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The Rocket Piano series was created on behalf of Rock Star Recipes LTD.
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Table Of Contents
Personal Lesson 1.....................................4

Personal Lesson 2.....................................5

Personal Lesson 3.....................................6

Personal Lesson 4.....................................7

Personal Lesson 5.....................................8

Personal Lesson 6.....................................9

Personal Lesson 7...................................10

Personal Lesson 8...................................11

Personal Lesson 9...................................12

Personal Lesson 10.................................13

Page 3
Personal Lesson One:
In this Personal Lesson Video you will learn some new skills to help you pick out and
teach yourself how to play you’re favourite keyboarding rhythms. Knowing some basic
grooves will prepare you for playing with a band of other musicians, and with composing
you’re own rhythms!

Play the video and follow the instructions to carry out the following exercises.

Exercise 1: Clap the rhythm.

      

Exercise 2: Play the C chord with the rhythm.

      

      

Exercise 3: Alternate your hands.

           

 
  
          

Exercise 4: Alternate hands with the I IV V chord progression.

       

        


                

Page 4
Personal Lesson Two
In this Personal Lesson Video you will learn the EASY way to quickly identify the key
signature of ANY key!

Play the Personal Lesson Video to hear me talk about key signatures. Follow the examples
below along with the lesson.

Sharps:
Take note of the last sharp, the sharp that sits the furtherest to the right on the stave.


 



   
One half step ABOVE that last sharp, is the root note of the major key. (Which is D in this
example)

If it is a minor key, count down three half steps DOWN from the D. So the relative minor
key is B minor.

Flats:
Take note of the second to last flat, the flat that sits one back from the furtherest to the
right on the stave.


   

   

b in this example)
That flat is the root note of the major key. (Which is A

If it is a minor key, count down three half steps DOWN from the A b . So the relative minor
key is F minor.

Page 5
Personal Lesson Three
In this personal lesson you will learn the secrets to constructing a major chord starting on
ANY given root note!

Play the Personal Lesson Video and follow along by referring to the examples given
below.

Example 1
The major chord is made up of three intervals: a major third, a minor third, and a perfect
fifth.

    
 
Major Third Minor Third

Perfect Fifth

Count up the number of half tones suggested in the video to create each interval in the
chord. Once you have these three intervals, in the same order, then you have correctly
constructed a major chord!

You can now use these techniques to construct a major chord started from any root note
anywhere on the keyboard!

Page 6
Personal Lesson Four
In this personal lesson you will learn the secrets to constructing a minor chord starting on
ANY given root note!

Play the Personal Lesson Video and follow along by referring to the examples given
below.

Example 1
The minor chord is made up of three intervals: a minor third, a major third, and a perfect
fifth. These are the same intervals used in the major chord, except the two third intervals
are swapped round the other way, the minor third on the bottom, and the major third on
top.

     

Minor Third Major Third


Perfect Fifth

Count up the number of half tones suggested in the video to create each interval in the
chord. Once you have these three intervals, in the same order, then you have correctly
constructed a minor chord!

You can now use these techniques to construct a minor chord beginning on any root note
anywhere on the keyboard!

Page 7
 Personal Lesson Five
In this Personal Lesson Video you will learn about using different techniques to play
chords. Knowing this will help you make an otherwise ordinary chord progression into
something expressive and unique.

Play the relevent Personal Lesson Video, and follow the examples given below.

Exercise 1:
The three main techniques you will learn for playing chords are: block chords, broken
chords, and arpeggios.

The Block chord, is the chord played in one block. All the notes are articulated at the
same time, in unison.

     

   
is 
The Broken chord, seperated to play either individually
the notes of the chord  or with
some of the notes in unison.

     

   
   
The Arpeggio chord, is the notes of the chord are all played individually, and are normally
played in order either ascending or descending. It is similar to a broken chord, except no
notes are played in unison.

  
  

Page 8
Personal Lesson Six
In this Personal Lesson Video you are going to learn a little more about accents and
staccatos to modify notes. You will learn about how they can portray different genres of
music, and help you to express your music in different ways.

Play the relevant Personal Lesson Video and follow the examples given below.

Example 1:

Here is an example of an accented note and a staccato note.


   
Accented
An accented note is stressed, it is given more importance then other notes around it.


   
Staccato
A note with a staccato is played detached, it is given less importance then other notes
around it, but at the same time seems to get more attention as its abruptness tends to
catch the listener off guard.

Page 9
Personal Lesson Seven
In this Personal Lesson you will learn more about the Dominant 7th chord. You will learn
about how it has several different functions, including to carry the listener downwards by
an interval of a fifth, and is also helpful to carry out a keychange.

Play the relevant Personal Lesson Video and follow the examples on this page below,
they will help you to visually follow what I teach you in the video.

Example 1: As you have just learned, Dominant 7th chords traditionally occur on the
fifth scale tone of the key.

 
  

V dominant 7 I major

Example 2: Dominant 7th chords can occur on ANY scale tone of the key, they lead
down a fifth from the root note. When a dominant 7th chord is on a scale tone other then
the V, it is called a secondary dominant.


  
 
V dominant 7

I I Dominant 7 IV
G C C F

Example 3: Dominant 7th chords can be used to change key. In this example, the
tune starts in the key of C major, and then changes to D major using the V7 of the new
key as a transition point.

 New Key

Original Key
   

I major VI dominant 7
V dominant 7 I I major

Page 10
Personal Lesson Eight
In this Personal Lesson you will learn more about Voice Leading. You will learn how it is
used in real life, for composition of the individual parts that make up a choir.

Play the relevant Personal Lesson Video and follow the examples on this page to help
you understand the concepts I will be talking about.

Example 1:
Here is the chord progression that has been composed using Voice Leading, so that each
voice in the choir can sing their parts easily and comfortably. The progression goes I, IV,
V in the key of C major. (C major, F major, G major)

The four voicings in the choir are:

Bass Tenor Alto Soprano

This is how the choir would have to sing the tune if voice leading techniques were not
used. You can see that all the parts have to leap an interval of a 4th between the chord C
to F. This is unnecessary, and can be remedied using the voice leading techniques you
have learned.

 
4th

 



 
   
C F G
By using the voice leading techniques of using all available, common tones, half tones,
whole tones, and minor thirds before any other interval leaps, each voice part can easily
reach each note. The largest leap of any voice part (not including the bass part), is a
whole tone.

Whole tone
 
Whole tone

 


  
   
C F G

Page 11
Personal Lesson Nine
In this Personal Lesson Video you will learn more about triplets. You will learn how to
apply this technique in a REAL musical example. We will be applying triplets to the
rock’n’roll piano style.

Play the relevant Personal Lesson Video and follow the examples given below to further
explain the concept I am talking about.

Example 1
Here is the written music for the piece that is played in this Personal Lesson. It is based
on the 12 bar blues progression commonly used in rock’n’roll, and uses quarter note, and
eighth note triplets. See if you can learn this piece for yourself!

3
   
  





 




    

    
      

C C F

   

4
     
            
 3
     3

     
F G F
7 3

          

        


        
 
3
C G C

Page 12
Personal Lesson Ten
In this Personal Lesson Video you will learn about transposition within real situations. You
will learn about one transposing instrument, the Clarinet, and how it has to us transposing
when playing in an orchestra. You will also learn of situations when you will need to
transpose what you play on the piano.

Play the relevant Personal Lesson Video and follow the examples below to help you
understand the concepts that the video talks about.

Example 1
b
b
The clarinet is a transposing instrument. It is centered around E . So when it plays a C
note, it actually sounds like a E

Played note: Sounded note:

      


To play with the other instruments in a choir, the Clarinet must play music that has been
transposed down a minor third from where it was originally written.

Example 2
Transposition is also used in a band context, when a singer maybe required to sing a tune
that is out of their range. You and the band may need to transpose the piece to a more
suitable key.

  
 

  
Original Chord Progression in C

 
     
Transposed up one whole tone
 


 

  
to the key of D: 

     

Page 13