Course · Piano & strings
Cinematic Piano Course
Three kinds of piano music for trailers, ads and TV. No piano skills required.
- 51 lessons
- 16 hours of video
- All levels
- Lifetime access
- Watch online, any time
Before anything else: you do not need to play the piano to take this course.
Piano is one of the most useful instruments in sync. It can carry a whole trailer, sell an advert in thirty seconds, or sit quietly under a TV drama and make everything feel tense. But piano music for picture is its own thing. It isn’t classical, and it isn’t ambient.
This course teaches three kinds. Dramatic, piano-led trailer music, like my track on the Mary Queen of Scots trailer. Nostalgic piano for adverts, like my music for the Sears ‘Not a Superhero’ ad. And tense piano underscore for TV.
I show you how to write for piano so it sounds like a pianist is actually playing your music, then how to take a simple idea and turn it into a complete piece, step by step.
It works for trained players too. Aidin Ashoori has played Carnegie Hall, and still found it hard to write a piano trailer cue without overcomplicating it. Six months after enrolling, his piano-driven cue was featured in a Hulu campaign.
By the end, you’ll be able to
- Write dramatic, piano-led trailer music
- Write nostalgic piano music for adverts
- Write tense piano underscore for TV shows
- Make your MIDI piano sound like a pianist is actually playing it
- Take a simple idea and turn it into a complete piece of music
At a glance
Techniques you’ll learn
- three-act trailer structure
- advertising staircase
- arpeggio pattern writing
- cross rhythms
- left/right hand separation
- MIDI humanization
- sustain pedal automation
- velocity layering
- block orchestration
- modal scale composition
- idea development from a single seed
- copy-paste orchestration
Write music for
- film trailer underscore
- TV drama underscore
- advertising and branded content
- streaming sound beds
- production music licensing
- video game cutscenes
Influences we look at
Ludovico Einaudi · Philip Glass · Hans Zimmer
Proof it works
What composers say
Even as a concert-level classical pianist, this course transformed my perspective on the use of the piano in the context of trailer music. It inspired me to create a piano-driven trailer cue, which was featured in a Hulu campaign just six months after I enrolled in the course.
I bought Richard's piano courses and it's probably one of the only courses I finished. There were just some amazing Golden nuggets and, I cant ruin the surprise but there was a couple of things in the course that literally blew my mind and use all the time. I want to do more of his courses soon.
Richard shows you the secret for composing piano music—even if you're not a born composer.
What’s inside
- Dramatic piano for trailers
Piano-led trailer music in the style of my track for the Mary Queen of Scots trailer.
- Nostalgic piano for adverts
Warm, nostalgic piano like my music for the Sears 'Not a Superhero' advert.
- Tense piano underscore for TV
Tense piano underscore, perfect for TV shows.
- Writing for piano, from idea to finished track
How to write for piano so it sounds played rather than programmed, then turn a simple idea into a full piece, step by step.
This is for you if…
- You love cinematic piano music but can't play the piano (you don't need to)
- You're a trained pianist who overcomplicates things when writing for picture
- You want piano tracks that work for trailers, ads and TV, not just the concert hall
It’s not for you if…
- You want to improve your piano playing technique. This is about writing and producing, not performing
- You're after big hybrid trailer sound design. Try the Hybrid Trailer Music course instead
Who’s teaching
I’ve written music for ads since 2007 and movie trailers since 2011, and went full time in 2014. My music has been used on over 100 campaigns, including Captain America: Civil War, Glass Onion, WandaVision and The Conjuring 2, and I’ve won eight awards along the way. Since 2017 I’ve taught thousands of composers how to do the same. More about me.
Questions before you buy? Email [email protected].
Questions
Do I need to be able to play the piano?
No. You do not need to play the piano to take this course. Even Aidin, a concert pianist, found working directly in MIDI and the piano roll opened up more ideas than playing.
Cinematic Piano Course
Learn to write dramatic piano-led trailer music, nostalgic piano for ads and tense piano underscore for TV, and make it sound like a real pianist is playing.
Not ready yet? Start with the free path
The free learning paths cover the same ground in article form. Work through one first and come back when you want the full walkthrough.
Cinematic piano