Play a Story Piano Program

Music that comes from your heart rather than your head!

Play a Story is a unique program that uses story telling, animated books and movie clips to inspire you to improvise and play your own music spontaneously.

Play a Story is for students of all ages, from 4 to 104!

You can experience Play a Story it in two different ways: interacting with the Story book and interacting with the Movie.

For older students – interact with the Movie.

This part of the program meets the needs of students with a broad spectrum of playing experience, from beginner to advanced.

Students play their own piano improvisation along to short movies viewed on a device at the piano. Expressing the mood, colour and nuance – it’s live and spontaneous! The movie scenes come to life through musical interpretation, using our motifs, revealing the true musician inside.

Play a Story is a multi-sensory, 3-dimensional musical experience!

For younger students – interact with the Story Book

Travelling through a storybook world, your children will learn to listen, feel and literally ‘play the story’ across the whole piano, while it is being read. Play a Story takes between 12-18 months to complete.

What would the music sound like if it was the wind in the forest, or a shell tossed around the ocean? In the world of Play a Story, every imaginative thought, every emotion is an opportunity for your child to express themselves with the language of music – a language that is deeply profound.

The vocabulary of your child’s musical language comes in the form of simple piano motifs – short musical phrases or ideas. The motif incorporates melody, harmony and rhythm. How your child plays the motif describes what’s happening in the story.

As well as creating music, they’ll be learning key theoretical concepts, forming a solid playing foundation for their journey forward.

Student Materials

There are three “Journeys” that make up the program: Song of the Zephyr-Wind, Ocean Lullaby and Travel Notes. Each Journey comes with its own set of Student Materials including:

  • motif demonstration videos
  • animated story books
  • coaching videos
  • improvisation demonstration videos
  • “play along” videos
  • audio tracks
  • optional glossy full color books
  • downloadable playlists, motif summaries and key theoretical concepts.

Student Materials support students at home, a little like taking a teacher home each week. More than just accessories, these materials provide the environment to inspire your musical journey.