Piano, Body and Soul: An innovative method for adult beginners
You can play. You will love to practice. Piano, Body and Soul will show you how to make music like a real musician.
"I received Piano Body and Soul and as you mention in the course, the practice has become the highlight of the day. I am progressing very nicely and the course has fulfilled all my expectations and more."
— Maria Moscoso, San Juan, PR
Flying Leap Music is delighted to offer a spiral-bound pre-publication edition of Piano, Body and Soul, by Juilliard-trained pianist/educator Joan Harkness and composer/soprano Anna Dembska. This 72-lesson course, seven years in the making, covers the first year of piano study for adult beginners.
"The innovative teaching method of Joan Harkness and Anna Dembska allowed me to feel that I had actually grasped the fundamentals of playing the piano. Since I had had no previous experience in playing the piano, I was quite impressed that I had learned as much as I did in such a short period of time. I would recommend this teaching method to anyone who thinks that he or she cannot learn how to play the piano."
— Diane Dudas, after Joan's 10-week Piano, Body and Soul class at the 92nd St. Y in New York City
Piano, Body and Soul shows you how to play and make music like a real musician.
In a step-by-step course of 72 lessons, Piano, Body and Soul …
- Gets you playing with ease and pleasure right away.
- Rapidly develops your musicianship and piano-playing skills.
- Teaches you to improvise, "groove," and play classical music.
- Shows you exactly how to practice so that learning to play is fun instead of a chore.
- Makes reading music seem natural.
- Gives you the theory you need to really understand and create music on the piano.
The course includes …
- A 190-page spiral-bound book of 72 lessons, taking you step by step though your first piano year.
- A CD containing all the music and exercises in the course, performed and recorded informally by the authors.
- Web access to new learning aids and updates as they are created.
"This method of teaching made practice time fly by. It was fun, creative, and very engaging. It is a very new way to look at playing. I learned spatially and to use my whole body. The experience was a very different approach from how I learned when I was child. I'm sure it must approach the learning from another part of the brain. I recommend it."
— Vivien Landau, Brewster, NY
Are you still recovering from an unappreciative childhood music teacher?
Even if you're returning to the piano after years of absence, Piano, Body and Soul brings out your natural musicianship. You will rediscover the joy of playing, and gain a more mature understanding and appreciation of music and the process of learning to play.
Are you a musician who sings or plays other instruments and wants to learn piano?
The sophisticated music and detailed technique will keep you intrigued and challenged. You’ll get the specific knowlege you need to play piano, including how to read bass and treble staves together while playing with both hands.
Are you a teacher looking for more sophisticated materials for your adult students?
We wrote Piano, Body and Soul because Joan couldn't find a single piano method for her adult students that offered practical solutions to one of the greatest frustrations of adult beginners: learning to play fluently and with technical ease. Designed to address this specific problem, Piano, Body and Soul develops a healthy and expressive piano technique while providing in-depth musicianship training. Music theory, rhythm practice, developing strong reading skills, free and structured improvisation, and encouraging personal creativity at the keyboard are integrated into intriguing newly-composed and classical repertoire. For more specifics, click here.
Would you like to play music with other people?
To help you discover the joys of musical collaboration, Piano, Body and Soul includes twelve lessons for you and another piano student to do together. You'll learn to improvise and play pieces together—and have an opportunity to cultivate a musical friendship to share the ups and downs of the learning process.
You have nothing to lose.
If for any reason you’re not happy, intrigued, or delighted by Piano, Body and Soul, return your copy within 60 days and receive a complete refund.
Do you want to know more?
Call or email co-author Joan Harkness directly! Tell her your piano background and what you want to play, and she will tell you how Piano Body and Soul can help you. She can be reached at Flying Leap Music, (559) 336-9383 or click here to contact her.
With fresh and beautiful new compositions and folksong arrangements by Anna Dembska, Joan Harkness, and Peter Dembski and music by Stravinsky, Rebikov, and J.C. Bach, learn how to integrate playing, reading, and listening—the essence of piano-playing. Improvisations and grooves guide you to discover your own innate creative musicianship.
"Your pieces have wonderful rhythms and harmony, are fun for the fingers, and progress at a sensible, steady, and stimulating pace. I keep returning to the lively aching of Don't Look Back, the tentative moodiness of Dogwoods in April, the mournful and scary Grief, the lumbering Bear, and that Chico-Marx-meets-Three-Stooges quality of Chowderhead. I still haven't given up Nocturne Down the Stream, despite my family's pleas. And now I'm gently struggling through Bluebird—which sounds a bit like Sondheim for beginners.
"My wife commented that I have a passion for piano. And your Method bears the bulk of responsibility for that."
—Norman Cotterell, Elkins Park, PA
Piano, Body and Soul opens the door to a new way of experiencing music.
Piano, Body and Soul is a deep exploration into what it means to make music, as well as the nuts and bolts of how to play the piano. It gives you new ways to listen to, understand, and create music as you learn to play.
Essential elements of the method
Pianistic gestures (called the pianodance) are combined with interval reading to make musical sounds right from the start. This technique also minimizes the difficulty of reading and playing two staves together.
Free, modal, and blues improvisations encourage attentive listening—to oneself, to other players, and to ambient sounds.
Twelve duets (one piano/four hands) provide valuable experience in ensemble playing, demanding cooperative musicianship as well as “just staying together.”
Unique to Piano, Body and Soul are “grooves,” which offer a contemporary alternative to technique exercises, as well as training for improvisational, pop, jazz, and worldbeat ensemble playing.
Intervals, scales, the overtone series, modes, basic chord progressions, and rhythm training based on You’ve Got Rhythm: Read Music Better by Feeling the Beat seamlessly integrate music theory into technique, improvisation, grooves, and repertoire.
Intriguing newly-composed pieces, as well as classics by J.C. Bach, Rebikov, and Stravinsky specifically address technical playing issues as they arise.
Does this method work in a group class or piano lab?
Yes! Joan's adult classes at the piano lab at the 92nd Street Y in New York City loved this method. To get the most out of Piano, Body and Soul, your students should be encouraged to play on real pianos as much as possible outside of class or lesson time. And because there is such a strong focus on technique, teachers need to pay more attention to how everyone is playing, not just how it sounds through the headphones.
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