Alfred's Teach Yourself to Improvise at the Keyboard: Keyboard/Piano Book & CD

Konowitz approaches improvisation not as an advanced skill reserved for jazz specialists, but as a foundational musical literacy that belongs in every pianist's toolkit. The progression from blues through rock to jazz creates a natural arc of increasing harmonic sophistication, letting students build confidence and fluency before facing more complex styles. The included CD transforms solo practice into genuine dialogue, giving learners a reference and ensemble partner all at once.

The experience moves from comfortable and grounded in blues grooves to gradually more exploratory and harmonically complex as you reach jazz territory. Each new section feels achievable because it builds logically on what came before, creating genuine growth rather than sudden jumps in difficulty. The sound of your own voice emerging from the keyboard is the real payoff; you stop reading someone else's ideas and start expressing your own.

This book serves self-directed pianists and keyboard students of any age who want to move beyond reading notation and into creative musicmaking. It works equally well for young people exploring their first jazz sounds and adult learners rediscovering the instrument after years away. Teachers can also use it to scaffold improvisation skills in private studio settings or group classes.

• Listen to the CD examples multiple times before attempting each section. Hearing the groove and harmonic movement first trains your ear for what improvisation should sound and feel like.
• Use the chord symbols as guardrails, not walls. Experiment with single-note melodies over the chords before moving to fuller textures.
• Practice the traditional songs and original examples exactly as written first, then use them as springboards for your own variations rather than launching into improvisation from scratch.
• Record yourself playing the accompaniment tracks, then layer your improvised melodies on top. Hearing yourself in context reveals rhythmic and harmonic choices you might otherwise miss.

Assign sections of this book to pianists preparing for jazz or contemporary music ensemble auditions, or to students in improvisation electives who need a structured written resource alongside ear training work. Solo pianists can use it to develop recital material that blends classical repertoire with jazz interpretations, and it works well for building the improvisation requirement in some music theory or keyboard competency curricula.

• Blues chord progressions and melodic vocabulary
• Reading and applying chord symbols
• Right-hand improvisation over a steady left-hand foundation
• Comping patterns in rock and jazz idioms
• Listening and responding to harmonic structure in real time
• Translating traditional melodic materials into improvised variations