Full Description
Developing Piano Skills Through Composition merges pedagogy with improvisation to help students achieve piano proficiency while actively engaging in the creative process. Unlike conventional piano methods, this approach empowers learners through composition and improvisation, making students' learning journey both practical and artistically fulfilling.
The book includes twenty carefully crafted dances and etudes inspired by folk traditions from around the world. Each piece serves as both a technical study and a window into diverse musical cultures—from Balkan rhythms to Latin American patterns, Asian pentatonic explorations to African polyrhythms. This international suite expands musical vocabulary beyond Western idioms while building essential keyboard skills. Developing Piano Skills Through Composition will be of particular appeal toward music students in universities who are looking to attain their piano proficiency requirements, but also be may of interest to pianists outside the academy who are either self-taught or wish to expand their creative process through improvisation.
Contents
Introductory Notes on Composition and Improvisation
Approaching Composition through Improvisation on a Given Theme
Preparing a Composition Plan
Practicing your Compositions
What is Progress in this approach
Is your Composition Original?
Introductory Notes on Pedagogy
Playing Position: Sitting at the Piano
Playing Position: Wrists, Hands, and Fingers
Economical Playing: Finger Activation and Wrist Movement
Dances:
Balkan Dance
Arabesque
Vals Venezolano
Tarantella
Dance from the Greeks Islands
Serbian Dance
Cypriot Dance
Hungarian Dance
Minimal Tango
Chinese Dance
Jamaican Dance
Romantic Samba
Kabuki
Cha-cha-cha
Dissonant Polka
Tinikling
Remembering the Irish Washerwoman
Charleston
Indlamu: South African Dance
Polynesian Dance
Appendix
