Beginning Jazz Piano

Well-known educator and jazz pianist Tim Richards leads this course based on his best-selling books Beginning Jazz Piano (Schott Music). Designed for pianists who are new to playing jazz, you'll cover the essentials, from jazz harmony, chords and scales to improvising and playing in different jazz styles. In a supportive environment, you will try new techniques and learn simple jazz tunes. 

The course will cover basic jazz elements, drawn from Tim's books. By the end of the course you will: 

• Have an understanding of basic jazz harmony and chord symbols.
• Be able to improvise over one chord only, and over two alternating chords.
• Play simple jazz tunes in swing, blues and latin styles.
• Have an understanding of modes and pentatonic scales.
• Have a practical understanding of bass lines and chord voicings.
• Have learnt simple accompaniment and improvisation techniques.
• Have practiced reading from lead sheets.

The course is hands-on throughout. You will be taught as a group with pianos in the room for each participant. You will have the opportunity to play both solo and with others, and will have to practice rooms for independent study to embed you learning. Tim will guide you through the course materials while offering tips, suggestions and feedback throughout. 

This course is designed for pianists playing at the Improver and Confident levels (please see our Ability Levels Explained for further details). You will have some existing keyboard skills and may have some experience or proficiency in other genres, but are new to playing jazz. 

The course material will largely be drawn from Tim Richard's book Beginning Jazz Piano Part 1, with some additional handouts provided during the course. We recommend purchasing a copy of the book ahead of the course to familiarise yourself with what will be covered, but no specific preparation is required.