Discovery Piano Works

Andy McFarlane

The third Discovery Piano Work written for young pianists, "Wistful Dance in G" navigates through various modes, dancing with the changing winds.

©2024 Andy McFarlane

A simple scale that contains the first five notes of the G Major scale.

G Major Five Finger Scale

A simple scale that contains the first five notes of the G Minor scale.

G Minor Five Finger Scale

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

Accidentals

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

Two notes played together, usually in one hand but sometimes in both, whose distance is the interval of a 5th of any quality.

Blocked 5ths

Two notes played together, usually in one hand but sometimes in both, whose distance is the interval of a 2nd of any quality.

Blocked 2nds

Two notes played together, usually in one hand but sometimes in both, whose distance is the interval of a 3rd of any quality.

Blocked 3rds

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

Ties

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

Ritardando

Indications placed above or below notes instructing the player to hold those notes longer than their original notated length.

Fermatas

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

A Tempo

A symbol indicating that a section should be repeated.

Repeat Sign

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 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

A sign that tells the player to play gradually louder.

Crescendo

A sign that tells the player to play gradually softer.

Diminuendo

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 indication instructing the player to play very softly; softer than piano.

Pianissimo

An accompaniment that uses a variety of blocked intervals with a relatively equal rate of occurrence. 

Blocked Intervals Accompaniment

A type of articulation indicating to the player that a given note should be held for its full value or slightly more.

Wistful Dance in G

Andy McFarlane

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