Harmony at the Piano : Using Keyboard Harmony to Learn Advanced Piano Music

Harmony at the Piano adapts the traditional study of keyboard harmony to the practical needs of modern piano students, using innovative exercises to help students practice their repertoire more deliberately, consciously, and creatively.

The author introduces the essential elements of harmony through extensive examples from real piano music. Rooted in the understanding that the language of tonal harmony is best assimilated at the keyboard, this textbook:

• Gives students effective practice methods for learning repertoire, including techniques for memorizing music in a deliberate, analytical way.
• Connects harmony to musical expression, enabling students to make interpretive decisions based on their understanding of harmony.
• Contains extensive practice drills in each chapter, including chord progressions, figured bass, melody harmonization, reduction techniques, transposition, repertoire study, and more.

Designed to support a full college or conservatory course in keyboard harmony, this book clearly connects the study of harmony to practical musicianship and keyboard skills, providing an essential resource for all instructors and students of advanced piano music.

Extensive online resources complement this textbook, including suggested realizations of the figured bass exercises, the original scores of the melody harmonization and fill-in-the-blank exercises, as well as additional exercises and examples.

Ken Johansen is Associate Professor of Keyboard Studies at the Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University, where he has taught since 2002. He is a co-inventor of the piano sight-reading app Read Ahead, and the creator of From the Ground Up, a series of study editions published on Practising the Piano Online Academy. He holds degrees in piano performance from Peabody and the University of North Texas, and studied harmony and musicianship in Paris with Narcis Bonet.