Popular Song for the AmusTCL

This book gives a detailed explanation of how to tackle the Popular Song question from the Trinity AmusTCL diploma exam.

The Popular Song option asks you to complete the piano accompaniment to a song from the 20th century repertoire (usually a ballad), based on given material and suggested chord symbols. You also need to write the final phrase in full, with melody vocal part as well as piano.

This book explains how piano accompaniments are constructed and looks in detail at the harmonic vocabulary of this genre, which is a mix of traditional/Classical chords and progressions as well as jazz chords such as extensions, substitutions and chromatically altered chords.

This book is aimed at candidates taking exams such as the Trinity AmusTCL but may also be of interest to anyone with an interest in composing in a modern style.