Teaching Tips: Improvisation and Chord Progressions

A good teacher must be open minded, willing to try new materials instead of creating assembly-line students. No two students are alike in personality or feeling for music.

A teacher must have a firm but flexible system of teaching. There must be a purpose in using the materials you do. Lessons can become boring and mechanical if new materials are not integrated in each lesson. Without variety in a lesson there is monotony. A child's imagination should be used to teach them improvisation at a young age and interpretation of their piano repertoire.

By learning to improvise on familiar folksongs, pop songs or hymns and carols, a student gains a sense of freedom at the keyboard. By using the simple patterns and fills in the Complete Book of Improvisation, Fills & Chord Progressions, a new dimension of confidence is instilled in the students that spills over to playing classical music more efficiently. When patterns are analyzed the student is more aware of the music he is playing and understands how the composer crafts his compositions with left hand patterns.

By integrating the study of chord progressions with the aid of the one hundred right-hand fills, the student becomes proficient at understanding the concept of theme and variations. The same chord progression can be played one hundred different ways! Using the twelve-bar blues progression in every key can help the student learn their chords in a practical fun way while learning to improvise.

Many teachers have blind spots in their teaching. Possibly theory and improvisation are two of the most neglected areas in teaching. They can be the most important part of the lesson if approached with a positive attitude. A students personality and temperament can influence their style of playing which can only be achieved by letting them start to improvise. Psychological studies have established that where interest and attitudes of the learner are ignored, education is of dubious value.

We must motivate our students to be their best and teach all aspects of playing the piano to them. Intelligent guidance and instruction in improvisation will create well rounded, students. Creative teaching takes into account all the factors that set off one pupil from another as an individual. Allowing students to improvise breathes new life into their piano lesson.

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