What do you Think?

As you've probably noticed the lessons page has new thumbnails.

The old system was grouped into 5 levels ; Beg, Int1, Int2, Adv1, Adv2 - however it was designed to work through from the bottom lessson to the top.

This is still the case, but now you can be a little more 'choosey'. You might want to work on a newer lesson that has an easier ranking. We think it's a pretty good system but are keen to hear your thoughts. Please click on 'Contact Us' on the right and let us know if you prefer the new system.

We will introduce a 'search' bar and 'level selection' down the track, but for the moment this is it.

Also.. you may be wondering... 'was that the big thing??' ..well, no. We're working on it right now. Also, special thanks to Dennis for sharing this video. We figured it worthy of posting http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/benj ... ssion.html

As if one wasn't enough!

Why keep you waiting?? Here's another lesson for you to enjoy. It just seemed to flow after the lesson on Altered Chords so here is 'Tri-tone Substitution'. I'm sure it'll make your ii-V-I's even more exciting.

New Lesson

The Mysterious Altered Chord is now up... and it's about to lose its 'Mysteriousness'

The Mysterious Altered Chord

You're going to love Lesson 38 - any day now.

Online Concert and Backing Tracks

We hope you're all well and are enjoying making music.

We've got some great news for you:

1. As a special treat for you, we've uploaded a concert live from the Brisbane Jazz Club in Australia. IT IS FREE TO WATCH! To check it out simply log in and click on 'special member bonus' on the lessons page. -We'll have to take it off in just a few days so go pour yourself a drink and check it out.

2. We now have backing tracks for you to download. You are probably aware that the very advanced improvisation lesson was recently released,..well now you can download the band backing tracks. They too are located on the lessons page in lesson 37 - backing tracks. Even if you're not quite up to that level of improvising, you can still download and jam along using the concepts in earlier lessons. It's a really great, fun way to practice so why not start now?
and finally...

3. We've now moved to our new studio, so you can expect us to continue creating many more of the highest quality video lessons available on the net today!

Have fun... and don't forget to check out that concert - it'll be gone by mid-week.

Secret Member Bonus

Does anybody else notice the irony of posting about some exiting news that we can't mention because it's a secret??

Well, anyway... you've probably noticed the new 'Secret Member Bonus' icons on the lessons page. We thought it was about time for something a little different for you all to watch. We don't want to say too much, except that we will be removing it from the lessons page shortly. We will constantly throw little things like this up now and again, so If you don't get time to watch it, don't worry... there will be others.

We are currently moving the studio to a new location. This means that it's going to be a little quiet for the next week. As soon as we return be prepared for many more lessons. The next few lessons are some goodies too... a big thanks to CK Productions who are in the process of creating some amazing (and original) backing tracks to accompany the next series of lessons. These will be completely free and available for you all to start practicing with shortly.

Keep up the practice.

Coming up

Hello out there in music land.

We just wanted to drop you a quick line and see how you're going. We realize that it's been a little quiet on the site this week. We're going to be re-locating our studio in a next week or two, and that's going to open the doors up for some really great possibilities.... (eg. midi transcriptions of songs, lessons on playing in a band, etc).

In the immediate future (next 2 days) lesson 37 will be up, and a little surprise for you all... I don't want to give away too much but it does involve the addition of around 2 hours of footage onto the lessons page. You're in for a treat.

If all that wasn't enough, we're currently planning our first ever Competition. We'll let you know some details soon.

Some exciting developments!

For those of you working on your single line Improvisation - boy,.. will this be the lesson for you.

It's time to add another lesson to the ongoing series of improvisation lessons. But be warned... this one is SERIOUS! Lesson 37 : Advanced Improvisation : The Seven Primary Rules of Embellishment - will be ready very soon. To prepare yourself for this one make sure you're up to speed with lessons 15, 25 and 27 because this really dives deep into some advanced skills. When you include the techniques in this lesson into your practice, you'll really advance quickly and start to create some amazing embellishments and ornamentations. - Oh yeah... and this lesson has play-a-long MP3's.

On a different note, Dave is heading back into the recording studios at the end of this month to record a new album with Australian Vocalist Katie Wighton. We've been given the go ahead to give you copies of some songs - with the music!! As they become available we'll send them out to you. Dave was even talking about taking the SOMO cameras into the studio - who knows we might even have the studio recording footage on the lessons page! - We'll keep you posted on this.

Authentic Latin Momentum

The first of the Advanced One lessons are now up at the School of Music Online.

The newest video lesson is called 'Authentic Latin Momentum'.

If you feel that now it’s time to put some authentic Latin sounds into your playing - you'll definately impress with this new authentic Latin style. This isn’t just a ‘play-these-notes’ thing either, we actually look at how this Montuno is derived, so that you can figure out your own in any key!! This is the first of many lessons on Authentic Latin Styles - if you can get the co-ordination down for this… then you’ll boost your playing in every style.

Definately check the lessons page out now!

Playing Ballads & Memorizing Chords

Well, it's been a little wait for this one - but it's here and it's amazing. If you were after a way to memorize all your chords/inversions/voicings, then this lesson is the one thats going to help you do that.

Something else this lesson gives you, is the ability to go off on your own and learn and play ballads all by yourself. Not to mention of course the value in expanding your repertoire.

To add to that... there's some heavy bassline embellishment work with the introduction of the 'power-rock-ballad-bassline''. Sure the 'power' and 'rock' are a little unnecessary in the title but it's just more darn fun to say... go ahead...

It appears, now that we stand at the end of the intermediate two lessons, that since the beginning of the school the duration of each lesson has been getting longer and longer. Our plan now is to begin delivering to a few more bite sized lessons for those of you who have been checking these out in a lunch break. It also gives us the ability to pump more out and cover a much broader range of topics in a shorter time.

The next few lessons will be out within the week - Stay tuned!

Oops.. we've done it again.

We've been buried away working hard on the next lesson, but it's accidentally turned into another huge lesson. Easily over half an hour. Our apologies for the wait...but it's definately going to be worth it! In saying that, you are about to get bombarded with new lessons!! We're going to start making shorter videos, but more of them. Now the lessons are up for the piano basics... we can start putting some time into styling them. The very next new lesson to get launched is a really great lesson that gives you a great way to capture that lounge-piano sound, and work on every chord inversion you might come across. You're going to love this one... we promise!

...notice anything different?

When you last logged into the lessons page you may have noticed something a little bit different.

We have reversed the order that the lessons appear in. That means that whenever you log in, the newest videos are going to be right up the top.

As the library continues to grow we'll add a search bar at the top so that you can search for a lesson number, style, or even keywords like: improvisation or ballad.

Speaking of ballads, the very next lesson (which will be released any day now) will look at playing ballads and that real 'lounge' piano sound that you'd hear in a piano bar. Play it again Sam.

You asked for it....

Within the next 24 hours lesson 34 will be up - and it's another big one weighing in at around 25 minutes. It also covers one of the most asked about styles that we get. That's right... I'm talking about the Blues. Pull out your old Blues Brothers style Sunnies and get ready to become around 25% cooler than before. This lesson will be a good one!

Meanwhile... here's a great time-waster. :)

Advanced One Launches Early July!

We just wanted to touch base with our favourite students and let you know that the Advanced One Levels will be launching early July. With the end of the Intermediate Two lessons (and assuming you can do most things covered), you now have the piano theory and practical basics down. (listen to that crowd roar!) Of course, there's always more to learn, but now you can afford to be a little more 'choosie' about what you want to study, and what you want to hear in your own playing. From here on in the topics covered are going to cross a much broader range of styles and influences - and many will be just as applicable for beginners as they are for our advanced players. If you've got any topic suggestions, or want some further explanations on anything you've seen, don't forget the community is now up and active.

Now... for those who have asked so nicely whats coming up next... here's a little preview!

Playing Ballads – Part I
The 7 modes of the Major Scale
Introduction to the Advanced Levels
Intermediate Improvisation and the 7 primary rules of Embellishment
Rootless ii-V-I’s with appropriate scales and Arpeggios
Introduction to Latin Music
Lets explore the Altered chord.
Tri-tone substitution

Tri-tone substitution and Altered Chords

....so what's next??

Well, the last month has been huge!!

The first rep list is up, and we'll keep throwing more of them up on a weekly basis. We've also introduced the Intermediate Two levels onto the Lessons page. We've uploaded a total of 7 new video lessons (2 1/2 hours) of new lessons. That includes the 'connecting the target notes' lesson, and SERIOUS CHORDS. Just last week we broke a record for the most hands on one piano. Oh yeah, and to add to that... the Community is up and running and will continue to grow.

So you might ask whats next?? ... well, we all think it's time to go on a big holiday for 6 months......JUST KIDDING!! We're going harder than ever. It's time to hit the recording studio again, and create more video lessons than we've ever created before. We've been asked by a few people whats in store for the next few video lessons, and although we don't want to give away too much, we can say that you will never again upset any bass player.

The Rep List

The Rep List is Coming!! In fact the first rep list entry on the lessons page will be up tomorrow.

These Repertoire lessons are to be included in your weekly practice diet. Usually the most important ways to encourage musical growth is to listen to music, and to actually play music. In these sections, you can listen and play.

In a nut shell... no matter what level you're at, you can practice playing songs. The more developed your musical vocabulary, the more ways you can practice it. The Rep List will focus on what level your at...and show you a list of songs that you can play at that level. You can listen to the same song by many different artists, and choose whatever songs you like. It will teach you different ways to practice, and also introduce you to your own personal practice plan.

The great thing about the Rep List is that over time you'll have a repertoire of 100's of songs that you can play... and that means you can even form bands, and start gigging! The biggest steps for most musicians' growth is when they actually start playing in bands. The Rep List is designed for exactly that.

Due tomorrow!!

The Community is up!

Perhaps you've noticed a new button in the Menu section?? That's right its up - and it's all new and shiny. For those of you who are full members of SOMO, you now have full access to a special section in the 'Community' - it's called the 'subscriber community' and it gives you the ability to have direct contact with the SOMO Tutors. You can now submit videos of your practice sessions/questions/jams/origianals and anything else you can think of. The Tutors will review it and send it back. How's that for service??

The community is very new to the whole team here and we are learning too. We may be ironing out a few issues over the next few weeks so please be patient with us. We've uploaded a screenshot for you to check out below.

The "Community" is Coming!!

So what is the 'Community'??

The Community is a forum... but not just any forum...

It's a forum where you can ask us, the Team...or...you can ask the world. It's a place where you can meet other musicians just like yourself. It's a place where you can discover new artists, great venues, and amazing stories. It's a place where you can share original music, ideas, practice tips, technique exercises, and even discuss what you're going to have for Dinner.

Yes, we can hear your heart racing as you yell WHEN!..WHEN!...WHEN!!!

Well, we can tell you that we're in a final stages of testing it.. and the Community will be active in just days!

The Community is for you, so when it finally arrives, get involved and ask questions...and if you come across a question you can answer... then answer away. That's how it works!

The Benchmark has been set!

What better way to spend a Saturday afternoon than setting the new record (as far as we know) for the most hands performing on the one piano. It really was a blast and we all had a great time. In total 16 people were playing at once. Check out the video below.

So... we are officially throwing out the challenge to anyone who want's to beat it... we would gladly admit defeat and pass over the 'imaginary-trophy-of-honour'. Will would also throw your video onto this blog - AND onto the lessons page - 'oooooo' the crowd murmers!

SERIOUS CHORDS Screenshots

Lesson 31 is up and running... and don't forget to print off the practice test and the answer sheet. Enjoy. Also, we have now allowed commenting on the blog posts. Just click on 'comments' below and then feel free to leave your mark!

Well, it's almost here... and we've got to tell you that this video lesson is really something! This video weighs in at over 25mins and is close to double the length of the longest video lesson so far! Not only that, but it delivers exactly what we thought it would. This video will teach you how to play any chord - that you're ever going to come across.

Included in the video are two 'bonus-round', 'beat-the-buzzer' style games that will quiz you on the lessons teachings. The lesson also has a downloadable test and seperate answer sheet to help you grasp your chords. Lesson 31 also proved to use the most 'graphic-overlay' titles that we've ever attempted in a video lesson, this really helps to make the whole subject easier.

We are seriously excited to launch this video as we have never seen a video go into this much detail on the subject of chords, nor even attempt to cover the whole subject in a single lesson.

Lesson 31: Serious Chords will be available sometime tomorrow.

28,29 and 30 are now available

Just a quick post to let you know that lessons 28,29 and 30 are now up and running. Hope you enjoy them. We were actually expecting these three lessons to take a few extra days, but the team worked really hard on this one. Please enjoy, and we'll hopefully have SERIOUS CHORDS up for you to enjoy early next week. (Notice how the capitals make it more SERIOUS!!)

The 'new look' SOMO blog

You may have noticed something different about the blog since your last visit. We just figured it was time for a change. Welcome to the 'new look' SOMO blog.

One particular addition that we're quite fond of is the new Mp3 player. Sure lots of sites have Mp3 players on them.... but how many have 50 hand picked tunes? Dave has rummaged through amazon and located 50 tunes that have been on his regular listening repotoire for many years. Everyone of them is a tune that has influenced his playing in some way or another. When checking out the blog, remember to hit play and you'll get 30 secs of each tune. If you find one you like then you can download it directly from amazon for roughly 90cents (depends on tune). However, we discovered that if you click on the album name, a few of the entire albums are only $1.50. Not bad eh...?

Now, we would like to announce that lesson 28, 29 and 30 will be up before the end of the week. These three lessons are going to really drill in your chords, and new solo modes. Then onto the much talked about lesson 31... you can view a preview below. And if you think that look's good - we can't wait for you to watch 32!! - we can't say too much but we can say that never again will you upset a bass player.

SERIOUS CHORDS! coming soon

With the release of Intermediate two, you would think that we would be keen to take a holiday. Oh no… not us hard working folk at SOMO. We’re going harder than ever. You’re in for a real treat because we’ve got some great things coming up. Of course it’s all top secret at this stage but you’ll be the first to know here on the blog.

The just released Lesson 27 has already received some wonderful feedback, so thank you… and to those who asked, yes the lessons on ‘extreme tension’ aren’t too far away. There’s only so many hours in the day and we’re trying to upload in an order that doesn’t throw too many curve balls.

In the mean time we want to wish you all the best with your practice and enjoy this short promo video for lesson 31 which will be coming shortly.

Intermediate Two has Arrived!

Well, It's finally here. Intermediate Two.

A huge Thank You to the team for getting this up and available, and to you for waiting.

These lessons really attack the skills needed to open up the Real book and play! Not only that... but to start gigging. The Intermediate two levels really approach some fantastic topics. If you didn't know how to play a dominant thirteen with a sharp 11th, flattened 9th and twisted 35th... ok, so we made that last bit up - but you're going to know soon. You want to start playing Latin Montunos and Riffs? That' coming up soon too. How about Jam tracks....? We've got you covered.

With a huge claim such as 'you will be able to open up a book and play after these levels'... one should ask '...so will that be the end of posting?? ..No Way. We're more determined than ever and will continue to add lessons.

Knowing how to play is one thing.... actually being able to play is another. Inspiration is essential, and if we can continue to encourage musical ideas to blossom and continue to help you grow into the musician you want to be... then we will.

Thank you for all your support with the production of these lessons. Please enjoy them as they continue to become available.

Just a few days left!!

Thank you for patience... it'll be worth the wait!

The Next Life Changing Lesson

We've recieved a lot of great feedback about lesson 15. Many have mentioned how simple the idea of resolution and tension notes are, and what a huge difference it's made to their playing. One of these people was actually a 'gigging musician' who said

"all of a sudden I'm creating melodies that could be their own tunes.... it's exciting!".

Thank you all for letting us know how these lessons have helped you, it's really great to know pianists all over the globe are benefitting from these ideas. As our little gift to you all, we have updated the visual effects over lesson 25 (this is the new improvising lesson). This lesson is (in our opinion) - as 'life-changing' as lesson 15. It will literally change the whole way you approach improvisation. and... you're welcome to view it BELOW!!! This lesson focuses on Target Notes. These notes are the notes you want to get to in your solos. It's like the major stops on a holiday. In Part II we're going to look at how to get to those major destinations and join up the dots!

Please enjoy.

Thank you from Dave Spicer

Hello fellow pianists!

I just wanted to say thank you for your kind encouragement that the school is receiving.

Everybody is enjoying the lessons available and eagerly waiting for more to be posted. There are literally hundreds in the pipeline, and as you can all see by looking at the current lessons available, the topics are progressing at a pretty serious rate.

Shortly we’re going to add play-along tracks into the rhythm and sight-reading sections and upload Rhythm levels 61 – 100!! More importantly, we will be welcoming the addition of some songs – actually, heaps of songs. Sure, this method obviously gets you reading from Realbooks, but we’re actually going to start attacking some of these songs together! It’s surprising that after just 4 lessons, students should be able to open up the Realbook and play tunes in some capacity. In my experience, my piano really started soaring ahead when I could open up random music books and play. So that’s where I want to guide the students of this site.

I’m really looking forward to that.

Please send the School of Music Online any suggestions you want to see in these lessons, or any questions you’ve got. We’re all too happy to help!

In the mean time, enjoy your playing.

Coming Soon.

There's some great lessons on their way this month. The next two lessons will be the final lessons in the Intermediate One level. Although we will be constantly updating and adding practice material and songs into these levels, this will officially mark the end of this level. For those of you itching to move onto Intermediate Two - you'll soon get your chance.

So heres a preview of what we're going to cover in the next few lessons:

Lesson 24: This is a real essential lesson covering the now famous ii-V-I progression. We'll start looking at it in more depth down the track, but in this lesson we're going to learn a practical way of practicing it. It's also going to give us the ability to loop all twelve keys with ease and start creating and composing songs.

Lesson 25: CONGRATULATIONS GANG! This is the final lesson in the Intermediate One level... and what a lesson it is! This lesson is called 'improvising over ii-V-I's Part 1 : Target Notes'. Basically - If you understand and apply this lesson into your playing, you'll be creating tastier solos than you ever thought possible!

Welcome to the Intermediate Two level. You've worked hard, and you deserve to advance to the next level. Were going to jump straight into the deep end with this level and look at some advanced topics. Lesson 26 explores 2 new scales. The Dorian mode and the Mixolydian mode. Don't fret, they may sound scary, but David finds a way to make them easy and throw them straight into your playing.

We're looking forward to putting up all the intermediate two levels - and this is why.... If you understand, practice and play everything up to the end of the IntermediateTwo level, then you will be able to open up the real book and play everything!! You'll also have all the skills to play gigs - and I mean real paying gigs!

Finally, as an after thought, it is very rare to find a Musician who actually had a point in their life where they decided to make it a career. Generally it's a love for practice, or just playing, or a circumstance where they have to play, that develops their playing to a point where they can gig and earn a living. Although most Musicians don't make a concious decision to make it their life, they generally wouldn't have it any other way. The strongest advice we can offer is to continue to enjoy the journey of improvement, and one day you'll simply look back and smile - as an accomplished, and gigging Musician.

School of Music Online FIRST POST!!

We wish to extend the warmest welcome to you.

We're pleased to announce the launch of the School of Music Online Blog!

When we're in the process of creating new lessons, exercises, tips, books, etc.... you're going to find out about it here first. This is the first official post, we'll keep them archived for you all if you want to search for anything.

There seems to be millions of piano teachers, and thousands of books, and hundreds of methods… We are honored that you have found your way to us. We really believe that the method that our teachers use get the quickest and best results for today's gigging musician. We pride ourselves on teaching the rules of creating music, so in time you can apply them to ANY song. It is also our opinion that the quality of our video lessons is higher than any other available online today.

For our new students, you now have unlimited access to our video lesson database. You can watch any video lesson, as many times as you want. Also, feel free to download any supporting files within the lesson pages. We would love to hear about your progress and any future improvements to the site, so please feel free to contact us.

For anyone checking out the site for the first time, the best way to get an idea of how we teach is simply to join. That way - before you pay a cent you can check out some sample videos and download some exercises. If you're feeling like your progressing... then subscribe. That way you know what we're all about.

We wanted to let you know a little about the School and about our intentions.

School of Music Online has been active since April 2008. We’re a new school and we’re rapidly growing. The team is working around the clock to make as many lessons available as possible. The lessons that you see available now come from a method written by David Spicer (our resident jazz piano teacher). He has written hundreds of lessons and the team is filming, editing and uploading as fast as possible. Davids method is one of a kind. It focuses on getting beginners playing, and jamming from lead sheets. As more lessons are posted we'll begin introducing some more advanced topics. We also have hundreds of Sight Reading videos and Rhythm videos on their way. We will upload videos to try to cater for all levels of playing so that no matter what level you’re at; there will constantly be new lessons for you to enjoy.

In the next few months we will be adding a Student Forum onto the School’s homepage. It will be your community where you can post questions, chat with other musicians, and help each other grow musically. David, and our other teachers will be checking into the forum constantly. This way you can ask questions, and get some of those more unique questions answered.

We’re excited to make music accessible to you. It seems at the moment that we’re at the bottom of Mt Everest looking up. With so many topics, great teachers, endless styles, and new technology… the School will be constantly growing.

Once again, Welcome to the School of Music Online.