Piano, Body and Soul
A new method for adult beginners
Flying Leap Music is delighted to offer a spiral-bound pre-publication edition of Piano, Body and Soul: Learn to Play and Become the Musician You Always Wanted to Be, 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.
- 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
Have you always wanted to play the piano?
Piano, Body and Soul was written especially for adult beginners. You will learn to think and move like a professional musician, and awaken your creativity, musicianship, and physical awareness. Piano, Body and Soul will teach you classical piano technique—including basic gestures used by virtuosi yet rarely explained to beginning pianists—and how to read music, improvise, and play in a "groove."
"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
Become the musician you always wanted to be.
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.
Maybe you're 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.
Even if you can't find the time or money to take piano lessons, you can start playing right now with Piano, Body and Soul.
Piano, Body and Soul takes you step-by-step through the process of learning to play, systematically teaching you to think and move like a professional pianist. It gives you the tools and inspiration to realize your piano-playing dreams. For price of one or two lessons with a teacher, Piano, Body and Soul gives you 72 detailed lessons. You can learn at your own pace, and practice as much or as little as your schedule allows.
Do you want to play 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.
"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 class using Piano, Body and Soul at the 92nd St. Y in New York City
To order Piano, Body and Soul, click here.
To see excerpts from Piano, Body and Soul, click here.
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.
For more details, take a look at some sample pages from the book.
To order Piano, Body and Soul, click here.
You will receive:
- 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.
Get this 72-lesson course for the price of a single lesson with a teacher.
Buy Piano, Body and Soul for $44.95 —the cost of one or two piano lessons.
To order Piano, Body and Soul, click here.
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.
To order Piano, Body and Soul, click here.
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.
Piano, Body and Soul opens the door to a new way of experiencing music.
With fresh and beautiful new compositions and folksong arrangements by Anna Dembska, Joan Harkness, and Peter Dembski, as well as music by Stravinsky, Rebikov, and J.C. Bach, learn how to integrate playing, reading, and listening—the essence of piano-playing—and 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
To order Piano, Body and Soul, click here.
