Engaging Activities

These companion volumes to the repertoire books provide tools and information that will contribute to a fun, engaging, and creative learning experience. The notes and activities are intended to help students identify the central musical components of each piece and assimilate the musical and technical skills embedded in the music. Where appropriate, the insightful notes provide background information on the musical style of the pieces to support students in their artistic interpretation and comprehension of the material.

The exercises help students to achieve the technical goals necessary for artistic maturity and challenge them to develop:

• an expressive performance style
• careful listening skills
• an internalized rhythmic sensitivity

Each book contains a variety of activities that are flexible enough for students to work on at home or at the lesson both with and without the piano. Students are given multiple opportunities to create their own ensembles with their teacher, parents, other students, and even the recordings.

The Activities books use descriptive, hands-on, analytical, and exploratory exercises that students can complete before, during, and after learning a piece to address topics such as:

• improvisation
• rhythm
• style
• articulation
• interpretation

Innovative Approach

Recordings of all the repertoire pieces in the series are available online—an innovative and practical approach that offers flexible options for their use in both home and studio situations. The recordings are an exciting and refreshing way to enhance the experience of using the repertoire volumes and activity books.

The arrangements and the instrumentation selected for each piece are stylistically appropriate, incorporating a variety of real instrumental and digital sounds to produce a polished, multi-layered performance. Exposing students to the wide range of musical possibilities offered by the recordings encourages them to develop:

• confidence in playing intricate rhythms
• refined listening and interpretive skills
• awareness of stylistic and instrumental diversity

Students are given the opportunity to experiment with improvisation within a comfortable, interactive context. Each repertoire piece is available with multiple tracks featuring:

• instrumental accompaniment
• instrumental accompaniment with solo piano
• practice tempo
• performance tempo

Access to the recordings is included with the purchase of each repertoire book.

Progressive Leveling

Connections corresponds by level to other Frederick Harris Music publications such as Celebration Series®, The Piano Odyssey®, allowing teachers and students to seamlessly make the transition from one series to the other. Students will be equipped with the ability to move between the classical stream of the Celebration Series® and the contemporary music of Connections without compromising their pianistic development. Connections offers the perfect complement to classical piano study.

Student Motivation

Connections is ideal for students needing additional incentives to practice or a change of pace in their piano studies. With these pieces and activities, students will rediscover their love of music. Connections resonates with students of all ages by presenting relevant, modern music that they are accustomed to hearing in their daily lives—music that they love to play. Connections invites students to experience a broader musical soundscape, encounter new challenges, and reach new heights of artistic expression.

Learn more about Christopher Norton Connections™ for Piano by downloading the Series Sampler PDF. (2.1 MB)