When I was about 14 years old I bought my first fake book. They were illegal back then, but most professional musicians had them. I paid $50. for mine — under the counter from a music store owner. $50. then was something like $500. now, so for a teenager, it was a huge purchase.
But it paid for itself many times over as I used it for years learning song after song, and allowed
Continue reading →One note played alone is termed a “unison.” Two notes played simultaneously (or adjacent to one another) are termed an “interval.” Intervals are named by the distance between them, so there can be intervals of 2nds, 3rds, 4ths, 5th, etc. Chords are three or more notes (or pitch classes; strictly speaking, notes are the written form of pitches) played together.
Continue reading →Gospel music is full of history and soul. It comes from a rich tradition of folk songs and church hymns. Gospel stays alive by remaining relevant, taking various aspects of the musical culture of the day and bringing those aspects … Continue reading →
Keith Jarrett was born in Allentown in Pennsylvania on the 8th of May, 1945. A prodigy at a very young age, he had his first public appearance when he was six years old. He had lots of support to the extent that he was offered a chance to study and learn composition with Nadia Boulanger, the revered French piano teacher, in Paris.
Continue reading →Learning to think in all 12 major keys is not that hard compared to learning languages (in fact it is super easy compared to languages!). And since there are 12 months in the year, why not devote one month to learning the key of D, one month learning the key of Eb, and so on throughout the year? At the end of the year you’ll have a pretty good grasp of all 12 keys, and you’ll begin to think in those keys instead of fighting with the sharps and flats as perhaps you used to.
Continue reading →Many, many adults today learned to play the piano when they were young, but gave it up at some point. Although some of these people don’t miss it, there are others that secretly desire to play piano again.
Continue reading →In a sense, all music can be viewed as a contest between dissonance and consonance. If a piece of music was all consonance, it would be boring. If it were all dissonance, it wouldn’t be listenable at all. So every piece of music is crafted in a unique way to move back and forth between those two extremes to create both interest and pleasure.
Continue reading →Bill Evans was born on the 6th of August, 1929 in Plainfield, New Jersey. He started learning to play the piano when he was six years old. In 7 years, he added two more instruments to his repertoire. His first gig was when his brother Harry had to be substituted for Buddy Valentino’s band. He was familiar with the music it was the same kind of music that he was practicing at home. He continued playing boogie-woogie there on in clubs in and around New York City.
Continue reading →Here is a short video where I “fly over” the 12-bar blues to get an overall picture of what comprises the blues: For information on the blues, click here.
Continue reading →Gospel music is full of history and soul. It comes from a rich tradition of folk songs and church hymns. Gospel stays alive by remaining relevant, taking various aspects of the musical culture of the day and bringing those aspects into the spiritual fold. In modern gospel, jazz has been introduced into traditional songs. This has sparked the musical term “gospel chords.”
Continue reading →
