Two New Piano Tutorials
Just a brief note to let you know I just put up two new lessons. “A Quick-Start Guide to the Piano: Playing Your First Piece” fits near the beginning of the Play & Sing course, and a tutorial on John Lennon’s Imagine goes at the end. You can find out more about these lessons by going to the complete course list.
Enjoy!
Dance While You Play! (Rhythm's in your body, not your head)
Today’s my first day back from vacation, and I want to share with you something that just happened.
I haven’t been playing the piano recently because I know how important it is, sometimes, to get away from my musical pursuits. And this morning, when I sat down to play, I couldn’t regain the excitement I usually feel.
And then I remembered the secret I keep forgetting and re-discovering: Continue reading
Chord Study: What's really important?
A recent visitor to DoctorKeys asked me why my course doesn’t get into more complex chords like 9ths, 11ths, and 13ths. (1/26/15 Update: My newest course, Pop Piano Accompaniment, does indeed teach 9th chords.)
It’s because our focus so far has been on building a strong foundation, on helping you to grasp simple chords in a truly practical way, before moving on to more advanced harmonies.
As a teacher, I’ve learned over the years that students can often build the most complicated chords without knowing how to actually use even the simplest, including: Continue reading
New Tutorial: Piano Technique–A Whole-Body Approach
Finally, it’s online, and I think you’ll find it helpful. The lesson is perfect for beginners, but also for more advanced students who know there’s more to piano technique than what you do with your fingers.
Here’s the video for Part 1. You can read more about it here.
My online students are animals!
No–I’m not badmouthing anyone. I’m just stating a fact.
You see, there’s a website that allows me to gain certain information about DoctorKeys users. Because when I see a pattern of frequent visits, I sometimes can’t resist typing in the internet address to see what part of the world all that love is coming from. Continue reading
Free Chord Charts and Where to Get Them
As you may know, I’ve been talking up Wikifonia.org as a great place to go for free lead sheets. Wiifonia will even transpose songs into your key, and give you beautiful files, ready to print. Well, I just found another free online source. Each has its pros and cons. Continue reading
New 2-part Tutorial: Accompaniment Styles for 50 Great Songs
I’m excited about my latest videos. Rather than focus on just one song, they help you play a huge variety of songs both slow and fast, including pop, rock, folk, blues, Broadway–you name it. Continue reading
The Top Three Myths About Learning to Play the Piano
(NEWER POSTS ARE BELOW THIS ONE)
I keep this old post up top because, as one of the commenters says, it looks at the BIG picture of how we learn to play. You’ll find practical tips here as well as exercises, resources, and the philosophy behind the DoctorKeys piano courses.
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 fallacies we’ll debunk:
• It all starts with learning to read music.
• It’s all about the fingers.
• Practicing means playing a piece over and over.
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.)