The Contemporany Piano Plan

Welcome to the Contemporany Piano Practice Plan

“My goal is to play, improvise and create music in a contemporary piano style.”

If this sounds like you, then this article is a must read before you sign up. – As you might have read on my front page, my focus is on how to create music and express different kinds of emotions with the piano. Mastering contemporary piano style is an excellent tool to do that… as well as blues, or any other style.
LET’S GET STARTED!

Dive into Contemporanien Landscape...

Before you would start working on your curriculum, I want you to check out this lesson:

*I don’t expect you to complete it, but it helps to set your mind in the right direction.
Sight Reading
(Core Lessons)
How to make music with the Core Lessons
Challenging Etudes
IV. Create your first composition based on Triads
Warm up exercises and Sight Reading
Basic Improvisation Exercises
Sight Reading – Low Intermediate Approach
(If the speed of the demonstration feels very slow to you, jump to the high intermediate Approach)
Sight Reading – High intermediate Approach
 
Compositional Improvisation

Collect your favourite parts from the etudes you have learned so far, and mix them up. You can’t go wrong. All the core lessons are in the key of E minor, so whatever you decide to glue together, will fit, no worries. Feel free to change things around to your taste, also, you might want to add parts, that wasn’t in the curriculum. That is completely fine. I did that too.

Left-Hand Accompaniment
Improvisation
Rhythm
Duet Part
Improvisation (Mindset)
Songs
Checkpoint

Test your skills, and decide if you are ready to move to the next section:

 This section is just about having fun playing the piano.

POP-BLUES
POP

Time to be a beginner again.  We will even revisit some lessons. Since you have good control over the piano, you have to look the core lessons from an entirely different perspective now. Therefore I strongly recommend you to start here:

Keeping that Jazz Beginner Mindset, you will find even the absolute beginner lessons useful to you.

Major Triad Etude
Ear Training
Minor Triads Etude
Arpeggios – Major
Arpeggios – Minor
Composition
Ear Training – Transposition – Composition
VII. Theory – Basics – Workout

Final Words...

If you are still not sure where to start or how to approach these lessons, feel free to contact me. In order to give you good advice and guidance, I would need the following information from you:

  • Your name, age, and main motivation.
  • A link where I can see or hear you playing any of my exercises from this practice plan. (Unlisted youtube link, mp3 file, etc.) If you are not a member yet, please chose a lesson from my Youtube Channel. Play the entire exercise from the beginning to the end with a steady beat and let me know how long time did it take you to complete the lesson. If the recording is about improvisation, please improvise at least for 1 minute (with a steady beat).
  • How much time do you have for practice?
  • Are you working on the additional exercises too?
  • What lessons have you already completed or are still working on?
  • What is your next short-term goal? Is it ok if I tell you that you should change that goal?:)

 

Most of the time you think that your problem will be solved if you learn more about theory, scales, and licks, but then I come and tell you that all you have to do first is to keep the rhythm.