In the video, Guess the Mystery Piece by Creatively Exploring its Chords, I ask if you can recognize a famous classical piece, simply by hearing its chord progression. If you're a piano teacher (or an opera buff) you may actually know the answer. When you watch the video to the end, you'll find it's part of a wonderful classical piece, playable by late intermediate level pianists. In the video, I demonstrate creative improvisational and compositional activities, based on the piece's chord progression, and then I play a piece I made to go along with the progression.

Whether or not they know what piece a progression is taken from, students given these types of improvisation and composition assignments find them to be fun and creative. They also provide welcome practice at reading chord symbols, so crucial for pop and jazz. Here's one possible learning sequence, using these activities: