Usually chords are voiced!

This basically means that the positions of a chord’s tones are scattered over the keyboard. The tones may be altered, doubled, added to, missing, and so forth.

There are a great variety of possibilities available in voicing chords. Voicing chords properly is an art within itself. Using the correct voicing techniques in your playing will give your improvisation a hip, mature and full sound. Chords played in root position just does not seem to do the job when playing Jazz, Rock, Pop, Blues, Gospel and Smooth Jazz piano.

Learning and mastering good voice leading techniques in your playing is not difficult if you just follow some simple rules.

1. The most important notes in any chord is the 3rd and the 7th. The 3rd of the chord defines whether the chord is a major or minor chord. The 7th of the chord will define whether the chord is a dominant or major chord. Usually the bass player will play the root and fifth. The root and fifth are not essential tones and can be completely left our from your chord progressions. If you must use the root and fifth try using it in your right hand, not your left. You should add your color tones in your right hand.

2. When you are taking a solo and not comping (accompanying) for another soloist you should play your chord voicings in your left hand, so that the right hand can be free to improvise, do fills, double the left hand, add extensions, etc.

3. The range of your voicings is also very important. A good rule of thumb to remember when voicing your chords, is to always try to voice your chords around middle C. Keeping your voicings around middle C will sound full and clear. Limits of approximately an octave above or below will assure best results by preventing the voicing from assuming a quality of thinness or muddiness.

Ron Worthy is a Music Educator, Songwriter and Performer. He offers online piano instruction for all ages at: http://www.mrronsmusic.com/playpiano.htm

I presume that you practice on the piano with the hope of becoming a better instrumentalist, pianist and musician and and in order to experience the joy and satisfaction that follows.

The learning processes in action as you try to learn to play the piano can lead you forward towards you goals. However, some things you learn can limit your progress and I think it is important to be aware of these factors.

Let’s take a look at what you don’t want to learn as you play piano! Let me mention three things!

1. At times when you practice on your piano you might experience stress and other uncomfortable feelings due to a deadline in the form of a upcoming piano lesson you don’t feel prepared for or other disturbing thoughts.

The feelings you experience as you practice a specific piece of music have a tendency to be evoked when you play the same piece at another occasion.

2. Can tensions stick to your sheet music? Your actual muscle tension level when you play a piano composition tends to be present when you play the same piece of music in public.

In other words, it will be more difficult to perform and play a piano composition in a relaxed manner when you have practiced it with a high tension level.

3. Can you learn not to play a piece of music? I guess you practice on your piano and take piano lessons in order to become a better player.

However, if you don’t concentrate on your piano playing and if you play new passages too fast you will probably make a lot of mistakes.

These mistakes tend to slow down the learning process and in fact they will be a part of the learning process. The more mistakes you make playing a particular piano sheet music passage the harder it will be to play it right.

Why is it so? All your earlier mistakes will accumulate and disturb you as you try to play a passage right. To play a passage wrong will become easier and easier the more times you make mistakes.

Is this depressing news? Well if these news will help you change your way of practicing piano playing it will be good news!

You can use these piano practicing news to your advantage! Read on!

1. Try to make your piano practicing sessions to peaceful and joyful occasions by never procrastinating your piano lesson homework and by having the right attitude as you start playing.

2. Always practice a new piano piece slowly and with concentration and with correct posture. If you don’t make mistakes as you practice you will progress much faster!

3. Remember to relax as you play piano. Your piano practicing session can also be a relaxation exercise and if you play piano in this manner it will be beneficial both for your physical and mental health!

Peter Edvinsson is a musician, composer and music teacher. Visit his site Capotasto Music and download your free sheet music and learn to play piano resources at http://www.capotastomusic.com

Because you have to start from where you are. This should be fairly easy; Otherwise you have not started from where you are.

A suggestion is to start writing piano pieces for beginners in a progressive order. The idea is that as the pieces get more complicated for the player they will also become more complicated for you to notate and compose and you will subsequently learn as you write.

How is composing beneficial for your piano playing?

1. Your compositional endeavours will make you more and more aware of intrinsic musical subtleties in the music of other composers. When you start to think and feel like a composer you will also become a better performer as well. Performing is also a creative process similar to composing.

2. When you compose you will become a better sight reader.

I remember an assignment I had many years ago when I wrote the music to a musical. It made me aware of many notational problems I had not taken the time to solve for myself before.

When I started to play my piano music again I was astonished when realizing it was much easier for me to sight read complicated piano sheet music. The reason for this I concluded was my concentrated effort to notate my own piano music.

The process to play something with my fingers and and then try to notate the music on manuscript paper was so to speak a reversed sight reading exercise.

What about manuscript paper?

You can use a notation program or you can write on paper or use both approaches. I suggest that you start writing on paper the way that composers have done for centuries.

Composing piano sheet music by hand on manuscript paper is a cheap and effective exercise to learn the various sheet music symbols.

Very often I jot down musical ideas on ordinary white paper after drawing five lines by hand. It works fine if you can’t find your manuscript paper. You can buy manuscript paper for sheet music or print out your favorite format for free on the site http://www.blanksheetmusic.net

In conclusion, composing piano sheet music can become a natural part of your daily practice routine.

Spend half an hour a day composing your own piano sheet music and you will increase your musical knowledge and become an even better musician!

And remember; Composing piano sheet music is fun!

Peter Edvinsson is a musician, composer and music teacher. Visit his site Capotasto Music and download your free sheet music and learn to play resources at http://www.capotastomusic.com

As you probably know Mary Had A Little Lamb is a popular nursery rhyme. Here is the first verse:

Mary had a little lamb
little lamb, little lamb
Mary had a little lamb
its fleece was white as snow

In When testing his invention of the phonograph in 1877 Thomas Edison used this poem and it became the first audio recording to be successfully made and played back.

We will not use sheet music in this piano lesson. Instead we will use a form of piano tablature or shorter piano tab.

Tablature is a form of musical notation, often with numbers and letters, which tells the player where to place his fingers on a particular instrument rather than which pitches to play.

First you’ll have to locate the note C on the piano. On a piano C is the first white key that is to the left of two black keys.

The C we are interested in most is the C on the middle of the piano. This C is called middle C because on the piano keyboard it is right in the middle, near the keyhole.

In our piano tab we will give this C note a number: 1

The white key to the right of C we call 2 and so on. Let’s play some notes:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

When you have played these seven notes you will come to the next C on the piano.

Let’s try to play a bit of Mary Had A Little Lamb:

Mary had a little lamb

3 2 1 2 3 3 3

You can use the index finger on your right hand to play this melody or be a little bit more professional and use your thumb for all number 1, your index finger for number 2 and your middle finger for number 3.

Let’s continue this piano lesson with the next line:

little lamb, little lamb

2 2 2 3 5 5

Use the little finger for number 5 if you want. The next part is the same as the first piano tab:

Mary had a little lamb

3 2 1 2 3 3 3

Now we are about to finish this song:

its fleece was white as snow

3 2 2 3 2 1

How can you use your left hand? Well, you can make this piece a little bit more difficult and also more rewarding to play by using your left hand for bass notes.

The notes from C to the next C is called an octave. You also have these notes to the left of the middle C. We can call these notes the left octave.

If you use the notes 1-7 in the left octave to play bass notes with your left hand we can notate this in the following way:

3/1 2 1 2 3/1 3 3

3/1 means that as you play the first 3 you also play number 1 in the left octave with your left hand at the same time.

The rest of Mary Had A Little Lamb with bass notes included looks like this:

2/5 2 2 3/1 5 5

3/1 2 1 2 3/1 3 3

3 2/5 2 3 2 1/1

I suggest that you play you left hand 1 with your little finger and number 5 with your thumb. This is the whole song and your piano lesson is over!

The best way to practice is probably to take one line at a time and learn it by heart. When you know the song by heart you can play it anytime and anywhere!

Peter Edvinsson is a musician, composer and music teacher. Visit his site Capotasto Music and download your free sheet music and learn to play piano resources at http://www.capotastomusic.com

Like most closet musicians, you likely arrived at a turning point in your life where you had to decide between the certainty of a job and the uncertainty of a life in the music business. And, like the vast majority, you chose the more stable path. Do you ever wonder though, what it would have been like if you had enough courage to pursue the other path – even if it would have totally freaked your parents out?

As a professional concert pianist I have people say to me all the time that they would give anything to do what I do. A lot of these folks wish they just could turn back the clock and get another shot at it, even if it might not have been the responsible thing to do.

That?s why I?m so grateful for the path I have chosen, not only because I love it but because, I never have to worry about what I might have missed. The truth is; I love music and what it does for my soul. I wake up every day with excitement because I really don?t know what?s going to happen or where I?ll end up. That to me is a gift, not a liability. The only thing certain in my life is uncertainty and that I can always count on.

But, our society is not programmed to think in these terms. We?re groomed in school to play it safe, get a job and pay the bills. It?s definitely the easy thing to do but is it the right thing? I think we were all born to learn something new and exciting every day. For most people who go to the same job day after day, a job they most likely hate – how is this learning?

Many people find themselves at a turning point in their latter years when they think to themselves, ?What exactly happened to my dreams?? But, then you think to yourself, ?I got married and had kids, it would have been completely irresponsible of me to follow my dreams because so few actually make it.? That?s true, except why couldn?t you have been one of the few?

In any case, I often say to people, ?Why don?t you quit your job now while you still can?? To my mind, living every day in a situation you hate will only lead you somewhere you don?t want to go. It?s important to choose a goal in life that you really are passionate about because, that?s what will make your life exciting and challenging. Anybody can get a job.

But, even if you absolutely cannot give up your job, why not take up music seriously at the same time? For now, start practicing in secrecy. Then eventually you?ll be good enough to perform for others. And, if you?re passionate enough, you may even get to be the performer that you?ve always admired from a distance. You know, the one you?ve often cheered for with mixed delight and sorrow because, you know you could have been that person?

The good news, it?s not too late!

Take my friend Bruce for example. With three years left to go to his retirement as a bank executive, he reintroduced himself to blues guitar. Shortly thereafter he reunited his high school band and now they?re actually booking themselves for dances, concerts and private functions.

And, my friend Mary Ann is doing the same thing. She had a music degree in classical piano which, she eventually gave up to become a family doctor. Now, several years later she?s formed a jazz quartet with some friends and another doctor on drums, and the band performs at least 5 nights a month around town.

These are just two examples of people who understand that they can have it all; both a successful professional career and a life in music. Like them, you don?t have to wait for your retirement to get back to doing what you love.

So next time you feel the need to rejuvenate your life with music, come on out of the closet. Because, the truth of the matter is the only thing stopping you, is you. Take my advice and start living your life the way you want and not the way everyone else expects of you. Live the rest of your life doing what you love because, the only risk in life is not taking one.

Paul Tobey is a professional concert pianist who is well-known for his motivational music seminars and popular free piano music downloads.

Stop a minute and think about it. You like music, and you want to play some special piece that really means something to you. You want it to sound through you – right through your fingertips.

Okay? Well, you practice it to fulfill that desire, not to frustrate it.

Pause here and ask yourself some questions:

What if you could look at a piece of music for the first time, and play it correctly straight off, just as fine as you please?

How would you feel about practicing then?

Or, what if you were practicing for the Olympic swim meet next year, and felt deep down that you had a chance? How would you feel then about the training? Would you plunge into it each morning?

What if you were interrupted at a good point in yesterday’s practicing? What if you had just about broken through a tough spot when you had to stop? Would you want to get back to it today as soon as possible?

You answer those questions, honestly, for yourself. There are ways to say YES! every day.

But, first, you’ve got to stop blaming yourself. You don’t have to be perfect every time. You don’t have to be the best player, today. And you don’t have to listen to what other people say about your playing – people who are only half listening, and don’t care the way you do.

Put all that out of your mind. What matters is your desire to play as well as possible.

Just start with playing – one note after another, and keep going. As the Chinese say, A journey of a thousand miles begins with the first, step. And, if the very first step leads to the first slip, be glad for it. You can’t, repeat, cannot learn without mistakes!

Now, start to think more personally about your instrument.

The piano, like the guitar, is a touchy instrument. Touch it, and you both produce and color its tones, like a potter molding clay. Think of the keys, all gleaming white, as the skin of the piano; you can either please them or hurt them. Stroke them, and the sound will come out mellow and purring. Poke them, and the sound will either bark sharply or woodenly thud.

Stop thinking of yourself as playing on or at the piano. Rather, think of the instrument as an extension of your own body. When an artificial leg is fitted to an amputee, he is then taught to walk with it. Gradually, it feels more natural – more like his own leg walking. The French call the keys les touches, or touch-points – as if the keys, not you, were doing the feeling.

Every musician wants to personalize this instrument. Take a look at the vocalist who hugs his guitar, or without a guitar, woos his microphone, or, without a microphone, simply woos the audience?

Every musician seeks to make his instrument an extension of his own body, the tool he or she needs to put across the strong feelings he as for the music.

Nadia Boulanger, one of the greatest teachers, put it best: Don’t speak to me of talent; speak to me of desire.

Go to the piano or keyboard not to reproduce a piece, but to experiment with your best way to bring out what is there. There is no one right way to play a piece – no matter how loudly some people protest that there is.

Artists in fact, vary greatly, and audiences return again and again to hear the same piece, as played by pianist X or pianist Y. You simply cannot play a piece twice the same way. Try it!

Here’s how to practice an exercise or a song:

Six quietly, upright and relaxed Hear the music in your head: hear it better than life. Sense its movement and pulse rolling through you, turning and adjusting your own pulse, you are the prime instrument of this music – sitting there alert, tuned by silence, vibrating to is rhythm, lending it your own life entirely.

As you feel the music filling you, heart and soul, you will know that it is getting ready to be born.

When it has stirred you, lift your hands to the keyboard. This is the reason you wanted to play in the first place: to bring alive what has already moved you. And, suddenly, by centering your focus, you’ve turned practicing from a duty into an attraction.

Copyright 2006 RAW Productions

Ron Worthy is a Music Educator, Pianist and Songwriter. He offers online instruction that focuses on Rock, Pop, Blues, Cocktail, R&B and Smooth Jazz piano styles. To Download Your FREE Piano Lesson Video, go to: http://www.playpianotonight.com/VC.html

Okay, fine, finish this article first, THEN get started. And yes, I know that there are more than just 12 reasons to play the piano. But I happen to like the number 12.

1) Everyone should play at least one instrument. I truly believe that. Every person on Earth should be able to sit at SOME instrument and be capable of making beautiful music.

2) Playing the piano makes you feel (and look) sophisticated. Truly. No matter who you are or how many warts you have, you’ll just exude class the second you begin tickling those ivories.

3) Piano playing keeps your brain active. It’s very hard for your brain to rot when you consistently throw it the musical language to interpret.

4) You won’t run out of things to do when you’re bored. There’s always a new way to play, always a new approach to playing, and always, always, ALWAYS a new song to learn. (See number 8.)

5) Family members can live vicariously through you. I’m semi-serious about that. The reason I began taking piano lessons (back when I was 10) was because of grandparents who didn’t play, and over the years I’ve had numerous relatives enjoy playing through me. (I live to serve.)

6) People will automatically assume you’re a genius. Honestly, I’ve heard this a lot. People uttering He/she plays the piano in the same tone reserved for He/she has an IQ of 174. You just can’t help but admire someone playing an instrument.

7) Piano playing is good for your hands. Indeed it is. I probably have stronger hands/fingers than most people I know. And have you ever noticed the hands of a pianist? Beautiful, long, tapered fingers. Chances are that if you’ve ever admired someone’s hands, they play the piano.

Pianists never quit learning. There’s absolutely no way to memorize every musical piece on earth. You could learn 10 new songs a day for the rest of your life without scratching the surface of songs out there.

9) Piano playing is FUN. Really. It’s one of the funnest things I do. Think about it, why would so many of us do it if it weren’t a blast?

10) Deep down, everyone wishes they played the piano. Have you ever read other people’s New Year’s Resolutions lists? If you haven’t, then you’re just not nosy like me. No, seriously, if you haven’t, I’ll tell you which wish consistently pops up: Learn to play the piano.

11) Piano playing is SATISFYING. It’s truly one of the most satisfying things you can do. (Right after touching your nose with your tongue. Or so I hear.) There’s no feeling like playing a difficult song and playing it flawlessly. Quite an ego-boost.

12) Everyone loves a musician. ‘Nuff said.

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