Piano Core Curriculum

Beginning with emphasis on well-grounded basic technical proficiency, Interlochen offers piano instruction and encourages participation in an intensive schedule of master classes and lessons designed to prepare you for collegiate studies and beyond. You'll take advanced workshops on various historic performance styles, and hone your own piano techniques and memorization skills. The aim of the program is to build a strong foundation as a musician and performer. You will develop technique, productive and disciplined practice habits, and musical awareness.

Required Courses: Classical Piano Majors

Keyboard Skills is the partner class with Piano Literature that together make up the Piano Seminar for senior piano majors. In this class students will harmonize, improvise, create pieces out of harmonic skeletons, derive harmonic skeletons from other pieces, play by ear, sing while they play, learn to read and realize Figured Bass, chord symbols, vocal and orchestra scores, C clefs, and will generally improve their sight reading. The class will start out with a fast and intensive review of basic scale, interval, and chord skills before moving on quickly to more advanced topics. Students will explore and challenge the intersection of their aural, tactile, visual, and conceptual skills.

Piano Literature is a required class for senior piano majors. The class meets twice per week. Topics include how significant works in the keyboard repertoire are written and how they evolved from the work of their predecessors; the various styles of performance practice; and review of each of the four eras of keyboard music--Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and 20th centuries.

The Private Lesson is individualized and tailored to the level, background, and needs of each student. It stresses a solid foundation in technical skills and covers a wide range of literature. Private study includes studio classes which provide students an opportunity to perform for their peers in an informal setting.

This course is an extension of private lessons. It addresses many of the same concepts, but in a group setting. It is designed to be flexible to meet the varying levels and needs of students.

Sample Classical Piano Curriculum for a 4-Year Student

Semesters I and II

Required Courses
Private Lesson: Piano / MUS031-32
Studio / MUS099

Elective Courses
Choir / MUS055
Composition Class / MUS213

Sample Academic Courses
Algebra I; Biology; English I; French I

Semesters III and IV

Required Courses
Private Lesson: Piano / MUS031-32
Studio / MUS099
Music Theory / MUS101

Elective Courses
Choir / MUS055
Chamber Music / MUS069
Intro to Music Production & Technology / MUS090
Class Piano / MUS203
Composition Class / MUS213
Performance Lab / MUS227

Sample Academic Courses
Geometry; World History; English II; French II

Semesters V and VI

Required Courses
Private Lesson / MUS031-32
Studio / MUS099
Music Theory / MUS215

Elective Courses
Choir / MUS055
Chamber Singers / MUS057
Chamber Music / MUS069
Introduction to Audio Technology and Production / PROD091
Music Business / MUS109
Jazz History / MUS209
Composition Class / MUS213
Performance Lab / MUS227
Jazz Improvisation I and II / MUS307

Sample Academic Courses
Algebra II; U.S. History; English III; Chemistry

Semesters VII and VIII

Required Courses
Private Lesson: Piano / MUS031-32
Studio / MUS099
Keyboard Skills / MUS415
Piano Literature / MUS417

Sample Academic Courses
Precalculus; Ecology; English IV

Interested in our Jazz Core Curriculum?

Jazz Core Curriculum