Curriculum

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 3 months ago
• audio, audio materials, audio recording, Audio recordings, audio SHMs, Ballade, control the events, controlling the events, CTE, drills, exercises, external speaker, external speakers, fast playing, finger exercises, getting student to slow down, importance of playlist, keeping playlist alive, keeping playlists, keeping the playlist alive, learning slowly, Neil Moore, Neil's Responses (YouTube Videos), playing along with audio, playing fast vs slow, playing slowly, playing speed, playing with audio tracks, Playlist, practicing slowly, single thought process, single thought processes, slow practice, slow-steady-musical-even, slowing down, speaking instructions out loud, SSME, STP

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 4 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 3 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 8 months 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 8 months 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
• comparing traditional to Simply Music, eyes on hands, eyes on sheet music, eyes on the page, look at hands, look at sheet music, looking at hands, looking at page, looking at sheet music, looking at the page, outside reading knowledge, PB, playing-based, playing-based while reading, previous reading knowledge, prior reading experience, RB, reading, reading concerns, reading music, reading problems, reading process, reading program, reading-based, sight reading, SM vs traditional, source from the page, source instructions from the page, starting SM with traditional students, student wants only to read, students that already read music, students who already read, tracking the page, traditional, traditional background, traditional experience, traditional student, traditional students, traditional students to SM, traditional to Simply Music, traditional vs. Simply Music, traditional vs. simply music reading, traditionally trained, transitioning into SM, transitioning students, transitioning to SM, transitioning traditional students, using playing-based tools while reading, watch hands, watch sheet music, watching hands, watching page, watching sheet music, watching the page

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 1 year 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

I am finding the variation on Family Tree a challenge, even after leaving it for a time and coming back to it. Can someone give me some tips please? (Or should I just leave that one out?) It is challenging, indeed, in a very similar…

• Last updated 2 years ago
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