William Coyle

Tasmania: William Coyle Piano Teaching 2007

ISBN 9780646478500 40 pp

www.listentoyourhands.com.au

Reviewed by Rachel Hocking

Back in the day when I sat for piano exams part of the requirements involved playing a chord progression of I, IV, V in the keys of the scales that I had prepared to assist with understanding of basic functional harmony. As time is even more limited these days, exercises such as these sometimes are not part of regular studio lessons or exams. Enter William Coyle’s small but sophisticated-looking volume. 

Coyle attempts to bridge the gap between sound and feel in an attempt to free the student-musician from the confines of the notated score. Essentially, this method is about grouping known sounds from Western music into chord progressions and identifying them as patterns that can be widely applied. While this is usually covered in theoretical courses, it is not often related directly to the instrument (unless the teacher has knowledge and time to do this) and is even less attempted when the student is at a third grade AMEB level (Coyle’s advised level for this).

Coyle’s philosophy behind the book is explained in the opening six pages. The course is intended to be used in the first ten minutes of each lesson and practice session, for nine months. Students are asked to rely on muscle memory, reciting the chord labels as they play the progressions. As the title of the book suggests, students are also directed to listen to the way the chord progressions move.

In the book proper, each page consists of at least one lesson with exercises given as music examples with clear written instructions. Coyle recognises the importance of relevance to the average student and so includes a paragraph or two detailing the benefits of each of the lessons. The method begins with playing the tonics of the entire circle of fifths (major keys) in the right hand, descending. Each lesson increases the harmonic language until the entire circle of fifths can be played as tonic triads. Prerequisite knowledge is required for the understanding of some musical concepts and jargon. More importantly the ear is continuously relied upon to produce the correct intervals and chords, as only the first two progressions per lesson are written out as music notation. As the lessons progress, different triads are introduced, until the student can play in ‘piano style’ (i.e. single note in the left hand, chords in the right hand) a chord progression in every key involving every chord and its inversion within the key and the key’s relative minor. 

Coyle is hopeful that this method will assist with memorisation and improvisation, and it is up to individual teachers to extend this. The method will also assist with sightreading, analysis, and the realisation of charts. Coyle’s method gives students the language on which they can build these vital skills. The price and its potential expiry after nine months could result in a hard sell to students (and more importantly their parents), but for some piano teachers this may be the glue that’s been missing from their students understanding of ‘how it all works’.

[Thanks to piano students Carine Ma and Dean Gaffoor for trialling this method]