Right hand warm-up (p.12)
One day you will be playing complex tunes that people will enjoy ;-)
Ode to Joy (p.13)
- Clap (or tap the rhythm evenly, counting aloud.
- Play & sing (or say) the finger numbers.
- Play & count.
- Play & sing (or say) the the note names.
Nice, you are playing Beethoven’s 9th Symphony!
Left Hand Warm-up (p.16)
Now you are playing with the other hand. Nice.
Aura Lee (p.17)
Moving on nicely!
Practice reading and playing the notes on the bass clef (p.18-19)
Get familiar with the notes.
Practice reading and playing the notes on the treble clef (p.14-15)
Get familiar with the notes.
Playing on the grand staff. (p.20)
Excellent, playing with two hands. Soon you’ll be playing both hands together.
Rock-Along (p.21)
Great, adding some rhythm to the melodies.
Mexican Hat Dance (p.21)
Great, adding some rhythm to the melodies.
Practice playing 4/4 time (p.22)
Use that metronome. A good sense of timing is fundamental.
Lightly Row (p.23)
Easy stuff, but it all adds up to greatness.
Aunt Rhody (p.23)
Easy stuff, but it all adds up to greatness.
Practice playing some melodic intervals (p.24)
Get familiar with intervals.
Au Claire De La Lune (p.24)
Great, having control of dynamics make your playing more expressive.
Tisket, a Tasket (p.24)
Great, having control of dynamics make your playing more expressive.
Practice playing some melodic intervals: 2nds & 3rds (p.25)
Get familiar with intervals on the staff and keyboard.
Practice playing some harmonic intervals. (p.26)
Get familiar with intervals.
Rockin’ Intervals (p.26)
Remember those dynamics.
Harmonica Rock (p.27)
Get familiar with intervals on the staff and keyboard.
Practice playing some melodic intervals: 4ths & 5ths (p.28)
Learn to hear the intervals in your head before playing them.
Good King Wenceslas (p.28)
Old school historical songs. A great way to learn some history of music.
My Fifth (p.28)
Learn to hear the piece in your head before playing it.
Practice playing harmonic 4ths & 5ths. (p.30)
You have learnt half to the key intervals.
Jingle Bells (p.30)
Wicked, you are playing a song most people have heard.
Duelling Harmonics (p.31)
Nice, playing rhythmical intervals, soon you’ll be playing chords.
Practice the C major chord (p.32)
Yay! Your first chord!
Brother John (p.33)
Awesome, your first song using both hands: playing melody and chords.
Here’s a Happy Song! (p.33)
Music make you and other people happy. What a gift!
Introducing B for the Left Hand / Two important chords (p.34)
Another chord! Making some real progress.
Merrily We Roll Along (p.35)
Progressing nicely :-)
Largo (p.35)
Playing a short section of the great composer, Dvorak.
Introducing B for the Right Hand: C & G7 chords (p.36)
Nice, chords on both hands.
Mary Ann (p.37)
Dude, you are playing the piano!
The G7 Chord for the Left Hand (p.38)
Playing chord with both hands now. Nice!
The G7 Chord for the Right Hand (p.39)
Playing chord with both hands now. Nice!
Rockets (p.40)
Play the entire keyboard. Getting comfortable with moving your hands around while keeping in time. Awesome.
Reviewing Dynamics (p.41)
Add more expressiveness to your playing.
What Can I Share? (p.42)
Play musical phases with slurs and legatos to add yet another dimension to your music.
Day Is Done (p.43)
Keep on practising, soon you’ll be playing like a pro.
Introducing A for the left hand and introducing the F major chord. (p.44)
More chords. Bring it on.
When the Saints Go Marching In (p.45)
The songs are getting more complex. Progressing nicely.
Introducing A for the right hand, and C & F chords for the right hands (p.46)
Chords, chords, chords, make music interesting.
When the Saints Go Marching In (p.47)
The songs are getting more complex. Processing nicely.
The F Major Chord for the Left Hand (p.48)
Chords, chords, chords, make music interesting.
I’m Gonna Lay My Burden Down (p.48)
Getting spiritual with music.
The F major chord for the right hand (p.49)
Chords, chords, chords, make music interesting.
Waltzing Chords (p.49)
Good, playing chords with both hands.
G Position; and Intervals in G Position (p.50)
Awesome, a new position. You are discovering the keyboard.
Love Somebody (p.51)
Yep, and you use music to show them how your feel.
A Friend Like You (p.51)
You can make friends with music.
The Bandleader (p.52)
Progress with small steps.
Melodic Intervals in G Position; and Harmonic Intervals in G Position (p.53)
Get familiar with the intervals in every position.
Money Can’t Buy Ev’rything (p.54)
Playing with the black keys now. Great :-)
The G major & D7 chords for left hand. (p.58)
Yay, more chords for G position.
The Cuckoo (p.59)
Yep, I’m getting better ;-)
The G major & D7 chords for the right; and Block chords & broken chords (p.60)
There are many ways you can play chords to many music interesting.
Harp Song (p.61)
Using the pedal! Wow, playing like a pro.
Liza Jane (p.62)
Perfect practise makes perfect.
Introducing E for the left hand; and A new position of the C major chord (p.64)
Chord inversions on the piano.
Beautiful Brown Eyes (p.65)
Playing the piano with a little more speed. Nice.
Writing the C major chord position for LH (p.67)
Yep, I’m getting better ;-)
Introducing E for the right hand; New C major chord position for right hand (p.68)
Mastering G position.
Alpine Melody (p.69)
Wicked dude, you are achieving your dream of playing the piano.
Writing the C major chord position for RH (p.71)
All the piano playing is improving your brain function.
Middle C position; and Thumb on C! (p.72)
Another hand position. Nice.
Waltz Time (p.73)
Play those Crescendos an diminuendos.
Good Morning to You! (p.74)
Fermata. A nice way to end a song to give is a sense of completion.
Happy Birthday to You! (p.75)
Now you are getting somewhere with “Eighth Notes”.
“Shoo, Fly, Shoo!” and “Skip to My Lou!” (p.76)
Rhythm makes music interesting.
Standing in the Need of Prayer (p.77)
Okay, now you can consider yourself playing the piano properly with multiple note lengths. :-)
The Amazing Aerobics of Hanon: Ex. 1 (p.78)
Build strength and control in the fingers.
The Amazing Aerobics of Hanon: Ex. 2 (p.79)
Build strength and control in the fingers.
A Leschetizky Solution (to strengthen each finger and improve control) (p.57)
This is a very important exercise to strengthen each finger and improve control.
Measures from familiar songs using dotted quarter notes (p.81)
Here we go: playing more complex rhythms on the piano. This is getting exciting…
Alouette (p.82)
Simple songs with interesting rhythms are a great way to impress people early in your piano development. A good way to get a motivating kick.
Measuring 6ths (p.83)
Adding more intervals to your repertoire.
Lavender’s Blue (p.84)
Keeping going, songs are slowly getting more complex. You are getting better.
Kum-ba-yah! (p.85)
Intervals on both hands.
Hanon’s Aerobic Sixths (p.87) Build strength and control in the fingers.
Build strength and control in the fingers.
London Bridge (p.88)
Progressing nicely.
Michael, Row the Boat Ashore (p.88)
Progressing nicely.
Blow the Man Down! (p.89)
Building up speed in your songs.
Moving up & down the keyboard in 6ths (p.90)
Getting accustomed to moving around on the piano. Nice :-)
Lone Star Waltz (p.90)
Adding staccato to your skill set. Making good progress. Keep up the daily practice.
Measuring 7ths & octaves (p.92)
Now you can play all the intervals. Brilliant!
Cafe Vienna (p.94)
Okay, now we are somewhere.
Lullaby (p.95)
Making good progress. Keep up the daily practice.
Rock It Away! (p.96)
Playing with the black keys. Awesome!
The Major Scale (p.100)
Great, your first scale. Knowing your scales well is important to becoming a great pianist.
These hands were made for playing (p.102)
Get good at playing the scales smoothly.
Joy to the World (p.103)
Adding more dynamics to your skill set. Nice.
More about chords (p.104)
Memorise the complete “triad vocabulary”. This is a great skill to have to improve your playing.
Cockles and Mussels (p.105)
Learning how to recognise key signatures.
The primary chords in C majoy (p.106)
Getting to know you chords and playing them comfortably with inversions. Sweet!
Got Those Blues! (p.107)
Sweet man! playing the blues with some swing! Awesome.
Memorise the blues progression:
I - I - I - I ; IV - IV - I - I ; V7 - IV - I - I
Chords and the Blues Progression; Chasing the Blue Away (p.108)
Practise your first real chord progression. Nice, you are now playing interesting tunes. Sweet!
Blues for Wynton Marsalis (p.109)
Sweet Man. Playing some jazzy blues.
RH; An Extended Position; and On Top of Old Smoky (p.110)
Stretch those hands, reaching new heights in you playing.
The G Major Scale; and The Key of G Major (p.112)
Wicked, another scale to my repertoire. Plus Contrary Motion.
The Can-Can (p.113)
Changing fingers on the same note. Getting tricky bruther!
The Marines’ Hymn (p.115)
You are building a powerful brain!
Why Am I Blue? (p.116)
Syncopation! Awesome. Now bring on the funky tunes ;-)
Good People (p.117)
Playing some jazz with a “Call and Response”. Cool!
The F Major Scale (p.118)
Wicked, another scale to my repertoire.
Little Brown Jug (p.119)
Playing some classics. Nice.
The Primary Chords in F Major (p.120)
Get familiar with those chords.
Chiapanecas (p.120)
Playing with some speed. Great.
Auld Lang Syne (p.123)
Mate, you are getting good at this. Soon you’ll be playing jazz piano, as you have always wanted.
A New Style of Bass; and O Sole Mio (p.124)
Playing a syncopated classic with an arpeggiated chord on the piano – priceless :- )
The Key of A Minor; and The A Harmonic Minor Scale (p.126)
Now playing with minor scales, steaming along.
Jericho (p.127)
More syncopated notes, excellent!
Writing in the Key of A Minor (p.128)
Learn all three forms of minor scales: natural, harmonic, and melodic. This will be important later when you start composing again using the “chord-scale theory” book.
The Stranger (p.129)
You are getting somewhere: playing a moderately complex jazz piece with syncopated melodies and rhythms.
Introducing “Overlapping Pedal” (p.130)
Add expressiveness to you music with the pedal!
Greensleeves (p.130)
Wow, syncopation, chords, playing with both hands, using a pedal, and finger substitution, sheeting reading. Nuff said!
More About Triads; and The Primary Chords in A Minor (p.132)
Learn those A minor chords well.
Go Down, Moses (p.133)
More tunes with the pedal, nice!
The Key of D Minor; and The D Harmonic Minor Scale (p.134)
Yet another scale to your repertoire.
Scarborough Fair (p.135)
Another dynamic level to the list: pp
Review: pp, p, mp, f, mf, ff – 5 dynamic levels
The Primary Chords in D minor (p.136)
Learn those D minor chords well.
Raisins and Almonds (p.136)
Nearly completed Level 1 Adult Course, brilliant!
He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands (p.138)
Multiple scales in one piece. Making great progress.
The Entertainer (p.140)
What a great tune to be able to play. This is something you can share with people.
Amazing Grace (p.142)
Eighth-Note Triplets – getting skilful.
Well done. You have completed the first level. You are well on your way to being able to play complex jazz piano tunes. Really, well done. This is a great accomplishment. You will be rewarded with a powerful brain, and things you can share with other people. Nice :-)