Whether you’ve been playing the piano for years or are just getting started, what you think you know may be holding you back.
Here are the common misunderstandings we’ll look at.
• It all starts with learning to read music.
• It’s all about the fingers.
• Practicing means playing a piece over and over.
(Note: This is really three separate articles, so if you’re particularly interested in one of the topics, just click on it.)
Our conversation will touch on all styles of music–-pop, jazz, classical, etc. Somehow, a simple blog post has grown into a three-part tutorial, complete with tips, exercises, and resources.
So let’s get started. Just ahead: fresh thinking about the piano, and how we learn to play. read more…
Improvising and the Pattern Play Series
Do you want to learn to improvise? Do you need help in teaching improvisation to others?
If the answer is yes to either question, you may be interested in the Pattern Play series of books by Akiko and Forrest Kinney, which I talk about here. (Under Myth #1.)
The course’s first lesson or improvising format, which they call “World Piece,” has been a hit with my students–not to mention that I’ve been having fun messing around with it too.
Here’s a clip of me doing just that (recorded on my Ipod Touch, with me humming in the background).
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So far, the lessons on DoctorKeys.com have focused on piano accompaniment–using chords to back up your own singing. But this lesson is different. It teaches you to play a piano solo.
My simple arrangement helps you learn to play a melody in the right hand, over chords or intervals in the left.
I like to teach this piece by rote rather than having my students read the music. (Though the sheet music is available for download.) That way, you can put all your attention on building basic playing skills while enjoying an easy addition to your repertoire.
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And here’s part 2:
New free theory lessons
It’s been a a while since I’ve blogged and I’d like to fill you in on some new videos.
STEPS, HALF STEPS, SHARPS & FLATS
Intervals are the building blocks of music, and the half step is the smallest and most fundamental. We’ll talk about that, as well as sharps and flats, in this lesson.
Still need convincing? Well, in our online course we’ve been sticking to the white keys so far (playing in the key of C). Now you’ll see how the black keys fit into the picture.
HOW TO PLAY ANY MAJOR SCALE OR MAJOR CHORD
When you know the pattern of whole and half steps that make up the major scale, you can easily find any major chord. And the major chord is the starting point for building all others.
Sound like a useful lesson? You bet!
HOW TO TRANSPOSE A SONG USING NUMBERS
To transpose is to raise or lower the pitch of a song so you can sing it more easily. The numbering system you’ll learn in this video makes transposing simple.
What’s more, labelling chords with numbers instead of letters makes it infinitely easier to grasp the standard chord progressions songwriters use again and again.
Accompanying yourself: it’s a giggle
Here on DoctorKeys.com, you can learn to use chords to accompany your own singing. To show you how approachable and fun this can be, here’s 8-year-old Ali to demonstrate. (I couldn’t bear to edit out the opening moments of this video, and I think you’ll understand why when you see it.)
Notice that Ali is playing a genuine accompaniment, rather than merely duplicating the melody. It’s musically effective because what she’s singing and what she’s playing are completely independent of each other.
Since her hand is still small, Ali is playing only two notes at a time in the right hand, as opposed to the 3-note chords an adult would be playing.
Besides the all-important fun/motivation factor, there are powerful reasons for learning to play and sing arrangements like these. For starters: read more…
Catch me on YouTube & PianoSociety.com
My new YouTube channel has two playlists: one for tutorials, and one for videos in which I’m performing music my students and I love to play. In the second category you’ll find everything from baroque to jazz.
If you’d like to hear me playing standard (more difficult) repertoire, you can do that at PianoSociety.com, where I’ve recently become a contributing artist. For those not familiar with PS, here’s a description from their home page:
“With more than 100,000 unique visitors and over 1,000,000 downloads per month, the Piano Society is the largest resource of free classical piano recordings on the Internet.”
As you might expect with a site that has such a large collection and distributes music for free, the quality of the recordings at PS varies enormously (in terms of both performance and sound). So to help make your first visit memorable, here are some PS pianists I’ve enjoyed listening to. read more…
Two secrets to better sight-reading
I sometimes participate in the great forums at PianoWorld.com. Recently, one of the posters wanted to know how she could improve her sight-reading. I responded, and since I’m basically a lazy guy and this is easier than writing a new blog post, here’s what I said to her.
Good sight-readers see groups of notes instead of just individual notes. It’s like looking at a sentence in a book and seeing words instead of just a series of letters.
And that means, for the most part, seeing chords. So the more familiar you become with chords and chord progressions, the better you’ll be at grasping what’s on the page and playing it.
When I teach beginners, before we even look at notation, I help them to play simple pieces that are made up of chords that are easy to find and to play (as in my first online course). That way, right from the start, they’re thinking in terms of note groups. read more…
One of my biggest gripes about piano teaching as a whole, is that students are almost always taught to read music before they learn to play by ear. That’s why I was thrilled to hear this interview with Rob Cutietta, Dean of the Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California, in which he stresses the importance of learning to play by ear first.
A tip of the hat to Marsha Melone for turning me on to this.
I talk about the importance of developing your ear here.
It’s a quandary. I need to make recordings for this site, and I’ve been trying to decide what to use: my Yamaha upright piano, or my keyboard-plus-virtual-Steinway setup.
The Steinway in question is the library of recorded samples from Garritan. I trigger them by playing my Roland FP7 keyboard and record my performance as a MIDI file using ProTools.
Here are two movements of a Clementi Sonatina I just recorded using the Garritan.
Allegro
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Andante
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You can hear the Chopin (a gorgeous mazurka) on this page.
What I’m learning is this: my Yamaha is more fun to play. I don’t have to work so hard to achieve the dynamics I hear in my head. Unfortunately, pianos are notoriously hard to record and this one is no exception.
With the keyboard, on the other hand, recording is a snap. read more…
I’ve just uploaded this 2-part video lesson to Chords at the Piano: Getting Started. (Lessons 11 & 12, the first of which is free.)
I’ve taught lots of students over the years, and this classic piano style is, by far, one of the most popular requests. The bouncy rhythm is irresistible, and you can use what you learn in this lesson to accompany tons of songs, including Hound Dog, Kansas City, Whole Lotta Shakin’ and many more.
You’ll learn the left hand pattern, all chords & fingering, and how to play a shuffle rhythm. Also: turnarounds, rock accents, and practice tips.
Enjoy!
