Rob’s Piano Room is a place for learning music theory concepts towards the goal of improvising at the piano. I improvise daily in my job as a ballet pianist at Canada’s National Ballet School as well as being an accomplished jazz pianist
Although the 'improvisation method' series of modules is coming from the classical perspective of a ballet pianist, the basic skills are applicable to anyone in any style: learning basic chords, how melodies relate to those chords, and how to expand to multiple keys and textures. This method starts very simply, but continues through basic material to eventually include secondary dominants, diminished chords, etc, with more to come soon.
Besides learning to improvise, exploring these ideas directly at the keyboard can give you a more practical understanding of how music is composed, so you can understand your favourite music more fully.
These are the topics covered in the modules so far
1. Basic chords from the major scale - the I, IV and V chords
2. How melody notes relate to the chords you are playing
3. Using neighbor tones and passing tones
4. Approach tones, appogiaturas and more ways to embellish your meloies
5. Using non-chord tones on the beat
6. The dominant 7th chord, and the idea of harmonic rhythm
7. Elaborating on your left hand accompaniment
8. Moving your skills to other keys
9. Minor keys
10, Movng beyond I, IV and V
11. melodic direction, phrasing
12. Repetition vs variety in melodic material
13. Thickening right hand textures beyond single notes
14. Ways of practicing - the circle of fifths/fourths
15. Using existing compositions for inspiration (especially harmonic progressions, but in other ways as well)
16. Using colour notes on their own
17. Secondary dominants
18 Diminished seventh chords
MORE TO COME!!
You are encouraged to learn these concepts at the keyboard, and to try making your own creations each step of the way in order to have them become part of your actual playing. Each module is paired with a pdf which contains the material covered in the video, as well as in many cases adding additional examples and practice material.
Each person will want to work though the material at their own pace. A certain amount of music experience (the ability to read music at some level, and a bit of knowledge of scales) will be helpful, but my hope is that this information will be useful to people at a variety of musical levels. For those who have more musical experience but have never improvised, I'd recommend going through the simpler material, even if quickly, as you may be encountering the material in a different way
I will be posting at least a couple of new modules each month, either in the improvisation collection, the jazz harmony collection, or the basic music reference collection. Let me know if there is anything specific you'd like like to see in these collections.
Although the 'improvisation method' series of modules is coming from the classical perspective of a ballet pianist, the basic skills are applicable to anyone in any style: learning basic chords, how melodies relate to those chords, and how to expand to multiple keys and textures. This method starts very simply, but continues through basic material to eventually include secondary dominants, diminished chords, etc, with more to come soon.
Besides learning to improvise, exploring these ideas directly at the keyboard can give you a more practical understanding of how music is composed, so you can understand your favourite music more fully.
These are the topics covered in the modules so far
1. Basic chords from the major scale - the I, IV and V chords
2. How melody notes relate to the chords you are playing
3. Using neighbor tones and passing tones
4. Approach tones, appogiaturas and more ways to embellish your meloies
5. Using non-chord tones on the beat
6. The dominant 7th chord, and the idea of harmonic rhythm
7. Elaborating on your left hand accompaniment
8. Moving your skills to other keys
9. Minor keys
10, Movng beyond I, IV and V
11. melodic direction, phrasing
12. Repetition vs variety in melodic material
13. Thickening right hand textures beyond single notes
14. Ways of practicing - the circle of fifths/fourths
15. Using existing compositions for inspiration (especially harmonic progressions, but in other ways as well)
16. Using colour notes on their own
17. Secondary dominants
18 Diminished seventh chords
MORE TO COME!!
You are encouraged to learn these concepts at the keyboard, and to try making your own creations each step of the way in order to have them become part of your actual playing. Each module is paired with a pdf which contains the material covered in the video, as well as in many cases adding additional examples and practice material.
Each person will want to work though the material at their own pace. A certain amount of music experience (the ability to read music at some level, and a bit of knowledge of scales) will be helpful, but my hope is that this information will be useful to people at a variety of musical levels. For those who have more musical experience but have never improvised, I'd recommend going through the simpler material, even if quickly, as you may be encountering the material in a different way
I will be posting at least a couple of new modules each month, either in the improvisation collection, the jazz harmony collection, or the basic music reference collection. Let me know if there is anything specific you'd like like to see in these collections.