Piano lessons tend to put a lot of emphasis on classical music, especially if you’re studying with a classical pianist. But there are actually several reasons to incorporate pop music into your piano “diet”.
1. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy
Who says everything at the piano has to be serious?
Hopefully learning classical works is also fun for you, and if it’s not send me an email and we’ll work through ways to help you enjoy it more!
But pop music tends to be more of a quick win – the learning process is usually simpler, which means that it’s less time before you feel like you really know it well.
2. It’s fun to play music that everybody knows
Sure, there are classical pieces that most people recognize – Für Elise, Moonlight Sonata, Minuet in G… but what if you don’t want to learn those? And what if you’re just starting out? They aren’t exactly beginner pieces.
And it’s nice to be able to sit down and play something that everybody is going to recognize – that they maybe even want to sing along to! And Don’t Stop Believin’ ticks that box a bit better than Clair de Lune…
3. Pop music helps you learn chords and music theory better
If you’ve been around here for a while, this isn’t the first time you’ve heard me say this.
If you learn with chord charts, it helps you start to better understand how to shift between chords, which will help you better understand why classical composers wrote things the way they did – especially accompaniment patterns.
Which brings us to the fourth reason…
4. Pop music helps you move away from always playing with music
“How do you get a pianist to stop playing?”
“You take away their sheet music!”
There’s a lot of truth in that old joke!
We pianists tend to cling pretty tightly to our scores. And good reading skills are an essential part of learning and growing at the piano – I’ll never suggest slacking on sight-reading!
But imagine only being able to speak a language if you have everything you want to say written out for you first. That doesn’t sound like a lot of fun!
Which again brings us to the next point:
5. It opens the door to improvising
Once you’re familiar with harmonies and how they work, you’re going to feel a lot more comfortable improvising.
It’s not something that a lot of pianists practice anymore, but Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven were FAMOUS for their ability to improvise. By understanding more about chords and how they interact, you’re going to be more comfortable testing out improvisation – and following in the footsteps of Bach, Beethoven, and Mozart.
Have more specific questions about getting started with pop songs? Or anything music theory related? Send me an email at Robyn@Pianowithrobyn.com, and I’m happy to help!
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