I’m sure most of you have seen this video before, but it’s one of my all-time favorites! I especially love to show it to beginning students to inspire them to think more musically and creatively in their playing. Don’t you just love how much fun all these guys are having?!
Improvising
Free Improvisation Handbook by Richard Grayson
One of my studio moms posted a link to this video on Facebook: I thought it was really cool and started checking more into this amazing pianist/improviser, Richard Grayson. After digging a while, I unearthed a link to his Improvising at the Keyboard handbook, a work in progress that is already an incredibly helpful resource […]
Do We Have Time for an Improv?
This is a question I hear frequently at the end of lessons these days and I love it! Ever since I attended the workshop by Forrest and Akiko Kinney a couple of years ago and started using the Pattern Play series, my studio has been transformed. We focus so much more on making music together, […]
Monday Mailbag – How to Equip Students to Improvise at the Piano with Pattern Play
“How have you found the Pattern Play books to be successful? I’ve had some great improvisations while I play a pattern and some where the students play the pattern and I’ll improvise, but getting them to that solo level just has seemed to be intimidating for them.” One of the “complications” my students can choose as […]
A Wonderful Piano Improvisation Project
Anyone who’s been reading here very long knows that I’m practically in love with the Pattern Play series by Forest and Akiko Kinney. So I was thrilled to recently come across this fabulous improvisation project that Anne Crosby Gaudet used with her students! Read the post for a complete description of how she set the […]
A Student Success with Scales Patterns and Improv Book!
How do you know if a particular book or approach is helping a student? Well, when the student tells you that they think the book has really helped them, that’s a pretty good indication. 🙂 If only all students would just come right out and say so! One of my older beginners has been using […]
