For many pianists, practice naturally revolves around two things: learning pieces and developing the technique required to play them.
Other parts of our musical training can receive much less attention. Theory and ear training may have been studied for exams and then given much less attention afterwards. Sight reading can be easy to avoid, particularly when it feels so challenging. And keyboard harmony may never have formed part of our training at all.
Even where we have worked on these areas, we may not always connect them with what happens when we sit down at the piano. Yet these musical skills can have a direct impact on how we hear and understand music, learn pieces and progress as pianists.
That is the idea behind The Well-Rounded Keyboard Player, an eight-week practical musicianship programme from pianist, composer and teacher Lona Kozik.
Develop the musicianship skills that connect what you see, hear, understand and play
The course brings together four complementary areas of musical training:
- Music Theory: Understand the patterns, structures and musical ideas you encounter, building practical musical knowledge that can inform and enhance your playing.
- Ear Training: Develop your inner hearing and strengthen the connection between notation and sound through sight singing and other aural activities.
- Sight Reading: Develop the skills that support more fluent sight reading through dedicated reading work, rhythm and keyboard harmony, giving you greater freedom to explore more music.
- Keyboard Harmony: Put keys, scales, chords and harmony to use at the keyboard, linking what you understand with what you hear and play.
These areas are not taught in isolation. The course explores them alongside one another, with activities designed to help the skills reinforce and support each other in your playing.
What this can mean for your playing
See more in the score – Move beyond processing music note by note, becoming more aware of patterns, structures and relationships within the music.
Hear what you see – Develop a stronger connection between notation and inner hearing, so that written music becomes something you can hear internally as well as decode visually.
Understand what you play – Put theory and harmony to musical use, making structures and harmonic patterns easier to recognise and understand.
Become a more complete musician – Draw on these skills across your playing to enhance the way you learn, understand and memorise music and support your overall progress as a pianist.
Knowledge Applied
The Well-Rounded Keyboard Player is designed as a hands-on course. The emphasis is not simply on acquiring more information, but on building musical knowledge and applying it directly to your playing.
The course follows a simple process:
- Learn – Learn the musical ideas and concepts that underpin the week’s work.
- Practise – Work through carefully chosen musical examples and exercises step by step, with guided activities in sight singing, rhythm and keyboard harmony, alongside dedicated sight-reading work.
- Integrate – Return to the same musical ideas through hearing, reading and playing, bringing these different skills together.
The course comprises a series of lessons introducing key concepts, together with five guided practice sessions each week to help you develop these musical skills. Dedicated sight-reading work is included twice each week.
The sessions provide a regular structure without requiring you to follow a fixed daily timetable.
Is this course for you?
The course is designed for pianists who already have some experience at the instrument but feel that gaps in their musical training may be holding them back.
It will be particularly useful if you:
- have spent relatively little time developing musicianship beyond repertoire and technique;
- have studied some of these areas before but are unsure how to apply them in your playing;
- struggle with sight reading or find that learning new music takes longer than you would like;
- want theory and harmony to become something you can use at the keyboard rather than knowledge that sits apart from your playing;
- want a more holistic musical training alongside the pieces you are learning.
The course is not intended for complete beginners.
It begins with relatively fundamental material, but that does not necessarily mean the work will feel elementary. Pianists who already play at an intermediate level can still find that their development in reading, hearing, theory or harmony lags behind their playing.
No advanced theory knowledge is required.
The programme will also be useful to teachers looking for structured musicianship work they can recommend to students between lessons.
What pianists have said about the course
The Well-Rounded Keyboard Player is a revised and updated version of Lona’s earlier course, The Complete Musician, with several new features and refinements. Here is what participants in the earlier version said about their experience:
“Before the course I felt I had gaps in my musicianship. I really struggled with both the aural part of exams and sight reading.
As the course progressed, so did my self-confidence. Instead of reading from one note to the next, I was able to take in whole bars at a glance and look ahead, something I had never been able to do before. It sped up the time it took to learn pieces, and I was able to hear melody lines in my mind and understand the rhythms.
I found it really valuable working on all of these areas together because they started to connect, rather than feeling like separate skills.”
– Dawn Taylor-Moate
“I had been told that my sight reading is slow because I don’t recognise patterns and keys, but I did not know how to remedy this. This course tackles precisely those areas and has enabled me to understand the principles of harmony.”
– Caroline Hand
Course information
The Well-Rounded Keyboard Player is an eight-week online programme delivered through video lessons and guided practice sessions, with downloadable scores, musical examples and supporting materials.
The first lessons are now available, with further material released progressively over the eight-week programme.
Weekly emails will help you stay on track and give you direct access to the lessons and activities for each stage of the programme.
All material is pre-recorded, so you can work through the course at times that suit you. A standalone purchase gives you lifetime access to the course materials, with no time limit for completing the programme or returning to it later.
The Well-Rounded Keyboard Player is available for a one-off price of £197. Online Academy subscribers receive 20% off, giving a subscriber price of £157.60.
Frequently asked questions
What level is the course for?
The course is intended for pianists who already have some experience at the instrument. It is not designed for complete beginners. Intermediate pianists can also benefit where areas such as sight reading, hearing, theory or harmony have not developed at the same rate as their repertoire playing.
How does The Well-Rounded Keyboard Player relate to The Complete Musician?
The Well-Rounded Keyboard Player is a revised and updated version of Lona’s earlier course, The Complete Musician. The core approach and material remain, but the course has been extensively refreshed, with all-new video recordings, more focused and restructured lessons and new features including a guided email pathway to help you work through the programme week by week.
Is this a theory course?
No. Music Theory is one of four areas covered, and the course puts theoretical ideas into use alongside hearing, sight reading and work at the keyboard.
What does Ear Training involve?
Much of the aural work is developed through sight singing, alongside activities such as listening, identifying intervals and connecting notation with sound.
Do I need to be able to sing?
You do not need to be a trained singer. Sight singing is used as a practical way of connecting what you see in notation with what you hear internally.
How much sight reading is included?
Dedicated sight-reading work is included twice each week. Rhythm, hearing and keyboard harmony also develop skills that support more fluent reading.
What is Keyboard Harmony?
Keyboard Harmony involves putting keys, scales, chords and harmonic patterns into practical use at the piano, helping connect theoretical knowledge with what you hear and play.
How are the five practice sessions organised?
The course comprises a series of lessons introducing key concepts, together with five guided practice sessions each week. These include recurring work in sight singing, rhythm and keyboard harmony, with dedicated sight-reading work included twice each week.
Do I need to practise on five consecutive days?
No. The five-session structure provides a recommended rhythm, but everything is pre-recorded and you can work through the material at times that suit you.
What if I fall behind?
The programme is designed to provide structure rather than a rigid timetable. Because the material is pre-recorded, you can continue through the programme at your own pace.
Do I need advanced theory knowledge?
No. Advanced theory knowledge is not required.
Is the course useful for teachers?
Yes. Teachers may find the programme useful both for their own musicianship and as structured work they can recommend to students between lessons.
How does progressive release work?
The first lessons will be available in the final week of September, with further material released progressively across the eight-week programme.
How long will I have access?
Standalone purchasers have ongoing access with no expiry.
What is the Online Academy subscriber price?
Online Academy subscribers receive 20% off the £150 introductory price, giving a subscriber price of £120. If you are a subscriber, please sign-in to your account and the discount will be reflected on the final checkout page.