Navigating pop piano

There are many shades of grey when answering these questions, but the demand from students to play contemporary songs is in little doubt. How can we best use this material within our teaching practice? There are some great opportunities here if we think laterally.

The story so far

Pop arrangements featuring the latest hits have long been part of the piano education market. The series Easy Piano and Gradebusters (both from Music Sales, now Hal Leonard) remain established favourites, as is Up-Grade! Pop Piano by the much-loved Pam Wedgwood (of Faber Music), featuring skilful adaptations. The experienced and in-demand Christopher Hussey, found in several books, is similarly apt at selecting the right piece and arranging it for the right level.

Recently, ABRSM entered the market with their Pop Performer books (review available in January 2023 issue of MT). The four volumes – serving Initial level to Grades 4–5 – were produced in conjunction with Hal Leonard, a publisher known for its extensive rights catalogue. A smaller examination board, meanwhile, is rumoured to be considering producing a syllabus for pop piano, and this could complement Trinity's Rock & Pop materials for keyboard. For any teacher, these are welcome developments. Students get to explore the music they know and enjoy but within an appropriate pedagogical framework. In my experience, this balance can be tricky to get right.

What makes a good arrangement for piano?

In my view, this depends on the song and whether it was conceived with a piano accompaniment. Pop ballads such as Adele's ‘Someone Like You’ or Elton John's ‘Your Song’ and ‘Song for Guy’ can bring great success. Indeed, the familiar riff in Coldplay's ‘Clocks’ (based on triad inversions) is a teaching favourite of mine and a perfect piece to play before Bach's Prelude no. 1.

Similarly, ‘A Groovy Kind of Love’ by Phil Collins, based on a melody by Clementi, lends itself to the piano, as does ‘Pachelbel's Canon’, which has been used countless times by pop artists – the chord progression is timeless. Be aware that inferior arrangements can be musically frustrating for students if these sound unconvincing or don't provide the same ‘buzz’ as the original.

There are several established series and collections of pop songs and film themes:

• Gradebusters for piano (Hal Leonard) – for the early grades
• Really Easy Piano (Hal Leonard) – a vast library to explore
• Up-Grade! Pop Piano by Pam Wedgwood (Faber Music) – Initial to Grade 5 (four books)
• Benny Andersson Piano (Wise Publications) – advanced level
• The Graded Piano Player series (Faber Music) – for the early grades
• Pop Performer (ABRSM/Hal Leonard) – Initial to Grade 3 and Grades 4–5
• The Faber Music Anthology series (Faber Music) – options that include soundtracks, ballads and easy piano collections
• The Best of Coldplay for Easy Piano (Hal Leonard)

How important is notation to pop pianists?

An interesting way to explore this is to look at what's required on undergraduate pop courses. The Royal Northern College of Music is the only Royal school to run a pop course, launched just a few years ago. I caught up with one of their second-year students, Tom O’Donoghue (artist name Donohue), who is also an ABRSM scholar.

O’Donoghue has Grade 8 piano and is passionate about Bach's Preludes and Fugues; he's a very accomplished pianist with superb musicianship. When asked about pop arrangements, he said that notation was rarely used within his course. Instead, the course is packed with musicianship training, from improvisation and playing by ear to arranging and composing. He is very appreciative of the brilliant one-to-one tutors and of the standard of students around him. There's a vibrant music-making community with outstanding musicianship and performance skills, developed through the diversity of the students coming through.

When asked if a lead-sheet could be a more effective way to present a pop song, to get the most authentic and musical rendition, O’Donoghue agreed: ‘that would work perfectly’. He was quick to stress, though, the need for a good foundation in piano technique and musicianship, developed from experiencing a broad range of styles and repertoire, all notated. I couldn't help but compare this to some of the great abstract artists who began painting very traditionally before moving onto more abstract styles.

Piano teachers used to preparing students for examination grades are often very committed to the written score. When using the ABRSM Pop Performer books for a Performance Grade ‘own choice’, it makes sense to do this. However, if a student is simply playing for pleasure, then you can and should introduce freedom. A student can improve the arrangement by incorporating their own ideas and develop new skills into the bargain.

Extension activities

Some pop arrangements have printed chord symbols above the stave. A form of short-hand, these can be used as lead-sheets which capture the harmonic progression while dispensing with the score's notational detail. This gives an opportunity to:

• Develop arranging skills – taking the chord sequence, ask if your student can come up with their own arrangement. They can explore different accompaniment styles.
• Improvise – can your student choose a section, for example an 8-bar chord sequence, to improvise over? This is what the Trinity Rock & Pop materials invite students to do, including during exams. The chords can be played with the left hand or by the teacher.
• Play by ear – listen to a performance on YouTube while following (reading) the printed chord symbols. Now ask the student to play it from memory, by ear. Some of my students enjoy listening and following in one week, then performing their creation in the next lesson.

Creating an original piano ‘cover’ of a pop song

I've had much success over the years from encouraging new versions. My current favourite songs with students are three by Tom Rosenthal: ‘It's Okay’ (verse: Dm, Am, F; chorus: C, F, Am, G), ‘Go Solo’ (main chords throughout: F, C, G, F maj⁷) and ‘Lights are On’, which is trickier (main chords: Ab maj⁷, Bb⁷, Eb/Bb, Gm, C, F⁹). All these have a piano/keyboard foundational accompaniment. On YouTube there are lots of video tutorials on the songs that students can reference.

I try to follow three main steps when re-working these songs:

• Explore the chord riffs of the song, which we find on the internet. We talk about the chords, key or mode, metre (usually 4/4), and how chords relate to each other, using technical terms (‘tonic’, ‘seventh chord’, ‘inversion’ and so forth) where appropriate.
• Try and play by ear the accompaniment already used in the song, by listening to the original and asking, ‘how are the chords used in the piano part?’ We then play the single melody line by ear, exploring the intervals.
• Finally, explore how the accompaniment can be changed and varied through broken chord patterns, moving up and down the octave, changing the rhythms, or using other vamp patterns (jazz piano vamps can be a useful reference). If a student is doing GCSE music, they sometimes record this using a notation package (Noteflight and MuseScore are both popular and free to access). They may also record the new version as a digital record of the creative process, meaning they see how their arranging skills are developing over time. The rules around copyright are also carefully explained and stressed.

Final thoughts

When it comes to food nutrition, a balanced diet is always what we aim for. When it comes to teaching a child to read, a wide range of literature is also important. The same is true of music. You can't teach a child to play the piano using solely pop music, just as you shouldn't prevent students from playing music they know and love.

Used appropriately, some pop arrangements help build students’ musicianship skills, and enable them to impress their peers with music that is both familiar and contemporary sounding. This brings enjoyment, esteem and other educational benefits. My own experience suggests that pop music is best explored with complete freedom and creativity, rather than being put into traditional notation and a formal exam structure. This can demotivate and motivate piano practice in equal measure and may harm students’ love of their music.