Mel Bay

Author: Andy Ostwald
Format: Book with Audio Online
Instrumentation: Piano
Level: Beginning-Intermediate

This comprehensive introduction to jazz, blues, and rock piano will offer easy-to-understand explanations of music theory, and guide you step by step as you develop your skills. Above all, Piano by Ear will help you to explore and develop your ability to improvise. Rather than focus on written notation, you'll learn to express yourself at the piano by relying on your ear and on your own creative instincts.

Book One is designed for students who are brand-new to playing music by ear and improvising. Only basic piano technique and basic music-reading skills are needed. Includes access to online audio.

Contents:

• Part I: Alphabet of Improvisation
  • Chapter 1 Introduction
  • Chapter 2 Arpeggios and Rhythm Formulas
  • Chapter 3 Leading Notes
  • Chapter 4 Chord Tone Approaches
  • Chapter 5 Scales
  • Chapter 6 Combining Scales, Arpeggios, Rhythmic Formulas and Chord Tone Approaches
  • Chapter 7 Creating Original Melodic Patterns
  • Chapter 8 The Relationship of Rhythm and Harmony
  • Chapter 9 A Traditional Approach to Non-Chord Tones
  • Chapter 10 Motivic Development
• Part II: Language of Improvisation
  • Chapter 11 Melody
  • Chapter 12 The Relationship between Improvisation and Original Melody
  • Chapter 13 Ornamentation
  • Chapter 14 Modulation
  • Chapter 15 Changing the Mode
  • Chapter 16 Form
  • Chapter 17 Range
  • Chapter 18 Left Hand Variations
• Part III: Styles
  • Chapter 19 Style: Introduction
  • Chapter 20 March
  • Chapter 21 Dance Styles
  • Chapter 22 Song Styles
  • Chapter 23 Free-Form Styles
  • Chapter 24 Stylistic Modulation
  • Chapter 25 Using Foreign Material
  • Variations on a Theme by Beethoven (from Piano Sonata, Op 57)
  • About the Author