Gordon Harvey
Arrangements – Order of Presentation
I’ve been having trouble getting my students through the arrangements and then realized that I wasn’t teaching them sequentially, yet I myself have learned them sequentially (!) How do you all approach them and what kind of results have you been getting? I don’t teach…
Learning Arrangements
I am new to both piano and teaching. My order for the newbie pack came in yesterday, and when I opened the Arrangement packet I saw it is written in this foreign language I do not know how to read. Before total panic set in…
Value of Accompaniment
I have an adult student who has had 7 lessons now. She is a very fast learner. She can play 11 songs at this point. (I have thrown in a couple extra accompaniments.) I would like some advice on helping her see the value of…
Processing Chords
What strategies and games have people developed to help students process chords beyond the major triads? My class is at a point where we can find I IV V, so I have multiple strategies for processing and really getting students to nail the major chords,…
Flats vs minors
I’ve noticed at certain points in the curriculum students struggle, slow down, or “hit walls”. A lot might have to do with difficulty fluctuating throughout. I haven’t started Level 4 yet, but this probably continues in later levels. With average beginners, I think it really…
Accompaniment and Inversions
A recent thread raised the question of how and when to teach chord inversions. I’m not sure whether that question was answered in full, and in addition there were some comments made about split chords and their relationship to inversions which I thought were not…
List of Additional Accompaniment Projects
I thought Julie’s Simpedia post was spot on (“Keeping Accompaniments Alive”). It got me thinking that it might be useful to compile a list of popular accompaniment pieces from outside the program. Here’s a selection from me for starters: Imagine House of the Rising Sun…
More Accompaniment Material
What favorite pieces do you use to inspire your students to continue learning chords and accompanying. When do you begin to incorporate inversions in a significant way or to jazz up the accompanying style a bit, and how do you learn to do that? Here…
Tips for Preparing and Teaching Level 4
I’ve heard a bit about how much harder Level 4 is. As I’m moving into that now with my students, could you share experiences of how Level 4 did or did not work well for you, and how to avoid pitfalls. In a nutshell –…
Billy At The Footy Improvisation Idea
I love to use Billy at the Footy as an improvisation accompaniment. I do as Neil suggests, throwing in the V chord at the end when we intend to repeat the 12-bar cycle. I do it a little differently to Neil, so I hope it’s…