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!
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: read more…
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: read more…
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.
Some of you have asked about the sheet music for the piece I play at the start of Piano Technique: A Whole-Body Approach. Well, with just a few clicks, you can now instantly download and print out a beautifully edited and fingered score of it, and be playing it within minutes. Watch me play Prelude, and/or purchase 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. read more…
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. read more…
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. 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, read more…
(NEWER POSTS ARE BELOW THIS ONE)
I keep this very 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.
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. read more…
New theory tutorials on DoctorKeys
It’s been a a while since I’ve blogged and I’d like to fill you in on some new videos. All these lessons can be accessed by subscribers from the main course list. read more…
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.)
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. 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. read more…
