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All Students preparing for Grade exams are recommended to use the Hofnotes on-line training pages to practise for the aural tests. At higher grades you must be able to discuss with the examiner musical features such as texture, form, style, and period of a piece of music. My own web pages to help with these parts of the test at Grade 5+ and at GCSE are available here!
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Arpeggio texture
Arpeggio and broken chord patterns sometimes form more than an accompaniment. Sometimes they provide the melodic interest as well. A piece like this is said to have a texture built on arpeggios or broken chords.
Burgmuller's pedal study, Harmonie des anges, is an example many pianists know.
Listen to this next piece:
Debussy's Ondine was played there by Libor Novacek. You will have noticed that arpeggio patterns told a lot of the story of the piece.
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Last updated on: 10/10/2011 |
Can you think of a piece you play that has a texture built on
arpeggios? 
The
word arpeggio comes from 'harp'.
Imitate either of these pieces by improvising using
broken chord patterns at the piano; let one hand set up a chord and the other
simply copies the pattern of notes. It is surprisingly easy to compose
this way - and composers such as Michael Nyman and Einaudi have built very
successful careers out of it!
