Teaching By Ear, Initial piano lessons Options

[barcarolle]

I have a male adult beginner whose aim is to be able to make up his own stuff. I want to teach him by ear for the moment and am wondering where to find material to do this. If it was a child I'd use nursery rhymes etc. , but that's not really suitable for an adult. I am thinking of finding an adult beginner singing book and using that as my basis. Does anyone have any ideas?

I usually dive straight into a tutor book but want to try getting away from that for the timebeing.

[SteveHopwood]

That is an interesting challenge, barcarolle. It might be worth posting this on the jazz forum as well.

My immediate reaction would be to start with a song familiar to this individual. I would try helping him pick out the melody, then show him how to work out the underlying harmony and add that with the left hand. I am not talking from experience here so I do not know whether this will work.

Good luck

Steve :D