Powell Valley Community Education
Piano by Ear
Start Date • November 21, 2026
People are absolutely mystified by piano players who can just sit down at the piano
and without having to refer to anything written down- they are able to pick out songs
"by ear". In reality, playing "by ear" as an easily learned skill and in this class
we teach you about all the secrets these musicians know that enable them to do this.
This is a very practical presentation of music theory that includes predicting chord
progressions, learning from recordings, and transposing-all expressed in everyday
language. This is an ideal follow-up to the Chords are Key for Piano Class class and
is open to anyone who has a basic understanding of chords on any instrument.
Class is held online using zoom and is partly hands on instruction and partly lecture/demonstration.
For ages 13+.
Instructor Bio:
Craig Coffman is an experienced piano and guitar instructor, professional pianist and music director. He has over 30 years’ experience teaching piano privately. His piano and guitar seminars, offered through Community Colleges and Community Education Programs, have been attended by over 30,000 students throughout Arizona, Minnesota and the United States over the last 27 years. He has a degree in Sociology from Illinois Wesleyan University in Illinois (where he also studied piano) and a Master of Divinity degree from Western Seminary in Portland, Oregon.