Christian Meyer
British Columbia Conservatory of Music
From Fall 2005 Newsletter

Melody Adventures PRIMER for beginners 4 year of age and above, this book moves at a good pace, very progressive. It gets students playing. The "you-can-do-it" attitude of this book is refreshing and speaks to the intellect of the child

Melody Adventures is on the new B.C. Conservatory of Music piano curriculum.

Mark Turner
McKinney, Texas, U.S.A.

For the last several months I have been searching for instructional material to help me learn how to create accompaniment for melodies. I have searched the world over and spent hundreds of dollars on countless numbers of books and tapes, only to be disappointed. None of them are comprehensive enough. They don't go into enough detail and give enough examples to really teach you the things you need to know. They only give you a slight hint and expect you to fill in the huge gaps.

I received my books and CDs this afternoon. I know it's exactly what I've been looking for. I have finally found a comprehensive and well-structured course that is going to help me become the piano player I want to be. I can't tell you how excited I am, and I can't wait to get started! Thank you for developing this course and making it available to people like me.

Provincial Newsletter, Winter 2001-2002
British Columbia Registered Music Teachers’ Associationn ( Canada )
Review by: Ernst Schneider A.R.C.T., Assoc. Mus. Trinity College , London Editor / critic, composer, clinician & piano instructor

The Keyboard Accompaniment Course, by Gayle MacAulay Dunsmoor.
This is not just another “learn how to chord” course --- it is a very extensive, well thought out course for students that wish to acquire the skill of creative accompaniment playing. This course is extremely well designed, physically appealing and should be considered by every keyboard teacher for most, if not all, of their students.

Camilo Taganas,
San Jose , CA , USA

Marthe Levasseur
Bonnyville , Alberta , Canada

Thank you so very much for sending me this. I've been looking for something like this for years! It's all in a beautiful series that students can buy and study from. It will make things a lot easier for me now, because I always thought that the formal courses were lacking in this.

ONTARIO REGISTERED MUSIC TEACHERS' ASSOCIATION
Provincial Newsletter, Summer 2004 - By Judy Home - President ORMTA

My conservatory training didn’t give me the basic tools to even chord the way the guitar players could. To be able to play from a ‘lead sheet’ or ‘fake book’ or putting a creative accompaniment with a tune is something that I always would have loved to be able to do.

Why do we not give our students the tools to be able to go where they want in music? Is it because of the way that we learned? Are we too stuck in our own groove to be able to teach something that we ourselves didn’t learn? Are we afraid to try something new?

A set of books were sent to me to review for NOTES. They are formidable, comprehensive, gradual and fascinating. By routinely assigning two or three melodies, along with suggested pattern instructions, students could be given the tools needed to creatively accompany melodies.

I encourage all teachers to look into this method of teaching this all-important subject. It is my hope that the conservatories and examining institutions will recognize this as a skill worth including on the practical examinations. As long as we focus our lessons only on what is required at examinations, we do our students a disservice in not teaching them something that could have such an important impact on their future in music. Without giving our students the ability to play a creative accompaniment to melodies, we are depriving them of the joy of creating their own music in their own way.