6 Week Mini-Course
Let's learn an early-intermediate piece together in six weeks - "Comptine" by Yann Tiersen.
6 Weeks of Lessons:
There are two types of lessons in this mini-course:
• 6 main lessons, between 30-40 minutes each
• 6 Q&A sessions, about 45 minutes each
That means there are 12 videos in this course, totalling 8+ hours of content.
You'll have access to these lessons, which originally aired live, forever. The recorded videos will be available for you to watch and download at any time. This also allows you to have flexible pacing.
Learn a Show-Stopping Piece
Here's the Spotify link to the piece.
Lesson focus:
When learning this piece, we'll focus on the four main areas of learning a piano piece:
• Aural
• Tactile
• Visual
• Analytical
This will give you a well-rounded learning experience and allow you to learn a stretch piece you might struggle with otherwise.
Who this course is for:
I recommend giving this a try if you've been playing for at least 1-2 years and are comfortable with grade 3 material.
Those of you on the beginner side of things might want to skip this one out. If this piece doesn't seem like a "stretch" to you because you're a little further along in your piano journey, this course could be viewed as a refresher to give you new ideas for your practice sessions.
Other pieces you'll work on
In addition to learning the main piece, there are also two other supplemental pieces we'll work on for extra study, to help develop your ear, sight and analytical skills. We'll reimagine and manipulate these pieces, learning a new LH variation (the famous Alberti bass).
These extra pieces are Minuet in G by Petzold (a very famous tune) and the Theme from Swan Lake by Tchaikovsky (originally for orchestra).
Technique and exercises
In every weekly lesson, we'll have a technique segment where we work on a specific exercise. Sometimes the exercise is derived from a piece, sometimes they're scales and triads, and other times they're completely different.
Having new technique to practice on a weekly basis will help your visual and tactile skills along, since you'll be improving your dexterity and exposing yourself to new music.
Key Topics:
Here are some of the topics we'll cover during our 6 weeks together:
• Learning a stretch piece, start to finish, including memorization
• A study of the common left-hand pattern Alberti bass
• Chord identification and analysis
• Learning a melody by ear as an aid to sight reading
• Technical exercises for improved finger dexterity
• Experimentation with dynamics, rubato and expression
• Supplemental pieces to develop sight reading skills and listening skills
• The opportunity to share your practice sessions for review and critique
The idea is to learn how to really dig into a piece for a well-rounded learning experience. The skills you develop while learning "Comptine" can then be applied to other pieces you'd like to work on in the future.
Your Instructor
Allysia has been teaching piano to people of all ages and levels, from three-year old beginners, to youth and teenagers, to retired adults, since 2005. Her website PianoTV.net and YouTube channel is the product of her desire to branch out and share music in new ways, and to provide a coherent framework for beginners.
She’s been playing piano since she was little, first taking lessons with her mother, and later with several trained piano teachers. Her musical education had a very creative focus, with lots of arranging and ear training.
As a teenager she decided to develop her songwriting skills by joining a loud rock band, which was a blast and is something she’s been doing ever since.
In 2005, she went through training to become a piano teacher at Long and McQuade in her Saskatchewan hometown, where she often taught fifty students each week, putting them through exams, competitions and recitals on a regular basis.
She also taught piano independently in Toronto, where she learned the ropes of being self-employed, which evolved into having her own bustling home studio in Saskatchewan. In addition to teaching, making videos and courses, she’s also adjudicated a couple music festivals, something she hopes to keep doing in the future.
For more information, please visit her at her website www.pianotv.net.