Learn how to write emotional and dramatic piano music for Oscar style trailers
I am not a pianist - but over the last decade and more, I have become renowned for my distinctive piano tracks. These tracks have been used in many trailers - from Mary Queen of Scots to Needle in a Time Stack, to name just two.
My course is designed to uncover the art of writing for piano, even if you are not a pianist.
Writing beautiful piano music is all about patterns!
When I first started out in trailer music. I approached everything like a guitarist and I would use my guitar on every single track.
This was not a problem until I was asked to start using piano more in my tracks. How was I supposed to write this piano music? All I understood was riff based writing...
So…this is exactly what I did! Except instead of riffs I started to use patterns.
And this was the turning point for me; using patterns to not only write great "riffs" but also to structure the entire trailer cue.
Are you struggling to make your piano parts sound great?
I have noticed that most music producers who are uncomfortable writing piano music simply don't know the little tricks to make it sound "pianistic".
Their parts sound like machine guns playing old Casio keyboards badly. And I know this because that is how my tracks sounded when I first began.
Now most people assume that I am an accomplished pianist.
But, as I’ve said - I’m not.
I have just discovered and implemented the right way to approach writing for piano, that has worked so well for me as a guitarist.
And this is what I want to show you - how to write beautiful and dramatic piano music, without being able to play it yourself.
“So many simple tools and methods”
So many simple tools and methods that you can use to develop into beautiful inspiring songs. Easy to follow along. One specific left handed pattern alone was worth the course, for me. This course will really help add variety to your piano pieces if you get stuck writing the same things due to muscle memory. Richard's enthusiasm is a constant reminder of how awesome it is to be able to compose music.
Mike Whitney - Composer
What You'll Get in the Course
Welcome
- Introduction - 4 mins - 6.28 MB
- Meet Your Tutor - 4 mins - 39.9 MB
- What will you learn? - 7 mins - 78.8 MB
Get to Know Your Tools
- A little about the piano - 4 mins - 41.7 MB
- The "Best" Piano VSTs - 7 mins - 107 MB
- Let's check out some piano libraries - 12 mins - 181 MB
- Which Piano VST to choose? - 3 mins - 45 MB
Writing for the Piano using a DAW
- Writing for the piano an introduction - Left & Right Hand - 24 mins - 249 MB
- Writing for two hands - 21 mins - 412 MB
- Using the Piano Roll (basic) - 8 mins - 81.9 MB
- Humanising your MIDI - 13 mins - 136 MB
- Realistic Programming - 17 mins - 181 MB
My Secret Sauce - a blueprint for cinematic piano writing
- My Secret Sauce - 5 mins - 45.8 MB
- Patterns Patterns Patterns - 4.33 KB
- Play with Patterns in 3 - 23 mins - 236 MB
- Play with Patterns in 4 - 28 mins - 290 MB
- Play with Patterns in 6 - 29 mins - 302 MB
- Cross Rhythms & Matching Numbers - 18 mins - 186 MB
- Variety is the Spice of Life - 2 mins - 20.6 MB
- Mastering the art of Building - 14 mins - 283 MB
- My secret about Patterns - 18 mins - 318 MB
The basics of scoring and how it applies
- Telling a Story - 6 mins - 34.6 MB
- The Trailer Structure - 4 mins - 28.4 MB
- Creating a three act cue - 49 mins - 1020 MB
References
- Mary Queen of Scots Trailer - 2 mins - 49.2 MB
- Amelie music - 4 mins - 101 MB
- The score to The Piano - 4 mins - 76.4 MB
- Eventual Motion Walkthrough - 26 mins - 600 MB
Creating your tracks - Building drama
- Welcome to the world of neo-classical piano - 21 mins - 415 MB
- Create a Template and Choose Your Instruments - 19 mins - 197 MB
- Define Trailer Structure - 4 mins - 34.5 MB
- Choosing Your Time Signature - 3 mins - 27 MB
- Choose Chord Sequence - 7 mins - 64 MB
- Choose Your Patterns - 5 mins - 49.3 MB
- Create Your Drama Structure - 27 mins - 274 MB
- Add Variations - 43 mins - 440 MB
- Adding Orchestration - (1h 42m 25s) - 1.04 GB
- Quick and Easy Mix - (1h 13m 40s) - 761 MB
"This Piano Course is a GAME-CHANGER"
As a lifelong guitarist intimidated by the piano, Rich's piano course was a game-changer for me. I'm now putting everything I learned to work writing and pitching my piano tracks for sync opportunities. Highly recommended.
Mary Shaw - Composer
Composer
$297 - 3 payments of $100
Dramatic Piano Course | CPC01
Course - 38 Lessons
The only piano course dedicated to teaching non-piano players how to write emotional and dramatic piano music for movie trailers!
30 Day Money Back Guarantee
If you're unhappy with the course, or you simply change your mind within 30 days of registration, you may request a full refund, provided you haven't accessed more than 30% of the course (not counting any publicly available portions, or anything included in the Welcome module).
Hi, I'm Richard Pryn
I write music for a living. Mostly for trailer music, which is where I get 99% of my placements from.
I am also the co-founder of the music production school, Protege. I write piano music all the time, draw little comics, and have written some books on creativity.
You can learn more about how I got into this wonderful career in the first episode of The Trailer Music Composer's Podcast.
Frequently asked questions
NO! That is the whole point of this course, that I show you how to compose music for the piano that sounds like you know how to play it! Awesome right!?
Ideally a MIDI keyboard helps to input the notes BUT you do not need one at all. I started out using only my mouse to input notes and that did me fine. In fact it helped me focus on making the parts sound as good as possible, as I was worried people would find out I used my mouse
Yes you do need to be able to use a DAW so you can follow along with the videos.
Nope, you can use whichever DAW you please as long as you know how to use it.
The wonderful thing about this, and all of my courses, is that I try to steer clear of getting too deep into theory. You will be at an advantage if you know how to harmonise the major/minor scales, but aside from that you won't need any theory.
Of course not! What I can say is that of all the composers and producers who have taken this course, the ones that are getting work as trailer music composers, are the ones who put the time and effort into their work. They also happen to be super nice people (industry secret there).
Forever. You bought the course and you own it for life. Access it anytime you want. You’ll also get all the course updates and new lessons for FREE. This is NOT a membership or subscription course.
It’s a video course hosted by Podia that requires you to log in and stream the videos. The course also includes downloadable PDFs.
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Want your Piano tracks sound like they were the score for an Oscar winning movie??
Grab my FREE Trailer Music Toolkit
Download my Trailer Music toolkit of sounds, samples, and my blueprint to have all the tools you need to start writing amazing Trailer Music.
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