10 Top Reasons You Should Learn to Play �Chord� Piano: "
10 Top Reasons You Should Learn to Play �Chord� Piano
There are roughly umpteen zillion reasons why you should learn enough chords to be able to �chord a song� at the piano.
By �chord a song�, I mean the ability to play 3 or 4 chords on the piano in some sort of rhythm while you or someone else sings the tune. To do this, you don�t need to be a Van Cliburn; all you need to do is learn a few basic chords and be able to more back and forth between them in some organized rhythmic pattern.
For example, did you realize that all of these songs (and hundreds more) can be sung or played with just 3 chords?
Auld Lang Syne
Amazing Grace
Kum Ba Ya
Silent Night
Joy To The World
Jingle Bells
Happy Birthday
Down In The Valley
On Top Of Old Smoky
�and hundreds or maybe thousands more!
Add just one more chord to the basic 3, and you can play another thousand songs or so. So why not learn a few chords and start your chording career?
Here are my top 10 reasons for learning �chord piano�:
1) It�s easy. Learn 3 chords and start in.
2) Even though it�s easy to get started, you don�t have to stop there. You can learn more and more chords and more rhythm patterns and get really good.
3) You�ll be able to play �Happy Birthday� while the gang sings it.
4) You�ll be able to play half-a-dozen Christmas carols. In case you haven�t noticed, Christmas comes every year, so every year you�ll get better as you participate in family gatherings.
5) You can help your kids learn to play the piano, guitar, or most any other instrument by learning chords. Most teachers don�t teach chords, s"
Tuesday, August 09, 2005
If Seals can sing, so can you!
If Seals can sing, so can you!: "If Seals Can Sing, So Can You!
It sounds like a side show, doesn�t it? It does to me. But it�s true; researchers have discovered that some varieties of seals really do sing. Indeed, male leopard seals have been heard singing complex melodies in their lonely search for a mate. Likewise, male Weddell seals, which are a very social creature, lure their mate by improvising original melodies the way a master musician would in front of an audience.
Hearing that seals sing really shouldn�t surprise any of us. Music is a central element of life. Walk through the forest at night in the eastern part of the United States and you can�t help but be moved by the symphony of sound that is created when each woodland creature sings its part.
Music moves us, often in ways that we don�t understand. For example who hasn�t been calmed by the sound of quiet singing such as a lullaby? But more than that, who can explain why cows produce more milk and chickens lay more eggs when listening to certain songs like The Blue Danube? I�ve seen many studies that verify that these observations are true, but none that I�ve seen fully explain why.
Fortunately, we don�t really have to understand why singing and music in general is so central to the world we live in to benefit from it. I doubt that Mozart or Beethoven understood it, but we have all benefited from the works of these two masters, both of whom seem to have benefited from listening to the birds sing. As a matter of fact, many people believe that Beethoven actually stole the opening to his Violin Concerto in D, Opus 61 from the song of the European Blackbird! Maybe, maybe not. But we know from Mozart�s own notebooks that he played the last movement of his Piano Concerto in G Major to his pet starling who then sang the passage"
It sounds like a side show, doesn�t it? It does to me. But it�s true; researchers have discovered that some varieties of seals really do sing. Indeed, male leopard seals have been heard singing complex melodies in their lonely search for a mate. Likewise, male Weddell seals, which are a very social creature, lure their mate by improvising original melodies the way a master musician would in front of an audience.
Hearing that seals sing really shouldn�t surprise any of us. Music is a central element of life. Walk through the forest at night in the eastern part of the United States and you can�t help but be moved by the symphony of sound that is created when each woodland creature sings its part.
Music moves us, often in ways that we don�t understand. For example who hasn�t been calmed by the sound of quiet singing such as a lullaby? But more than that, who can explain why cows produce more milk and chickens lay more eggs when listening to certain songs like The Blue Danube? I�ve seen many studies that verify that these observations are true, but none that I�ve seen fully explain why.
Fortunately, we don�t really have to understand why singing and music in general is so central to the world we live in to benefit from it. I doubt that Mozart or Beethoven understood it, but we have all benefited from the works of these two masters, both of whom seem to have benefited from listening to the birds sing. As a matter of fact, many people believe that Beethoven actually stole the opening to his Violin Concerto in D, Opus 61 from the song of the European Blackbird! Maybe, maybe not. But we know from Mozart�s own notebooks that he played the last movement of his Piano Concerto in G Major to his pet starling who then sang the passage"
"The Crash Course In Exciting Piano Playing!"
You're On Your Way To Playing Piano Like You've Always Dreamed!
Lesson One -
"The Crash Course In Exciting Piano Playing!"
You're On Your Way To Playing Piano Like You've Always Dreamed!
Week one's journey into the world of piano starts at the very beginning: the piano keyboard. After a brief review of the texts and their methods, you'll be introduced to the keys themselves, learning quickly to find middle C and to identify a number of notes in the C major scale.
Duane explains right-hand fingering techniques, register and basic musical notation before walking you step by step through the melodies of your first two songs. But melodies are only half the battle; the lesson then moves on to the chords and left-hand accompaniment that a full, complete sound requires. Using the "pointer" method -- a method by which chords and their fingerings are learned -- Duane shows you several in a set of C major scale family chords, giving you the ability to play well-known songs like "Merrily We Roll Along" and "Lightly Row" with both hands.
If you're saying "I don't want to learn silly little songs like that", remember that we are learning principles we can then apply to any song -- including all the songs you will someday love to play!
After being taught the fingerings and structure of your newly learned chords, you'll move on to the fundamentals of music theory and sight reading. New terms such as staff, clef, measure and bar line are explained fully, as are their sister concepts rhythm, melody, harmony, time signature and note values. Duane shows you the essentials of music reading and guides you through several songs geared toward exercising your knowledge, stopping along the way to explain any new concept or idea. It's a slow, careful method of learning the basics, one punctuated by a short quiz to test what you've learned thus far.
The last several minutes of this first lesson move in for a close-up, giving you a bird's eye view of Duane's hands as he again demonstrates the chords, fingerings and exercises included in this lesson. It's a chance to see, in detail, what your hands really should be doing and a valuable tool for understanding and reviewing the techniques introduced in your first week, as well as a "preview of coming attractions" -- exciting techniques you will learn later on.
And remember -- you don't have to commit yourself to a full year -- you can "sample" the course by signing up for just the first month. But if you do, I warn you -- you will be hooked because you'll start to see that you really can learn to play the piano -- it's not just a wishful dream.
Lesson One -
"The Crash Course In Exciting Piano Playing!"
You're On Your Way To Playing Piano Like You've Always Dreamed!
Week one's journey into the world of piano starts at the very beginning: the piano keyboard. After a brief review of the texts and their methods, you'll be introduced to the keys themselves, learning quickly to find middle C and to identify a number of notes in the C major scale.
Duane explains right-hand fingering techniques, register and basic musical notation before walking you step by step through the melodies of your first two songs. But melodies are only half the battle; the lesson then moves on to the chords and left-hand accompaniment that a full, complete sound requires. Using the "pointer" method -- a method by which chords and their fingerings are learned -- Duane shows you several in a set of C major scale family chords, giving you the ability to play well-known songs like "Merrily We Roll Along" and "Lightly Row" with both hands.
If you're saying "I don't want to learn silly little songs like that", remember that we are learning principles we can then apply to any song -- including all the songs you will someday love to play!
After being taught the fingerings and structure of your newly learned chords, you'll move on to the fundamentals of music theory and sight reading. New terms such as staff, clef, measure and bar line are explained fully, as are their sister concepts rhythm, melody, harmony, time signature and note values. Duane shows you the essentials of music reading and guides you through several songs geared toward exercising your knowledge, stopping along the way to explain any new concept or idea. It's a slow, careful method of learning the basics, one punctuated by a short quiz to test what you've learned thus far.
The last several minutes of this first lesson move in for a close-up, giving you a bird's eye view of Duane's hands as he again demonstrates the chords, fingerings and exercises included in this lesson. It's a chance to see, in detail, what your hands really should be doing and a valuable tool for understanding and reviewing the techniques introduced in your first week, as well as a "preview of coming attractions" -- exciting techniques you will learn later on.
And remember -- you don't have to commit yourself to a full year -- you can "sample" the course by signing up for just the first month. But if you do, I warn you -- you will be hooked because you'll start to see that you really can learn to play the piano -- it's not just a wishful dream.
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