About the Book
This piano lesson book is the most comprehensive guide specifically geared for the autodidact. It starts at square one, gradually unfolding as the student is taken from the earliest stages through intermediate repertoire and beyond.
Every step is explained and annotated as the pieces gradually increase in complexity. This includes pointing out difficulties which frequently arise, along with many exercises addressing the technical and expressive challenges.
Because music at its most fundamental level is a listening experience, I also provide recordings of the exercises and pieces, available on my website, www.gregoryharrismusic.com, to give students an audible reference point that helps ease the learning curve. The compositions traverse a wide array of styles and eras, with enjoyable musicality even through the beginning repertoire. In writing the music for this book, my intention and challenge was to create compositions that could hold their own, while remaining mindful of matching the level of complexity to the level of the student.
Scales and chords are discussed in the context of their related pieces, as well as exercises for understanding basic chord theory.
Spread throughout the book are discussions of interpretive nuance, and students are encouraged to record themselves so they can better hear how these nuances come across.
The student will be well equipped with The Practice Method, an extremely effective model for practicing.
All of these elements contribute to the overarching goal of the book: a direct and totally comprehensive guide to musicianship from square one.
A note for teachers:
As a teacher, I've long been frustrated by the way most method books ask the student to jump from one level of understanding to another with little connective tissue, leaving vast gaps that I've had to supplement with a second, third, or fourth book.
This book is designed to be a superior map with which to navigate from the beginning stages through intermediate repertoire to even more advanced pieces in a single volume.
It is structured as a comprehensive step-by-step guide, unfolding as pieces gradually increase in complexity. This includes pointing out the difficulties which frequently arise, along with exercises and explanations.
The goal of the first two chapters is to establish confidence in feeling the physicality of movement with little need to look at the hands, while simultaneously bringing a strong familiarity with reading.
By the end of the book, the student will have played pieces in eleven key signatures, through many different styles of composition, and explored a diversity of rhythms, including polyrhythms.
The book also discusses scales and chords in the context of their related pieces, with some theory thrown in as well.
