Course introduction and PDF download – Pop/rock ballad piano styles

Welcome to this course designed for NCEA Level 1 Music, which is centred around an assessment task for Music 1.1, where you’ll create a piano accompaniment in a contemporary pop/rock ballad style, demonstrating your understanding of chord voicings and stylistic techniques.

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Before starting, get emailed the course PDF workbook by completing the form below:

The course is made up of three lessons. Each lesson is divided into topics and will probably take around 4-5 periods of class time to complete.

In the first lesson, you’ll learn about playing chords on piano. You’ll learn how to distribute the chord notes effectively between the right and left hand parts and how to create smooth transitions between chords in a progression using voice leading techniques.

Then, in the second lesson, you’ll study a range of contemporary pop/rock ballad accompaniments, learning how pianists can break chords up into different accompaniment patterns in this musical style.

In the third lesson of the course, you’ll find an assessment task for Music 1.1 which gets you to create a piano accompaniment from a simple chord progression in the style of a contemporary pop/rock ballad. This task allows you to demonstrate a range of musical skills, including those developed in lessons 1 and 2. The lesson in the course provides you with audio of the chord progressions you can use to develop your accompaniment and guides you through a series of through the steps that you can take to complete the task.

When you have completed the course, you will have an original piano accompaniment developed from a chord progression which reflects the style of a contemporary pop/rock ballad.

Take some time now, to print out the course PDF booklet, which you can access from your email inbox, if you’ve completed the PDF download form at the start of this lesson.