If you think you're too old to learn piano, read this!

Piano for seniors:

94 Year Old Man Learns Piano

Chord substitutions using "Silent Night" as an example

You can create your own chord substitutions to freshen up any song just by using a couple simple principles:

Teach Yourself Piano?

Back when I was a kid it was unheard of to learn to play the piano without a teacher. Oh sure -- lots of people picked out tunes by ear, played pleasant sounds and patterns, or learned a few chords from friends. But virtually no one became a competent pianist by teaching themselves.

I took lessons from Mrs. Graham, a nice little old lady who lived by the college I later attended, from the time I was 6 until about 8, when an opening finally occured in the teaching schedule of Luzetta -- the most famous of the local teachers in my home town. I took lessons from her for about 4 years and learned all the scales and drills and hundreds of little songs until I could finally play some easy classics.

But it wasn't until I was 14 that I really took off in my piano learning, and from then on it was a matter of teaching myself and taking a series of 'crash' lessons from professional pianists, most all of whom were recording artists of some sort.

What got me motivated to teach myself? I'm out of time, so I'll tell that story tomorrow.

Did you take piano lessons when you were a kid?

I'm looking for several people who took piano lessons as children to share anecdotes about their experiences in an article I'm putting together.

If you have had a funny experience at piano lessons -- such as making up an excuse for why you didn't practice like "the dog ate my piano book", or a negative experience -- such as the teacher slapping your wrists, or making you play scales endlessly, drop me an email telling me about it and giving me your permission to use it in an article.

If I choose to use your story, I'll send you a small thank-you gift, so please include your mailing address. Send your email to: kidslessons@playpiano.com and put "kidslessons" in the subject line so I don't miss it.

I will look forward to hearing from you!

"Joy to the World" using a simple rhythmic style

Watch this 10 minute video on "Joy To The World":



If you enjoy learning different piano styles as applied to Christmas Carols, go to:

"How to play spectacularly beautiful Christmas Carols on the piano"

Playing piano from chord symbols in a "fake book"

Most professional musicians play from a book called a "Fake Book". I bought my first fake book containing only about 200 songs when I was a teenager -- they were illegal then, but most musicians owned them -- for $50. That would be equal to $500. or more now. But fortunately, they have since become legal, so you can buy a real good one with 1000 songs now for $50. or less. A fake book contains just the melody (tune) and the chord symbols of a song, so you have to know chords to use one. But when you do, your playing comes alive -- you're only reading a few notes, but playing lots of notes.
Most people learn to play the piano by playing just the written music. Playing by written music is exactly what the phrase says it is -- playing the exact notation on a piece of sheet music. But playing by chord symbol is very different. Instead of following the harmony note by note, you follow the chord symbols (i.e. C7 or F) written above the harmonies, filling in the gaps with...well, whatever you want as long as it sticks to those chords. Of course, you'll still read the melody (it is, after all, often what makes the song recognizable) but even that is completely open to interpretation. Playing by chord symbol allows you a freedom that playing by written music simply doesn't. The freedom to create. The freedom to invent. The freedom to arrange chord patterns in the way you want.

Does that mean playing by written music is less important than playing by chord symbol? No. The ability to play by written music is an extremely valuable skill, one that even some of the most famous musicians don't possess. And while you don't necessarily need to know the skill backwards and forwards to create great arrangements, it's a great help.

For lots more info on this subject, please go to "How To PLAY More Notes Without READING More Notes"

Music education: What is Music, Anyway?

We all know that music is recognized as the "universal language" -- doesn't matter what the language is, we all sing, we all hum, we all whistle, and many of us play some kind of instrument -- from primitive drums that make just one basic sound (although any drum can be made to create various pitches depending upon the tension of the membrane being used) to sophisticated synthesizers which can create anything from orchestral scores to sound effects and everything in between. (If you could pull back the curtain and look in, you would see that most of the musical backgrounds you hear on TV shows are not created by orchestras, but by one guy at his synthesizer!)

But what are the elements music is created from? There are really only 4:

Melody

Harmony

Rhythm

Tone Color

If you want to add "words" to the list above, be my guest, but words are not part of ALL music, so I'll leave it out, and just focus on the big 4:

Melody is the tune of a piece of music or a song -- the part you whistle or hum or sing or play as a solo.

Harmony is the tonal environment which supports the melody and gives it context. Harmony involves either intervals (the distance between the melody and the supporting tone) or chords (3 or more supporting tones).

Rhythm is the pulse, or beat -- the mathematical pattern that sends music down the road from here to there.

Tone color is the sound you hear -- either the sound of a human voice, or a sax, or a piano, or a drum, or a guitar, or any instrument or combination of instruments -- usually many all mixed together forming a "musical meal" called a song or a piece or a composition or an improvisation or all of the above.

In future editions we will take up each one of these elements separately, then later see how they all blend together.

What is an arpeggio? Is it the same thing as arpeggiation?

When you play individual notes of a chord one at a time instead of as a unit, it is called "arpeggiation". So an arpeggio is simply a broken chord -- a chord broken up into it's respective individual notes.

You often hear beginners play simple arpeggios, such as the C chord repeated over and over up the keyboard or back down. But arpeggios can also be complex; for example, you can arpeggiate any extended chord such as a 9th or 11th or 13th or any alteration. And you don't have to go straight up the keyboard -- you can hesitate in any octave, then continue, or head back down and then up, or change chords in mid-stream -- there are lots of variations.

For an example of arpeggiation, you might want to take a look at the short video on tremelo-fired runs. It is an example of one type of arpeggio, yet beginning with a tremolo.

Silent Night - Chord Substitutions on Christmas Carols

One of the most creative things you can do to make your songs more interesting as a piano player is to use chord substitutions. Instead of playing the same old chords everyone else uses, why not create your own combinations?

It freshens up a song harmonically and redefines the melody.

Here is a short video example of how to use chord substitutions using Silent Night as an example:



Click on this link learn how to do this to Christmas Carols such as Silent Night.

And click on this link for the definitive course in Chord Substitions.

How people search for piano-related help online

I subscribe to a service that provides data on the words and phrases that people use to search for piano-learning help on the web. It's amazing what a variety of terms people type into search engines such as Google and Yahoo and MSN. Here is a very short list of actual phrases people use (and there are literally hundreds and hundreds more):

music harmony online, gospel music videos, piano chord how-to, piano songs music, music speed learning, dowvload keybard muzic (yes -- that's exactly how they spelled those 3 words! And there are lots of other mis-spellings, such as cord, kord, paino, pano, ceyboard, and hosts of others -- it boggles the mind!), lesson of music, music leson, piano leson, chord keyboard, www play music, popular piano music, musical chords, piano notes chart, and on and on.

Most all of the needs expressed by these searches can be at least partially filled by simply going to a good music authority site, such as www.playpiano.com and signing up for free piano chord instructions by email newsletter.