Join the 6-Week Piano Mini-Course!
Join us for 6 weeks of piano lessons focusing on learning an intermediate-level Yann Tiersen piece (comptine d'un autre été), and a couple other pieces focused on developing your ear for melody.
6-Week Mini-Course: The Details
Take a look at the video explaining all the details of this piano course. Learn a new piece and gain some practice skills!
6 Weeks of Lessons:
There are two types of lessons in this mini-course:
• 6 main lessons, between 30-40 minutes each
• 6 Q&A sessions, about 45 minutes each
That means there are 12 videos in this course, totalling 8+ hours of content.
You'll have access to these lessons, which originally aired live, forever. The recorded videos will be available for you to watch and download at any time. This also allows you to have flexible pacing.
What you'll be able to do at the end of the course:
• Write a melody and choose chords for it
• Choose chords and pick melody notes to go on top of it
• Come up with a "musical fragment" that you can then turn into a longer composition
• Write a 16-bar piece of music in binary form, with a modulation, fleshed-out melody and chords/harmony.
• Do the above but also in a specific dance style (such as a minuet or courante)
• Understand how to use I and V chords, predominants ii and IV, and the vi chord in songwriting (and how to identify them in your music)
• Show off to all your friends (wait, what!?)
Who this course is for:
I recommend giving this a try if you've been playing for at least 1-2 years and are comfortable with grade 3 material.
Those of you on the beginner side of things might want to skip this one out. If this piece doesn't seem like a "stretch" to you because you're a little further along in your piano journey, this course could be viewed as a refresher to give you new ideas for your practice sessions.
Other pieces you'll work on
In addition to learning the main piece, there are also two other supplemental pieces we'll work on for extra study, to help develop your ear, sight and analytical skills. We'll reimagine and manipulate these pieces, learning a new LH variation (the famous Alberti bass).
These extra pieces are Minuet in G by Petzold (a very famous tune) and the Theme from Swan Lake by Tchaikovsky (originally for orchestra).
Technique and exercises
In every weekly lesson, we'll have a technique segment where we work on a specific exercise. Sometimes the exercise is derived from a piece, sometimes they're scales and triads, and other times they're completely different.
Having new technique to practice on a weekly basis will help your visual and tactile skills along, since you'll be improving your dexterity and exposing yourself to new music.
Accessible Pricing – $49 USD
The pricing for this course is deliberately kept simple and straightforward. It's a one-time fee that grants you access to the content forever. There aren't any subscription fees, tiers or refunds.
The pricing is partly determined by the cost of the first course, and also by the average rate for a 1-hour lesson. For $49, you'll get to learn a great piece from start-to-finish, a piece you'll be able to share with friends and family, and do it alongside other piano enthusiasts.
Testimonials
Thanks again,
I find the tips you give, plus the great feedback from each person’s video is really so helpful. You are also so encouraging. I’ve learned SO much since we began and realize too that others have many of the same problems I do.
This has been such a great help to me taking this 6-week course from you. It’s helping me in my overall piano playing, not just Comptine. I sure hope you do another of these for another great piece.
With sincere appreciation,
Diane
'm currently between piano teachers, so I thought your course would help to fill the void, and boy did it ever. You are a good teacher and coach, I found your lessons easy to follow, not too fast, and especially useful was the Q&A. That's the nearest thing I've found online to an actual group piano class. You've really got a good approach there. It was great to find that mine was not the only 60 year old brain trying to absorb and stretch and enjoy making music.
Thanks again, and keep doing what you do!
Doug
PDFs of all sheet music, technical exercises and lesson plans
You'll be able to download all of the music used in this course in PDF format. There is a sheet music bundle, a technique bundle, and the lesson plans. There are also a few other additional sheets to help you out, like the chord cheat sheet and scale cheat sheet.
The video lessons (and the accompanying audio files) are also available for streaming or download when you join the course.
No prerequisites required!
If you've already participated in the "30 days of piano", our first full live course, great! If not, you're still welcome to join this course. Having gone through the "30 days" will be helpful, but you'll still be able to follow along without it - this course can stand alone.
You might want to check out the "Starter's Guide" we created for the 30 days of piano, since it gives a run-down of the least you need to know to get the most out of this course. The starter's guide applies to both courses.
Interactive Q&A sessions
In addition to the weekly lessons, we also did a weekly Q&A session. This gave participants a chance to ask questions about the things they were learning in real-time, either via text or video.
It gave me the opportunity to share their practice with others, and give tips and advice - almost like having a one-on-one lesson (but for the benefit of all!).
Testimonials
I want to thank you to tell us and encourage all the time that it will “click” one day. It did for me.
I’ve been trying to practice at least an hour a day for the last month and even if I won’t put together Comptine at full speed by the end of the course, I now believe I will make it, maybe in the next 2-3 weeks but it looks close. And even if…I don’t manage, I’m 100% sure your course and your attitude made me much more better player – and this is most important !!
Best regards,
-Jacek
Are you ready to join the 6-week mini course group and learn an awesome piece together?