Teaching pop piano: the 'how' and the 'why'

I can still remember the day when my student walked through the door with a ‘best pop hits’ book and asked to learn ‘Clocks’ by Coldplay (this shows my age!). Luckily, I knew the song. These days, when students arrive with the latest pop hit, I usually don't. I'll never forget the look of shock on a 10-year-old's face when I'd never heard of ‘Price Tag’ by Jessie J!

My own higher-grade piano teacher (as wonderful as she was) never even allowed me to play ‘The Entertainer’. As a student it was frustrating. So, looking at the arrangement of ‘Price Tag’, I decided that I needed to be enthusiastic, even if I had to pretend – praise my student for bringing music they'd found themselves and crack on!

However, my prejudices were still alive and well. I share my demons here, as well as some solutions that helped change my mindset and respect my students' musical tastes, enabling me to embrace this material for my pupils' greater musical development.

‘This music isn't beneficial for my students.’

As a teacher, flexibility is an essential skill. What was particularly interesting for me – once I'd opened my mind – was realising that some of the music was in fact very beneficial. It was just that the student had selected it instead of me. I had to face the lack of control head on and be empathetic – this is what the student wanted to play.

The ‘Clocks’ riff is a triad shape in root and inversion positions, which can help strengthen fingers and develop finger independence. ‘Someone Like You’ by Adele also arrived in my studio and was equally useful in developing these musical shapes. Queen's ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ has been much loved by my students over the years, and the challenging block chords, octaves and arpeggios have been a wonderful finger workout for many. Students who would never have been motivated to put the hours in on something else above their grade have worked really hard to perform this piece.

‘It's a poor arrangement.’

This is the case in some pop music, although over the years I have seen arrangements improve. Previously they could sound very different to the original music. I have always tried to use this as an opportunity to encourage the student to use the score as a starting point and then improve the arrangement.

As an author who does arrange on occasions, I believe changes are made here to make the rhythm more accessible. Students can often use their aural skills to perform an accurate representation of the original, however complex the rhythm. I have even had students write their own arrangement for piano from a simplified version.

Arrangers usually provide chord symbols. A student can learn much about chordal riffs, progressions and different accompaniment patterns from these – not to mention playing by ear, general theory, composing and improvisation skills.

‘I feel like an imposter teaching this.’

Am I really an imposter? I have accepted it is likely that I will not know most of the material. However, isn't this what it's like for our students? They are out of their comfort zone learning new things with us constantly.

I attempted to listen to Radio 1 in the car to become a bit more current, but I have to confess this didn't last very long! YouTube means I can learn the material extremely quickly now, which I do conscientiously. This helps enormously.

What are we actually trying to achieve?

A student can bring a piece of popular music for several reasons. Perhaps they want to play something that's familiar to them. They may want to learn a piece to impress their peers. Or, simply, they want to do what they want for once, rather than what you think they should play. So what are you achieving with a student who wants to go ‘off script’?

The big musical picture: a student proficient in all styles.

As a trained classical musician, I may not be in my comfort zone teaching pop music. But as one colleague once said to me, ‘Pop music simply nicks Handel's chord progressions from the “Hallelujah” chorus.’ Am I really doing my job as a music teacher by not embracing all musical styles, including popular and jazz? After all, music is music. Having embraced the material, I've found it's really beneficial for a student to be proficient in all styles.

Building trust and respecting your student's wishes.

A willingness to be flexible about what your student plays can be really beneficial to your relationship with that student. It shows that you are willing to listen to their voice in terms of the curriculum you are following, collaborating with them and respecting their ideas and musical motivation. Most importantly, it encourages the student to view you as their teacher, not a dictator!

Preventing them from quitting.

A few weeks ago, a student actually asked me if they could do an exam. That doesn't sound so remarkable, but really it was quite significant as 18 months ago the same student had wanted to give up and was simply finishing off the term that their parents had paid for. I moved away from what we were studying to the most popular repertoire at a level I knew he'd be able to learn quickly. We covered several pop hits, superhero themes and film scores. He absolutely devoured the music, and his reading improved massively. And after my students' concert, where he heard several classical pieces, he decided that he wanted to take his skills to this music too, to be – in his words – an ‘all-rounder’. Pop music, in this case, saved the day!

What have I learnt about popular music in my teaching?

Here are my top tips for teaching pop.

• Find high-quality arrangements. At an event like the Music & Drama Education Expo one can review the latest arrangements and select the most authentic and best suited for your student.
• Create a musical pathway from a pop song to a classical piece. For example, the piano accompaniment for ‘Someone Like You’ can be an excellent preparation for playing Bach's First Prelude. Look for common links.
• Look at popular music exam repertoire. Both London College of Music and Trinity College London provide pop exam material that offers a range of well-prepared resources and activities.
• Use pop riffs (melodies and chords) as starting points for improvisation. This is also a good way to teach scales, broken chords, arpeggios and modes on the side, keeping technical work on the go.
• Use pop music to develop playing by ear. Songs such as ‘A Thousand Miles’ by Vanessa Carlton, ‘Havana’ by Camila Cabello, ‘All of Me’ by John Legend and Imagine Dragons’ ‘Radioactive’ have all been much loved by my students as YouTube projects, where I ask students to come up with their own arrangements.
• Playing more complex pop music can lead to more complex classical music. Students can be willing to work that little bit harder, perhaps even beyond their ability, to play something they know and really want to perform. Once they hear themselves playing at that level, they often want to continue, making more advanced music of other genres more attractive.

Here are some useful resources:

For beginners, look out for any five-finger pop hit books.
Piano Basics Pop and Up-Grade Pop! by Pam Wedgwood (Faber Music)
Piano by Ear by Lucinda Mackworth-Young (Faber Music)
ShowTime Piano, ChordTime Piano, FunTime Piano, BigTime Piano Hits (Piano Adventures)
Grade 5 Piano Solos (Chester Music)
Benny Anderson Piano (Wise Publications)Queen for Classical Piano (Hal Leonard)