When Isaac Watts wrote “Joy To The World” based on a score by George Frederick Handel’s “The Messiah” he was writing about the 2nd coming of Christ — not the first advent as we almost all assume. Notice the words – particularly of the 2nd, 3rd and 4th verses
Continue reading →You can make an old Christmas Carol (or any song, for that matter) really come to life through the use of chord substitutions. Watch this short free video as I demonstrate how you can create an entirely new “feel” to an old carol such as “Silent Night”
Continue reading →There are many songs which can be played with just a few different notes, and Jingle Bells is one of them. A piano beginner can play it easily just with the 5 fingers of their right hand — 5 notes, 5 fingers. And since there are only 4 different chords in the song, it’s easy to put hands together for a two-handed arrangement.
Continue reading →A single note played is termed a unison. Two notes played together (or close together) is termed an interval. Three or more notes in combination is called a chord. Chords can have any number of notes in them, but the most basic type of chord is termed a triad.
Continue reading →Will learning to play the piano make you more intelligent? Could the brain grow larger than normal by learning to play a musical instrument such as a keyboard or piano? Questions such as these have been arising everywhere over the past few years and not only in science journals either. The interest of the general public in these studies involving music and the development of the brain has led to the publishing of many articles, to the delight of music-lovers everywhere.
Continue reading →When is a C not a C? It’s not a riddle or a trick question. It’s
a musical principle. The answer is: a C is not a C when you’re
playing a transposing musical instrument. And it’s not the
instrument that transposes, unfortunately — some arranger or
the player himself must do that.
At first glance these may appear to have the same effect, but listen to chord dominated music while following the manuscript and you’ll learn how to identify anticipations from suspensions, and neighboring tones from appoggiaturas. The best way to learn how to identify which non-chord tone is which however is to sit at the piano and try them out yourself. As you play them, you will learn to hear the subtle tone emphasis and variations of each and so be able to identify them easier when listening to a piece of music.
Continue reading →Back in the period between roughly 1150 AD and 1400 AD there developed scales called “modes”, or “modal scales” (actually deriving from the Greeks some thousand years before.) And since music was centered in the church during that period they came to be known as “church modes.”
Continue reading →So play not just with your fingers, not just with your mind, not just using smooth phrasing and good pedal work, but play from your heart. If you learn to do that you may someday hear someone say about you – “She sure has a nice touch on the piano!”
Continue reading →Every major scale has a kissin’-cousin — a relative minor scale. It is related to the major scale of the key, but begins on the 6th note of the major scale. For example, if I were to play the C major scale but instead of playing it from C to C I played it from A to A, that would be the A minor natural scale. What makes it related? It uses the same notes — just starts and ends at a different point.
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