Chords On Piano 1-3

Do you want to play the piano like Billy Joel, Elton John, Stevie Wonder, Norah Jones, Carol King, Coldplay?

This is the place to start!!

Chords On Piano (Becifringsklaver) 1-3 are a series of danish educational books about learning how to play the piano to your own and/or someone else's singing.

The 3 books are published by the danisk publisher dansk sang and they are the first release that categorizes the so-called fill-ins, which are used to perform better expressive and varied piano playing.

This site is a supplement to the books with extras. See more about books and their contents here.

The books and this site has been developed by Jens Stig Olsen, music teacher, musician and composer, and professor in music at The University College Nordjylland in Hjørring. Educated at The Aalborg University in 1980 and North Jutland Academy of Music in 1985.


Why not playing the melody?

The starting point for the piano player is playing an accompaniment where you do not play the melody. It must be sung!

Especially in the classical tradition, but also partly in the tradition of folk tunes ect., it is an authentic musical expression to play the melody of the song along with the chords, but it is not when it comes to styles of popular music like rock and pop. If we listen to original recordings e.g. "Let It Be" by The Beatles or "Just the Way You Are" by Billy Joel the melody of the song appears only by singing not by playing. The chord playing and accompaniment instruments, primarily guitar and piano plays specific piano patterns in the song's style and vary the patterns with fill-ins. Therefore, the songs in the books are mainly within rhythmic styles. On this site there are very few songs due to copyright issues.

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Pedagogical approach

In terms of piano teaching, in my opinion it is ideal to start with a so-called piano pattern based piano accompaniment and then never leave this way of playing, but later add other types of piano playing, including playing by notes. Beginner student learns very quickly the first pattern and the first few chords, then he or she can accompany many songs. Throughout the book the student learns many chords in different inversions, which means that later on playing in styles where the melody is played with the chords is relatively manageable. Later on working with different types of fill-ins, will help the student create his or her own personal playing style. An essential element of playing with fill-ins is that there are no certain rules on which fill-ins that are used where, but that you can assess this in your own taste. In this way, the pattern and fill-in approach helps to develop the student's creative and improvisational skills and an understanding of how a proper piano arrangement can be made. This knowledge and skill can also be used in the event of other types of musical arrangements.