Curriculum

I have several students who are reading music and want to learn to play hymns from their church’s hymnal that is arranged for SATB singing (see photo for example). I’ve been reading a few related conversations in Simpedia about the process of teaching hymns (most…

• Last updated 3 months ago
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HI everybody – any tips for growing skills to line up fingers accurately to play fast passages like the beginning and end of Ballade? Of course – play slowly and gradually increase speed. That alone doesn’t seem adequate. I feel like all the things I…

• Last updated 7 months ago
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I have an elderly student who can’t bend fingers 3 and 4 in his RH. We are adjusting songs accordingly. For Alma Mater Blues 3rd Section CAGE chord I, what would you suggest? C G E – fingers 5, 2, 1 – 100% C A…

• Last updated 8 months ago
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I’ve got a question for you. During each lesson, I have my students do an improvisation or play their composition. I just received a short composition in which the piece doesn’t end on a tonic key. I texted her mom about that, and she said…

• Last updated 7 months ago
• chord, chord theory, chords, comp, comp & improv, comp and improv, complex chords, composing, composing with chords, composition, compositions, deceptive cadence, ending, ending chord, final chord, imperfect cadence, last chord, Neil Moore, scale theory, student composition, theory, tonic, writing compositions

I’ve been working on I IV and V on accompaniment 1 programme with some students and was asked these questions which I couldn’t quite answer with confidence. Care to share your experience and thoughts please? So does the I IV and V only work for…

• Last updated 1 year ago
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If a younger student can’t yet manage the second chord of Dreams Arrangement 1, is there a preference in a three-note version? Fingers 123 (shifting 3) throughout or 135 (shifting 3 and 5) with the 9th omitted for now? I think they both work and…

• Last updated 1 year ago
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A new adult student with a small amount of previous experience told me that it’s hard for her to watch her hands because she took a beginning piano class in college with a teacher who insisted that students never look at their hands and would…

• Last updated 1 year ago
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If a student already knows the names of the rhythm ingredients (whole through sixteenths) can we use those or should we actively use the informal terminology anyway before the note naming process? This comes up from time to time with students with prior experience! Personally,…

• Last updated 2 years ago
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Jazz Clues…doing clue one with Here to stay. The Bmin7-5 sounds bad with 1 and 5 LH because the 5 is supposed to be flatted. So do you have the students flat the 5th or stick to the clue? I don’t recall this being addressed…

• Last updated 2 years ago
• dim, diminished chord, diminished chords, Gordon Harvey, jazz, Jazz 1, jazz chords, jazz clue 1, jazz clues, jazz program, jazz program questions, JC, JC1

Just wondering if the sheet music for ‘Lament’ in the Jazz program is treated as a completely separate exercise to the improvisation in the reference book. Alternatively, do we work out what 4 note chords to use in the LH for the sheet music version…

• Last updated 2 years ago
• Gordon Harvey, improv, improvisation, jazz, Jazz 1, jazz clue 1, jazz clue 2, jazz clues, jazz program, jazz program questions, JC, Lament, modes, stride