A unit project I am currently working on involves creating a unit resource package for a beginner band piece. I have chosen to do British Isles Suite by Larry Daehn. This package includes: a piano reduction of the entire piece, notation of the important melodic lines (including solfege), a one-page "map" of each theme, and a marked score (measure numbers, important cues, secondary melodies, main melodies, phrase lengths, dynamics, and interpretive ideas). After this comes the lesson materials like rhythmic flashcards, warm-up scales, additional musicianship activities, etc.
I have recently finished the first section of this assignment and it made me think differently about score study. I don't know that I would mark my score as thoroughly as I had to to complete the requirements for that section, but it served a useful purpose. Looking at that marked score, I can clearly identify every bit of important information.
The sections I found the most useful were also the hardest to do. This would be the one page "maps" and the piano reduction. I had to go through my 30 page score and analyze it very closely and carefully. Through this exercise I learned a lot about the cadential movement, harmonic movement, and the climaxes of the themes. The piano reduction forced me to go through the parts and identify what was really essential to the overall impression. When I played the reduction it was so much easier to discover where the harmonic progressions occured and where they lead.
Going through this process taught me a lot about how I need to approach a piece. Hopefully I won't have to do every step every single time I look at a new piece, but at least now I know what to look for, and how to find it.
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