When I started taking piano lessons, learning how to transpose was not part of the curriculum as it is now. I started with middle C and learned the notes one by one completely oblivious to intervals, chords and keys. I just read the notes in front of me and I was pretty good at it.
During my masters degree we used an intervallic reading method with our young children, this was a whole new approach for me. Our students were superstars at reading skips and steps and flew through their five finger patterns and circle of fifths. Transposing based upon interval reading was a standard ingredient of the weekly lesson plan.
These days I prefer to use transposing to encourage creativity and imagination; the perfect musical playground is
Piano Adventures, Level 2a.
By this time my students have learned their white key major and minor five-finger patterns - they know all about
"finger three goes down one key".
As you may know, transposing is introduced with "Ice Cream" and "More Ice Cream" and is encouraged throughout the book. But transposing from C Major to G Major hardly captivates the imagination, so I like to give some of these pieces a more creative twist.
In "My Daydream" we are
watching the fluffy white clouds in the sky. What happens when we transpose down to A Minor? The clouds become dark and stormy.
"The Woodchuck" is in a very good mood when played in G Major. Could we make him sound like an
angry woodchuck by transposing him to G Minor? Play him more slowly D Minor and it sounds like all that wood gave him a tummy ache! Would he sound like a
sleepy woodchuck if we played him quietly up high in C Major and with the damper pedal?
We can also give "Pirate of the North Sea" a variety of moods and characters by transposing and changing the dynamics and range. What fun!
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