If you teach piano, it’s likely you teach Christopher Norton’s music on almost a daily basis. His name is synonymous with “The composer who creates the music my students always love.” To say Christopher Norton is a prolific composer is a serious understatement; his influence on not only piano repertoire, but on multi-instrumental and choral repertoire is powerful.
His expertise on the area of teaching contemporary music was something we wanted to hear first-hand and so in this TeachPianoToday Podcast episode we chat with Christopher Norton to discover his take how to use contemporary music to create better musicians.
Christopher Norton And Contemporary Music Instruction
Listen in as Christopher Norton and I discuss:
- If classical and contemporary instruction can work hand-in hand
- How to easily include music from the radio into your piano lessons
- How to effectively teach difficult rhythms to your piano students
- Why your piano students should be learning to “jam” and how to get started
- How teaching pop music can improve your piano students’ technique
- The importance of assisting your piano students in finding their own voice to create their own music
- and much, much more!
Christopher Norton is easily one of the most well-known figures in piano education right now and we were honored to have had the opportunity to talk with him! Click the link below to listen to the podcast or download it to your iPod by visiting our iTunes page here.
Kelley says
I can’t express to you how perfect your timing is! Having been frustrated with the the repertoire in the method books, and then by the strange arrangements of pop music, I recently started taking a hard look at the best way to introduce contemporary music to my students. I’ve written a couple of pieces that hopefully help to bridge the gap. Thank you so much for posting this podcast, and for your always-helpful posts!!
Alan Moore says
Looking forward to this podcast immensely. I’ve always been a huge fan of Christopher Norton and I’m using his Microjazz Collection 2 piano book with several students. They find the pieces challenging but enjoyable at the same time. Sounds perfect to me!
Alan
Maria DelVechio says
where can you buy and look at C.Norton’s music.I live in north Jersey nj.Usa 07021
Andrea says
Hi Maria – any local music store will likely carry them, amazon.com definitely does, or you can browse his entire collections here http://christophernorton.epartnershub.com/
Milla says
Congratulations on Christopher Norton’s daughter getting married! My son is getting married on the same day in Louisville, Kentucky.
Alexandra Weiss Toronto Piano Teacher says
Here is a video of my 8-year-old piano students playing a duet “Big Blue” from American Popular Piano L.8 by Christopher Norton: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2K6NoE5jI8
Anne Russell says
Thanks Andrea for the opportunity to hear Christopher’s ideas and thoughts. We’re looking forward to hosting him at our studios in April 2016.
Andrea says
What a lovely opportunity Anne! 🙂