The Meridee Winters Method and Books:
sparking creativity and brilliance in every student
Meridee’s method has helped thousands of music students enjoy music and get results, all while encouraging creative innovation and higher level thinking. Something different happens in a Meridee Winters lesson; students create, explore and discover what they’re capable of. The generally accepted method for teaching an instrument (in other words, what everyone else does) is to teach only at the lowest level of learning, rote and recall.
Meridee Winters materials open a different door, inviting students into analysis, creation, and improvisation from lesson one. Meridee’s emphasis on creativity and innovative thinking help build creative intelligence and is built on Bloom’s Taxonomy.
Each lesson is made just for your musician.
Through patterns, themes and songs and Meridee’s own books and games, students find there’s a whole world inside an instrument to explore. Her time-tested chord and pattern books also have students sounding great (and feeling confident) from their very first lesson. MW students learn to think critically and creatively while also learning to express themselves.
Built on ideas like stimulus variation, universal music patterns, creative songwriting and improvisation, Meridee Winters has seen her unique music method spark creativity in thousands of students. Every MW lesson is custom tailored to suit a student's specific needs and goals, resulting in a joyful musical experience.
We are so greatful for this new way of teaching and learning, allowing our kids to have fun while progressing in their skillset. My husband and I really wish that we had learned piano like this, we may have continued lessons as a kid if we were exposed to this amazing new way of teaching and ease! HIGHLY RECOMMEND!
-Katie, MW Parent
Our Curriculum Materials
Young Beginners
Students discover hand position, rhythm and ear training through play. No reading required.
Super Start: My First piano patterns
“Super Start! My First Piano Patterns" is designed especially for young beginners, and contains 36 games, songs and activities that will guarantee a fun and successful start to piano lessons. By using musical patterns, simple diagrams and playful characters, students sound great from their very first lesson – without needing to read music.
Each exercise is explained in a visual, step-by-step way to allow for frustration-free playing. Songs gradually increase in skill throughout the book, culminating in a final chapter of youngster-friendly waltzes and classically-inspired pattern songs.
Super Start: My First Piano Game Book
Adventure from island to island in this game book especially designed for young beginner piano students. Thoughtfully designed and colorfully illustrated, these games help practice skills like hands, keys, finger numbers, rhythm, ear training, note reading, improvisation, creativity and more!
Super Start! My First Piano Game Book is a vibrant book with over 40 music games designed for ages 4 and up. Use it alongside the Super Start! My First Piano Patterns to keep lessons fun and engaging both alongside and away from your instrument.
Elementary Materials
Students step into patterns, progressions, chord theory and note-reading… while music stays fun!
Chord Quest: for CHildren 7 and up
It’s a piano exercise book. A teach-yourself-keyboard book. A piano-teacher’s-secret-weapon-book. A chord theory book. A comic book quest. Somehow, Chord Quest is all of these things – but above all, it's a book that uses music’s most universal patterns to have everyone sounding great. (Whether they read music or not.)
Beginning piano students (and their teachers and parents) face a universal problem: there’s often a long wait between when you start learning an instrument and when you can actually play music that sounds (and feels) good. With her trailblazing Chord Quest series, Meridee uses the universal power of patterns to have you playing and creating great music from day one, without reading a note. Best of all, it all happens along a fun-filled comic book quest complete with games, jokes, villains and creative activities. Where else could you play Pachelbel's Canon AND rescue zombified piano students from Professor Perfecto?
Note Quest: Note reading drills for kids of all ages
Now with over twenty additional games, riddles and activities, as well as instructions for parents, teachers and practice partners!
Note Quest is 92 pages of vibrant note reading games to play with a parent, teacher or friend. From board games (and even DIY dice for rolling) to word finds, riddles and timed challenges, this upgraded edition makes a great gift for a playful piano student or a valuable tool for a fun-loving piano teacher.
Note Quest has been used and tested by over 10,000 students. Meridee Winters Note Quest is an innovative music education tool that features nearly 100 pages of vibrant, effective and FUN note reading games. These activities are great way to strengthen note reading and sight reading skills, since students are drilling and internalizing notes while focusing on specific hand positions, intervals, ledger lines and more. Music is a language, and best practiced with others. With that in mind, the games in this book are primarily designed to be played with a partner as a fun and powerful lesson tool. (Don't worry non-music readers! We've included a cheat sheet!)
Teens and Adults
Older beginners build chord-based fluency so they’re playing real songs and loving the process (from the start!).
Chord Crash Course
Play piano without the struggle (and without reading music) using the power of chords! Do you want to accompany yourself as a singer, songwriter or performer? Have you always wanted to play an instrument but don’t know where to start? Are you a music instructor who is looking for a way to liven up lessons or teach popular music?
Chord Crash course is an innovative approach to music instruction that will give you the tools you need to accompany yourself, play your favorite songs and even create your own music. A professional educator and musician, Meridee Winters originally created “Chord Crash Course” while working in a recording studio. She found that many vocalists could not play piano or guitar, and thus could not fully complete a song on their own. As a solution, she developed a “chord crash course” that easily taught them the skills they needed, helping hundreds of musicians become better writers and performers along the way. Years later, she began teaching piano to children (this time applying her experience as a former school teacher), and found that her “crash course” was a great tool for students of all ages and levels. Her teaching method has now reached thousands of students. You'll find that this book teaches basic skills and chords in a fun, step-by-step way. Unlike traditional music books, which slowly work up to playing real songs, Chord Crash Course uses the power of patterns to have you playing great-sounding music right away.
Supplementary Tools
Piano & Keyboard Super Journal
*Available in convenient Spiral Bound version directly from your Meridee Winters teacher!
Supercharge your lesson progress with Meridee Winters Piano & Keyboard Super Journal. With pages for goal-setting, planning, composing, creating and practice tracking, this is more than just an assignment book – it's an all-in-one supertool.
Guitar, ukulele, violin and general music journals also available.
Giant Piano Songbook
The newly upgraded Meridee Winters Giant Piano Songbook is a carefully curated collection of over 120 famous songs from around the world and throughout history. It makes learning piano fun, fast and easy, so students can go from first note to full song at light speed.
Students of all levels can travel the world through great-sounding, simplified arrangements and pattern pieces. Each piece has strong hooks and repetitive patterns you can memorize in a flash. Collect passport stamps as you play songs from different countries (and pick up fun facts and trivia along the way)!
Teacher Game Gallery for MW teachers and mw students only
A student AND teacher favorite, the MW Game book has been called a “secret weapon” that keeps lessons engaging while helping build and practice essential musical skills. Music has never been more fun or imaginative! This book includes exercises in note reading, songwriting, improvisation, rhythm and more. Improve your skills and creativity by leaps and bounds while playing games that are fun for all ages!
Mode Crash Course
In this book, you will break away from the major scale, unlock the mysteries of modes (and your own imagination) and learn easy-but-powerful melodic patterns that sound amazing. You will be able to use these “Mode Code” patterns to build your melody-making skills and improvise. This book is a great choice for music teachers wanting to inject fun and interest into lessons, self-learners interested in mode theory or any musician or student who wants to break outside the musical box.
In Mode Crash Course, students learn:
The seven musical modes: Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian and Locrian
The basic theory and scale for each mode
The characteristics and moods of each mode, while creating a new "soundtrack" each chapter
60 pattern songs and improvisation springboards