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Christmas Piano Solos – Level 4

Fred Kern

Mona Rejino

Philip Keveren

More than key signature used in a single piece or movement.

Key Signature Changes

The physical motion of crossing the thumb under fingers 2, 3, 4, or 5; used when playing scalar passages or outside of five finger scales.

Crossing Thumb Under

Extended and constant usage of scales (or step-wise motion) in passages, often played at fast speeds.

Scale Passages

Passages with constant step-wise motion and mainly 8th note rhythmic values.

8th Note Scale Passages

Chords with alternate ordering of their tones where the root is placed either in the middle or at the top of the chord.

Chord Inversions

Chords with an alternate ordering of their tones where the root is placed on the top and the 3rd and 5th below.

First Inversion Chords

Hand positions that require stretching beyond a five finger scale; usually to play intervals that are 6ths or greater.

Extended Hand Positions

A type texture that occurs when the contour, distance, and speed of the notes in one hand matches that of the other hand as they play together.

Parallel Motion

A technique that requires the player to pick up and move their hand to a new position; usually from a five finger scale to another.

Shifting Hand Positions

A type of texture where the left hand plays the melody and the right hand plays the accompaniment for an extended period of time.

Left Hand Melody

A type of accompaniment pattern that primarily uses broken 5th intervals with simple or slow-moving rhythms.

Broken 5ths Accompaniment

Two notes played in succession, usually in one hand but sometimes in both, whose distance is the interval of an octave of any quality.

Melodic Octaves

Sharps, flats and naturals that do not appear in a key signature.

Accidentals

A sign placed in front of a note that lowers its pitch by a half step.

Flat

A sign placed in front of a note that raises its pitch by a half step.

Sharp

Symbols indicating that two notes are to be played as one with the value equal to their sum.

Ties

A type of texture where one or both hands play more than one voice at a time; usually briefly and with simple rhythms.

Simple Two Voices in One Hand

The physical motion of crossing fingers 2, 3, 4, or 5 over the thumb; used when playing scalar passages or outside of five finger scales.

Crossing Over Thumb

A type of accompaniment pattern that primarily uses major and minor triads with simple or slow-moving rhythms.

Blocked Chord Accompaniment

Notes whose lengths are equal to one-fourth the value of a whole note.

Quarter Notes

Silence that equals the length of one quarter note.

Quarter Rests

Silence that equals the length of one half note.

Half Rests

Notes whose lengths are equal to one half the value of a whole note.

Half Notes

Whole Notes

Silence that equals the length of one whole note or an entire measure in 4/4 or 3/4.

Whole Rests

Notes whose lengths are equal to one-eighth the value of a whole note or half the value of a quarter note.

8th Notes

Quarter notes whose lengths are increased by half; equal to three 8th notes.

Dotted Quarter Notes

Half notes whose lengths are increased by half; equal to three quarter notes.

Dotted Half Notes

A sign that tells the player to play gradually louder.

Crescendo

A sign that tells the player to play gradually softer.

Diminuendo

An indication instructing the player to play very loudly; louder than forte.

Fortissimo

Indications instructing the player to put special emphasis on notes.

Accents

An Italian term meaning "delaying"; an indication instructing the player to decrease speed, often gradually.

Ritardando

Also called the damper pedal, it is the rightmost pedal on the piano and used to sustain notes by moving the dampers away from the strings.

Sustain Pedal

A simple melody line shared by both the right hand and the left hand.

Mezzo Forte

An indication instructing the player to play softly.

Piano

An indication instructing the player to play loudly.

Forte

An Italian term meaning "in time"; an indication instructing the player to return to the original tempo after a deviation.

A Tempo

A type of articulation indicating the player to play smoothly and seamlessly, with the notes slightly overlapped.

Joy to the World

Fred Kern, Mona Rejino, Philip Keveren

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