For a good overall musical education, join a choir

The choir, a simple vocal ensemble of varying sizes (generally more than 10 people), is one of the most popular forms of musical expression for vocalists, particularly because of its availability in a varitey of arenas. The church choir is by far the most common, but many singers also perform in a high-school choir, a collegiate choir or a community choir. And within those varieties of choir exist a number of choir styles. There exists the all-female choir, the all-male choir and the mixed choir, which is comprised of females and males under the vocal categories bass, tenor, alto and soprano. Additionally, a choir can be classified by the number of members; a symphonic choir is typically a large choir while a chamber choir is extremely small.

Though some types of choir, such as the community choir, don't require much out of an audition (if they require an audition at all), there are certain traits a vocalist must possess in order to be able to handle the duties of choir membership. First and foremost, the choir member must be able to sing in tune; it seems common knowledge, but many would-be choir members are impervious to this ability. But singing in tune isn't enough -- choir members must also be able to blend their voice within the presence of other voices, to control vibrato and volume; the point to a choir, after all, is to hear an amalgamation of voices not one in particular. It is also vitally important that a choir member be able to read sheet music. An inability to read music will inevitably lead to the choir member never being able to learn his or her parts. Sight-reading, or the ability to read a piece of music without ever having seen it, is especially preferable for choir members, as a conductor will frequently ask the choir to sing through an entire piece immediately in order to get a sense of the music. Lastly, a choir member must have an independent ear; that is, they must be able to sing their part even while hearing a different part coming from the alto or tenor section. If a choir member has this problem and it's very slight, the conductor will usually place them in a position far from any imposing alternative parts, but a consistent inability to hear one's own voice will ultimately lead to a choir member having a difficult time with the entire performance.

The Pianists Guide to Other Instruments: What To Look For In An Accordion

Since pianists seldom play by themselves, I thought it would be useful to bring us piano players up to speed on other musical instruments -- how they work, what their characteristics are, and so on. So from time to time I'll include an article about every kind of instrument from autoharps to zitthers. We'll begin with accordions.

There are many different styles of accordions with different key-note systems. To know which type of accordion to buy, it is necessary to have knowledge about the various types and how they work. Here is a list of the main common types of accordions and their details.
Diatonic Accordions

This is the most popular type of accordion worldwide. The earliest diatonic accordions had one row of ten buttons, each controlling a valve which in turn regulated the air flow to a pair of metal reeds inside the accordion. These ten pairs of reeds were tuned to a diatonic scale. You can get 2 different notes with every button. When the bellows are pulled open, one note plays; whereas when the bellows are pushed closed, reversing the air flow through the reeds, a different note sounds.
Diatonic accordions are easy to use, lightweight, and have a great sound quality. These are perfect for folk and dance tunes.
Chromatic Accordions

The reeds of a three row Diatonic were rearranged to form the chromatic accordion. This accordion can play a 46 note chromatic scale. The Chromatic Button Accordion is best for playing the maximum range of treble notes of any type of accordion. These are available in a range of ones with 20 treble keys and 12 bass buttons, to ones which have up to 6 rows of treble buttons and 160 bass buttons.
The two most common layouts in the chromatic keyboard are the B and C systems. The B system is superior for technically difficult works, whereas the C system is ideal for playing chords and melodic music. The bass system also performance of serious classical or modern-day works.
Piano Accordions

These have a piano type keyboard and can play most piano music. The piano accordions are the most popular type of accordion used in the US. With the development of the Stradella bass system, this accordion was the first standardized accordion. Thus a piano accordionist can play any kind of piano accordion without a change in system. Piano accordions are generally of 12 bass, 20 key up to 160 bass, and 45 key, although there are smaller and larger ones too. The piano accordion has a huge range of notes and sounds.
Thus the most common and oft used type of accordion is the piano accordion (in the US).

Two things to keep in mind when buying an accordion:

• The lighter the accordion, the better.

• Generally speaking, avoid buying a used accordion as with use they tend to need more repair and are not as great performing as newer ones. But if you can't quite afford a new one, just make sure the used on is in good working order.

Boogie Woogie Makes The Piano Dance!

Boogie woogie is a genre of piano-heavy music particular to America in the 1940s and 50s. It's characteristic walking bass is familiar to many as a harkening back to rock and roll, even though the form is based strongly on the blues (in fact, it's often been called an upbeat version of the blues). Boogie originally started as a strictly piano form; the most familiar versions are still based solely around the instrument. But as boogie became more and more popular, so too did the idea of including a whole band. Before long, the once solo genre adapted itself to accommodate an entire band. The latest versions of boogie often include guitar and other instruments, but the piano and drums remain the focal point.

The most familiar pattern in boogie woogie is the left hand bass part that starts on the root of any key, then the 3rd, 5th, 6th, flat 7th, 6th, 5th, 3rd, and root, then repeats. It is usually played in offset octaves, meaning that the lower note is played with the little finger followed by the same not an octave higher with the thumb throughout the entire patterns. In terms of form, it almost always follows the 12-bar blues form, discussed elsewhere on this blog.

Boogie is often credited as the originator of rock and roll, but that idea isn't necessarily valid. While boogie definitely played some role in rock and roll's early days, it was really rhythm and blues that started the form. Boogie, on the other hand, remained an off-shoot of blues and an entity in its own right. It also may have indirectly spawned a dance of the same name, a dance that led largely to boogie being credited as rock and roll's most dominant predecessor.

The boogie woogie dance, an upbeat and energetic social dance with small roots in swing, was danced mostly to rock and roll. It spread through teenage social circles like wildfire and became almost synonymous with rock and roll. As boogie (the dance) continued to grow through the 50s, boogie (the music) began to disappear from the limelight. And as it grew further and further from the mainstream, boogie's captivating hold on audiences became understood as a product of the dance, not the music. The way in which the two forms of boogie were interchanged often led to confusion about where and when the form originated and how it related to the dance and the inception of rock and roll.

Elevator Music Has Gotten a Bum Rap

The last few years background music has been often contempuously refered to as "elevator music." But it has so many different fuctions in life that are positive, that it should be "un-named" and simply refered to as background music. It is used in hospitals, sugery centers, shopping malls and a host of other applications.

Background music is one of those umbrella terms that can refer to a great number of things. Simply put, it's music played in the background; the context of the term is entirely dependent on what exactly is in the foreground. And depending on that context, calling something background music can sometimes be seen as an insult, however unintentional. Musicians functioning as a backing band for a singer or soloist usually resent being referred to as background music; the term tends to connote something that isn't really paid music attention to.

But that's not always the case. Background music is an important element in a variety of different events or performances. The background music at a social gathering or bar can often determine the overall mood of the people in attendance; it's not uncommon to find tempers rising and fights breaking out solely because the combination of personality and harsh background music made a lethal cocktail. Background music is also vital to film and television; a great song can often make or break a scene. For instance, the television producer Thomas Schlamme (of "West Wing" fame) and film writer and director Quentin Tarantino ("Kill Bill," "Pulp Fiction") have both used background music to amazing effect, choosing music that is at times barely noticeable but still capable of completely driving the scene. Great background music can make the tragic scenes more tragic, the comic scenes ten times more hilarious; and likewise, inappropriate or poorly composed background music can rip the magic right out of even a perfectly written script.

Selecting background music for a performance or event is an art in and of itself. The background music at a wedding or fashion show is just as vital to the event as the background music in a performance is to the singer or soloist. It's not a rule-driven process; background music is entirely subjective to the person choosing it. Theme and content are important to consider, though; just like you'd rarely play heavy metal while a bride is walking down the aisle, you'll almost never hear a Mozart piece in a bar packed to the walls with college students. And when considering (or composing) music to be played behind a singer or soloist, it's important to remember where the focus of the performance lies; it's not uncommon to hear background music that upstages the performer.

Piano Notes: The Alphabet of Music

Piano notes, or notes played on a piano, are deceptively simple little things. They are the alphabet of music. All told, there's only twelve of them in a diatonic scale, a fact which makes the whole concept sound much less complicated than it really is. Even the term piano notes itself is often misused; while it's usually meant to refer to the actual pitch, the term piano notes technically only applies to the written notation of a pitch and not the actual sound. Then there are the issues of rhythms, scales, accidentals, octaves -- the whole thing can get very complicated, very fast.

Piano notes are named after the first seven letters of the English alphabet and keep that name regardless of the octave; on a typical 88 key piano, these notes are represented by the white keys. But since the diatonic scale has twelve notes and not seven, some of these can be altered. To get the extra five notes, we can sharpen (raise a half-step) or flatten (lower a half-step) some notes; these piano notes are the black keys. Not every note can be sharpened or flattened, however. Since C is only a half-step away from B, B cannot be sharpened and C cannot be flattened. Likewise, E is only a half-step away from F; therefore, F cannot be flattened and E cannot be sharpened (there are, of course, some exceptions to this depending on the key signature).

The rhythmic aspect of piano notes are based on their duration, creating a series of piano notes all differing in type and value. Whole piano notes are four beats and represented by a hollow oval with no stem. Half piano notes are two beats, or half of a whole, and represented by a hollow oval with a stem. Quarter piano notes represent a fourth of a whole note, eighth piano notes an eight, sixteenth notes and sixteenth and so on as far as 128th piano notes (which are rarely used). It's also important to mention that piano notes can be altered by adding a dot after the written note. Dotted piano notes indicate that the note's value is that of the original note plus one half. Dotted half piano notes, for instance, are worth three beats and dotted quarter piano notes are worth one and a half.

Music Courses

Music courses are a great way to learn about virtually any area of music; history, theory, instrument instruction -- you name it and somewhere music courses specialize in it. Though generally found through colleges, universities or high school programs, music courses are also offered via one-on-one instruction with a private teacher or community-based workshops. Some churches even offer music courses as a complement to their choirs; the music courses may be offered to the general public, but they're often geared toward the choir members and congregation.

Music courses offered by colleges are generally far more in-depth than other music courses and are usually only available to degree-seeking students (though some colleges offer music courses as part of their continuing education programs). Lower level college music courses often focus on an amalgamation of music theory and history, teaching individual theory concepts based on the historical period to which they are particular. As the music courses grow in skill level so too does the number of specialized topics. Advanced music courses are available for nearly every historical music period and are sometimes based on one particular movement. Advanced music courses for theory grow increasingly more difficult and slowly teach every detail found in modern music theory; it's during the theory music courses that students intending to major in music have their skills challenged the most -- some even refer to these music courses as a weeding out period.  The photo to the left and above is a young me in front of the Westlake College of Modern Music, a school for jazz musicians right on Sunset Blvd. in Hollywood.

Instrument-based music courses are equally as tough at the college level, though they usually assume a working knowledge of the instrument before the class begins. Those wishing to learn an instrument, therefore, are better off with private music courses or music courses offered by a community orchestra or social group. These music courses will focus on the basic details of learning an instrument, starting from the very beginning. Fingering, theory and music reading will be covered, in addition to the occasional bit of history. Students of these music courses may then wish to move on to college-level music courses after completing a few years of private instruction.

What does it really mean to "play by ear?"

To play by ear is to learn a piece of music (or, by extension, an instrument) by simply hearing it over and over again. A number of musicians, many of them self-taught, began their music education in this manner; it's often an invaluable way to learn the mechanics of song and chord structure. Ever sat down at a piano and picked out "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star"? Or what about grabbing a guitar and suddenly stumbling into the opening licks of Deep Purple's "Smoke on the Water" or Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit"? If you have, you can play by ear. It's an unbelievably common practice, even among non-musicians who just peck around at an instrument if it happens to be in the room. Even classically trained musicians that have spent their lives learning to read music are sometimes encouraged to play by ear; it's a technique that hones that inherent musical sense found in so many thriving musicians.

A great number of self-taught musicians started their training by learning to play by ear. Instead of picking up a book or taking lessons, they just slowly picked out the chords of a song until the entire thing was mastered. Then they moved on to another song. And another. Gradually, they learned their instrument just by their ability to play by ear; each song presented a new chord or a new technique to figure out and conquer. It's a method used mostly by popular musicians, particularly rock musicians who learned the nuances of composition and performance simply by knowing how to play by ear.

Though classical musicians are generally educated based on tons of music theory and sight reading, some methods tout the benefits of knowing how to play by ear. The Suzuki method of musical training, for instance, espouses the idea that learning music is the same as learning a language; it's acquired by years of hearing it coupled with formal training. Just like we pick up our language by listening to our parents and subsequently attending school, the Suzuki method teaches young children to play by ear before they begin formal training. The Suzuki school of thought on learning how to play by ear has proven to be fairly effective, but it is sometimes considered harmful as the children progress in their education; to play by ear at such an early age (and long before formal training) has the potential to damage the child's ability to actually read music instead of just picking out the notes or melodies.

What is a "Chord Substitution?"

A Chord substitution is precisely what the name implies: the substitution of one chord for another during a chord progression. It's a technique often found in jazz music (but other genres, as well) used to add a little extra pizzazz to a piece of music. Chord substitutions contribute to the element of surprise; it keeps the progressions from becoming predictable, without compromising the overall tone of the piece. Instead of playing a constant, consistent G chord, for instance, musicians will sometimes use chord substitutions to replace that G with a G6 or Gmaj7, depending on the song and the effect desired. Chord substitutions are a great way to add a kick to an otherwise monotonous progression.

There are many things to consider when working with chord substitutions. First of all, chord substitutions will be especially easy when the two chords share a number of common notes. C major, for example, can be easily substituted with A minor because both of these chords contain a C and E. But it isn't just enough to share common notes; the common notes in chord substitutions are best received when they drive the chord. The first two notes of a chord (including the root) are what give a chord its defining characteristics. If chord substitutions contain these notes in an insignificant place, the substituted chord won't be as interchangeable. Let's consider C major and A minor again. These chord substitutions works because the two common notes, C and E, are the two most important notes within the C major chord. The root note, C, shifts in these chord substitutions, but it is still present enough to keep the chord's essential quality. But it's important to mention here that, rules and regulations aside, chord substitutions are really in the eye of the beholder; if you think it works and like the sound the chord substitutions have created, feel free to explore it. There's no rule in chord substitutions (or music, for that matter) that can't be broken.

What does the word "Melody" refer to in music?

The melody is the tune of a song or piece of music. It is the part you whistle or hum – the part that carries the words, if there are any.

Melody is possibly the most stigmatized concept in music theory. For something to be melodic, many people believe that it needs to be slow and pretty; it's a word that carries a heavy connotation. Melody (at least the current version of the word) is beautiful, and anything that deviates from that is simply not melodic. Strictly speaking, however, melody has nothing to do with beauty or abrasiveness. Melody is just a series of notes or pitches played in succession, notes that can be heard as a whole. Simply sitting down at a piano and banging out a couple of notes does not a melody make. A melody needs to be heard as a single entity in order to be considered a melody. And even the most dissonant of musical phrases is still a melody if it fits that requirement.

The modern idea of melody differs from that of early western classical. Melody is heavily used in rock and pop music, and those genres usually base a song on one or two melodies only: the verse and the chorus. Of course, there are some subtle deviations along the way, but a catchy, radio-friendly pop song will repeat the same melody over and over to make it memorable for the listeners. Early western classical music didn't have the same concern with airplay and demographics, so a strictly repeated melody wasn't the norm. This type of music used melody to introduce a theme, moving on to vary that theme in several different ways. The basic melody was still there, but it had the potential to became nearly unrecognizable as it shifted and changed. The sonata form is a stunning example of this concept of theme and melody restatement.
Melody is also extremely important to jazz musicians, especially those that specialize in improvisation. Though there are several types of improvisation, melody is frequently used as the song's base. Improvisers will set a pre-determined melody and allow the lead instrument to jump forward from that melody. It creates a wonderfully rich piece of music that shows how quickly (and interestingly) a melody can evolve.

Is there a difference between keyboard chords & piano chords?

No.

Keyboard chords are chord played on a piano or any other keyboard-based instrument, such as a synthesizer or digital piano. The differences between keyboard chords and chords of other kinds are minimal; in fact, the only real distinguishing factor is the instrument on which they are played. By virtue, keyboard chords are exactly the same as guitar chords. The keyboard may be played differently than the guitar, but the basic chord formation remains the same.


Keyboard chords, like all other chords, consist of three or more notes played together. The notes don't necessarily need to be played at the exact same time, however. Broken keyboard chords, or arpeggios, are three or more notes that are staggered as opposed to simultaneous; as long as the notes are close enough to be heard as a whole they're still considered keyboard chords.

The names given to keyboard chords are based on either note number or interval type. Keyboard chords classified by note number are given names like trichord (three notes), tetrachord (five notes) or hexachord (six notes). Keyboard chords named by interval type are given names such as tertian (keyboard chords based on a third), secundal (keyboard chords based on a second) or quartal (keyboard chords based on a fourth). It's also possible to name keyboard chords based on both qualities; for example, tertian trichords are keyboard chords consisting of three notes a third above each other. These type of keyboard chords are extremely common, often a staple of rock and pop music.

Keyboard chords are extremely versatile and can be altered in a number of ways. Lowering the pitch by a half-step produces diminished keyboard chords (notated by the abbreviation "dim"); likewise, raising the pitch by a half-stop creates augmented keyboard chords (notated by "aug"). Inverted keyboard chords carry a bass note other than the root, and seventh keyboard chords are those that add to the triad a note that is a third above the chord's fifth. Extended keyboard chords are variations on seventh chords, created by adding notes that go beyond the seventh interval into a ninth, eleventh or thirteenth.