Wouldn’t it be great if we could all arrange songs on the keyboard right on the spot? I always thought that would be so great. So when I was in my late teens I went hunting. Not for elk or quail, but for piano styles I could use to arrange the songs I wanted to play and make them interesting. Back then there was no such thing as the internet, or CD’s, or video — it was either in a book or from a private teacher, and I went hunting in both areas — I bought tons of books on piano playing, and took lessons from several different teachers, some of whom were at the very top in the world of piano arranging.

     Gradually I learned style after style, but it took a long time. I thought at the time “There must be a better way to learn these styles than chasing down book after book, teacher after teacher.” So when I got a music teaching studio of my own years later, I started putting together a list of the piano styles I had learned. Still later I thought “I could put these styles on cards — one style on each card, and they would show each style by slipping behind the piano keyboard and pointing at the notes to be played!”

     Wow! What a breakthrough!

     So I started work on the project, and it took me several years to get all the styles down on paper and the bugs worked out. I realized, though, that the cards weren’t enough by themselves — I would need to demonstrate and explain how to use each style. So I painstakingly recorded six CD’s where I demonstrate audibly how each style works and how it can be used in a song.

    Still later I thought “A video showing each style close up would be really helpful as well”, so I recorded a DVD that shows me positioning each card on the piano keyboard then playing the pattern myself, so it is crystal clear to the learner. So the result was a set of 6 CD’s and 1 DVD along with the 72 piano style cards.

Here’s a 2-minute video that shows how it all works:

If you think you would find this helpful, check out “Keyboard Arranging — How To Do It On The Spot!”

Tags: keyboard arranging, Piano Styles