Learning to improvise on the piano is a fundamental activity with great benefits, both for piano teachers and for students. In this post, I want to share the resources (books, courses, and videos) that I use in my lessons, as well as those that have helped me, and continue to help me, learn to improvise. Like many other classical trained pianists, I didn’t learn to improvise during my training years, and while some of my peers seemed to have a natural talent for it, I didn’t appear to possess that ability. I used to hold the mistaken belief that improvisation was a gift that some people had and others did not. Now I know that everyone can learn to improvise, and that doing so brings countless benefits. Every teacher can guide their students on this path, even without being expert improvisers
Improvising on the piano is a way of exploring music through creativity, intuition, and freedom. Through this practice, the pianist develops a deeper connection with the instrument, learns to listen attentively, and expresses themselves authentically in every note. In addition, improvisation strengthens musical memory, understanding, mental agility, confidence when playing (whether alone or with others), and above all, the enjoyment of and connection with music.
In this post, I’d like to share several useful resources for learning to improvise at different levels. They can be valuable for both teachers and students. Having good materials not only enriches your practice but also opens new doors to inspiration and helps you discover your own musical voice. The resources I suggest are organized in order of increasing difficulty—the first ones are aimed at students who are just starting to improvise, while the later ones are designed for more advanced pianists.
Benefits of Improvisation
Improvisation in piano lessons not only nurtures creativity and allows students to express themselves freely, but it is also a powerful tool for musical learning. Through improvisation, students can explore technique, scales, chords, harmony, accompaniment patterns, rhythm, and virtually any musical element we want to work on in a way that is both fun and deeply engaging. There’s no better way for a student to internalize any concept naturally and effectively than by experiencing it through improvisation.
Improvising helps pianists of all levels build self-confidence, improve concentration, and adapt easily to any musical situation. It encourages exploration without fear of mistakes, making it an ideal strategy to strengthen one’s connection with the instrument.
Piano improvisation also enhances musical communication and personal expression. It helps students develop mental agility, respond quickly to new ideas, sharpen their listening skills, and create music spontaneously. Beyond that, it fosters group work, teaching musicians to interact, share ideas, and build a piece of music together. Ultimately, improvisation provides not only the tools to perform and compose but also drives personal growth, enabling students to connect more deeply with music and enjoy the creative process with greater freedom and confidence.
Create First! by Forrest Kinney
This series of books completely changed the way I looked at improvisation.
Create First! can be seen as a series of books for learning how to improvise at the piano, but it is also a fresh way of approaching music. Its author argues that we learn by creating, and to that end he offers simple patterns that introduce scales, rhythms, intervals, and chords in a natural and creative way. The first volume explores sounds, movements, and modes, beginning with the black keys and later moving on to the white keys.
The second book focuses on introducing harmony, starting with improvisations based on different intervals and then moving on to triads in various positions and seventh chords. The third and fourth books explore the different modes. Each level includes two versions: a duet book and a solo piano book. The pieces are the same but with a different approach. The duet version is designed for teacher and student (or two students), with very simple accompaniments, while the solo version is intended for individual practice at home. You can visit Forrest Kinney’s website to explore his publications on improvisation.
In the following video, you can see how to use a single Forrest Kinney pattern in several different ways:
Scale and Chord Book
It’s a two-book series written by Nancy and Randall Faber and, although not exclusively about improvisation, it includes some excellent activities for getting started with improvisation in all keys.
In addition to pieces to transpose, technical exercises, arpeggios, and chords, the book includes activities for improvising in all 24 keys. The first book uses pentascales (the first five notes of the major and minor scales) for these improvisations, while the second book uses the full scale. What’s particularly interesting are the teacher accompaniments, very varied and inspiring, over which the student improvises a melody.
You can see some examples of the teacher’s accompaniment parts — based on which the student improvises using the pentascale — in this video: Piano Adventures Scale and Chord Book 1 — Accompaniments, published by Garreth Brooke de Piano Creativity in this post.
If you want to learn more about these books, you can view several sample pages at this link.
Piano Patterns in Harmony by Juan Cabeza
Piano Patterns in Harmony is the online improvisation course I published last year, designed to serve as a bridge between Forrest Kinney’s freer approach to improvisation and the more complex classical improvisation books and treatises.
In this course, students learn to improvise using patterns from various composers (Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, Einaudi, and many others) and combining them in different ways to create their own music. The course gradually introduces all chord degrees of major and minor keys in a clear and progressive manner and includes activities for free improvisation with scales, improvisation using chord tones, and later adding embellishments, passing notes, and grace notes.
There are two versions of the course: an single user license and a teacher license (for instructors who want both to learn to improvise and to use the PDF materials with their students).
Piano Patterns in Harmony was awarded “The Best Digital Resource” at The Art of Piano Education Awards 2025. For more information about the course, you can read the review written by Garreth Brooke on his excellent blog.
En Blanc et Noir
This is my favorite YouTube channel for improvisation. Its creator, Michael Koch, regularly uploads videos on improvisation, composition, and harmony in historical styles (from the Baroque to the Romantic period). This channel isn’t aimed at beginners, its activities are designed for pianists with a solid technical level and prior knowledge of harmony and improvisation.
If you want the PDF materials from his videos to work more effectively at the piano (or simply to support his amazing work) you can follow him on Patreon. I do, and it’s the best money I spend each month.
To give you an idea of the channel’s content, he has videos on the rule of the octave, how to compose a prelude in the Romantic style, how to create a fugue, and many other interesting topics. In the following video, you can see how to compose a waltz in the style of Chopin:
You can follow his channel here.
Improv Planet de John Mortensen
John Mortensen is the most important international reference for teaching piano improvisation in historical styles. His website, ImprovPlanet, hosts The School of Historical Keyboard Improvisation, a platform offering several improvisation courses. Among his courses are: Introduction to Historic Improvisation I and II, 19th-Century Preludes, Improvising Classical Variations, and many other courses on a variety of topics. Below, I’m sharing a video with an excerpt from his course on improvising preludes:
He is also the author of two highly recommended books: Improvising Fugue: A Method for Keyboard Artists and The Pianist’s Guide to Historic Improvisation. These are dense, advanced-level books for anyone who wants to delve deeper into this fascinating subject.
And what about you—do you use improvisation in your lessons? Are you familiar with these materials? Would you like to share with us and other readers any improvisation resources that you consider important? Thank you for reading this article.
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