Supersonics Piano Method Level 3

Level 3 is organised differently from the earlier levels. Instead of one continuous module sequence, the book is divided into key, rhythm, and style-based units that can be taught with considerably more flexibility.

Each unit introduces its main idea through pieces, patterns, and activities. Chord work and creative tasks appear throughout, so students are not simply learning to play in a key or recognise a rhythm. They are also using those ideas to understand how music works and to make some of their own.

Key Unit 1: C major

C major begins the key-unit sequence and establishes the basic pattern used throughout this part of the book: repertoire, practical keyboard work, and creative exploration built around a particular tonal centre.

Key Unit 2: A minor

A minor introduces the contrasting sound of the relative minor, with repertoire and activities that help students become comfortable hearing, playing, and creating within the key.

Key Unit 3: F major

F major extends the key work through new repertoire, patterns, and chord-based activities while reinforcing familiar keyboard geography.

Key Unit 4: D minor

D minor provides another minor-key sound to explore through repertoire and creative work, while continuing the connection between scales, chords, patterns, and pieces.

Key Unit 5: G major

G major adds another familiar major key and gives students more opportunities to work with its scale patterns, chords, and repertoire.

Key Unit 6: E minor

E minor continues the major/minor pairing, giving students another tonal sound to recognise and use through pieces, patterns, and creative work.

Key Unit 7: D major

D major completes the main key sequence for Level 3 and extends students into another two-sharp key through repertoire and practical keyboard work.

Key Unit 8: Pentatonic, blues & swing

This unit steps outside the major and minor key sequence to explore pentatonic and blues sounds, along with swing feel. It gives students a different rhythmic and harmonic language to play with and create in.

Key Unit 9: Chromatic

The chromatic scale is introduced through patterns and repertoire, giving students experience with semitone movement and a sound that is quite different from the diatonic material elsewhere in the book.

Time Unit 1: Semiquavers (sixteenth notes)

Semiquavers (sixteenth notes) are introduced through pieces that make the subdivision easy to hear and feel, with the focus on rhythmic control rather than simply playing quickly.

Time Unit 2: Time signature revision

Familiar time signatures return in a wider range of musical contexts, giving students a chance to strengthen their sense of metre before moving into less familiar territory.

Time Unit 3: New time signatures

Students encounter a range of new time signatures through repertoire, learning to feel the underlying metre as part of the music rather than treating the time signature as a number at the beginning of the score.

Modes and Jazz

This section introduces Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian, and Phrygian dominant, along with further chord work and creative activities. The aim is to let students hear the character of each sound, use it themselves, and then recognise it when it appears in music.

Teachers can work through all of these units in sequence or spend more time in the areas that suit a particular student. Students who explore the whole book will encounter a particularly broad range of keys, rhythms, styles, and sounds before moving on to Level 4.