Music by Me, Book Four: Early Intermediate/Intermediate Piano Book

Book Four moves beyond technique drills into actual musicianship territory. The six-unit structure gives students real compositional problems to solve, whether they're navigating syncopation, understanding voice leading through non-chord tones, or discovering why modes matter. Your students won't just play exercises; they'll build habits of musical thinking.

A practical studio where musical ideas take shape. The book balances structure with creativity, offering clear frameworks for understanding harmony, rhythm, and melody while leaving room for students to discover their own voice as young composers.

Early intermediate and intermediate piano students ready to engage with music composition and harmonic thinking. Teachers who want their students to understand why music works, not just how to play the notes.

• When introducing syncopation, slow the tempo significantly and have students tap the beat while playing. The rhythmic security prevents panic and builds confidence before you bring the tempo back.
• For the 12-bar blues section, encourage students to play the basic progression repeatedly before adding any variations. Familiarity with the harmonic framework makes improvisation and ornamentation feel less random.
• Use the chord progression exercises as a springboard for improvisation. Once students understand the harmonic movement, let them experiment with melody over those changes.
• When studying modes, play simple modal melodies in parallel before moving to different tonics. Hearing the characteristic sound of each mode in the same tonal area helps distinguish them.

Work through this methodically as part of your core piano curriculum rather than as supplemental material. The six units map well to a full academic year, giving students consistent exposure to composition and theory across multiple lessons. You might also extract individual units to coordinate with concert programming, using the blues unit to frame a contemporary music recital or the modes chapter to contextualize repertoire from different musical traditions.

• Reading and writing syncopated rhythms in context
• Identifying and using passing tones, neighbor tones, and other melodic non-chord tones
• Analyzing and composing with functional chord progressions
• Setting lyrics to original melodies with proper accentuation and phrasing
• Understanding the 12-bar blues form and its variations
• Distinguishing modal characteristics and writing in modes other than major and minor