Piano Lessons

Popular Music

Repertoire

Moonlight Sonata by Beethoven
Für Elise
A Million Dreams
This is Me (from The Greatest Showman)
Can You Feel the Love Tonight
Everything is Awesome (from The LEGO Movie)
We Don't Talk About Bruno (from Disney's Encanto)

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Unit 1 Lessons 1–20

Repertoire

Hot Cross Buns
D Journey
C Boogie
Five Woodpeckers
Frog in the Middle
Chocolate
Listen for Bells

Skills

Piano posture
C & D major pentascales
Transposing
Rhythmic dictation
Composing rhythms
Improvisation basics
Adding chords while playing the melody

Knowledge

Solfège: do, re, mi, fa, so
Musical alphabet
Names of all white keys on piano
Rhythms: quarter note, quarter rest, eighth notes, half notes
Finger numbers
Terms: stepping, skipping, repeating, high, low, improvisation, composition, sharp, rhythmic dictation, solfège, transpose

Unit 2 Lessons 21–40

Repertoire

Mouse in the House
Rain Come Wet Me
Who’s That?
Let Us Chase the Squirrel
Dinah
The Wild Horses

Skills

Playing 3-note chords
"Stepping & Skipping" Finger Exercise
I & V7 chords
Minor pentascales
New pentascales: C, D, G minor and G major
Melodic dictation: stepping, skipping, repeating on staff
Ear training: basic patterns in major pentascale

Knowledge

Grand staff basics: treble clef, bass clef
Guide notes: treble G, middle C, bass F
New rhythms: dotted half note, sixteenth notes
Solfège: ti (for V7 chord)
Repeat sign
Terms: harmonize, blues scale, melodic dictation, treble clef, bass clef, grand staff

Unit 3 Lessons 41–60

Repertoire

Love Somebody
Mary Had a Little Lamb
Silver Birch Tree
I Have a Dog
Oranges and Lemons

Skills

New pentascales: E major and minor, F major and minor
Reading repertoire from the grand staff
Sight reading simple melodies on the treble and bass staves
Notating a song 'by ear' on the staff

Knowledge

Time signature, measures, and barlines
New rhythms: Dotted eighth-sixteenth notes
Half-steps, sharps, and flats
Terms: similar and contrary motion

Unit 4 Lessons 61–80

Repertoire

Lavender's Blue
Spinning Song
Spinning Upside Down
Bagpipe
Debka Hora
Ode to Joy

Skills

Recognizing and identifying intervals
Counting the beat
New pentascales: A major & minor
Identifying Guide Notes on the staff
New articulation: staccato
Composing in binary form

Knowledge

Terms: intervals, staccato, legato, binary form
New rhythms: eighth with 2 sixteenths, dotted quarter with flagged eighth
New Guide Notes: Treble C, Ground G, Flag F
Dynamics: forte, piano

Unit 5 Lessons 81–100

Repertoire

Row, Row, Row Your Boat
Lady, Lady
I Hear the Mill Wheel
Au Clair de la Lune
La Cinquantaine

Skills

New pentascales: D-flat, E-flat, and A-flat major and minor
Improvising an accompaniment using chord symbols
Voicing a melody over an accompaniment
Counting rhythms using a subdivided beat
Composing original music using a haiku
Playing a duet

Knowledge

New rhythm: eighth rests
Meaning of and how to differentiate slurs and ties
Reading upper ledger lines on the bass staff
Building a major or minor pentascale starting on any key using whole steps and half steps
Terms: enharmonic, tie, slur, fermata, duet, melody, accompaniment

Unit 6 Lessons 101–120

Repertoire

Honeybee
Kye Kye Kule
Harvest Dance
Happy Birthday to You
Vivace

Skills

New pentascales: B, B-flat, and F-sharp major and minor
Reading notes on lower ledger lines of the treble staff
Counting syncopated rhythms using a subdivided beat
Review all 12 major and minor pentascales using circle of 5ths
Improvising using a “blues” scale

Knowledge

Circle of 5ths
New rhythm concepts: syncopation, pick-up notes, downbeats
Question and answer phrases, phrase marks
All primary dynamic symbols and terms: pianissimo, piano, mezzo piano, mezzo forte, forte, fortissimo, crescendo, decrescendo, diminuendo
New articulation: accent

Unit 7 Lessons 121–140

Repertoire

Musette in D Major (BWV Anh. 126)
All the Pretty Horses
Dance
Are You Sleeping
Black Snake

Skills

Playing and identifying all 24 major and minor triads
Reading chord symbols and improvising an accompaniment from a lead sheet
Using a metronome to help build speed in playing a fast song
New finger power exercises based on Charles-Louis Hanon’s famous exercises
Playing the ii7 chord

Knowledge

Composer Johann Sebastian Bach and the Anna Magdelena Bach notebook
Spelling all major and minor triads: root, 3rd, and 5th
Tempo indications: largo, adagio, andante, moderato, allegretto, allegro, presto, prestissimo

Unit 8 Lessons 141–160

Repertoire

Canoe Song
Deta, Deta
Dragon Night
When the Saints Go Marching In
Follow Me
Chumbara

Skills

Finger cross-over and thumb-under
More variations on Hanon’s finger exercises
Dictating melodies by ear on the staff
Review reading chords from a lead sheet
1-octave major scales using tetrachords in all sharp keys

Knowledge

Guide Notes and Ledger Lines: High C and Low C
Review syncopation
Rhythm review: how various rhythmic values all relate to one another and to the beat
Tetrachords
Ladder of 5hts
Key signatures for all major keys with sharps: C, G, D, E, B, F-sharp, C-sharp

Unit 9 Lessons 161–180

Repertoire

Melody for Left Hand by Ludvig Schytte
Etude by Albert Biehl
Morning Salute by Cornelius Gurlitt
The Hope by Samuel Cohen
Tarantella by Joseph Hoffman

Skills

Play one-octave scales in C & G major and A & E natural and harmonic minor
Play one-octave arpeggios in C & G major and A & E minor
Proper wrist and finger technique for playing scales and arpeggios
Voicing with melody in the left hand
Staccato in one hand with legato in the other hand

Knowledge

Correct fingerings for one-octave scales and arpeggios
Understanding and performing rhythms in compound meters: 3/8 and 6/8
Dictating rhythms in 3/8 and 6/8
New composers: Ludvig Schytte and Albert Biehl

Unit 10 Lessons 181–200

Repertoire

Promenade (A. Reinagle)
Heart and Soul
The Bear (V. Rebikov)
Minuet in C (J.-P. Rameau)
When Johnny Comes Marching Home

Skills

Play and identify all diatonic chords in a major key
Create chord progressions using diatonic chords
Play first and second inversion chords
Play one-octave scales and arpeggios in D major, F major, and D minor

Knowledge

Diatonic chords
Chord progressions
First and second inversion chords
A-blues scale
New composers: Vladimir Rebikov and Jean-Phillipe Rameau

Unit 11 Lessons 201–220

Repertoire

Andante (J. C. Bach)
Down By the Bay
The Village Prophet (J. J. Rousseau)
Amazing Day (J. Hoffman)
Land of the Silver Birch

Skills

Analyzing chords in a score
Playing a 2-octave scale and arpeggio in B-flat major and G minor
Proper technique for using the damper pedal
Advancing techniques for improvising an accompaniment from a lead sheet

Knowledge

Key signature for B-flat major / G minor
Tools for identifying inversions
The damper pedal
New composers: Johann Christian Bach and Jean-Jaques Rousseau

Unit 12 Lessons 221–240

Repertoire

Arabesque (F. Burgmüller)
Greensleeves
Ballade (F. Burgmüller)
Musette in D

Skills

Two-octave scales and arpeggios in G, D & A major
Two-octave scales and arpeggios in A, D, G & C minor
Identify and play diatonic chords in minor keys
Harmonizing a melody using diatonic chords
Composing an original piece in ternary form
Improvising in blues scales over a 12-bar blues pattern

Knowledge

New terms: scherzando, leggiero, sforzando, countermelody, misterioso, con brio, dolce, augmented chord, animato
Tools for chord analysis
Practice strategies for playing fast passages with accuracy and evenness
Blues scales and improvising over a 12-bar blues chord progression

Unit 13 Lessons 241–260

Repertoire

Sonatina in C (1st, 2nd, and 3rd movements) by Muzio Clementi
America (My Country 'Tis of Thee)
Super Secret Agent (by Joseph Hoffman)

Skills

Counting rhythms in "cut time" (2/2 time signature)
Counting and performing eighth-note triplets
E-flat major scale (2-octave), arpeggio (2-octave), diatonic chords, and inversions
Creating your own original arrangement of a song
Chromatic scale

Knowledge

New terms: sonatina, movement, sonata-allegro form, Alberti bass, exposition, development, recapitulation, triplet, trill, opus, molto, forzato, roof top accent, subito
Identify and analyze sonata-allegro form

Unit 14 Lessons 261–280

Repertoire

Etude in D Minor (C. Gurlitt)
Minuet in G Major (C. Petzold)
The Wild Horseman (R. Schumann)
The Song of Twilight (Y. Nakada)

Skills

How to read and execute ornaments: trill, mordent, appoggiatura
More advanced applications of artistic elements: phrasing, voicing, damper pedal technique
Counting the beat using subdivided sixteenth notes ("1-ee-and-uh") as a tool for performing more complex rhythms

Knowledge

Dissonance vs consonance
Ornaments: Trill, mordent, appoggiatura
Formal analysis review: binary, ternary

Unit 15 Lessons 281–300

Repertoire

Sonatina in G, 1st and 2nd movements (L. Beethoven, Anh. 5, No. 1)
Autumn Moon (J. Hoffman)
Polonaise in G Minor (J. S. Bach, BWV Anh. 119)
The Mechanical Doll (D. Shostakovich)

Skills

B minor 2-octave scales (natural, harmonic, and melodic), arpeggios, and diatonic chords
Executing a "rolled" chord
Additional Hanon finger power exercises
Composing and improvising over a chord progression
Using form and phrase structure to guide your own original compositions
Improvising ornamentations and passing tones in a baroque piece

Knowledge

New terms: anhang (German), a tempo, poco rallentando, molto espressivo, dolce, rolled chord
Identifying chord tones vs non-chord tones
Learn about unique stylistic considerations for music of the Baroque Era (1600-1750)
Review: grace notes, 8va
How to identify shifting tonal centers in music

Unit 16 Lessons 301–322

Repertoire

Spinning Song (A. Ellmenreich, Op. 14, No. 4)
Prelude in C Minor (J. S. Bach, BWV 999)
El Matador (M. Bober)
Sonatina in F (L. Beethoven, Anh. 5, No. 2)

Skills

Learn the original version of C. L. Hanon's "The Virtuoso Pianist," Exercises 1-11
3-octave scales and arpeggios, using triplets
E major scales, arpeggios, diatonic chords, and inversions

Knowledge

How composer catalogues work, including an understanding of the meaning of abbreviations like "BWV" and "K"
Key signature for E major: 4 sharps

Unit 17 Lessons 323–329

Repertoire

Elfin Dance, Op. 12, No. 4 by Edvard Grieg
Scherzo, from Piano Sonata No. 9 Hob XVI/9 by Franz Joseph Haydn
March in D Major, BWV Anh. 122 by Carl Phillip Emmanuel Bach
The Entertainer (simplified) by Scott Joplin

Skills

A-flat major scale, arpeggio, and diatonic chords
Learning to recognize and identify various intervals by sight and sound, including m2, M2, m3, M3, P4, and d5
Improvising in the key of A-flat major

Knowledge

Double sharps, double flats
Key signature for A-flat major: 4 flats
Reading and writing intervals: perfect 4th, diminished 5th, augmented 5th