On Scaring Classically Trained Music Teachers with Contemporary Idioms

Earlier this month, I presented improvisation and various elements of Conservatory Canada's Contemporary Idioms syllabus to The Piano Pedagogy Group. This was a group of bright yet frightened classically trained piano teachers. After years of being told "Play what's on the page," the sight of a chord chart or a lead sheet drew looks of puzzlement and various states of uncertainty. Conservatory Canada has recently updated their Contemporary Syllabus in such a way that makes it easier to crossover to the "fun zone". I myself haven't gone through all of the changes yet (You can find out all about the syllabus changes here). What I did touch upon was my experience delving into contemporary idioms on a deeper level. Much deeper than playing through popular arrangements by Dan Coates, Bill Boyd and Phillip Keveren.

I began by sharing my experiences taking jazz piano lessons with jazz pianist, adjudicator, clinician and examiner Derek Stoll. Then, I walked them through various elements of preparing for my Level 7 Contemporary Idioms piano exam.

The bulk of my presentation was on sharing the resources I commonly use when teaching contemporary music, in addition to my approaches to teaching technique, improvisation and learning music that isn't in standard notation. This is rather huge, I will go into each area in more detail in subsequent posts. Hopefully, this will open up a dialogue between music teachers and students who would like to delve into the "fun zone".

Fun Music Recommendations for Summer

Hooray! It's the last week of lessons. My students and I are looking forward to some time off.This week, they've all heard me stress the importance of doing some music practice during the summer so they don't waste the time, effort and money that they, their parents and I as their teacher have invested throughout the year.

The following are some of the "fun music" suggestions I have given them to make their "Summer Learning Projects" as enjoyable as possible:

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Star Wars - A Musical Journey (Music from Episodes I - VI) Composed by John Williams. Arranged by Tom Gerou. Piano - Five Finger Collection; Piano Supplemental. Five Finger Piano Songbook. Movies. Softcover. 52 pages. Alfred Music #34451. Published by Alfred Music (HL.322311).

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Star Wars - A Musical Journey (Music from Episodes I - VI) Big-Note Piano. Composed by John Williams. Arranged by Tom Gerou. Piano - Big Note Collection; Piano Supplemental. Big Note Vocal Selections. Movies. Softcover. 48 pages. Alfred Music #34382. Published by Alfred Music (HL.322308).

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Star Wars - A Musical Journey (Music from Episodes I - VI) Composed by John Williams. Arranged by Dan Coates. Piano - Easy Piano Collection; Piano Supplemental. Easy Piano Songbook. Movies. Softcover. 56 pages. Alfred Music #28304. Published by Alfred Music (HL.322093).

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Star Wars: A Musical Journey Music from Episodes I - VI. Composed by John Williams. Shows & Movies. Piano Solo Songbook. Movies. Softcover. 86 pages. Alfred Music #28303. Published by Alfred Music (HL.322092).

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The Twilight Saga - New Moon: The Score Easy Piano Solo. Composed by Alexandre Desplat (1961-). Easy Piano Songbook. Movies. Softcover. 48 pages. Published by Hal Leonard (HL.349015).

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The Twilight Saga - New Moon The Score: Music by Alexandre Desplat. Composed by Alexandre Desplat (1961-). Piano Solo Songbook. Movies. Softcover. 56 pages. Published by Hal Leonard (HL.313487).

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Harry Potter Magical Music From the First Five Years at Hogwarts (Five Finger Piano). Composed by John Williams, Patrick Doyle, and Nicholas Hooper. Arranged by Tom Gerou. This edition: Five Finger Piano. Piano - Five Finger Collection; Piano Supplemental. 5 Finger. Movie. Book. 60 pages. Alfred Music #00-32710. Published by Alfred Music (AP.32710).

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Harry Potter -- Sheet Music from the Complete Film Series Easy Piano. Composed by John Williams, Patrick Doyle, Alexandre Desplat (1961-), and Nicholas Hooper. Arranged by Dan Coates. This edition: Easy Piano. Piano - Easy Piano Collection; Piano Supplemental. Movie. Book. 140 pages. Alfred Music #00-39075. Published by Alfred Music (AP.39075).

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Harry Potter -- Sheet Music from the Complete Film Series Piano Solos. Composed by John Williams, Patrick Doyle, Alexandre Desplat (1961-), and Nicholas Hooper. This edition: Piano Solos. Piano Collection; Piano Supplemental. Movie. Book. 144 pages. Alfred Music #00-38970. Published by Alfred Music (AP.38970).

I also compiled a listing of websites in a recent article Where to Find Free Piano Music Online (new link to come). An honourable mention goes out to Piano Squall's website with loads of video game and anime theme songs. I wanted to put his site on the list but there are constraints on article length.

Students can also check out the RCM Popular Selection List and Conservatory Canada's Contemporary Idioms Syllabus online for suggestions of graded popular pieces.

(c) 2010 by Musespeak(tm), Calgary, AB, Canada.

Fun Music Ideas

Around this time, it's a big push to keep students focussed and motivated to practice. Several of my students are exploring other genres to keep their interest or to simply give them a break from their main pieces. Here are just a few, which may serve as ideas for other musicians:

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Very Best Of John Williams By John Williams. By John Williams. Edited by Carol Cuellar. Arranged by Dan Coates. Artist/Personality; Piano - Easy Piano Collection; Piano Supplemental. Piano arrangement mixed folio (Easy piano). Easy Piano. Movies. Songbook (softcover). With chord names. 104 pages. Alfred Music #0656B. Published by Alfred Music (HL.321939).

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Lord of the Rings for Easy Piano Music from the Motion Pictures Arranged for Easy Piano. Composed by Howard Shore. Edited by Jeannette DeLisa and Zoby Perez. Arranged by Dan Coates. Piano - Easy Piano Collection; Piano Supplemental. Piano arrangement mixed folio (Easy piano). Movies. Songbook. With black & white photos and chord names. 56 pages. Alfred Music #00-AFM0408. Published by Alfred Music (AP.AFM0408).

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The Lord of the Rings Trilogy Music from the Motion Pictures Arranged for Solo Piano. Composed by Howard Shore. This edition: Piano/Vocal. Piano Collection; Piano Supplemental. Movie. Book. 104 pages. Alfred Music #00-32034. Published by Alfred Music (AP.32034).

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Microlatin 20 Pieces Based on Latin Rhythms for the Beginner Pianist. Composed by Christopher Norton. BH Piano. Educational, Latin. Softcover with CD. 36 pages. Boosey & Hawkes #M060119651. Published by Boosey & Hawkes (HL.48019809).

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Harry Potter -- Sheet Music from the Complete Film Series Easy Piano. Composed by John Williams, Patrick Doyle, Alexandre Desplat (1961-), and Nicholas Hooper. Arranged by Dan Coates. This edition: Easy Piano. Piano - Easy Piano Collection; Piano Supplemental. Movie. Book. 140 pages. Alfred Music #00-39075. Published by Alfred Music (AP.39075).

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Corpse Bride - Main Titles By La Sposa Cadavere (Corpse Bride). Arranged by GC. Individual Part. 5 pages. Published by Giuseppe Cataldi (H0.622575-SC001203006).

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The Best in Movie Sheet Music Composed by Dan Coates. Piano - Easy Piano Collection; Piano Supplemental. Movie. Book. 88 pages. Alfred Music #00-AF9760A. Published by Alfred Music (AP.AF9760A).

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The Disney Collection Composed by Various. Easy Piano Songbook. Children, Disney, Movies. Softcover. 304 pages. Published by Hal Leonard (HL.119716).

Visit your local music store or explore my affiliate links for some gems:

Sheet Music on Amazon

Happy exploring!

(c) 2006 by Musespeak(tm), Calgary, AB, Canada. All rights reserved.