Project For my project, I initially wished to produce an adult teaching course for beginners. This was to consist of a book and a DVD. The idea was to produce something more exciting than what was currently available so that it would encourage adults to continue learning rather than give up after the first couple of pages. The first stage of my project was to undertake research too see how my course would be unique as to what was already on offer. In conducting research the methods I used were • Searching music stores for adult tuition books • Searching musicroom.com for the same • Analysing different adult tuition courses, always paying attention to how mine could be different and improve on what was on offer. Once I had done this it became clear that the initial idea of the project had to be slightly altered. It seemed that whilst there was a lot of dull material for adult beginners still being sold, there was a substantial amount of material similar to what I wanted to create. In addition, there is a great deal of material for children. It was apparent that it was the teenage category which was lacking greatly. If you were teaching someone in this category, you would neither want to give them a children’s book and risk insulting them, nor would an adult’s book be appropriate because of the terminology and design features. There is only one course on the market aimed at teenagers at present, “Play piano”, with the link to it below. http://www.musicroom.com/se/ID_No/0422693/details.html Musicroom.com describe it as follows “Play Piano! Teenage Book One features the same fun, systematic and educational approach as the original, but it is styled specifically with teenagers in mind – a first for such a piano course”. The difference with mine is to be that it will come with a DVD which play piano doesn’t, which also means it can be used as a teach yourself method, with the DVD demonstrating the techniques visually, allowing for copying which should accommodate different learning styles and so takes the role of a teacher to a small extent. As with all teach your-self methods, it will be designed so that a teacher could also use it and for the above reasons it will be a unique course. I have purchased the “Play Piano” course and I am paying close attention to the format of it, for ideas, whilst at the same time taking care not to copy it. At the same time I have other tuition books which I am referring to which are in the format in which I want to avoid. An example of this would be placing too much emphasis on learning to read music right at the start and using long descriptions. The intention is that the student learns to read music gradually, for example if they have learnt by copying from the DVD, then they can associate what they can play with the notation, so this will be accommodated for in the design of the course. Avoiding lengthy descriptions also accommodates for the instant result that many people wish for. It will just be the one book, by which at the end the student will be playing both hands together at the same time and have knowledge of chords, something lacking from many tuition books. I am using Microsoft word to design the book.

Saturday 19th February- Sunday 20th February- Design first page of the book consisting of the layout of the piano keys. On the first page, the student will be able to know where notes c,d and e are. The student will play these notes separately at first. On the second page Rhyhm will be introduced and so the student will be playing C,D and E, seperately whilst counting 1,2,3,4. Compose short melody based on these notes. Refer the student to lesson 1 on the DVD which will give the student a chance to copy, rather than learn to read music.

Update- Monday 21st February-

At the moment the first two pages of the course have been designed. These introduce the layout of the keyboard and also the notes C and D and also rhythm has been introduced. I have chosen a layout that I will use for the remainder of the book and in doing so used the keys on my own piano as the background. I have refered to piano teaching courses that have a layout I wish to avoid and I believe what I have come up with looks better and in line with what I want to achieve. In addition to this, the first four videos for the DVD have been recorded giving a visual demonstration to each task which was the intention. At page two the student will be reminded to watch the DVD from 1-4 as if they are teaching themselves, this should reinforce their learning. What hasn't been introduced is the note E and also composing a short melody. The reason is I thought the method I have used for c and d is good but would become repetitive if I introduced a third note in this way which is playing through the note all the way up the keyboard and then counting 1,2,3,4. Therefore I will introduce new notes differently. In addition, it took quite a while to find a suitable layout for the course and so this stopped me from having the time to compose a short melody.

22nd Feburary- Tuesday 1st March-

I will introduce the student to the finger numbers, and compose a short melody using C and D wich will make up page 3 of the course.

I will also incoporate minums and the letter E on page 4, which again will involve composing another short melody.

In addition all this will be recorded for the DVD.