How To Play "Chord" Guitar

How To Play "Chord" Guitar

http://www.chord-guitar-music.com/

A whole bunch of new ways to learn the piano!

There are so many different styles and approches to piano playing that the average person sometimes becomes confused about with path he/she should take to get where they want to go.
The web site given below provides many of the approaches, from piano chords to transposition to arranging to the blues, to ..........

Here is the site:

http://www.playpiano.com/pianolessons.htm

Enjoy the variety!

Music Articles

Here's some music articles you might find interesting:

http://www.piano-playing-by-ear.com/articles/musicarticlesbyduane.htm

This has nothing to do with piano playing, but...

This has nothing to do with piano playing, but...

Here are a few interesting sites I found recently in case you are interested in:

Fishing & camping & boats: http://www.camping-fishing-gear.com/

Educational toys & games: http://www.educational-toys-games-gifts.com

Golf: http://www.sports-games-health.com

Wedding & wedding favors: http://www.wedding-cakes-portal.com

Emergency medical: http://www.emt-police-fireman-supplies.com

Table tennis & ping pong: http://www.table-tennis-ping-pong-tables.com

After all, piano players have a life outside of the keyboard!

Why Piano Students Knew More About The Differences Between The Sexes Than The Other KIds In My Home Town...

Why Piano Students Knew More About The Differences Between The Sexes Than The Other Kids In Auburn

The center for sex education in Auburn in the mid-to-late 40’s was not the home, the church, the school, or the health clinic. Not that these did not contribute to our growing body of knowledge – they certainly did – but the center for the dissemination of actual facts was Luzetta Sweat’s piano studio on Mason Way, right up the side street from Junker & Shull, the Ford agency where my Dad always brought his cars. Luzetta certainly didn’t plan it that way, and I doubt if she ever knew about it. But her piano students, of which I was fortunate to be a member throughout most of my elementary school days, led the way in describing to the rest of the Auburn kids the wonders of human anatomy around the world. Not very advanced information, granted, but the kind of information kids around 8 or 9 years old are occasionally curious about when they are not doing anything more interesting. Such things as the fact that in Borneo women not only don’t wear blouses, they don’t even wear underwear! Exciting things like that.
And how did we know?
Because in the waiting room of Luzetta’s piano studio were the well-worn copies of at least 10 years of National Geographic, and it was easy to locate the revealing sections in these magazines, as these were the very well-worn issues, often with page corners conveniently folded back for easy re-location before next week’s piano lesson.
Luzetta would often say to her waiting students such things as “Myrna! You’re here so early! Well, make yourself at home. There are magazines here for you to read while you’re waiting.” And Myrna did, and Myrna was the one to turn to when one was in need of some information on bizarre sexual customs around the world, whether women in the Congo wore bras or not, and other such vital statistics.
It took me about two years of piano lessons to figure out why the kids that arrived early for their lessons knew so much about dress (or lack of it) and customs in foreign lands. When I finally caught on, the dog-eared issue I turned to had a section missing – about 5 or 6 pages had been torn out, and on the remaining page of the missing article was a photo of an African lady who apparently was completely naked before someone had used a red crayon to provide her with a lovely American-style dress covering her nakedness, complete with matching handbag. I always wondered if it was Myrna, who was two years older, protecting young eyes from such worldly wisdom, and/or saving all the good stuff for the girls, or both. But it didn’t seem quite like her. One of these days, when I work up the courage, I’m going to ask her. I’d better hurry. Myrna is 63 now.
Our freshman year at Placer High School we had to take a class called “Freshman Problems”, which was of course a euphemism for sex education. It was taught dutifully by an old maid named Hazel Germantine, and of course the joke that continually made the rounds of freshmen was “How would she know?” which, in retrospect, I think, was a fair question. But we didn’t mean it as a fair question, but as a joke. She was 53 at the time, but to 14 year olds she might as well have been 153, and the class was approximately that exciting. It was all theory, all hypothetical, all basically boring, except for the times when it got so embarrassing we just had to laugh out loud.
But fortunately for us, although certainly not for her, Donna Jo Bofillati got pregnant about mid-way through our freshman year, and had to drop out of school. That drove us back to our texts to see how it all worked. It was no longer theory, but Donna Jo and Herbie Unser, and that took on a fleshly meaning, and we learned like we had never learn before. It wasn’t so great for them, however, and the forced marriage didn’t last past the first year, but for us it was exciting – a chance to bring our school work to life, to resurrect it from dry pages and lectures to a real life, flesh and blood situation acted out by two of our classmates.

Duane Shinn is the author of over 500 music courses for adults including "How To Make Cool Sounds On Nay Keyboard Without Knowng a Thing About Music!"
http://www.pianoforbeginners.com/CoolSoundsLetter.htm
He is also the author of the popular free 101-week online e-mail newsletter titled “Amazing Secrets Of Exciting Piano Chords & Sizzling Chord Progressions” at www.playpiano.com with over 84,400 current subscribers
Back to Piano Lessons at PlayPiano.com

Hymn Stories Galore

Hymn Stories Galore

Just click on any link below to be taken to the hymn story

A Safe Stronghold Is Our God
Hear & Answer Prayer
Harken to the Solemn Voice
Hear & Live
Hear Lord The Voice of My Complaint
Hymn Stories - Abide With Me
Almost Persuaded
Hymn Stories - All Hail The Power Of Jesus’ Name
Hymn Stories - Almost Persuaded
America The Beautiful song story
Am I a Soldier of the Cross? -- hymn story
At Calvary -- hymn story
Hymn Stories - Behold The Savior Of Mankind
Hymn Stories - Be Still, My Soul
Hymn Stories - Be Thou My Vision
Hymn Stories - Blessed Assurance
Hymn Stories "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God"
Hymn Stories on “Child Of The King”
Hymn Stories - “Alas! And Did My Savior Bleed.”
“All The Way My Savior Leads Me” hymn story
Hymn Stories of Amazing Grace
Hymn Stories - Battle Hymn of the Republic
Behold the Savior of Mankind
Hymn Stories - “Christ Arose!”
Hymn Stories -- All Creatures Of Our God And King
I Am Coming To The Cross
I Am His & He Is Mine
I Am Jesus Little Lamb
I Am Not Skilled To Understand
I Am Not Worthy, Holy Lord
I Am Praying For You
I Am Resolved
I Am So Glad Each Christmas Eve
I Am Thine O Lord
I Am Trusting Thee Lord Jesus
I Asked The Lord That I Might Grow
I Belong To The King
I Bless The Christ of God
I Bow My Forehead To The Dust
I Call The World's Redeemer Mine
I Have Found a Friend in Jesus
It Came Upon a Midnight Clear
Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring
Jesus, Lord of Life & Glory
Jesu, Name Above All Names
Jesus Our Hope
Jesu, Our Lenten Fast of Thee
Jesus, Balm of Healing
Jesus, High & Glorious
Jesus Is Coming
Jesus Is Passing This Way
Jesus I Will Trust Thee
Jesus Loves Me
Jesus Loves The Little Children
Jesus Makes My Heart Sing
Jesus My Sure Defense
Jesus Our Blessed Savior
Jesus Paid It All
Keep on Watching
King of Glory
Kum Bah Ya
Safely Home
Safe In The Arms Of Jesus
Safely Through Another Week
Sailing Into Port
Sail On
Savior Like a Shepherd Lead Us
Savior More Than Life To Me
Take My Life & Let It Be
Take The Name Of Jesus With You
Take Time To Be Holy
Tell It Out
Tell It Out With Gladness
Tell It to Jesus
Tell Me The Old, Old Story
Tell Me The Story of Jesus
Tell Mother I'll Be There
There Is Healing At The Fountain
There Shall Be Showers Of Blessings
Back to Praise & Gospel

How Summer Camp & Prayer Turned Me Into a Halfway Decent Piano Player

How Summer Camp & Prayer Turned Me Into a Halfway Decent

Piano Player

- Or -

“Scout Shinn, Where Are Your Pants?”

When I was 8 years old, I was one of the worst piano students known to mortal piano teachers. I stared out the window, dreamed about baseball, and drove poor Mrs. Graham, my 70-year-old piano teacher with whom I had a lesson every Saturday morning, to distraction. I even wore my fielder’s glove to a lesson one day.
It wasn’t that I didn’t like music – I did – but all those old guys like Bach and Brahms and Beethoven just didn’t match up with stars such as Joltin’ Joe, Scooter Rizzuto, Stan the Man, Ted Williams, and guys like that. I lived and breathed baseball, and my daily piano practice was a rude interruption into the world of home runs, stolen bases, and off-the-wall leaping catches.
My folks were patient with me – more patient by far than I deserved – and yet they insisted that I put in my required half-hour per day of piano practice. My older brother, Garland, even typed up an “I promise to practice” document and made me sign it. (It resides to this day on the wall of my music studio.) My seat put in its required half-hour on the piano stool, but my mind spent more like five minutes on scales, chords, and thrilling pieces such as “Left Thumb, Right Thumb”, “Swans On The Lake”, and the ever popular “Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum”. The musical situation, in short, looked bleak, and at 8 years of age I seemed destined to spend my life in the pursuit of baseball dreams.
But life is stranger than fiction, or so I once heard some wise-looking adults observe, and the summer between my 4th and 5th grade years brought a turn of events which was to change the direction of my life.
My best friend, Willie McTavish, who had come to our school during our 4th grade year directly from Scotland, decided to join the Boy Scouts, and I thought that sounded like a great idea too. We heard that after the meetings were over, baseball games were held with all Scouts participating. I asked my folks if I could join – well, actually, I begged my folks – and they said I could join as long as I kept up my homework and my piano practice.
I promised that I would.
I basically lied.
And so Willie & I joined Boy Scouts the summer of 1946. Our den mother, Mrs. Goldsberry, had a wonderfully big basement we met in after school once a week on Thursdays, with all kinds of nooks & surprising crannies to explore and hide in. Willie discovered a short, narrow door behind the furnace, which led from the basement to the alley behind the Goldsberry’s house. In those days some people used sawdust as fuel for their furnaces, and the door was where the sawdust would accumulate when the sawdust truck dumped a load into the slide bin right off the alley that ran behind their home on College Way. Willie thought it would be fun to try to climb up the shoot, since it was summer and no prospect of a sawdust delivery was in sight. He talked me into joining him in the climb, which proved to be a poor decision.
We negotiated the turns in the shoot, and happily didn’t encounter any sawdust. What we did encounter, however, were wasps, or yellow jackets, which were spending a blissful summer vacationing in the sawdust shoot until two Boy Scouts rudely interrupted them. Willie had generously allowed me to go first up the shoot, ostensibly so he could ride shotgun for the den mother and other threats to our little adventure. In the darkness of the shoot I could not see the wasps, but I heard them as once or more passed my face, and I yelled “Willie – watch out! There’s something in here!” The warning came too late. Willie felt the message in his left hip before he heard mine. As he screamed, he also let go of the sides of the shoot, and slipped in full-voiced terror back down the shoot, rolling into and through the little door behind the furnace, landing in a heap at the feet of Den Mother Goldsberry.
Meanwhile, I had motivation of my own, and I scampered up the rest of the shoot to the opening in the alley faster than a speeding bullet, setting a new record for short climbing, then sprinted around the corner, arms flailing, through the yard, and back around to the font door of the basement with a wasp’s patrol in hot pursuit. Once through the door and in the safety of the entryway, I stopped to regain both my breath and my composure before re-mingling with the rest of the Cub Scouts, most of whom were busily engaged in various craft projects, from Moccasin making to clay forming to knot tying. There was a commotion, however, in the corner of the basement, close to the furnace. Seems as though Mrs. Goldsberry had caught a Cub Scout trying to escape through the fuel shoot, and was instructing him earnestly in the morality of the Boy Scout code.
Being a Boy Scout myself, I could not tell a lie.
So I didn’t. I didn’t say anything at all. Cub Scout McTavish tried to tell Den Mother Goldsberry that he had an accomplice, but she was much too busy scolding him, so he finally resigned trying and just gave me a sideways glance, and not a kind one at that.
By August, however, Willie and I had made up, and plans were being made for the great scouting event of the year – Camp Ugwam. Both of us were as excited as 9 year old boys could be about the prospect of going away to camp for a solid week, something neither one of us had ever had ever done.
Camp Ugwam was the official Boy Scout camp of the region, high in the Sierra Nevada Mountains at nearly 6000 feet elevation, complete with its own mountain lake, appropriately named Lake Ugwam. True to the Boy Scout code, we did our best to be prepared, and packed all our essentials in our suitcases at least two weeks in advance – flashlight, collapsible drinking cup, rope for typing knots, Scout Manual, 3 or 4 dozen Donald Duck and Bugs Bunny comic books, fielders glove, decoder ring (for sending secret messages – we each got one by writing in to Captain Midnight and enclosing a cereal box top), the Official Major League Baseball Guide, 1947 edition (so we could memorize batting averages and ERA’s while we were away from the radio), and since Willie had a larger suitcase than I, he even took his bat.
As prepared as we were, when the day arrived at last for us to pile into the Scoutmaster’s mini-bus for the trip, (which was a pre-World War II school bus that had been used during the war to transport troops in and out of Camp Flint in Auburn where several hundred soldiers were stationed), our Mothers pointed out to us that we might need a change of clothes. Luckily, they had each packed another suitcase for us with all the stuff Mothers pack – pants, shirts, sox, umpteen pairs of underwear, extra sweaters – that sort of thing. It was reassuring to have along, but since I already had my Scout uniform on, I don’t believe I opened that particular suitcase until the last day of camp, when I suddenly remembered what Mom had said about changing clothes daily. I think Willie opened his earlier, since his Mom had mentioned something about putting in some extra spending money if he needed it, and I believe he did need it the evening of the first day.
The bus was packed, and us younger Scouts who had boarded the bus first soon relinquished our choice seats at the back of the bus to the older Scouts, presumably out of respect for rank, but actually out of fear of being beat up. So Willie and I and a couple of other Cub Scouts spent the trip sitting in the isle on the floor of the bus, so the only scenery we saw as we traveled beautiful Highway 80 up toward Donner Summit was the lower limbs of older Scouts.
I guess the curves in the winding forest road were too much for me, because I threw up somewhere between Red Dog and You Bet (now abandoned ghost towns left over from the gold rush of 1849), much to the disgust of the older Scouts.
“Geez, Shinn, thanks a lot! We get to smell puke from here to camp!”
“Oh yuk, Shinn barfed. Stop the bus!”
“Good grief, Shinn, we’re not even to camp yet, and you throw up like a baby!”
After the bus was more or less cleaned up and I felt somewhat better, we re-loaded for the final leg of the journey to Camp Ugwam. At that altitude even in August, the air was a little cool, so our Scoutmaster-driver had everyone shut the windows and he turned on the heat. I think I would have been OK if it wasn’t for that heat. It did something to the remaining scent of throw-up that was downright sickening, and as hard as I tried to hold it back, I threw up again.
There were groans around the bus when they heard me heave, but the reaction was much quieter than the first time, since the warm odor of left-over puke had gotten to most everyone else, too, and as I brought my head up off the floor I caught a quick glimpse of one of the older Scouts trying to roll his window down in time, but he didn’t make it. Scouts were slouched all over the van, pea-green faces, eyes closed, some making faces, some holding heir noses, some joining me on the floor.
We drug ourselves out of the bus again at Soda Springs, and lay on the ground under some big pines while the Scoutmaster hosed out the van at a Flying A service station across the road. He was in a fairly poor mood when he returned, and warned us not to get back in the van until we felt perfect. We were already an hour or so behind schedule, and one Scout said he had heard that if you were late on your first day, you had to wash dishes all week while the other Scouts were playing.
I wanted to go home.
But within the hour we were on our way again, this time with all the windows down, sitting on wet seats in a freshly hosed-out bus. Shivering almost felt good, now that the warm smell was gone, and we knew we had only a few minutes until we arrived at Camp Ugwam.
It was an exciting moment as we pulled into the legendary camp. There was a large sign welcoming us to “Mysterious Camp Ugwam.” I wondered about the “mysterious” part, and worried a little. As the bus snaked its way through a complex of teepees and rustic buildings and evergreens we saw another sign over the entrance to a rustic building which read “Ugwam Lodge”, and another that pointed toward “Ugwam Memorial Field” and still another with an arrow on it pointing to “Lake Ugwam.” Still another sign read “Ugwam Trail” and another read “Ugwam Midnight Survival Test”, which scared the merit badges out of me.
The bus came to a stop in front of the Ugwam Registration Teepee, so we all piled out and signed in, check our spending money with the pleasant-faced fat lady in charge of the canteen.
There were at least a hundred tents scattered through the pines within a radius of a quarter mile from Ugwam Lodge, and each tent held four campers. Willie and I were assigned to Teepee 34 along with two other Scouts from a different town, so as we moved in and got settled, we began to get acquainted. We learned that one of the boys was 12 years old and fresh out of reform school – he was sent there for beating up other Boy Scouts, he said – and the other boy was a chubby little 9-year old (Willie and I were both 9 too) who had a bed-wetting problem, and was as scared of his “friend” as we were, so it didn’t take long to determine who the boss of the teepee would be.
It wasn’t me, it wasn’t Willie, & it certainly wasn’t the bed wetter. I knew I was in for a long week.
Rock – the teepee boss from reform school – announced that he would rather sleep on the bed assigned to me, since it was nearest to the door of the tent and he would be getting in later than the rest of us. That certainly sounded reasonable to me, and since Rock had already moved his stuff onto my bed, I readily agreed. Rock seemed to be pleasant enough as long as things went his way, so we all dedicated ourselves to making sure things went his way. It wasn’t as though we were exactly afraid of him, but he was older, at least a head taller, and his upper arms reminded me of Tarzan. But I was sure he was a nice guy at heart, and if it took a king-clave arrangement to make the friendship work, so be it. Camp doesn’t last forever.
Or so I thought.
As it turned out, the rumor about washing dishes all week as punishment for being late was not true, and soon we found ourselves in Ugwam Mess Hall, which was certainly an appropriate name. The camaraderie of a dining room full of enthusiastic Scouts, the coziness of the Lodge with it’s huge rock fireplace crackling cheerily, and the comfort that came from eating our first (and best) meal of the week quickly erased our memories of the bus trip and our apprehension about the rest of the week.
Boy, were we ever wrong.
The insistent bleating of a bugle burst rudely into our little 4-Scout tent at 6:30 sharp, abruptly ending our first cozy night’s slumber. Little did we know that this was to be the only uneventful night of the week. Rock, our ex-con tent leader, snorted and mumbled that he was going to sleep in. We let him be and headed for breakfast. We knew, from stern announcements the evening before, that during breakfast each tent would be checked for neatness, cleanliness, and of course, beds made up in the prescribed Scout manner. We giggled about how Rock was about to get it.
We underestimated Rock.
After breakfast we all lined up for personal inspection of our uniforms, hair, teeth, and other Scout parts. Much to our surprise, Rock was there, looking spiffy in his brand-new Scout outfit. The Scoutmaster team in charge of inspecting tents announced that all tents were approved, except Teepee #34, and would Scout Shinn please come forward.
“Scout Shinn, why wasn’t your bed made?” the stern-looking Scoutmaster inquired.
“It was – hones it was! I made it before breakfast – honest!” I pleaded in wide-eyed innocence.
“Then why does it look like you just got out of it? No effort at all was made to straighten it out.”
“But I did! Maybe it was……….” I suddenly remembered Rock sleeping in, and started to explain. But Rock was in the line of Scouts right behind me, and then too, I remembered him switching beds with me the night before. My stomach sank.
“Scout Shinn, are you a Boy Scout?” questioned the gruff Scoutmaster. Sounded like a stupid question to be asking a Scout, but I thought I had better answer it.
“Yes, sir.”
“Well, Scout Shinn, have you ever heard that Scouts are neat, orderly, and follow directions?”
“Yes sir, sir!”
“And did you follow our directions to make up your bed and keep your tent orderly?”
“Well, I………..”
“One demerit. Report to Scoutmaster Seaverson in the kitchen immediately. And see that it doesn’t happen again. Who else is in Teepee #34?”
Rock raised his hand righteously.
“Scout Riggotoni, would you be responsible for Test #34, and make sure that Scout Shinn does his duty?”
“Yes sir!” beamed Rock.
My stomach dropped a notch further. Now he was not only the ad hoc boss, he was the authorized boss.
The thing I remember most about washing dishes that first morning was the hot water. It was HOT, and I was miserable. I was missing the first morning of activities, and I knew that tomorrow morning I would be a day behind everyone else.
At lunchtime Scout Riggotoni put his arm around me and said “It’s OK, Shinn. It’s your first year at camp. We all have to learn.” That was sweet of him, I thought, and the head Scoutmaster apparently thought so too, as later I saw him pat Rock on the back in an apparent gesture of praise for helping a young, wayward Scout such as I.
The bathroom at Camp Ugwam – at least the only one we were allowed to use – was a long outhouse with perhaps 20 holes in a long bench, with no dividers between each “station”. I took one long stare in the doorway, saw some older boys gathered in a group at the other end looking at something and laughing loudly, and I decided I could wait until I got home.
It was a long week.
After lunch we had marching drills, and we marched left and we marched right and we marched through the trees and most everywhere. This was probably the easiest part of camp for me, since I had joined the school’s beginner band the year before as a trombone player, and already knew my left foot from my right, and what “about face” meant. Some of the other Scouts apparently didn’t however, as there were several head-on collisions before the drill was over.
After drill we were excused for the afternoon to pursue whatever recreation we desired. I desired to go home, and wondered how far it was over the hill and back down to Soda Springs. I figured I could use the phone there, and had visions of my Dad & Mom and big brother picking me up and calling me “Duane” instead of Scout Shinn. But the first evening’s warnings about the bears in the mountains outside the camp sufficiently dissuaded me from my vision.
Willie wanted to go swimming, and I thought that sounded good too. We pulled on our trunks, headed for the lake that was situated directly behind the lodge, and took a headlong leap of faith into the chilling waters of Lake Ugwam. As I hit the water I recalled that I sometimes got leg cramps at night in bed, and sure enough, in the rarified atmosphere of 6000 feet and the ice water of Lake Ugwam, my hamstrings in both legs cramped up like the Scout-approved knot I always wished I could tie. If you’ve ever had the glorious experience of having both hamstrings cramp at once, you will appreciate the fact that I was very fortunate indeed to make it to shore at all, even thought it was just a few feet away. That ended my swimming for the week, and the next five afternoons were spent trying to get some sleep, since the cramps, having been started by the 33 degree water, persisted each night thereafter, probably because of the elevation working on the freshly cramped muscles.
In any case, I knew I was not cut out to be a Scout, and daydreamed a great deal about low-elevation baseball fields, beds with firm mattresses, and bathrooms with doors on them. Willie, meanwhile, kept busy exchanging baseball data with every fan he could unearth, which included the head cook, a widow whose husband had once played 3rd base for the Portland Beavers of the old Pacific Coast League. That got Willie not only some fascinating baseball stores of the old days, but also a tasty preview of the desserts being prepared for the evening meals, since the widow lady was thrilled that someone was interested enough to listen to her baseball stories about her husband’s career. Willie’s curiosity was only exceeded by his energy level, and many a night when I was painfully trying to get my legs straightened out, I would hear this “whack – crack – swoosh – whack” sound outside Teepee #34. It was a moonlighted week on nights, and Willie got in some extra batting practice by throwing rocks up and hitting them with his bat. Why some Scoutmaster didn’t put an end to it, I’ll never understand, but no one ever said anything about it. Maybe the other campers and counselors thought it was a bear breaking tree limbs, or the ghost of some Indian warrior haunting the battleground where he had died a hundred years ago. Perhaps it added to the mystery of camp. As my cramps gradually subsided, I fell asleep wondering.
The last night of camp was the climax of our Scout training, when all of us were required to go on the mysterious “Midnight Manhood March” through the forest. Just the sound of it gave me the shivers, and from the talk around camp, most everyone except the very oldest Scouts felt the same. The Scout leaders had done their very best all week to build up this event in our minds, and to make it as scary sounding as possible. I’m sure their motives were excellent, but in the minds of imaginative 9 year olds the images of dark trails at midnight and departed spirits of Indian warriors and bears and mountain lions and getting lost forever in the high Sierras was enough to make us yearn for the security of home and civilization. But that dreaded night was fast approaching, and the only thing that kept me going was the knowledge that if I survived the night, the dawn would bring the bus and the return trip to the comfort and warmth and familiarity of home, with all it represented – like Mom’s cooking, the absence of Scout Riggotoni, and a bathroom with a door.
After dinner Friday evening we were instructed to retire to our tents, lie motionless on our beds, and prepare mentally & spiritually for the great test of endurance and bravery and resourcefulness that lay immediately ahead. None of us had the slightest idea that that meant – to prepare mentally & spiritually – so we lay on our beds and scared ourselves silly with thoughts of the worst that might shortly come to pass. I remember praying “Dear God, I know I haven’t been too good in the past, but if you will get me through this night, I promise to practice my piano lesson 30 minutes every day. Please, God?”
The dreaded event started with a campfire at 10PM. It began innocently enough, with singing and skits and a marshmallow roast. Then came story time, when each Scoutmaster outdid the other at relating stories of Indian lore, Scouts lost forever in the woods, and ghosts of Indian warriors who even at this very moment stalk the hills above Camp Ugwam, searching for a Scout who doesn’t follow orders and wanders off the appointed trail. Eyeballs grew noticeably larger, and the circle of Scouts moved imperceptibly closer in toward the campfire, and away from the darkness behind.
The last Scoutmaster was the best storyteller of all (they had apparently saved the best for the last), and he told an absolutely terrifying tale of the Indian warrior ghost who had ALREADY possessed the body of one of us Scouts around the fire. Without moving our heads in the slightest, we eyed each other suspiciously for any tell-tail sign that the fearsome Indian warrior might inhabit the body of the Scout next to us. As the story went on with tales of raids and scalping, I thought of my Dad, who was stone bald, and wondered briefly if what I had always been told was true – that he had a high fever as a teenager and lost his hair then – or whether possibly he had attended a Scout camp when he was nine in Missouri, and the 200 year old warrior Spirit had found him wandering slightly from the trail, and separated him from his hair.
I slowly raised my left hand to feel if my hair was still intact, and was please to find that it was still there – standing on end in stark terror.
As the storyteller was working the story to a climax in a barely-audible whisper, and every Scout eye and every Scout ear was glued on him in terrified attention, the shrill voice of the head Scoutmaster broke into the silence with “Quick, Scouts! Follow me! The final test of your courage has begun. We must begin our Midnight Survival Test and move along the Ugwam Trail quickly, as we have just received word that the dreaded Warrior Spirit is on the war path, and is close behind us!”
Approximately 76 million Scout goose bumps instantly formed a tight line behind the Scoutmaster, with the end of the line battling for a spot further up in the line. The survival of the fittest was no doubt at work, and the smallest nine year olds soon found themselves at the end of the line, with the smallest of the small at the very end.
Me.
I repeated my prayer rapidly, desperately, this time raising the ante. “Make that an hour, Lord. I really will practice my piano lesson a solid hour every day if you just get me through this.” The darkness behind me was absolutely terrifying, and once I had gotten up the courage to look back, and saw the blackness behind that held every fear I had ever known, I vowed to never look back again, and kept my vow. I even raised my practice-time prayer-promise bargaining chip to an hour and a half, and threw in the offer to stop picking my nose as a sweetener.
The trail wound through the pines and firs, around huge boulders, under fallen logs, past the lake which we could barely make out in the light of the quarter-moon, and who knows where. The only lights were our little beams of Scout-issue flashlights each Scout carried. The outlines of the trees and branches and boulders and crags in the darkness conjured up images of all the stories we had just heard, and dug up a few more out of the recesses of our memories. My imagination added to the terror, as I visualized the movie I had seen the week before – Frankenstein Meets Dracula. No headless horseman could have added to my fear. It was already total.
From out of the darkness behind me came a silent hand which wrapped itself around my mouth, keeping my screams of terror private, and the next thing I knew I was on the ground with my mouth covered and three dark figures holding me down. Surprisingly, my fear subsided a bit, as I suppose it does when one moves from danger on to death. I supposed the figures huddled over me to be the Spirits of Indian Warriors about to take my scalp, but instead they took my pants. The largest of the three threatened me not to tell the Scoutmaster, or I was a dead Scout. Since I thought I was a dead Scout anyway, that really was a welcome announcement of a second chance at life. Perhaps I would survive after all. Perhaps my prayers ad been heard. Practicing the piano sounded utterly fantastic by contrast to my present state.
The three nightriders disappeared back into the darkness from whence they had come, and I sprinted back to the end of the line, which fortunately I could still see in the distance because of the flashlights each Scoot carried. I was so glad to be back that even though I was still at the end of the line and pantless, I actually kind of enjoyed the rest of the trek – like a person back from the dead might enjoy seeing the top half of the cemetery – which was relatively eventless compared to my recent descent into Hell and back.
As we marched back into camp, we lined up in front of the lodge for inspection under the glow of the outdoor lamps, which stood on either side of the lodge door. We stood at attention – 299 Scouts in full dress, and one standing in his underwear.
“Scout Shinn, step forward.”
“Yes sir.”
“Scout Shinn, where in the world are your pants?”
“I don’t know, sir.”
“You don’t know where your pants are?”
“No sir.”
Snickers roll through the line of Scouts at attention.
“Why don’t you know where your pants are?”
“Well, sir, I had them on when I started the Midnight Manhood March.”
“More giggles from behind me.”
“You had them on when you started the Midnight Manhood March, but you don’t have them on now. Did you donate them to a cold bear, perhaps?”
Gales of laughter from behind me.
“No sir.”
“Then perhaps they were taken by the Spirit of the dead Indian warrior?”
“Yes sir, I suppose so.”
Scouts now on the ground, holding their sides. Full grown Scoutmasters doubled over in hysterics.
Apparently the Head Scoutmaster thought that might be a good place to leave the issue, perhaps to instill fear into next years’ campers by a rumor that the Spirit of the dead Indian warrior not only scalps selected Scouts, but now also is into de-panting Scouts who wander from the trail. In any case, when he had regained his own composure and the volume of laughter had died down a bit, he dismissed the group, instructing them to go straight to their Teepees. I was extremely grateful for that, and I was the very first to go.
I was frozen by then, of course, having been without pants for the past half-hour or so, so when I got into our tent I immediately opened the suitcase Mom had so thoughtfully packed for me, put on two pair of pants, three shirts, a sweater, and a coat. Over what was left of my Scout uniform.
I crept into bed that way, and fell asleep praying “Lord, if you will somehow get me on the bus tomorrow morning without anyone seeing me, I promise to practice an hour and forty-five minutes a day. I really mean it, God, and if you could somehow make me invisible on the bus so the kids won’t laugh at me, I will practice two hours a day, and even on weekends. And if………………………………………”



Update: You will be relieved to know that Scout Shinn indeed did survive, and lived to keep his promise, more or less. He now teaches piano at www.PlayPiano.com

in Medford, Oregon. Willie McTavish works for the San Francisco Giants in the PR department. Scout Riggotoni is a respected trustee and block leader at Folsom State Prison in Folsom, California.

22-Year Old Teachs Worship Music By Ear

22-yr Old Reverend Teaches Millions to Play Worship Music by Ear in Minutes!

http://www.playpiano.com/22yr-old-reverend-teaches-milli.htm

I'm so excited to be writing you about a new resource that will help you learn classic worship music by ear.
As you'll soon see below, this is perfect for someone who wants to play for their church worship service, choir, music group, or simply in the comfort of their own home.
My good friend Jermaine Griggs over at HearandPlay.com just contacted me about his new *REVISED* worship course, GospelKeys 202 Special Edition - "Mastering Worship Chords," that tens of thousands have already
reserved!
Not only is it almost five hours, but it is packed with tons of worship chords, progressions, songs (like "Anointing," "As the Deer," "Thank You Lord," and more), and tons of concepts like "coupling," his "3-4" principle on how to predict what chords come next in worship songs, and special sections dedicated to ear-training and chord recognition. That's actually only the beginning of it.
He covers a systematic way to play worship songs. In other words, he takes you through a song learning process that will enable you not only to learn the songs he shows you step by step, but to master literally tons of worship songs (because most worship songs follow the same basic patterns as you'll see)!
So if you're a church musician and want to play classic worship music --- or, if you're an accomplished musician and just want to learn more chords and concepts, I highly recommend that you check out his course.
The course has just recently been released, so if you like what you've seen so far (and what you read below), I encourage you to take action right away and reap the benefits of their bonus offerings.
Take a look at http://www.playpiano.com/22yr-old-reverend-teaches-milli.htm

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]
I Know a Man Who Can Take You To NarniaI know a man who can take you to Narnia. Well, not really Narnia, but to the very spot in England where Narnia was born in the mind of C.S. Lewis, author of "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" and the entire Chronicles of Narnia series, recently featured in the Disney hit movie. [February 04, 2006 06:10:23 pm]
I Like It, But Is It Music?Are you frustrated when you try to explain your taste in music? Fortunately, one of the benefits of learning a musical instrument is a better understanding of your own musical taste. Learn to play an instrument, and soon you will be able to discuss what works or doesn't work for you, in music. [January 14, 2006 08:00:59 pm]
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]
Learn a Musical Instrument, Prepare for a CareerFrom education to video games, there are careers available for those who happen to have a background in music which the rest of us never see. Each of these fields requires time and study for proficiency, but they represent a career path that is nonexistent for non-musicians. [January 14, 2006 08:15:26 pm]
"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]
10 Top Reasons You Should Learn to Play 'Chord' PianoThere 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. [October 13, 2005 01:23:35 pm]
Families That Hit Pine Cones Together Stay TogetherIt is said that families that pray together stay together. I think it's almost equally true that families that play together stay together. If play time is the glue of family life, our family is a sticky crew! [October 13, 2005 01:26:25 pm]
How To Dress Up "Naked Music" On The PianoWhat in the world is "naked music?" You know it when you hear it, but the words that describe it sound strange, don't they? We've all heard of popular music and rock music and gospel music and jazz music, but naked music? [October 13, 2005 01:26:44 pm]
Piano Playing For Adults: More Fun Than Sex And Not Nearly As Dangerous!The benefits of adults learning to play the piano are many and varied, but most of all, it's just plain fun. [September 28, 2005 07:19:44 am]
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]
3 Secrets To Understanding What Makes Music TickIt's no secret that virtually everyone loves music in some form or other. The country-western fan may not like jazz, but he or she sure loves the sound of pickin' & grinnin'. And that's as it should be. If we all liked the same kind of music, there just wouldn't be the variety that is available to us now. We can choose from musical styles ranging from heavy classical and opera to rock to children's songs to Broadway musicals to gospel music to the blues. [August 10, 2005 08:52:22 pm]
Is Your Child Capable of Composing Music? Maybe the Next Mozart?History reports that Mozart was writing minuets by the time he was five years old. Amazing. At five years of age, I'm not sure that I knew the difference between my finger and my thumb and I certainly wasn't composing music. [August 03, 2005 05:25:54 pm]
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]
Five Great Practice Ideas I Learned From My Piano Students!Sometimes the teacher learns more from the student than the student does from the teacher. Hopefully, not too often, but today I would like to share with you some great practicing ideas that have come from my piano students over the years. [July 28, 2005 05:48:54 am]
If Seals Can Sing, Why Can't You?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. [July 27, 2005 02:24:40 pm]
How To Make a Fortune Teaching Piano (or Guitar, or Drums, or Singing, or...) To BeginnersOpportunities for teaching music are huge. Every year millions more kids get to the age where their parents start thinking about getting music lessons for them, so your prospect list is constantly getting bigger every day. There are plenty of beginners to go around, so competition is really not an issue at all for a person who loves both people and music. [July 26, 2005 10:51:56 pm]
How Many Guitar Chords Do I Need To Know?Most simple songs contain just 3 chords - called "primary chords". So even a stark beginner can learn 3 simple chords well enough to strum along and accompany himself as he sings. But after that, the sky is the limit - there are thousands of possible chords, so it is up to the individual guitarist as to how many he or she wants to master. [July 09, 2005 04:28:01 pm]
Mp3's - The Future of Music?Mp3 music is audio that has been digitally encoded and compressed to make the amount of data smaller without compromising the overall sound quality. Because of it's portability, it promises to be the future of music. [July 09, 2005 10:30:31 am]
How to Become a World Class Expert in Just 20 Minutes a DayIs it really possible to become an expert in some field in 20 minutes a day? It's not only possible, but it's probable if you pick a small area of knowledge that you are excited about. [July 08, 2005 06:06:31 pm]
Improvising On The Piano: Jazz Musicians Do It -- Why Not Other Styles?Jazz pianists improvise all the time. So why not classical pianists, gospel pianists, and piano players of many other styles? [July 07, 2005 09:53:55 am]
Jazz: What In The Heck Is It?All of us know what jazz is when we hear it, but trying to define it is a different matter. With so many variant styles, coming up with an accurate definition of jazz is difficult if not impossible. [July 07, 2005 02:24:11 pm]
What All Do I Have to Know to be a Really Good Piano Player?Many students ask me a question that goes something like this: "What all do I have to know to be a really good piano player?" The answer is multi-facited and depends largely on the motivation and talent of the individual. [July 07, 2005 09:31:16 pm]
Learn To Play The Piano Better By Learning To Arrange Chords & Chord ProgressionsPiano arranging is the process by which you take a written piece of music and rework it with chords, adding new bass accompaniment, fills, or even slightly altering the song's structure. And while it's a process that takes years to truly master, anyone with a basic education in piano and a working knowledge of a few key techniques can create an inventive, satisfying arrangement. It all boils down to one thing: chord recognition. [July 02, 2005 07:25:30 pm]
Oh My Aching Head! Can Music Really Make You Feel Better?We all know, if only instinctively, that music has a profound effect on us. If we didn't believe that music affects us then singing lullabies to calm children and help them sleep wouldn't be universal. In reality melody, harmony, and rhythm probably impacts the human brain in ways that are far more profound than we realize. [July 02, 2005 07:21:23 pm]
Is Your Child Struggling in School? Get Him (Or Her) Music LessonsPlaying music has been discovered to have a direct and almost immediate effect on the brain of the student. Music lessons have been shown in a German study to have a significant impact on the way the brain functions after as little as five weeks. [July 02, 2005 07:24:24 pm]
Playing The Piano Using Chord Symbols Instead of Being Tied To The Written Sheet MusicPiano improvising and arranging is an art but definitely not a science. It is all based on chords and chord progressions. There aren't any steadfast rules for creating an arrangement, nothing to dictate the limitless potential of your imagination. Musicians learn to arrange by simply arranging - and improvise by improvising -- over and over again. It's a big game of trial and error. But it's also a scientific method: you keep the experiments that work, and abandon those that don't work. [July 02, 2005 07:25:53 pm]
Piano Playing Your Way: How To Have More Fun Playing The Piano Than You Ever Have BeforePiano playing doesn't have to be boring. There's no law that says you have to play a song the same way everyone else plays it. By learning some basic music theory and chord formations, you can have the time of your life playing music like you've always wanted to. [July 02, 2005 07:26:20 pm]
So You Want to be President? Learn to Play a Musical Instrument!From Bill Clinton and his sax to Richard Nixon and his piano, many Presidents and leaders have played a musical instrument. Does Condi Rice have an edge in future presidential elections because she is also a concert pianist? [June 30, 2005 12:44:09 pm]
Church Service Family Style: How a 3 Year Old Preacher & a Beagle Made Our Sunday UnforgettableFamily life can be full of both funny and profound moments, sometimes at the same time. Teaching opportunities come to parents at the most unexpected moments, and wise is the Mom or Dad who can use those moments to build meaningful memories into the lives of their kids. [June 29, 2005 12:27:20 pm]
Music Downloads: Free & Low Cost Ways For Musicians To Get Their Music Known All Over The WorldFor the musician, music downloads are an absolute breakthrough technology, allowing, for the first time in history, for a musician to develop a following without ever leaving his or her house! Marketing possibilities are unlimited for the musicians who avail themselves of this wonderful new technology. [June 23, 2005 03:47:08 pm]
Piano Playing is Easier than You Think When You Understand Musical FormUnderstanding musical form in music is one of the proven shortcuts to better piano playing (or better guitar playing, or any instrument). Form is like the blueprint to a house -- it holds the key that unlocks the musical map of a song or a musical compostition. [June 22, 2005 11:18:29 am]
How To Get An Avalanche Of Free Publicity For Your Home Business!There are many ways you can get tons of free publicity in the form of write-ups in magazines, newspapers, and even radio and TV. And sometimes you can turn family events into human-interest stories that editors like and will publish in their magazine and newspapers... [June 21, 2005 12:00:09 am]
Killer Piano Playing Secrets of a Chord Addict!When a lightbulb comes on in the mind of an individual who is seeking knowledge in some area, it's amazing how much progress can be made in a short time. For piano players and other musicians, that moment of insight that changes lives often has to do with understanding chords and how they progress to create music. [June 13, 2005 09:20:32 pm]
They Laughed When I Sat Down at the Piano... but When I Started to Play...Is there a "backdoor to piano playing?" Chords are a way in to the world of piano playing without having to go through the front door: years and years of scales, drills, rote practicing, etc. Chords are really a shortcut to understanding and playing music without all the formal training. [June 11, 2005 10:10:03 am]
Musicians: What Chords Do You Absolutely, Positively Have To Know?There are thousands and thousands of different chords in music - everything from basic major chords to minor 7ths to 13ths to suspensions to poly-chords. Someday, you might want to learn all those chords if you don't already know them. But meanwhile, there are 3 chords -- just 3 -- that you absolutely, positively have to know. If you don't know these three, there's hardly a song in the whole world that you could play. But by knowing just 3 chords, you can play hundreds, if not thousands of songs! [June 09, 2005 09:18:51 am]
Music & Citizenship: Can Playing a Musical Instrument Help Your Child Become a Better Citizen?Disregard the popular image of rappers with their ghetto blasters, terrorizing neighborhoods with eardrum-splitting cacophony. Consider instead our delightful school bands and orchestras... and ponder on whether those students might be becoming our best future citizens. Unlikely as it may seem, recent scientific research suggests this hypothesis might actually be true. It appears studying music can, in fact, impact the development of the human personality, especially in the area of socialization. [June 04, 2005 08:28:51 am]
Music & Emotions: Can Music Really Make You a Happier Person?How many times have you turned to music to uplift you even further in happy times, or sought the comfort of music when melancholy strikes? We all know it works -- we just don't know why. Now science is beginning to unravel some of the mystery behind the relationship of music and our moods. [June 02, 2005 05:27:30 pm]
Win Friends & Influence People Through Music -- Is It Possible?Can learning to play a musical instrument really help you "win friends & influence people?" It almost seems like a stretch, but scientific research seems to support the idea. Rock stars aren't the only ones to be popular; there is a direct correlation between music study and the ability to relate will with others. [June 01, 2005 11:06:53 am]
Music & Intelligence: Will Listening to Music Make You Smarter?Will listening to music make you smarter? Will learning to play a musical instrument make your brain grow larger than normal? Questions like these ones have been popping up all over the place in the past few years, and not just in scientific journals either. In recent times the media has been fascinated by the research surrounding brain development and music, eagerly reporting on the latest studies to the delight of the music-loving parents of young children. [May 30, 2005 09:33:37 am]
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