There are many ways to thinking in harmony.įirst phase: developing a sense for harmony Note: The heights of notes referenced here are not absolute.įurther note: The steps are interchangeable when possible and this is not a strict approach. How much harmony we teach depends in great part from the student: their age, experience and thirst for music theory, which on the other hand is very tied to the physical craft of piano playing. Like learning languages, it becomes easier the more different languages you learn. Before explaining anything, the fingers have to know where to go. The healthy approach is to go from the practical to the analytical. Getting to think in harmony and knowing the Circle of Fifths is a teaching arc that reaches for many months and even years. For most piano beginners, though, it's not possible to feel themselves into new keys as quickly.
Afterwards, a new scale in a new key is introduced and the process is repeated. Some piano books handle harmonic understanding with presenting a new scale to the student. Why the approach of most piano books fails. If this process is interesting for you, you can download a free guide and a checklist for you to print (including circle of fifths).
I'm happy to share my experience with you and hope that you can gain some insights from it, either as a player or as a teacher. Whenever I do this, the effects and benefits are fantastic. I invest a lot of time in a lesson with basics, more so than with pieces, always working on the player's sound, understanding of harmony or their capacity to react. The language of piano is harmony and it's expected of piano players to move between keys as if they moved between rooms in their home.Īll piano players can learn to think in harmony and conquer the keyboard.
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