Since launching my online training for piano teachers recently, there have been lots of questions about how to help students ‘find their groove’ in pop music and how teachers can help students with tricky rhythms.
In my opinion, it’s one of the hardest things about teaching pop music, but only if you’re trying to teach from the score.
Reading v Feeling
Take the ubiquitous, “Let it go” from the Disney movie, Frozen (I know, I can hear the groans already – bear with me!). In its original form, this piece is in F minor and features some quite tricky syncopation if the melody is played with the full accompaniment. You can take a look at the original version here on MusicNotes.
While there is an easy arrangement available, it’s hard to avoid the slightly syncopated nature of the theme, so this is still a feature even at the easy level.
While you could have kids sit on the bench and count  “1 and 2 and 3 and…” while they first try to clap and then play this tune, I find it much simpler to just say to students: “Here are the notes. Think about how it sounds and then just play those notes in the rhythm that you know”.Â
Given they’ve probably listened to it a million times, this should come after a it of trial and error. While they might not have actually “read” this from the music, you can now make a connection back to what that rhythm looks like on the music and how it feels and sounds to play. In this way, we’re building on students’ pattern recognition skills which are so vital for fluid music reading.
You could even take it a step further and get them to make up an alternate melody using that rhythm. Can they write it out from memory? Can they try it in the LH? Can they tap the rhythm in the RH while keeping a steady beat in the LH? etc.
These are the types of activities that lend themselves so well to pop music.
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Remember above when I said, “…it’s one of the hardest things about teaching pop music, but only if you’re trying to teach from the score”? Well this is where teaching pop through chords can really come in handy and it’s one of the things that I focus on in my training course.
The reality is that when you distil this song down to its underlying chord progression, you’ll quickly realise that the chorus is just a I V vi IV progression. In C, this would be: C G Am F.
The great thing now is that students can play this chord progression pretty easily keeping a steady pace, while you can play the melody over the top. You can then swap roles and they can try the first few melody notes (in time, of course), while you play the chords.
In this way, the students are understanding about chord progressions and are enjoying playing along with their teacher, experimenting with both melody and rhythm.
They can also record themselves playing the chords on their phone and then play this back with headphones while playing the melody over the top.
Using Technology
Another option when rhythm gets tricky is to get students to play along to a backing track. There are a number of apps available for this, but the best I’ve found is NoteStar.
With an app like this, students can play chords along to a full band with vocals and feel like they’re really playing the original score. I show you exactly how do to this in PianoFlix Video 7 for those that are interested.
For more info on great iPad apps for piano teachers, click here.
In conclusion
I found a great article about rhythm in pop music on the Music Matters Blog which sums up my thoughts perfectly:
Please don’t call the rhythm police on me for this, but I usually let them play it however they think it should sound rhythmically. For those who are interested in playing familiar pop music like this, I often just have them figure it out by ear anyway, so that eliminates the discrepancy between how they think it should sound and how it is notated.
While I know this doesn’t answer all questions (how do you teach students to play the melody, chords and bass all at the same time when they are just beginning, for example), I hope it gets you thinking about the ways in which you can approach pop in your lessons.
Remember, students are already reading music in many other aspects of their piano training. If playing pop involves using their ears more than reading, in my opinion, this is a good thing.
What do you think?
How do you teach rhythms? Have you got some good tricks to share? Let me know by leaving a comment below.
CPTP127: Jon Schmidt from The Piano Guys
by Tim Topham
Jon Schmidt is none other than the “piano guy” from The Piano Guys. He is a pianist, composer, piano teacher, and author, and I’m delighted to have him join me on the podcast for this episode. The Piano Guys are known for their incredible pop and classical arrangements. In 2016 they passed 1 billion views on YouTube ... CPTP127: Jon Schmidt from The Piano Guys
CPTP107: How to Simplify and Teach a Pop Song by Ear
by Tim Topham
When it comes to teaching pop, sometimes the best approach is to learn it aurally. Working out a pop song by ear gives you more opportunities to teach your students theory, and creates a much more musical experience. In this episode I take you through step-by-step how you can teach your students a pop song ... CPTP107: How to Simplify and Teach a Pop Song by Ear
Want to know the 10 rules that I always follow when teaching pop music to today’s students? I’ve called the list my 10 Commandments of Teaching Pop and you can find it below. Join the the preeminent professional development, learning and networking community for instrumental music teachers. Plans & Pricing The 10 Commandments of Teaching ... Teaching Rhythm in Pop Music
How to Build Essential Musicianship with Pop Songs Students Love
by Doug Hanvey
In your quest to help students travel the path of piano mastery, have you ever considered teaching them how to play a lead sheet? Teaching students how to play lead sheets – melody and chord symbols – of popular songs is the hot new trend in piano studios these days. It’s easy enough to find ... Teaching Rhythm in Pop Music
The Best Ways to Teach Pop Music Welcome to May’s Expert Roundup post. I am so excited to share with you this month’s experts and their pop teaching tips and insights. For May, I asked our experts what traditional pedagogical piano teaching methods they had to throw out in order to have success teaching pop ... Teaching Rhythm in Pop Music
If you’ve decided to embrace teaching pop in your studio in the last few years, well done! (If you haven’t, then keep reading as I’m determined to get you thinking more about how this can impact your studio positively starting right now). There are myriad pedagogical benefits of working with students on pop music including keeping ... Teaching Rhythm in Pop Music
Tim Topham is the founder and director of TopMusic. Tim hosts the popular Integrated Music Teaching Podcast, blogs regularly at topmusic.co and speaks at local and international conferences on topics such as integrated teaching, creativity, business, marketing and entrepreneurship. Tim has been featured in American Music Teacher, The Piano Teacher Magazine, California Music Teacher and EPTA Piano Professional. Tim holds an MBA in Educational Leadership, BMus, DipEd and AMusA.
This is an excellent article on the most sensitive issue in piano teaching , It would be possible to convene an international conference on this issue only – it is universal, and not of some teachers! In the mid-90s appeared the first articles about rhythm of pedagogy (as if konnakol or scat singing never existed) precisely because of the problems of the students in the read of pop music charts . There arose an idea that rhythm as the language needs to be studied the rhythmic patterns through prosody . I personally use for this with much success the melodica.
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This is an excellent article on the most sensitive issue in piano teaching , It would be possible to convene an international conference on this issue only – it is universal, and not of some teachers! In the mid-90s appeared the first articles about rhythm of pedagogy (as if konnakol or scat singing never existed) precisely because of the problems of the students in the read of pop music charts . There arose an idea that rhythm as the language needs to be studied the rhythmic patterns through prosody . I personally use for this with much success the melodica.