Progressions & Composing

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1 10-Week Teaching Plan: Intro to Chords, Progressions & Composing The Most Kick-Butt Chord Teaching Program Ever Tim Topham

2 10-Week Teaching Plan: Intro to Chords, Progressions & Composing The Most Kick-Butt Chord Teaching Program Ever This 10-week teaching plan is designed to suit any student and can be introduced within the first couple of weeks of lessons, depending on the student s age, maturity and hand size for playing chords*. If teaching beginner teens, I use the content of Lesson 1 at the first or second lesson as teens really respond to chord-based teaching alongside traditional note reading and technical work. The plan is based on my own experience of what works. This is a very broad-based teaching plan and will depend very much on the speed at which your student is comprehending the material. It s much better to do a few things per lesson well and leave students wanting more than trying to squash too much in at once and overwhelming them. There is a fair bit of composition involved in this method. I believe composing (creating progressions) is the best way to learn about music and play other songs. You can also check out my post about the Top 10 Pop Songs for Piano Students which is another great resource for helping students practice chords. Please be aware that if you print this guide out, you won t be able to access the hyperlinks, so I suggest you save an online copy for reference to the many online resources that I link to. Have fun! Tim. *If student s hands are too small or can t play triads with the traditional fingering, try using in the RH or just use a 3rd (eg. C + E) and play with 5ths in the LH. This is normally manageable by beginners of all ages. 2

3 1 Intro to triads/chords: what are they, how to play. Start with C major. Demonstrate a simple chord progression using perhaps I VI IV V (pop progression) in C major. Chords in RH, octave bass notes in LH. Play with pedal and rhythm to demonstrate how cool it sounds! Show student how to form major and minor chords using Big/Small (BS) method. Get students used to always playing chords in the middle of the piano around middle C or a bit lower works best for a rich, thick sound. Realise and discuss that only one note changes going from Major > Minor and vice versa. Listen to the sound difference between Maj/Min. Challenge student to tell the different with eyes shut while you play the chords. This is an important aural skill. Ask students to play major and minor chords using BS method, starting on any note of the chromatic scale. Start with easy chords on white notes and progress to black notes (eg. F# minor, Bb major). They ll soon realise that with the BS method, these are just as easy to find as white-note chords. It s good to start getting students to remember the shape and feel of these chords. Ie. Most chords starting on a black note will always have 5th finger on a black note too (Bb is the exception). This is the reverse of white-note chords. Get students to realise that playing Eb major feels the same as Ab major, Db major, etc. These are things that come naturally to us, but won t be obvious immediately for students. Practise playing any major or minor chord starting on any black or white key with RH or LH in root position. Listen to the differences in sounds. Start remembering what these chords look and feel like to play (ie. Remember the arrangement of black and white notes). They could download the DecideNow! app for iphone/ipad (around $4) and enter in all the possible starting notes of the chromatic scale (eg. C, C#, D, D#, etc.). Then they spin the wheel and play major and minor chords on that note with both hands sep. 3

4 2 Test students on BS method and understanding. They should be starting to find chords more quickly. Introduce idea that in pop music, most often the RH plays chords while LH is the bass player (ie. LH plays single notes or octaves low on piano to add depth). Show students how to repeat four chords in RH while holding down LH octaves on the root note of the chord to add rhythm to chord playing (ie playing and keeping a simple, steady beat). Demonstrate this to check understanding. Add pedalling and especially syncopated pedalling (chords are a great way to introduce this). Demonstrate bad and good pedalling and explain that if you want a connected sound between chords, you need to change the pedal after the next chord is played. (This is a great way to practise syncopated pedalling). Discuss that while playing single chords is fun, playing a sequence of them is much more musical. Ask them to come up with a series of chords that they can play in a row, finishing on the starting chord. Students experiment playing a variety of chords while keeping a steady beat and moving to the next chord before they need to so they don t have big pauses between the bars. Students continue to experiment playing chords in simple four chords per bar rhythm while LH holds bass notes. Students can play major or minor chords starting on any note of the C major scale. Ask them to make up a composition using a few chords that they like. Don t worry about the order of chords or progressions yet - that s next lesson. 4

5 3 Introduce chord charts (ie. lead sheets) in music. Show them examples of pop music and show them where the chords are written above the music. You can just Google for any pop song (ask them what they like) if you don t have any pop music on hand. Show them written-out jazz standards which show just the melody and chords(google Jazz Lead Sheet or Real Book). You can also use an ipad with music on-screen to do this. See Video 7: Apps and Technology for Teaching Pop music. Check out my list of the Top 10 Piano Pop Song teaching pieces that only use a few chords. Show the students how easy it is to play pop songs when you know the chords and can feel the rhythm. Make sure students plan ahead so that they can get to the next chord quickly rather than moving at the end of the bar and interrupting the flow. This takes considerable practice and will be the focus of this week s work. Practice moving both hands from one chord position to the next in the lesson so students know how to practice. It s likely that you ll come across a 7th chord, so the idea behind these can be introduced at this point if you wish (or done later - your call!). Practice playing one or two simple chord songs from my Top 10 list, ensuring that the beat is consistent and the pedalling effective. Make sure students are playing chords in the middle of the piano for a rich sound and that their LH is moving to the new chords in sync with the RH. The most important thing is preparation, thinking ahead and moving before the music so that there is no interruption in the pulse of the song. 5

6 4 Listen to what students achieved during the week. Make sure they are still playing in the middle of the piano with a nice rich sound. Perhaps they found that some chords worked better together than others. Note this as it can be great when we introduce primary and secondary triads today. Introduce the idea of progressions: Explain that every piece of music is in a key - ie. there is a set selection of notes that make up a composition. Eg. pieces in C use the white notes from C - C. Explain that the Tonic is the root note of the key - eg. in A minor, the tonic chord/ note is A. Explain that for a piece of music to sound complete and finished, it needs to start and end with the tonic chord. Discuss the idea of a cadence: either V - I or IV - I sounding most complete. Demonstrate this so that students can hear the difference. What happens between the start and finish chords is up the composer (ie. the student!). Show them the Circle of 5ths and point out the Primary and Secondary triads for the key of C. Notice they are next to each other - one on the right and left. Explain that this is the same wherever you are on the circle. The tonic key is in the middle while the Primary Triads are either side (with secondary triads below). Explain that if you re working in a minor key, the minor chords become the primary and the majors become secondary. Confused yet?! Show them the six chords that work in C major: C/Am, G/Em, F/Dm. Play them an example chord progression in C major that starts and ends on C. Use any of the Primary or Secondary Triads. Play 4 of each chord while you hold the pedal and keep a steady beat. You are modelling what you want them to achieve this week. Ask students to compose some progressions that start and finish on C using the primary and secondary triads of their choice between the starting and finishing C chords. It doesn t matter how many chords they use at this stage, it s just about experimenting and exploring. Make sure they are pedalling well and planning ahead for chord changes. Make sure they are keeping a steady beat with four chords per bar in RH and holding down bass notes or octaves in LH. Get them to learn another song just by using the chords or refine one they ve already been practising. 6

7 5 Ask to listen to their chord progression(s) from this week. Give feedback. How s the pedalling? Introduce the idea that most progressions (and most music for that matter) are built on 4 and 8-bar (or 4 and 8 chord) blocks that start and finish on the tonic and repeat lots. Show them that if we want to write a pop progression starting and ending on C, we d need to fill out the following: C Where C is the tonic chord and the blank spaces are for the students to fill in their choice of chords. In order for the piece to sound finished, it has to end on the starting chord, C. Explain that this is the basis of all pop music they hear today. Ask them to also try a progression in Am in the lesson: Am Go on Hooktheory.com with the student to explore some chord progressions of real pop songs. Students compose 5 x 4-chord progressions starting and ending in C major and in A minor this week (10 progressions). Make sure they write them down just like above. They choose their favourite to play next week. Get them to learn another song from the Top 10 sheet just by using the chords/refine one they ve already been practising. You can also check out some of the chords on my Easy Chord Songs Sheet. Get them to explore Hooktheory and perhaps try to play a couple of their favourite songs. 7

8 6 Hear the student s favourite chord progressions from last week and provide feedback (positive, of course!). Introduce the idea of FORM in music and pop songs in particular: verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, chorus. Where the verses and chorus are generally different progressions. Listen to examples of pop songs on YouTube or the student s own iphone/ipod. Suggest that they could put the C and Am progressions together to form a verse and chorus. Perhaps they ll want to check back to their other progressions and find two that go together well. Experiment, explore, experiment! Ask students what they could do for a bridge: maybe play chords in a different key? Discuss chords in F/Dm or G/Em perhaps? Or minor chords in a major piece? Maybe something not so chordal after all. Checkout the Chromatik lead sheet app. Ask them to put together their first complete song using chord progressions and alternating A/B ideas with a bridge. Get them to learn another song just by using the chords/refine one they ve already been practising. Explore more hook theory! 8

9 7 Listen to the student s song using extended chord progressions in a pop song form from last week. How s it sounding? Are they still playing in the middle of the piano? How s the pedalling? Is the beat consistent? This week is about adding some variations to chord types. You could introduce suspensions which kids absolutely LOVE! Check my blog post and teaching video about this if you haven t already done so: Using sus chords to inspire beginners. You can also explore the descending bass line. Try this: Play a slow Gm chord arpeggiation in the RH while holding G octaves in the LH. Keep the RH arpeggio the same, but now drop down to F in the LH. Then E (or Eb if you prefer the sound) and then D. All the while keep the RH the same. This sounds great and is a simple tactic used by a lot of pop composers. Kids love it! Another alternative is to simply play a Am chord in the RH rhythmically while descending from A down to E in the LH (or even go from A right down the octave to A again!). Descending bass lines are great to explore and they are very easy to play. Students keep refining their chord progression by making the arrangement more interesting. Students explore suspensions and descending bass lines and see if they can add either of these ideas to their song. Get them to learn another song just by using the chords/refine one they ve already been practising. Ask them to see if they can find a song with a descending bass line. Eg. Piano Man, Feeling Good, Whiter Shade of Pale. 9

10 8 Listen to the student s song and provide feedback. Ask what s missing now if this was a song? They ll probably say a singer or tune/melody. Perfect! Introduce the idea of melody. Melody comes from the scale. Eg. a piece of music in C major will have a melody predominantly made up of notes from the C major scale. Can they play the C major scale or 5 finger pattern? If they can do that, they can play a melody in C major. This is where the cross-over between boring technical work and exciting improvising happens! To test it out, the teacher plays the student s chord progression while the student improvises on the white notes in the key of C. If they are having trouble with this, just restrict them to a 5 finger position or even just 1, 2 or 3 notes. You can also explore the Pentatonic Scale for improvising here. Check out my TTTV Podcast Episode 1 for help with this. If students know a bit more about scales, then you can discuss how the natural minor scale is awesome for improvising in minor keys (you do teach the natural minor scale, right?!). You can discuss good starting and finishing notes (notes of the C major chord). You can discuss that good melody moves mainly by steps. Students experiment with melody by recording their progression on their phone or ipad and playing it back with headphones while improvising melodic ideas over the top. Ask them to come up with a melody that they like and that they can play for you the following week. Get them to learn another song just by using the chords/refine one they ve already been practising. 10

11 9 Listen to the student s song and provide feedback. Perhaps you could play their progression while they show you how they improvise? Now we re going to try playing chords in the LH while the RH plays the melody. Students will find this a big leap, so go slowly. Chords should be played in the octave just below middle C to avoid it getting too muddy. Again, this is when technology can help because we can use apps to provide bass and drums while we play the chords and melody which will make it sound much more interesting. Eg. ireal Pro app. Keep melodies simple: 5-finger patterns in one hand position is fine to get the coordination happening with the LH chords. Explain that it s good to mix-up how we play our piece. Sometimes we might want to play chords in the RH with LH playing bass notes, other times we might want the melody so our LH has to move up and play the chords to give it some depth. You can also explain that another simple way to add interest to chord playing is to arpeggiate the chord (either in RH or LH), while balancing the sound and making sure it s not over-pedalled. Finally, explore different regions of the piano. Perhaps they could start their song high up on the piano with both hands twinkly-style, then the guts of the piece in the middle where they normally play. Perhaps something down low might work. What about one hand up high and one down low? Help them explore and be curious about the potential of the piano for song writing. Students start to experiment playing their melody in the RH while accompanying themselves in the LH. This is challenging, so keep the melody simple. Students build some melody into their arrangement this week. Get them to learn another song just by using the chords/refine one they ve already been practising. 11

12 10 By this stage, the students will have created their own piano solo based on chord progressions from scratch. They will also have been learning a new pop song each week by playing from the chord charts. They should be able to play any 3-note chords starting on any note and understand key, tonic, melody, Circle of 5ths and scales. From here on, you could go in lots of directions depending on student interest: The use of 2nds (see a future blog post for video demonstrations) You could branch off into jazz and discuss 7th chords and extensions (9ths, 11ths, difference between Maj7 and just 7ths, etc.) and blues, etc. This could be a year s work in itself! You could introduce chord inversions. What they are, what fingering we use, how to play them. They could try inversions of just the primary triads in C. Make sure they realise the relevance by showing them how much easier it is to play songs when you re not always in root position (again refer to the Easy Chord Songs sheet). I ve got some great teaching ideas about inversions too. You could teach arranging in more detail - variations of what to do with LH, different song forms, playing in different styles, etc. They could continue to play more pop songs using chord charts. They could keep composing more and more complex chord progressions and arrangements of their own music. Or they could do a combination of all the above. Have fun! 12

13 Conclusion You ll find that as a teacher, you become more and more confident and fluent with this teaching style the more that you do it. Your demonstrations will improve and your ability to know how much students can learn at a time will grow. You ll make some mistakes and you ll have a lot of fun. Enjoy the process and let me know if you have any questions. If you d like to see this teaching method in action, make sure you register for access to my PianoFlix Teaching Videos on Teaching Pop Piano if you haven t already done so. This is an 8-part online video training course just for piano teachers like you who are interested in learning how to teach pop piano music more effectively in their lessons. If any of the above concepts or instructions didn t really make sense then the videos will explain everything. Good luck and enjoy the experience! Tim Topham.

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