Painting With Pitch: A Course in Piano Through Composition

Black Reflections -Franz Kline, 1959.

Learning to play the piano is typically taught through learning to read pieces that have been composed by others. This method of learning piano is unique in that it treats the student as a composer and teaches the skills and techniques of music reading, performing, theory, ear training, and analysis as a creative act.

The course covers all the skills that are typically taught in traditional music lessons, but through a creative, compositional approach.

Each lesson should be explored for as long as needed by the student. The lessons can be used for independent self-study or used by teachers who wish to have a systematic approach to teaching piano through composition.

I have developed these lessons over the past thirty years of teaching piano to students of all ages. I have found that teaching from the point of view of a composer keeps students engaged and curious about music, while cultivating and exercising creativity, which is often absent in learning to play an instrument.

Lesson One: The Architecture of The Keyboard & The Hands

Lesson Two: What is Music?

Lesson Three

Lesson Four

Lesson Five

Lesson Six

Lesson Seven

Lesson Eight

Lesson Nine

Lesson Ten

Lesson Eleven

Lesson Twelve