Succeeding with the Masters®, Baroque Era, Teacher's Handbook, Volume One: Piano Book

This handbook transforms how you teach the Baroque by providing not just answer keys but a complete instructional framework. The group activities and listening list elevate the Student Activity Book from worksheet collection to a coherent curriculum, saving you hours of planning while ensuring every student builds the same foundational knowledge.

Working through this material, students discover the logic beneath Baroque music's ornamental surface. The experience builds confidence in music reading and analysis while cultivating genuine appreciation for the period's harmonic sophistication and formal clarity.

This handbook is essential for piano teachers using the Succeeding with the Masters Student Activity Books with intermediate students. Whether you're teaching one student or a studio full, it provides the roadmap to turn Baroque study into genuine comprehension rather than rote completion.

• Walk through the answer key before assigning each section so you can anticipate where students struggle and adjust your explanations accordingly.
• Use the group activities as informal assessment tools; they reveal whether students understand harmonic language and form at a deeper level than written answers alone.
• Cross-reference the listening list with pieces your students are learning; hearing professional performances of similar Baroque works cements their stylistic intuition.

Structure your fall semester around this handbook's listening list and group activities, pairing them with the repertoire students are actually learning. The sequential organization works well as a supplementary curriculum alongside your private lesson repertoire, reinforcing concepts without duplicating effort.

• Analyzing Baroque forms (binary, rondo, fugue)
• Identifying harmonic progressions in tonal music
• Understanding figured bass notation
• Recognizing stylistic characteristics of major Baroque composers
• Developing aural recognition through active listening