AboutDr Colin Expertise I can answer questions from students of "classical" composing, arranging, notation problems and music theory, writing for instruments and voice and writing music for education. I can answer questions about orchestration but I do not cover questions about pop or rock music, pop song writing or electronic music.
I taught for many years in UK up to "A" level theory and composition. I have spent many years in music education, initially (like everyone else) as a teacher. Then I moved on to advisory work (teaching teachers!) and also lectured, giving many workshops for teachers in developing music education skills and techniques. For a time I worked as a teacher-lecturer at London University's Institute of Education and eventually worked full-time as a Music Education Adviser to schools in part of London, offering advice on music education and curriculum development.
Experience I started composing music at the age 14 (it was mostly rubbish, since you asked) and now have a large number of compositions to credit as well as many publications, especially for instrumental music and choral music. I have also written several acclaimed works for large orchestra and choir. My work has been published particularly in the UK (under different names)(notably by Boosey & Hawkes, Novello, and Schott) but also in the USA and the Netherlands.
My music for elementary players (several publications) has been performed and broadcast worldwide. I am now retired from my previous job as Music Education Adviser. These days I spend most of my time composing and arranging. I am currently working on instrumental arrangements of world national anthems for my National Anthems website and also completing a suite of very easy piano solos and duets for elementary players. For many years I have used the music program "Finale" for all my music writing activities.
Organizations International Society for Music Education;
Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
Publications "The Times" Educational Supplement; "Hi-Fi News and Record Review". For several years, I used to write for many of the state music education periodicals in the US and I also wrote several influential articles on instrumental music teaching for "Music Teacher" magazine in the UK. (UK).
Question QUESTION: (I'll just give you a little on my music background) I completed nearly all my piano grades, kept playing and practicing, became really interested in learning piano accompaniment and began to tackle really complicated sheet music piano accompaniment, just recently I have started tackling how to make up my own piano accompaniment reading from fake books that have the melody line and the chords (the music I play covers a broad range; trad, gospel and hymns, rock (esp. diva 80s power ballads),
(I've been moving between use of arpeggios, moving through tapping double or triple notes from a chord, rhythmically beating the chord in a certain pattern, -I only press notes that are in the chord that is being played)
Is there any fantastic course that will teach this really professionally to expert level, or any books? Any advice you have on the topic on mastering piano accompaniment would be strongly appreciated. I am not at beginners level, and am not looking for a basic way of piano accompaniment.
ANSWER: Hi Michael,
Sorry for the delay in my reply. I usually get back to people very quickly. Thank you for your question and also for the details of your interesting musical background. I am delighted to see that you have worked your way through the piano grades. It is also excellent practice working from "fake books" and devising your own accompaniments.
It is good that you can also cover a wide range of musical styles, and in a sense this is an important key to your work for accompaniments, which as you know can be very difficult stylistically. I mean in the sense that you would accompany a gospel number in a different way to an ordinary rock song. Most piano accompaniments use the techniques that you describe - using broken chords, arpeggios and other repeated patterns. After all,the accompaniment to a song is supposed to provide the essential harmonic information that a single melody line can only partly do. As you know, the way you use these accompaniment techniques depends very largely on the musical style.
Actually, I did much the same thing myself when I was a music student, learning classical piano but also playing jazz and popular styles. Of course, the jazz I had to learn myself for at the time there were no schools or courses available.
I see you are in Ireland but I really do not know what might be available in terms of courses or books for I live a long way from there! However, I would have thought that at least one music shop in Dublin would have what you are looking for. A Google search might reveal some suitable titles. I know that Music Sales (UK) publish several books along the lines that you need.
The other thing - and much more preferable - would be to find a piano teacher who is also a professional studio player. Such a person would have personal experience of a wide range of popular styles and would be able to assist you in developing skills in this area. I think a teacher, such as I have described is your best option, because in rock and pop musical notation is not always a great deal of help and only an approximation of what is really going on.
The Musicians Union in your area may be able to help or they may well be local bands that have a pianist. There is bound to be someone in your part of the world (or close to it!) that would fit the bill.
So good luck in finding someone suitable and I wish you well in your studies.
Best wishes
Colin
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QUESTION: Colin, thanks a million for the advice a few weeks ago, I followed it up, bought Mark Levine's "Jazz Theory" book and have been reading through it, there is a skill you mentioned to me in one of your emails, that is not mentioned in the book, would you please explain this idea to me and the theory behind it.
I had mentioned I have been getting into improvising my own accompaniments using chords (but only playing notes from those chords). You mentioned how to find the bitonality behind a group of chords, another chord that will play over a chord and still sound good. How do I work out the bitonality of a chord/ group of chords? Could you explain this with maybe two examples very basically?
Nice to hear from you again! I am delighted to read that you bought a jazz theory book and I hope that you find it helpful. I have attached a diagram with this answer. It should appear as a tiny thumbnail. Click on it for the full-size image, which should open in a separate window.
Bitonality, as you know simply means two tonalities (or keys) being used at the same time. The technique was employed by many 20th century "classical" composers, notably Charles Ives (USA) and Darius Milhaud (France). Bitonal chords combine two chords from different keys. Contemporary jazz musicians sometimes take this to extremes of complexity, but I'll try to keep things relatively simple.
Example 1: Here you'll see two chords superimposed on each other. I have separated the notes of each chord to make it clearer. You will recognise the lower group of three notes as the chord of C major. The upper three notes are the chord of B flat major. Play this chord and you'll have a simple bitonal chord. If you look at more closely, you'll see that it is exactly the same as a C11 chord, because over the triad of C major we have the 7th, 9th and 11th notes above C.
Example 2: I have again used a C major chord for the lower notes to keep things simple. You'll see in this example, the second chord is a triad of A major. This gives an interesting sound because the low "C" clashes with the "C sharp".
Example 3: Here I have combined the C major chord with a chord of E major. You may recognise that the E major is in second inversion. If you are unsure about inversions, it doesn't matter. The principle remains the same.
Example 4: Ignore this example: it's the same as Example 1.
The important point is that in order to create a bitonal chord, you don't need to play all the notes of the two chords. You just select the notes that seem to give the effect you want. There are no "rules" as such, because bitonal chords go far beyond the scope of traditional harmony books. Use the maxim, "If it sounds good, use it". The best thing is to experiment, first by combining triads such as I've done in the examples. You may want to explore further and play the chords in first or second inversion, i.e. with the "third" or "fifth" of the chord as the bass note.
In the above, I have mentioned only major chords. You can of course, combine major and minor keys.
I hope this is helpful. Good luck with your continuing music studies!
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