Is it possible to create cool "new age" sounds on the piano without knowing a thing about music?

Is it possible to create cool "new age" sounds on the piano
without knowing a thing about music?

I'll admit that for many years as a piano teacher I didn't think so.

But in the last couple years I made a discovery about creating pleasant sounds on the piano that I never would have believed during my earlier piano teaching career.

I recall a physician friend asking me if I had any kind of course he could take that didn't involve learning to read music or music theory or any of the traditional materials.
He had purchased a beautiful Yamaha grand for his daughter to take lessons on when she was growing up, but now she was married and moved away, so he had this grand piano in his living room with no one to play it. He was much too busy in his career to take traditional piano lessons – he just wanted to "doodle" after work in the evening and relax after a stress-filled day at the hospital.

Unfortunately, I told him "no – I don't have anything like that available – sorry!" and that was the end of that story.

But a few months later another student had heard a "new age" pianist somewhere, and loved the sounds he produced so much that they wanted to do the same, and asked me how in the world he got those sounds. They weren't really songs – more like the sounds of nature and running water and nature in bloom.

I have taught piano for 30 years and I'm a firm believer in learning to read music, understand music, and really master the keyboard. I'm no fan of mindless "shortcuts" because I know in the long run they just don't work – you've got to have understanding.

But I also know now that there are many people like my doctor friend – people that would love to be able to make their own "pleasant sounds" on the piano just for their own satisfaction, relaxation, and amusement. They know full well that they will never be full-blown piano players, but still, they would like to sit down now and then and just make some sounds on the keyboard that sound good, feel good, and give satisfaction to them and/or their family.

I should have understood that earlier, because as I think back to my own youth, I recall my Dad sitting down at our old upright piano for a half-hour on a Saturday night and playing some kind of chording pattern that absolutely delighted my Mom and my big brother and I. I guess you know that if I could call him back from Heaven and have him play that again for me, I wouldn't trade the entire London Symphony for that half-hour.

There is a style of music which is quite popular these days known as "new age" music. It tries to capture the sounds of nature – water flowing, birds, wind – that kind of thing. It is very descriptive music, and very relaxing. It's fun to play, too, because there are really no "wrong answers" – anything that sounds nice and pleasant is "right".

After trying for several months to create some of these sounds on the piano, I was delighted to discover that there are some very simple finger patterns that can create some wonderful impressionistic sounds – patterns that can be repeated in various places on the keyboard and in various ways.

And so for those people who just want to make some nice sounds on the piano (or keyboard or synthesizer – it doesn't matter what kind of keyboard) I have created a new DVD video showing 15 different sound patterns such as:

Cascading waterfalls
Wind in the forest
Rainbow after storm
Oriental gardens
Stroll in a meadow
Peaceful morning
Playful kittens
Gentle waves
…and 7 others.

And then after you learn each sound pattern, I'll show you how to link those sound patterns together in various ways so you can create your own song, your own creative symphony that expresses the feelings you want to express.

We use no printed music, of course. All a person needs to do is sit at their piano and watch my hands on the piano, and do what I do. Of course I will be talking and explaining what I am doing, but even if you had the sound turned off you could still follow and duplicate what my hands are doing.

Even if you have played the piano for years, you might just learn something new about patterns & linking – I got some new ideas for myself just by shooting this DVD video! Check it out at http://www.pianoforbeginners.com/CoolSoundsLetter.htm

About Music & Life

Articles by Duane About Music & Life


The Many Incredible Benefits Of Learning Chording Techniques On The Piano - Part OneMany piano players seem to spend their entire lives "chained to the written music." They can sight-read sheet music, but when it comes to knowing what to play when the music blows off the stand and onto the floor, they are entirely lost. [July 28, 2006 03:47:56 pm]
The Many Incredible Benefits Of Learning Chording Techniques On The Piano - Part TwoMany piano players seem to spend their entire lives "chained to the written music". They can sight-read sheet music, but when it comes to knowing what to play when the music blows off the stand and onto the floor, they are entirely lost. [July 28, 2006 03:52:24 pm]
How To Match The Melody Notes Of Any Song To A Chord In Your Left Hand!Is it really possible to know which chords go with which notes in a song without having to depend on the written sheet music? Can you pick out a song by ear and then harmonize that tune with chords that match it? [April 17, 2006 05:51:39 am]
How To Predict Which Chord Comes Next In A SongIt is quite possible to predict which chords will occur in a given song once you know the key of that song and understand the "guts" of music and how chord progressions work. [April 10, 2006 06:52:04 am]
How To Play More Notes On The Piano Without Reading More NotesMost 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. [March 13, 2006 10:36:31 am]
33 Tips For Becoming a Great Piano Player!"There are at least 33 elements that contribute to becoming a good pianist," says Duane Shinn, pianist and owner of Keyboard Workshop in Medford, Oregon. "There are probably more, but without these 33 principles a pianist cannot hope to rise to the level of his ability." [March 08, 2006 02:23:54 pm]
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To Make Your Kids More Successful, Teach Them Music!Besides being a sure way to become the life of the party, learning to play an instrument can make your children smarter, better adjusted, and better equipped to adopt a position of leadership in a diverse world. [January 14, 2006 08:12:57 pm]
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"The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" - Einstein Would Have Loved It!Einstein would have loved the movie "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" because it is filled with not only imagination, but also time dilation and wormholes that tunnel into distant regions of space and time and black holes and string theory and spacetime curvature... all implicated in his General Theory of Relativity. [December 05, 2005 06:34:21 am]
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What In The World Would We Do Without Music?What in the world would you and I do if there was no such thing as music? Can you imagine a world without music? No songs, no tunes, no rock, no roll, no jazz, no hymns, no boogie-woogie, no country-western, no symphonies. No singing in the shower. No whistling Dixie? [September 19, 2005 07:21:44 am]
Does Music Impact Epilepsy - For Bad Or For Good?Even though music is not yet used as a formal treatment for epilepsy, the sheer fact that music has shown a potential ability to be a treatment for epilepsy as well as its ability to induce epileptic seizures would seem to indicate that music just might play a more significant role in the human experience than we ever imagined. [August 19, 2005 02:31:10 pm]
How To Play Piano Using Chord SymbolsChord symbols, for modern music with lots of changes, are much easier to read. They function as a sort of shorthand for change-heavy music and are written with four chord parts in mind: the root, the quality, the extension, and the alterations. [August 18, 2005 07:49:36 pm]
Music Therapy: Can Music Really Soothe The Savage Beast?It has long been suggested that "music soothes the savage beast." But is this true? And if it is, does this have any implication where humans are concerned? [August 17, 2005 02:55:43 pm]
3 Quick & Easy Steps To Playing Music by EarPlaying by ear is a valuable technique for many musicians; learning songs based solely on hearing them is a great way to understand song and chord structure. In fact, a great number of rock and pop musicians learned to play their instruments this way. Instead of picking up a book or taking lessons, they concentrated on figuring out the notes and rhythms to a song until it was mastered. [August 16, 2005 07:32:38 pm]
Do you really need college to learn to play music?In the last few years a new dimension to learning music has appeared in the form of the internet - the world wide web. Now instead of being limited to classroom courses, students are free to create their own schedules and learn at their own pace. [August 15, 2005 08:38:53 pm]
How Many Chords Are There, Anyway?Since chords (the main component of harmony) are one of the three most vital elements of music - the others being melody and rhythm - it would be useful to know how many chords there are. And it doesn't matter whether you play piano or guitar or some other instrument - chords are chords. [August 13, 2005 06:16:38 pm]
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Can You Really Learn To Play a Musical Instrument From an Online Course?Out of the 250 million people in the United States, about 25 million of them play an instrument of some kind, or at least used to when they were in school and would like to pick up where they left off. Another 30 million or so sing in a church choir, a barbershop quartet, or at the very least, in the shower. [July 30, 2005 05:15:35 pm]
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The many incredible benefits that come from learning chording techniques on the piano!

The many incredible benefits that come from

learning chording techniques on the piano!

Do you know the incredible benefits that come to you by learning chording techniques on the piano?
There are many -- way more than just 10. But due to space limitations, I'll just list 10 out of hundreds:
1. By learning chording techniques, you are at least quadrupling your chances of creating exciting new sounds on the piano -- sounds that most other piano players have no idea how to create. That's because arranging using chord techniques is open-ended -- there's no end to the styles and applications you can eventually learn and apply.
2. Learning chording techniques in NO WAY interferes with your ability to sight-read music. Some ill-informed people think it does, but not so! Ask any great jazz musician from Dave Brubeck to Andre Previn to Oscar Peterson to Chuck Corea to.... They ALL read music prolifically, yet choose to apply chording techniques to song after song, creating many of the great classic tunes we all know, like "Take Five", etc, etc.
Knowing chords and being able to apply techniques to those chords actually HELPS YOU TO SIGHT-READ FASTER, because instead of just seeing groups of random notes on the sheet music, you can see chord patterns forming and dissolving into yet another chord, another chord progression!
3. Knowing chords and applying chording techniques allows you to become a first-rate accompanist for singers and other musicians, should you want to do that. You will be able to "wrap the chords" around the singer to support them, rather than be in competition by playing the melody from the sheet music. You'll be able to create fills and counter-melodies and a host of other devices that can make you the most desired accompanist in your area.
4. By knowing chords and chording patterns you will automatically open the door to opportunities to play at places you never could if you only "play music as written". When people hear you play, they will immediately sense that "this person knows what they are doing", which can very well bring invitations to play in fraternal clubs, churches, community centers, and even weddings and funerals. I have had students of retirement age who have fulfilled their lifelong dream to play in public, even if in a small venue. I recall a CPA in Washington State who took lessons from me by cassette for a couple years and got good enough to play at a local restaurant-pub on weekends. He didn't need the money, but just LOVED the opportunity to play for folks and have them sing along.
5. Being able to apply chords to song after song means you NEVER HAVE TO PLAY A SONG THE SAME WAY TWICE! When people see me play, they often ask me to play the song again -- but are often surprised when I play it again, since I create new chord progressions and fills and improvisations each time -- so it never sounds the same.
There's a classic story about Erroll Garner, the great pianist and composer of the classic song "Misty". A lady came up to him after a concert and raved about how he played "Misty", and asked him to play it again the same way. His reply was "I can't remember how I played it last time -- but I'll play it again anyway", which greatly surprised the lady.
6. Knowing chords and chord progressions will give you a confidence you've never known before. It's exhilarating to know that you're no longer "tied to the written music", but are free to soar through the musicphere unhindered by traditional limitations! If you've never known such a feeling you are in for the musical treat of your life.
7. Knowing chords and chording techniques is "self-feeding". That is, the more you apply the techniques you know, the more new techniques will gradually become apparent. For example, once you master left-hand chords in a "hand-over arpeggio" form, if will some day occur to you that you can do the same in the right-hand. That will not just double your potential in that area, but multiply it exponentially, because you will come to see opportunity after opportunity to apply those arpeggios in many different ways -- from "music box" sounds to "waterfalls" to "flowing river of sounds" techniques and so on.
8. As you become more and more proficient with chord applications, you may discover that other musicians want to play along with you. Many a combo, band, worship team, etc. has been formed simply because one musician heard another playing, and liked what they heard. That not only leads to friendship and opportunities to play in some public forum, but also is a wonderful way to learn even more new techniques from the other members of the group!
9. Music theory, which once looked like a giant puzzle to you, now gradually becomes self-evident as you understand more and more about music and how it all works. I recall taking a music theory course in college after playing in a small group for a few years, and it was so easy I challenged the course after a couple weeks, and easily passed it. Years later many of my young private students (I used to operate a teaching school for years names "Piano University") challenged the course too, as they started their college work.
And the more you master chords and their implications, the easier music theory will become for you as well.
10. You'll just plain-old have FUN once you get the hang of it. Many of my students have no intention of ever playing in public, but want to play for their own relaxation after work, or just for fun with the family.

That's great and as it should be. Each of us has different needs and different goals, so what we do with our piano playing is entirely up to us.
Piano playing is one of the most satisfying hobbies you could possibly have, and the more you "do your own thing" on the piano in the way of arranging songs using chording techniques, the more fun it becomes!
So what are you waiting for? Jump in and enjoy it!
http://www.chord-piano-music-lessons.com/