THE POP PIANO BOOK - AUTHOR'S FOREWORD and TABLE OF CONTENTS
For your information we have included below the Author's Foreword and Table of Contents from the Pop Piano Book.
This web page contains excerpts from the Pop Piano Book ©1993 Mark Harrison. All rights reserved.
THE POP PIANO BOOK - AUTHOR'S FOREWORD
Welcome to The Pop Piano Book. Let's start with a little trivia quiz:-
have you ever bought the sheet music for a pop tune, only to be 'underwhelmed' by somebody else's arrangement, and unsure how to fix it or make it sound 'hipper'?
have you ever tried to play a pop tune from a 'fake book' or leadsheet, only to be unsure how to interpret the chord symbols, or 'stuck in a rut' with your voicings?
have you ever bought a so-called pop piano instruction book which contained some cool-sounding music examples, but no satisfactory explanation of how they were derived, or how to apply the concepts in different situations?
have you ever wished you could spontaneously emulate the great keyboard players you hear on records, in modern styles such as pop-rock, funk, gospel etc.?
have you ever become frustrated when performing your own tunes or songs, wishing you could interpret them in more stylistically appropriate and interesting ways?
If you answered YES to any of these questions, then the solution to your problems is in your hands! At last there is now a method available to help you spontaneously create your own arrangements in contemporary styles. In the years that I have been instructing keyboard students in both private and classroom situations, it has become clear to me that the essential foundation for these skills is a firm grasp of harmonic and rhythmic concepts. So the first part of the 'Pop Piano Book' (Chapters 1 - 10) presents a step-by-step approach to these basic building blocks necessary to play contemporary styles. This is what I call the 'toolbox' part of the book! At each stage the harmony and underlying concepts are explained, and reinforced with examples and practice routines in different stylistic settings.
The second part of the 'Pop Piano Book' (Chapters 11 - 18) then presents and analyzes the components of each contemporary style, and gives you specific methods to construct your own accompaniment patterns and melody treatments in each style. These chapters contain hundreds of music examples, all analyzed and explained, with detailed cross-reference back to the first part of the book showing you the harmonic and rhythmic devices used in each case. Working through this text will enable you to sound convincing in these styles - just reading from a chord chart or from memory! Think of it - no longer will you be unsure about what to
play - or be shackled to someone else's cheesy arrangement! Like all worthwhile goals, this
learning process will take longer than five minutes (!) and involves some work - but the goal is achievable if you follow these methods!
The 'Pop Piano Book' can be used by many levels of student, from serious beginner through to intermediate/advanced. You should ideally have some familiarity with treble and bass clef notation, major scales and key signatures, and basic chords. (Chapter 1 contains a review of chords and scales used in contemporary styles). Here are some ways in which this book can be used:
Students can progress through each chapter in order, working through all the examples and practice assignments. This is the most thorough approach and is suitable for serious beginners through to intermediate level students. (Note to teachers - this approach is also suitable for classroom situations as well as private lessons - I am basing four 'quarters' or one year of keyboard classes on this book, at the Harrison School of Music in Los Angeles, California).
More advanced players may review any 'contemporary harmony' information in the first part of the book as necessary, before focusing on particular styles of interest in the second part of the book.
All musicians (including composers, arrangers and other instrumentalists) can use this book as a harmonic and stylistic reference source.
For those of you who don't care for all the analysis and explanation (and I know you're out there!) and who just want to play - well there's nearly 800 music examples in this book (including all the different styles) for you to have fun with!
I have also created audio cassettes and standard MIDI file disks of all the music examples in the book - these are an optional 'extra' for those of you who feel more reassured to 'hear' as well as 'see' the examples! Please see page vi for further information on how to order these products. Although the 'Pop Piano Book' is primarily written from a piano-playing perspective, the ideas and concepts also substantially apply to synthesizers and electronic keyboards.
Good luck - and I look forward to helping you play the music you enjoy!!
MARK HARRISON
Harrison Music Education Systems
Los Angeles, California
THE POP PIANO BOOK - TABLE OF CONTENTS
SECTION 1 - Contemporary harmonic and rhythmic concepts for piano
| Chapter One: | Scales and chords - review | Page 1 |
| Chapter Two: | Rhythmic concepts and notation - review | Page 19 |
| Chapter Three: | Diatonic triads and four-part chords | Page 37 |
| Chapter Four: | Triads - inversions and voiceleading | Page 53 |
| Chapter Five: | Creating & using triad-over-root chords | Page 65 |
| Chapter Six: | 4-part chords - inversions and voiceleading | Page 83 |
| Chapter Seven: | Creating & using 4-part-over-root chords | Page 93 |
| Chapter Eight: | Triad resolutions using added 9ths | Page 103 |
| Chapter Nine: | Triad resolutions using suspended 4ths | Page 119 |
| Chapter Ten: | Chord 'shapes' using fourth intervals | Page 125 |
SECTION 2 - Contemporary piano styles
| Chapter Eleven: | Pop Ballad | Page 133 |
| Chapter Twelve: | Pop-Rock and Hard Rock | Page 185 |
| Chapter Thirteen: | New Age | Page 219 |
| Chapter Fourteen: | R'n'B Ballad | Page 257 |
| Chapter Fifteen: | R'n'B/Funk | Page 289 |
| Chapter Sixteen: | Country & Country-Rock | Page 343 |
| Chapter Seventeen: | Slow Gospel | Page 389 |
| Chapter Eighteen: | Fast Gospel | Page 443 |
SECTION 3 - Appendixes
| Appendix One: | Glossary of terms used in this book | Page 475 |
| Appendix Two: | Scale fingering guide (major & pentatonic scales) | Page 495 |
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