to this form.
response.
it down and attach.
Learn to play/sing a Perform for your pets, Practice anything Call a Create your
new song from a if you don’t have a pet,
play for your favorite musical for 25 relative/friend and own instrument
movie, TV show or play/sing them your
video game.
stuffed animal minutes to play
favorite song
Write down 3 important Close your eyes and Write your
things you use for good
technique for voice or
listen to music in a
cartoon or movie. Can
Free parent/guardian a
thank you note for
Have a listening
instrument. Why are
they important?
you tell what is
happening? How does it Space party. What were
letting you make
music in the home.
make you feel?
your choices?
Create a playlist of Create a rhythm Make a list of every Create an album Listen to the music
style of music you hear during the credits of a
music that makes pattern. Write it cover for your
as you watch TV in one movie. Write down as
you happy. down. Practice imaginary music many elements of music
day. Did you hear
What’re your top 5 clapping it. album. that you can hear.
anything surprising?
songs?
With your family, Sing while Perform for Write down a music Explain to a family
make a list of as many goal you have for member the proper
musicians or groups doing chores your family technic for your
yourself
from the last 100 years instrument or voice.
as you can.You can also read
