From September to December in 2007 I spent three months as a resident at the Banff Centre for the Arts in Canada. This allowed me time to practise, rehearse and perform on a scale which is impossible in normal, everyday life. The creation of these tutor books has been something that has been developing over some time and this residency in Banff gave me the opportunity to see my ideas through. I am lucky enough to have a supportive wife and together we have three beautiful children, the eldest of whom became a guinea pig for the first and second of the piano tutor books I have been compiling.
The first part of the process had been pretty much completed before arriving in Banff. The tunes had been chosen, arrangements made and a basic order decided. Because many of the tunes were chosen simply because they were well known, some were easy to arrange and fit well into the progressive development of the piano tutor. Others were more difficult and needed a great deal of transposition and re-arranging in order to create simple, yet interesting versions.
Basic theory is introduced where appropriate and is constantly revised throughout the books with the use of questions on most pages about the tunes being learnt. Thus concepts are introduced and then quickly re-enforced without too much time to forget things in between. The glossary is always available as a reference for any of the words or theoretical information used in the books.
These books are aimed at helping students reach the requirements to sit their first exams and give confident performances. The technique, theory and general knowledge covered gives a basic grounding in what is required at a preliminary level.
For all three tutor books there are free, down-loadable, play-along tracks available on-line with a heavier beat for any aspiring rock-star students you may have (available soon).