Teaching pop music to piano students can be challenging for teachers who are more accustomed to classical repertoire. But you are very likely to have students really keen to learn a particular song. Sometimes it is a classical piece (and I love it when this happens) but more often it is a song from their favourite film or latest chart hit. If you’re struggling to incorporate pop music into your lessons, here are a few tips to help you get started.
Understand the Basics of Pop Music: Before you can effectively teach pop music, you need solid knowledge of its key elements. The most important of which is to have a good understanding of chords and chord progressions. And if you don’t already, take some time to listen to music your students like, and some recently released pop albums.
Focusing on your students’ interests is a good way to keep students engaged in piano lessons. Ask students what songs they like and incorporate them into your lessons. You can also teach them how to play their favourite artists’ songs by breaking them down into smaller, more manageable sections. For example, a lot of my students (particularly younger ones) are happy to learn just the first verse and chorus of a pop song.
You can teach Pop Songs in a simple way by purchasing a lead sheet for a song. This will give you the melody with lyrics and the chords to go along with it. Initially start with simplifying the chords to just their major/minor form (you can teach chord extensions and additions when students are confident in the basic chord forms). Keep the left hand rhythm simple initially – have your students just sustain the chords.
If you need help with teaching chords to your students, keep your eyes peeled for something new coming very soon!