Learning Piano

• Playing Piano from books and sheet music
• Playing Piano for Sing-alongs
• Prerequisites to Learn Creative Piano Keyboard Skills
• Choosing the book for a grade 10 piano student

• Music education
• Teaching classical music
• Qualifications to teach Creative Piano Playing
• Preparing for piano examinations
• Teaching Time Required
• Basic Music Styles & Patterns
• Group piano lessons

• Play Piano by ear
• Piano Improvisation
• Measuring Progress
• Learning creative piano keyboard skills
• How the KAC is different from other learn how to chord books

Learning Piano

Playing Piano from books and sheet Music:
Q: I play from books or sheet music, how will learning creative keyboard accompaniment skills benefit me?
A: By the time you complete the Keyboard Accompaniment Course, you will be able to look at a melody in any key & provide your own accompaniment, choosing from over 45 different styles. Your arrangement will not need to be written down or memorized. Also, any dependency on pre-arranged music could be eliminated - a big financial saving! At least, it will help you to be selective in your purchases of pre-arranged music. (top)

Playing Piano for Sing-alongs:
Q: I had 5 or 6 years of piano lessons as a child. Would your course help me? I would like to play piano for sing-alongs.
A: The many beautiful melodies throughout the course will give you hours of enjoyment as you progress. By continually reading from the melody only, and continually creating your own accompaniment, (either with one or two hands) you can certainly expect to be able to play the piano for sing-along. (top)

Prerequisites to Learn Creative Piano Keyboard Skills:
Q: What are the Prerequisites to learn creative piano keyboard skills?
A: There are no prerequisites. The course is designed for self-study starting from the very beginning (top)

Choosing the book for a grade 10 piano student:
Q: I have done all the requirements for the Grade 10 RCM examination. Which book should I start on?
A: Unless you have already acquired a firm foundation providing your own accompaniment for melodies, start with 2-CHORD BASICS and progress in the same structured way that you did for sight-reading, technical skills, interpretation, performance, etc.
If you do create your own accompaniment for melodies, check the 'Sample Pages' to find the appropriate accompaniment books (keys,chords & chord progressions) that will continue to strengthen your creative piano skills. (top)

Teaching Piano

Music education:
Q: Should piano accompaniment be treated as simply another SUBJECT in music education?
A: Absolutely! In the same way students are encouraged in the areas (subjects) of sight-reading, technique, interpretation, memorization, performance, written harmony, etc., creative piano accompaniment skills can be taught & learned.
No skill is black & white and success is always relative to what we are dealing with, where we are starting from, what we are comparing to - and always, the disposition and determination of the student and/or teacher. (top)

Teaching classical music:
Q: How will teaching keyboard accompaniment skills affect my teaching of classical music?
A: The answer is in 4 parts:
1. Understanding chords & chord progressions can simplify the memorization of complex compositions.
2. The variety of musical styles practiced can give students a mastery of rhythmic subtleties.
3. The many musical patterns practiced can improve a student’s ability to hold a steady tempo.
4. Melodies in all keys, with key changing, improves the understanding of keys & their relationships. (top)

Qualifications to teach Creative Piano Playing:
Q: If I teach creative piano playing, do I have to be able to do it myself?
A: No, but it would be helpful. The course is designed, however, for self-study. The teacher need only assign the pages. (top)

Preparing for piano examinations:
Q: Can using The Keyboard Accompaniment Course help my teaching of Harmony for MTNA certification or Conservatory Canada and Royal Conservatory of Music examinations?
A: Yes, however Harmony begins at a grade 9 level for Conservatory Canada and RCM exams and there are few students remaining at that level. The Keyboard Accompaniment Course gives the practical (hands-on) training from the first months of lessons. (top)

Teaching Time Required:
Q: My teaching time is packed full now. How can I incorporate this subject into my lessons?
A: The course is formatted for self-study. Simply assign the pages and monitor the progress. This can take as little as 4-6 minutes of lesson time. (top)

Basic Music Styles & Patterns:
Q: I feel I would be "lowering my standards” to let students play some of the very basic accompaniment styles and patterns.
What is your comment on this?
A: 1. In the development of the student’s ability to provide an appropriate chord quickly, the style is irrelevant. The melody & its style(s) provide the vehicle for training the brain to recognize and respond instantly to chord changes - to a point where it is instinctive.
2. The greater the variety of musical challenges, the more likely it is that you will retain the student’s interest . (top)

Group piano lessons:
Q: How can I teach keyboard accompaniment in group piano lessons?
A: Assign review melodies for each student to perform in front of the peer group at the next group lesson. They will have to figure out/create an appropriate accompaniment beforehand. (top)

Teaching Piano Theory:
Q: How will using The Keyboard Accompaniment Course affect my teaching of theory?
A: The student will have had practical experience applying the theory by providing their own accompaniment for melodies. They will advance quickly with a firm understanding of what they are writing. (top)

General Questions

Play Piano by ear:
Q: Does The Keyboard Accompaniment Course teach you to "play piano by ear"?
A: For the accompaniment part, yes. By continually providing your own accompaniment for melodies, the ear (brain) is stimulated to the point where you can instinctively accompany a melody. (top)

Piano Improvisation:
Q: Does The Keyboard Accompaniment Course teach improvisation?
A: The course provides a foundation for improvisation. This foundation consists of a broad repertoire of basic piano styles, chord progressions & patterns that become familiar and readily drawn from. As one expands on, or deviates from these basics, confidence builds and your own improvisational/creative piano style develops. This is encouraged by the course. (top)

Measuring Progress:
Q: How do you measure progress?
A: At the end of each book, review melodies with no accompaniment indications, challenge you to figure out (“create”) an appropriate accompaniment.
For 'Advanced books 1-6', the review melodies are presented in another key! This teaches transposition and adds to the effectiveness of the review. (top)

Learning creative piano keyboard skills:
Q: I always thought that creative piano keyboard skills are something one is born with. How can you claim that this skill is trainable (teachable)?
A: In the same way as any skill, some people are born with certain areas of the brain more highly developed. It is now generally recognized that except in extreme cases, creative skills can be learned. Just saying one was born without a given skill, is not right and could be considered a “cop-out”. (top)

How the KAC is different from other learn how to chord books:
Q: How would you say this piano accompaniment method is different from any other learn piano by chord book?
A: By creating accompaniment for 2-3 new melodies routinely, the ability to quickly sense a change of harmony is strengthened. By repeatedly choosing chords, progressions, rhythmic styles & bass patterns, both the decision-making & the hearing skills are targeted & stimulated - to a point where creating appropriate accompaniment becomes INSTINCTIVE.
To achieve this goal the KAC provides a wide variety of melodies for practice & enjoyment.
The melodies &accompaniment requirements have been formatted to progress equally in the areas of technical skills, (including efficient fingering) sight-reading, dynamics and interpretation.
All areas benefit with the Keyboard Accompaniment Course. (top)