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Silence can sometimes be awkward and uncomfortable. On the contrary, soft and suitable background music can go a long way in putting people at ease. That’s why we created today’s Quick Tip on Play Background Music on Piano. In this lesson, John Proulx teaches students of all levels how to use a simple chord progression to set the mood for any occasion.

Introduction

If you’re a piano student, it is inevitable that someone is eventually going to ask you to perform for an event or a special occasion. If you’ve never played in public before, then you might be tempted to decline. However, embracing the opportunity to perform for an event can have many benefits including:

• Increased Motivation to Practice
• Expanding Your Repertoire
• Overcoming Performance Anxiety

For music students, performance opportunities are the equivalent to competition in the world of sports. For instance, athletes can practice all day, but until they face off against an opponent, their abilities are never truly tested. Moreover, there are certain skills that can only be developed in the heat of competition. Such skills would include quick reflexes and fast decision-making. Likewise, the best way for music students to truly grow in their craft is to embrace performance opportunities.

Embracing Murphy’s Law on a Piano Gig

Now that you’re thinking about saying “yes” to playing piano for an upcoming event, there’s something that you should know upfront. Most events rarely go as planned. Just in case you’re not familiar with Murphy’s Law, this is the old adage that says, “Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.” In fact, it doesn’t take much to cause an event to become delayed. Whether it’s catering issues, technical difficulties, insufficient staffing or late arrivals of VIPs, there’s one thing you can count on…whenever there’s a lull in the program, you’ll be tapped to play some soft background music on piano!

One thing you can count on….whenever there’s a lull in the program, you’ll be tapped to play some soft background music on piano!

Being asked to spontaneously provide filler music in the middle of an event can be a frightening experience, especially if you’re not expecting it. Nevertheless, whether you were told so or not, this is part of the assignment. Fortunately, this task is not as hard as it might first appear. In fact, it can actually be fun and exciting!

Chord Progression for Background Piano Music

While there are several different approaches that professional pianists use to come up with background piano music, the most common approach is to begin with a simple chord progression and then stylize it for the occasion. Let’s start by examining a common chord progression in the key of C major:

Even though this example is eight bars long, it’s really based on just four chords: Ⅰ→ⅵ→ⅱ→Ⅴ. Jazz musicians call this the turnaround progression. Often times, when the progression repeats, the Ⅰ chord is replaced by a ⅲ chord instead (a technique known as a chord substitution.)

We’ll use this chord progression throughout today’s lesson to create background piano music for three different occasions: (1) restaurants, (2) church, and (3) weddings. You can download the lesson sheet PDF and backing tracks for this lesson from the bottom of this page after logging in with your membership. In addition, members can also easily change the key of this lesson with one click using our Smart Sheet Music.

Background Piano for Restaurants

One common setting for which you may be asked to provide background piano music is at a restaurant. Other similar types of venues include hotel lounges, supper clubs, bistros, coffee houses and tea rooms. Usually, this type of environment calls for something jazzy. Therefore, this section covers how to play the turnaround progression in a jazz swing style. The following three examples are tiered for beginner, intermediate and advanced players. Nonetheless, each example features authentic jazz swing piano techniques.

Beginner Background Piano for Restaurants

If you are a beginner piano student, you can transform the turnaround progression into some toe-tappin’ background music using the following jazz swing techniques:

• Guide tones in the right hand
• Two-feel bass line in the left hand

Let’s take a listen…

So how did John come up with this background music from the turnaround progression? Let’s look at the left hand first. Notice, this two-feel bass line places the root of the chord on beat 1 and 5th of the chord on beat 3. Then, in the right hand, he’s created a simple melody that centers around the guide tones for each chord, which are the 3rd and the 7th. (Note: sometimes the guide tones are inverted such that the 7th is below the 3rd.)

For a deep dive on these jazz piano techniques, check out the following resources:

🔎 Guide Tones (Piano): The Complete Guide (Beg/Int)

🔎 How to Play a Two-Feel Bass Line on Piano (Beg–Adv)

If you’re more of an intermediate level pianist, then this next example is for you.

Intermediate Background Piano for Restaurants

Intermediate piano students can improvise background music in the jazz swing style over the turnaround progression using the following techniques:

• Melody with chord extensions and alterations
• Chord shells in left hand with stride technique

Let’s have a listen…

Let’s examine this approach starting with the left hand. This example uses chord shells in the left hand, a jazz piano technique that voices chords with just two or three notes. In this case, John uses R-3-7 shells and R-7-10 shells. (Note: R = root, 3 = 3rd, 7 = 7th, and 10 = 10th. The 10th is the same note as the 3rd, except that it’s an octave higher).

Instead of playing all three notes of the chord shell simultaneously in the left hand, John uses a stride technique to break-up the voicing into two parts. In a basic stride pattern, the root of the chord is played on the strong beats of the measure, which are beats 1 and 3. Then, the remaining chord tones are place on the weak beats, which are beats 2 and 4.

The right hand in the example above features a simple, single-note melody. What makes this melody particularly interesting is that it includes some special chord colors called chord extensions and chord alterations.

For a deep dive on chord shells and stride piano technique, check out the following resources:

🔎 Play Piano Lead Sheets with Shells & Guide Tones (Int)

🔎 After You’ve Gone (Int, Adv)

Next, let’s consider an advanced example of jazzy background piano music.

Advanced Background Piano for Restaurants

More advanced pianists can play background music over the turnaround progression with a big, full sound using the following jazz piano techniques:

• Block chords in the right hand
• Walking bass line in the left hand
• Passing chords for added jazz colors

Let’s check it out…

Even though this example sounds more advanced and complex, it’s still based on the same turnaround progression in C major. However, John has dressed up the harmony a bit by adding some jazzy passing chords. For example, the E7(♭9♭13) in measure 1 and the A♭13 in measure 3 are both passing chords. In addition, John is using dense 4-note voicings in the right hand which we called block chords or 4-way close voicings. When used on a melody, these dense voicings can sound like a sax section in a big band.

The left hand of this jazzy background music features a walking bass line. You’ll notice that this bass line primarily uses two approaches: stepwise motion and arpeggio motion. In addition, there are also some chromatic approach tones, such as the E♭ on beat 4 of measure 2.

For a deep dive on these jazz piano techniques, check out the following resources:

🔎 Jazz Walking Bass Lines (Int, Adv)

🔎 Play Piano Lead Sheets with Block Chords (Adv)

So far, we’ve covered how to play background piano music at a restaurant. But what if the gig involves an entirely different setting?

Background Piano for Church

Another context in which you may be asked to play background piano music is during a church service. Of course, worship experiences can vary quite a bit. Some services are more rehearsed while others are more spontaneous. Nevertheless, almost all church pianists have had to improvise during a worship service at one point or another.

Generally speaking, background piano music during a church service tends to be pretty minimalistic. Our main objective is to maintain a peaceful and meditative atmosphere, especially during transitional moments. Therefore, a simple harmonic framework like the turnaround progression can go a long way. However, the examples in this section have been deliberately arranged to sound less jazzy. Consequently, John expresses the turnaround progression here primarily with diatonic triads and a few seventh chords.

The examples in this section also use an arranging technique known as chorale style, hymn-style, four-part harmony or SATB texture (short for “soprano, alto, tenor, bass”). This four-part chorale style is representative of characteristics in tonal harmony that developed during the Common Practice Period of Western classical music from approximately 1600–1900.  Included in these examples are several suspensions, an compositional device that ornaments a static chord by introducing a dissonance and its subsequent resolution in an inner voice (see measure 4 below). As such, these examples strongly resemble choral music.

Beginner Background Piano for Church

One of the main differences of SATB arranging is that we don’t think about chord voicings in the same way that we would when we’re playing jazz. Instead, we think about whether a chord is in open position or closed position. In a closed position chord, the top three voices contain adjacent chord tones, like the Dm chord in measure 3 and the C major chord in measure 4. Conversely, in an open position chord, the top 3 voices are spaced out such that they span a distance greater than an octave. For example, the opening C major and Am chords are both in open position. As a general rule, we tend to use open position for higher melody notes and closed position for lower melody notes. Often times, when the melody is near the bottom two lines or spaces of the treble clef, either position works well.

Let’s take a listen…

Next, let’s consider an intermediate example of background music for church.

Intermediate Background Piano for Church

The following intermediate level example of church background music is based on the turnaround progression just like our previous examples. However, John has embellished the progression here through the use of several harmonic devices such as:

• Passing chords (bars 1 and 5)
• Suspensions (bars 2, 4 and 7)
• Secondary dominants (bar 6)
• Modal interchange (bar 8)

Let’s take a listen…

Both the beginner and intermediate examples of background piano music for church are performed at roughly the same tempo of 80 BPM. However, did you notice that the intermediate level example feels as if it is moving along more quickly? That’s because the chords are changing more frequently in the intermediate example due to the use of passing chords. Additionally, the intermediate example contains more inner voice movement.

To learn more about these arranging techniques, check out the following related resources:

🔎 Passing Chords: 5 Levels (Beginner to Pro)

🔎 Create Inner Voice Movement for Jazz Piano (Int)

Next, we’ll consider a more advanced example of hymn-style arranging.

Advanced Background Piano for Church

Our final example of background piano music for church features chord changes on just about every beat. Nonetheless, the underlying harmonic framework is still based on the turnaround progression. This example employs multiple instances of the following arranging techniques:

• Chord inversions
• Diminished passing chords
• Secondary dominants

Let’s hear how this example sounds…

Let’s take a moment to examine measure 1 in this example. Notice that we have C major chord in root position on beat 1. Then, on beat 3 we get another C major chord, except that it is now in first inversion (C/E). In between, we encounter a Bº/D chord on beat 2. Here, John has used a diminished passing chord to connect a root position chord to its first inversion counterpart while creating a bass line that ascends with stepwise motion. In fact, chorale style arranging often uses diminished passing chords in this manner to embellish a static chord. For instance, this same technique also appears in bars 2, 3, 5, 6 and 7.

To learn more about these techniques, check out the following resources:

🔎 Top Piano Chord Inversion Exercise (Beg/Int)

🔎 Passing Chords: 5 Levels (Beginner to Pro)

In the next section, we’ll learn how to apply more modern instrumental practices to play background piano music for a wedding.

Background Piano for Weddings

Perhaps the ultimate honor for a piano student is when someone asks you to play for their wedding! While the wedding couple will likely request specific selections for the wedding ceremony, you can almost bet on the fact that you’ll also need to improvise some background piano music throughout the ceremony.

Stylistically, wedding music often tends to be somewhere between a restaurant and a church setting. For example, classical instrumentation like a string quartet, a harp and piano are popular choices because they create an elegant atmosphere. However, the actual selections that a couple chooses may in fact blend of musical categories such as traditional and contemporary, or sacred and secular. Therefore, the examples in this section are arranged using techniques associated with contemporary solo piano music, or new age piano music.

Beginner Background Piano for Weddings

If you are a beginner piano student, you can play beautiful background piano music at a wedding over the turnaround progression using the following techniques:

• Upper register piano range
• Contemplative melody in right hand
• Broken chord pattern in left hand

Here is an example…

Let’s first examine the left hand in the example above. Here, we’re playing  a flowing broken chord or arpeggio pattern. This texture uses continuous eighth notes that draw on the root, 5th and 8th of each chord (Note: the 8th is the same note as the root, except an octave higher). However, when you have a 7th chord like G7 in bar four, you can modify the pattern include the 7th instead of the 8th.

In the right hand, try targeting a chord tone (i.e.: root, 3rd or 5th) at the start of each measure to create a simple improvised melody similar to the example above.

For a deep dive on contemporary piano techniques, check out the following resources:

🔎 The Love Progression (Int)

🔎 Contemporary Piano and Improv (Int, Adv)

If you’re more of an intermediate level pianist, then this next example is for you.

Intermediate Background Piano for Weddings

The following example draws on intermediate level piano techniques to create the perfect background piano music for any transition during a wedding ceremony. These piano techniques include:

• Mid-upper register piano range
• Romantic melody in right hand
• Broken chord pattern with “add2” in left hand

Let’s have a listen…

If you compare the left-hand pattern above to the previous beginner example, you’ll notice that this intermediate pattern includes more chord colors. While both patterns begin with root, 5th, 8th, the intermediate pattern continues to ascend with stepwise motion to include the 9th and the 10th. (Note: the 9th and 10th are the same notes as the 2nd and 3rd, albeit an octave higher). This addition of the 9th in the left-hand pattern gives the chords a modern “add2” sound that is characteristic of new age piano music.

The intermediate example above also features a right-hand melody that is a bit more active than our previous example. Even though this melody still uses frequent long tones to create space, each long tone is approached by several 8th notes. In addition, the melodic contour now includes more leaps, which gives the melody a romantic quality.

To learn additional new age piano techniques, check out the following resources:

🔎 6 Steps to Play Piano Like George Winston (Beg/Int)

🔎 6 Steps to Play Relaxing Piano Music (Int)

Next, let’s consider an advanced example of background piano music for a wedding.

Advanced Background Piano for Weddings

Our final example of background piano music for weddings introduces additional harmonic colors to our contemporary solo piano texture. Such techniques include:

• Parallel 6ths melodic harmonization in right hand
• Inverted broken chord patterns in left hand
• Secondary dominants and sus chords

Let’s take a listen…

Part of what makes this example a bit more advanced is that the 8th notes in the left hand do not employ a consistent broken chord formula. This largely due to the fact that the harmony itself is more complex with the addition of chord inversions, secondary dominant passing chords and sus chords.

The melody in this example is harmonized using parallel 6ths in the right hand, which results in a beautiful contemporary piano sound.

For a deep dive on additional contemporary piano techniques, check out the following resources:

🔎 Piano Chord Shapes for Beautiful Improv (Int)

🔎 Pop & Contemporary Piano Accompaniment Patterns (Beg/Int, Int/Adv)

Conclusion

Congratulations, you’ve completed today’s lesson on Play Background Music on Piano. With the skills you’ve learned in today’s lesson, you’ll be ready to improvise background piano music at a moment’s notice on your next gig, no matter what the reason may be.

If you enjoyed this lesson, then you’ll love the following PWJ resources:

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