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Mine now shows 8. I noticed that there is a difference between whether I am logged in or not, with fewer pages if I am not. Maybe there is a difference between browsers, screen resolution, or something along those lines? I have tried making the browser cover full screen and smaller, with no difference in page count.
Anyway, thanks so much for telling us about this course! It is definitely slow going now, but it is great fun. If I play Silent Night very slowly, I can get through it with few mistakes. It is only a matter of training muscle memory by warming up with that tune every day before going into "Today". That one is slower going for me. It really depends on how much experience you have going in. It is much easier for me to stay with this course than some of the others because, no matter how slow the going, it is still very rewarding.
Tony
I am glad to hear that it is working for you. The truth is, I never really finished the course. I did Silent Night, Today, and 2 or 3 others. I got the general idea but left it at that for some reason. I am more heavily into the jazz genre right now. There is no end to this stuff, right ? LOL ....
Don
Kawai MP7SE, On Stage KS7350 keyboard stand, KRK Classic 5 powered monitors, SennHeiser HD 559 Headphones
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Ah, There it is....
Thanks.
One more request -- Would it be possible for someone who has the course to share the index of lessons or at least the topics covered by a few of the more advanced (ie - higher numbered) lessons?
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I am glad to hear that it is working for you.
The truth is, I never really finished the course. I did Silent Night, Today, and 2 or 3 others. I got the general idea but left it at that for some reason. I am more heavily into the jazz genre right now. There is no end to this stuff, right ? LOL ....
True enough. For me, this course is answering a lot of questions, and is therefore serving to build a working foundation on which to build from my other materials. This is essentially my starting point. I am thinking that the next step might be the Quaverbox course, and maybe revisiting Sudnow. Tony
Roland V-Grand
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I think the different page counts come from a setting you can make: go to My Stuff at the top of the page, click on Edit Preferences, then part way down look for "Total posts to show on one page."
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I don't know if this is the <best> way to learn pop piano but ten days ago I started on the Rod Russell course referred to at the start of this thread. I bought the first half (16 lessons) of the course after a spot of old-fashioned horse trading. I am enjoying it as it starts at absolute zero, which is where I am at. After these ten days I have almost completed Lesson 1 and can play four tunes (right hand melody, left hand chords): Beautiful Brown Eyes, The Time is Right, Drink to Me Only and On Top of Old Smokey. Okay, a tad corny, but that's four more tunes than I could play just under two weeks ago. Play on the piano, that is. I play at a higher level on the flute. I'm no expert but as far as I can tell this is not a comping course but a path to learning a variety of popular piano styles.
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😀 Inero, I subscribed to the Rod Russel course too. It's the $29.99 online version , same material but accessible from web page instead of printed material/DVD.
I only got access to the first two lessons which are basic, so eagerly waiting for the next two.
I'm actually using Duane Shinn 52 weeks piano crash course, but Rod pop piano course seems a little faster and focusing right away on "pop" styles.
Most likely there will be overlapping, but lets see how it goes. I would be interested to take a peek at lesson , say, 16 to get a sense of how the course evolve, as I'm still in my 30 days cancellation window.
stoppa
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No, I don't think you killed the thread. I have made a couple of lengthy posts to answer some questions about the Higginson course, and don't get replies from those asking questions, so the thread dies after the questions are answered. I don't know if the folks are still reading the thread and have seen my answer posts or not. Your posts help to keep the thread alive. Tony
Roland V-Grand
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The Professional Chord System Chord Supplement book arrived today. This one is REALLY worthwhile! I thought it would be just a couple of charts showing other chord patterns, and bought it more out of wanting the complete offerings than with any particular expectations.
Boy. was I wrong! This book is 108 pages of solid information, and is appropriately called the "Chord Pattern Reference Guide". It covers the patterns taught in the course, but greatly expands this to all manner of having different chord notes in the bass, adding extra notes, how chords are built, how to work with the patterns, with suggestions as to when they should be used, etc.
As far as I am concerned, both supplements are very worthwhile for those seriously involved in this course. I am working with it every day, and putting time into it, so for me, I am REALLY glad that I got these supplements.
Also, as a nice touch, David Jr. sent me the transposing wheel as a "thankyou" for being patient with the back order. That was really nice of him to do that. I can recommend the transposing wheel. It does make transposing simpler and visual, so it is easy to see and understand the process. David Higginson really did have a knack for imparting information to the student, and we are very fortunate that his son is keeping the business going.
Tony
Roland V-Grand
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TonyB: No, I don't think you killed the thread. Thanks. That's a relief! I am a new kid on the block and I'd hate to party-poop. Stoppa, Lesson 16 of the Rod Russell course covers E min chords and has you playing <This Old Hammer> and <The Drunken Sailor> as well as pieces by Russell himself. Along the way, you learn, among other tunes, <Give Me That Old Time Religion>, <When You and I Were Young, Maggie> and <Aura Lee> (Lesson 12); <After the Ball> (lesson 13); <Greensleeves> (Lesson 14); <The Banks of the Ohio> (Lesson 14), and, of course, lots of chords. My ambition is to be able to play ragtime and boogie-woogie etc but I'm happy to learn the basics on this traditional material. I think it's a good idea to have a couple of courses going at the same time. I am also working my way through James Rhodes' book "How to Play the Piano" which is not so much a course as a focused project to learn a Bach Prelude, which is classical and we don't mention that in this sub-forum ;-)
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TonyB: No, I don't think you killed the thread. Thanks. That's a relief! I am a new kid on the block and I'd hate to party-poop. Stoppa, Lesson 16 of the Rod Russell course covers E min chords and has you playing <This Old Hammer> and <The Drunken Sailor> as well as pieces by Russell himself. Along the way, you learn, among other tunes, <Give Me That Old Time Religion>, <When You and I Were Young, Maggie> and <Aura Lee> (Lesson 12); <After the Ball> (lesson 13); <Greensleeves> (Lesson 14); <The Banks of the Ohio> (Lesson 14), and, of course, lots of chords. My ambition is to be able to play ragtime and boogie-woogie etc but I'm happy to learn the basics on this traditional material. I think it's a good idea to have a couple of courses going at the same time. I am also working my way through James Rhodes' book "How to Play the Piano" which is not so much a course as a focused project to learn a Bach Prelude, which is classical and we don't mention that in this sub-forum ;-) I don't see any problem with discussing other courses here. Tony
Roland V-Grand
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Those courses are from Duane Shinn. He has a one year adult piano "crash course" that really prepares you to play whatever you want to study further on the piano. I get the impression from his other courses, that he intends in them that you already have the foundation provided by the crash course, whether you got it from that course or elsewhere. So all of his other courses are short and to the point. Tony
Roland V-Grand
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Tony, I've really appreciated all you've shared in this thread. The course sounds good, but I just started with a new teacher last month and so far am pretty happy and have my hands full. However, I was wondering if that chord supplement book would be useful for someone who is learning to play from lead sheets but isn't doing DH's course? Or is it very specific to his own program?
April
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Tony, I've really appreciated all you've shared in this thread. The course sounds good, but I just started with a new teacher last month and so far am pretty happy and have my hands full. However, I was wondering if that chord supplement book would be useful for someone who is learning to play from lead sheets but isn't doing DH's course? Or is it very specific to his own program?
AprilE, Yes, I think the chord supplement is specific to the DH course. The way the information is presented and the nomenclature used to illustrate the chords, all of that is consistent with how the course is taught. DH uses his own of illustrating and talking about the material, to get around whether or not the student knows anything about music and/or is able to read notation. The information is universal, since it is about chords and music, but it may not make a lot of sense to somebody not familiar with his way of teaching. Tony
Roland V-Grand
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Thanks for that clarification, Tony. That's great you are finding it so useful!
April
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Thanks for that clarification, Tony. That's great you are finding it so useful! Thanks. I may be wrong about my initial position on the book. In the Preface, DH talks about how the book can help you learn about every type of chord you will encounter in pop music. Then, he says "This guide may also be used as a supplement to the Professional Chord system, providing examples of additional chords not included in the method." That tells me he intended it to be a stand-alone book as well as a supplement to the course. My take on it is that the book fits well with the course because it uses the same approach and nomenclature. However, it may well be that you could use it by itself. at least, that is what it sounds like in the Preface. I tend to skip the Preface and go right into the material, but decided to go back and read that to see if there as any indications from DH about the use of the book. So, you may want to consider the book by itself. However, to me, and as taught in the course, the chords themselves are half of it, with the other half being the application of all the rhythm patterns to make those chords come alive. Tony
Last edited by TonyB; 05/05/17 12:33 AM.
Roland V-Grand
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I am now on lesson 11 and still doing well. I am playing the previous lessons, especially the solo versions of the tunes as warm-up. It takes time and patience to get through an entire tune cleanly. this is a natural part of the learning process, so I am not particularly concerned. It is getting better and I am noticing my hands getting a bit more comfortable with these new movements they are learning. This is not an overnight type of course. It takes time and practice, and DH makes that point over and over.
Tony
Roland V-Grand
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I don't know if anybody is reading this thread anymore. However, just in case, I will post some further observations.
Some folks posted that the course focuses on accompaniment, rather than solo piano. This is true, but the course DOES cover solo piano quite well, in my opinion. Using what you learn for accompaniment (i.e. the chord and rhythm patterns), DH does, in lesson 64, go over the steps he takes to create a solo piano piece using the accompaniment material. He goes step by step. You have to watch it several times to really get it, but it is definitely all there.
First, you work out the fingerings for the melody so you are not having to jump around too much, so it goes as smoothly as possible.
Then, you play through the chords as accompaniment, as taught in the course.
Then, you play chording using just the left hand as demonstrated in the lesson.
Then, you add just the melody in the right hand.
Then, you play a full chord in the right hand on the first beat of the measure while playing the melody.
Then, you can work with playing an entire chord under each melody note, as again demonstrated in the course.
Then, you play around with the tune to make it the way you want, using variations of these things.
He doesn't go into a lot of detail about how the chords are built because he already did that through the rest of the course. You should know your chords pretty well for any of the tunes you want to learn as solos, by the time you get to this part. If you did those lessons first, then you will definitely know the chords and be able to play through them smoothly.
To me, this is what is needed - how to use all the stuff we are learning about accompaniment, since we ARE learning a chord system with rhythm patterns, and apply the mechanics of lesson 61 to play the melody on top, with plenty of demonstration as to how to do this, measure by measure, using several of the tunes in the method.
So, in my opinion, we have what we need to be able to do this, all provided in this course. As with any such course, you can learn more outside the course to add more tools. I just think it is a wrong assumption that this course does not teach how to play solo piano.
On completion of the course, any tune you can apply the chord system to as an accompaniment, you should be able to also play as a solo, using the mechanics of lesson 61. You have to determine whether a particular tune works well as a solo. but, then when I have played in bands, a part of our job was to try a bunch of tunes and select those that worked for us - our particular instrumentation and skill sets. It is rare that a given player can play every tune imaginable and have it work well every time. There is a reason that cocktail piano players usually choose standards, particularly ballads.
I hope that clears up this point about whether or not this course teaches solo piano. DH goes through it fairly quickly, but the assumption is that you already know the chords and the tunes as taught earlier in the course, and therefore only need the mechanics involved.
Tony
Roland V-Grand
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Very interesting, Tony. It is clear the lessons teach how to play the partucular songs in the course. But can I learn the skills that would enable me to improvise, play other tunes by ear, and play other tunes from a lead sheet so that the tunes sound like full arrangements? DMD mentioned the course will teach you to play the songs from the course. What I'm most interested in is learning the skills and theory that carries over to other songs I might be interested in playing. Whenever i come across a course that seems to emphasize being able to play without reading music, I am skeptical. I might learn a few licks, but I won't understand how to carry the skills over to the songs I'm really interested in playing.
And i still don't understand DH's position that some songs just aren't suitable for solo piano. I've never heard a song yet that can't sound great as a piano solo given the right arrangement. It sounds as if some of DH's methods may not be suitable for solo playing rather than that only certain songs work well as solos. It is this emphasis on accompaniment that makes me (and perhaps some others) hesitant with this course. Nevertheless, I am enjoying reading about your experience with the course so please carry on. I'm sure there are many others still reading with interest among the silent majority. Also interested in knowing about Frosty's progress with the course.
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Piano
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