Create 3 Pieces of Music

For those of you who are just beginning to improvise, don’t worry about this. But for those who are beginning to compose, you’ll need to have 3 complete pieces to play. Why? Because this will come to around 10-15 minutes of music – the perfect amount of time for a mini-concert! If you’re in the process of creating your 3 pieces and haven’t finished yet set an goal date. For example, it’s a good idea to write something like this down:

By August 12, 2006, I will have 3 complete and polished pieces of music to play for others.

This is a time-based goal and will work wonders if you write it out and place it where you can read it everyday. Most likely, you will try and find excuses for why you can’t finish something on time. This goal with time and date on it will continually remind you to stay on track.

Practice Your 3 Pieces

Practice is the only way you will build up your confidence level. Practice each piece slowly at first. Never back up if you make a mistake. I repeat? NEVER back up if you make a mistake. Why? What are you going to do when you’re playing for an audience and you mess up. You’re not going to stop everything and go back. No! You go forward. Chances are very good that the audience won’t even notice. I can testify to this from personal experience.

When you practice, be with the music. The audience isn’t really concerned with you per se. They want an emotional experience through the music and the best way to give that to them is for you to be in the moment.

Overcome Performance Anxiety

To do this, you must first practice until you can play all 3 pieces straight through and you must first perform for a very small audience. Perhaps one or two people. You see you have to get used to the idea that eyes will be watching you. This makes most very self-conscious. By playing for very small groups of people, or even one person first, you get used to this and you can simply shrug it off. Playing for others should be a joyful experience. It can be if you follow these simple guidelines.

Edward Weiss is a pianist/composer and webmaster of Quiescence Music’s online piano lessons. He has been helping students learn how to play piano in the New Age style for over 14 years and works with students in private, in groups, and now over the internet. Stop by now at http://www.quiescencemusic.com/pianolessons.html for a FREE piano lesson!

The OPC is a special way of forming chords at the piano. You use both hands right away to create a modern sounding chord that’s perfect for today’s contemporary styles. It’s called open position because of the way the notes of the chord are spread out.

The left hand plays the root, fifth, and seventh notes of the chord while the right hand takes the third and seventh again. The sound is amazing but this isn’t the biggest benefit of this particular chord structure. The biggest benefit is what you can do with it!

For example, in the piano lesson Reflections in Water, you start by playing a C Major 7 OPC. Now that you have the chord what are you going to do to make music? You are going to improvise a melody with the right hand using the tones from the C Major scale. You see, all you really need to know in order to make your own music is chords and the scale the chords came from.

You need to know the notes of the scale so you can use them to improvise a melody. Now the beauty of the open position chord is that you don’t have to move your hands around too much in order to create a melody with. In fact, you can pretty much stay within this chord structure and create a beautiful piece of music.

Reflections in Water uses 4 chords to create a few minutes of music with. A beginner can learn to use this chord structure within 1 hour and create music with it. It really is that easy!

Edward Weiss is a pianist/composer and webmaster of Quiescence Music’s online piano lessons. He has been helping students learn how to play piano in the New Age style for over 14 years and works with students in private, in groups, and now over the internet. Stop by now at http://www.quiescencemusic.com/pianolessons.html for a FREE piano lesson!

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!

Really?

Really.

Are you ready? Here they are:

I IV V

Huh? What’s all that about?

Here’s what:

In every key there are 3 chords — just 3 chords — which are known as primary chords — chords that occur way more than other chords. They are like family members of that particular key. They are groups of notes built on the 1st note of the scale, the 4th note of that scale, and the 5th note of that scale. (Those are 3-note chords called triads — in another article we will get into 4 and 5 note chords.)

For example, here is the C scale on the keyboard. It runs from C up to C and octave higher. The I chord is built on the first note of the C scale, and so on:

So if I build a chord on the I — every other scale note up from C, the chord is C, E, and G — known as the C major chord.

If I build a chord on the IV — every other scale note up from F, the chord is F, A, and C — known as the F major chord.

If I build a chord on the V — every other scale note up from G, the chord is G, B, and D — known as the G major chord.

Please notice, if you haven’t already, that those 3 chords contain ALL the notes in the C scale!

So what?

So any melody – tune – in the key of C (as long as it just uses the 8 notes of the scale) can be harmonized just by playing one of those 3 chords!

Think about that — that’s a HUGE insight that most people never get.

So, in any given key you can play in, there are PRIMARY CHORDS — chords that occur way more than other chords. They are like family members of that particular key.

At your house, let’s say you have 3 people in your family — your spouse, your child, and you. On the same block, but down the street a few houses, lives your cousin and her family.

At any given moment, who are the most likely people to be in your house?

The Terminator?

Hillary?

Dubba?

I don’t think so.

It’s possible, of course, but not too likely. If I had to guess, I would say it would be either you, your spouse, or your child. It might be your cousin down the street — there’s a much better chance of that than, say, David Letterman or Prince Charles — but my best odds would be to guess that the family members would be there.

It’s the same way with chords. In any given key, there are 3 family members that are residents of that key — the I chord, the IV chord, and the V chord. They are far and away the most likely chords to occur in any given key.

For example, if I am playing in the Key of C, and the first chord is the C chord and I have to guess what the next chord is, I would guess that it would be either the F chord or the G chord. Why? Because those are the other family members. So we have narrowed the odds a great deal just by knowing who the members of the family are.

Does that mean that there are always just 3 chords in a song? No, but there are literally hundreds of songs that are made of just 3 chords.

The Primary Piano Chords (the fam) Of All the Major Keys

Here are the primary chords (the family chords) of all the major keys (remember that the primary chords are the I chord, the IV chord, and the V chord based on the scale of that particular key):

Key of C: C, F, G

Key of G: G, C, D

Key of D: D, G, A

Key of A: A, D, E

Key of E: E, A, B

Key of B: B, E, F#

Key of F: F, Bb, C

Key of Bb: Bb, Eb, F

Key of Eb: Eb, Ab, Bb

Key of Ab: Ab, Db, Eb

Key of Db: Db, Gb, Ab

Key of Gb: Gb, Cb, Db

Do you have to know all these chords in all these keys?

No.

You can choose to play in just one key, or just a few keys.

But what you MUST know is the 3 chords in whatever key you want to play in! That means that the stark beginner can learn 3 chords in just a few minutes, and be able to play along with thousands of tunes, because most folk songs, hymns, country songs, and many rock songs just use the 3 basic chords. That’s why people who know zilch about music can pick up a guitar, learn 3 chords, and strum along while singing everything from On Top Of Old Smoky to Amazing Grace to My Country ‘Tis Of Thee to Auld Lang Syne to Silent Night to……………………..well, you get the idea. And not only a guitar, but a piano, keyboard, or whatever.

Duane Shinn is the author of over 500 music books and products such as DVD’s, CD’s, musical games for kids, chord charts, musical software, and piano lesson instructional courses for adults. He holds an advanced degree from Southern Oregon University and was the founder of Piano University in Southern Oregon.

He can be reached at http://www.chordpiano.com. He is the author of the popular free 101-week e-mail newsletter titled Amazing Secrets Of Exciting Piano Chords & Sizzling Chord Progressions with over 56,000 current subscribers. Those interested may obtain a free subscription by going to http://www.playpiano.com

Look, the right hand is where most of us create our melodies. It’s considered easier than the workhorse part the left has to do with creating arpeggios, ostinatos and the like. But, we can also use the right hand to create arpeggios and ostinato patterns.

For example, in the Lesson April Rain, the right hand plays closed position seventh chords as arpeggios while the right plays bass notes as melody. This is not a new technique by far but it’s not usually used in New Age piano playing.

And like any other technique, it takes a while before you feel comfortable enough to play a left-hand melody using bass notes. The piano is such a versatile instrument because unlike many other instruments, the notes are all laid out for you. You can switch hands, criss-cross hands, and do many other things with a piano keyboard that you just can’t do with something like a saxophone or even a guitar!

Edward Weiss is a pianist/composer and webmaster of Quiescence Music’s online piano lessons. He has been helping students learn how to play piano in the New Age style for over 14 years and works with students in private, in groups, and now over the internet. Stop by now at http://www.quiescencemusic.com/pianolessons.html for a FREE piano lesson!

While it is not necessarily detrimental to your piano playing career not to be able to play in all the major keys. Being able to play them can make your piano playing come alive and make transposing and just playing in general infinitely easier.

Since there are only 12 major keys why not devote an entire week to learning a key and it?s primary chords. Start with the key of F and go counterclockwise on the circle of fifths. Since most people go clockwise this will encourage you to dive right in and start learning all the flat keys first.

Also make it a point to learn the Primary chords that go along with each key. Make your hands become familiar with the 1 chord, the IV chord, the V and V7 chord and all of their inversions. Root position, 1st inversion and second inversion.

Play these chords with both hands.

Play chords with your left hand while doing the scale of the key you are currently studying in your right. Then move on and play chords with your right hand and the scale you are studying with your left.

Play your scales staccato and your chords arpeggiated.

Make sure you learn the correct fingering.

It may be slow going at first but it will pay off in the end.

For print outs to help you, including the Circle of Fifths, Scale Fingerings, and Primary Chords visit The Struggling Church Musician and go to the Tools from the Struggling Church Musician section.

K Quinn has been playing the piano for 10 years. She picked up the guitar 5 years ago and both for her church. Visit her website at http://www.strugglingchurchmusician.us for more church musician tools and tips.

The piano has been around for about 300 years and over that time the essence of the piano has not really changed. The cabinets have changed over the years and have improved but the internal workings have not really changed from the first models produced in the 1700?s. The basic workings are that you play a key then a hammer hits a string and it vibrates and the sound is reflected off the soundboard to produce the musical tone (sound). There are approx. 10,000 parts in a piano and many of these are very finely tuned. The moving parts within the piano are called the ?action?. Just like a car the ?action? is the engine of the piano. If the action has problems or is not maintained then the piano will not perform as it should. A piano is generally considered to be one of the hi-end purchases or investments that we make in our lifetime. It is very important to spend time researching various options like new, 2nd hand, brands, warranty, etc. before jumping in on an impulse and purchasing a lemon.

Does size matter?

The answer to this question is? Yes and No. Size/height of an upright piano does not really matter. The difference in pianos in relation to size, means that in an upright piano the soundboard and also string length are greater therefore give the piano a richer tone and an increased resonant sound. For instance? in an upright piano with a height of 108cm compared to a larger upright of 121cm there is a height difference of 13cm. Therefore there is approx. 13cm more in the height of the soundboard and also greater length of the strings. The soundboard of a piano is like the speakers in a stereo system, the bigger the speakers the greater the bass response and deeper the tone. This is exactly what happens in a piano. You must also keep in mind the size of the room in which the piano is going to live. In some rooms that have deep pile carpet and heavy curtains the smaller pianos will loose their volume because of the ?soft furnishings? absorbing the sound. If the player is just a beginner or has only been learning for a short amount of time then a smaller size piano like the 108cm or 112cm will be fine. If the player is a serious student, teacher or a person that has been playing for sometime, then a 121cm or larger would be required, maybe a grand piano. The reason for this is that the player has experience and performance ability and would be looking for a better tone and resonance in the piano which they are playing or practicing on.

New or 2nd hand?

I guess the short answer to the question of 2nd hand is?

PROCEED WITH CAUTION!

This is for several reasons. There are a lot of people selling 2nd hand pianos who are making a lot of money playing upon the ignorance of the piano buying public. They have found that they can take an old piano and clean up the instrument, make the metal parts shine, polish the wood and in general tidy up the appearance of an otherwise useless piano and then place a high price on the instrument. There has always been a sense of ?the higher the price the better quality?, this is not the case. When it comes to second-hand pianos you need to ?do your homework?. Its like buying a second-hand car!! You need to get the advise of someone in the industry like a Qualified Piano Tuner, or a Piano Teacher who knows what to look out for. One of the pianos to try and avoid is the ?over-damper? pianos. These usually have problems with the damper mechanism and have been found to be a lot of hassle to repair by tuners and technicians.

Be aware that there are a lot of second-hand pianos being imported from Asia and you really need to ?proceed with caution? on these. You will probably be told that they are great pianos, excellent condition, etc. But, consider if they are all that they are made out to be, why did the Music School, University, etc. in Asia decide to replace these pianos??? Also, the comment by the salesperson, ?they have not had much use!!? is something you need to think about. Remember that about 75% of these pianos have come from a Music School, University, etc. and are from 5 years to 20 years old and have countless students practicing on them for maybe up to 14 hours a day over every day of the year for 5-20 years. That?s a lot of work that these pianos have been receiving and it makes you wonder if over this time if they have been properly maintained and serviced.

There are some good models coming in to Australia as second-hand Imported Pianos and these are from homes and have been used as private pianos. When purchasing any of these instruments from a store or a private piano tuner selling these types of pianos is to make sure that they have some type of warranty which include the pin block, frame, soundboard. The person selling these instruments should be able to place a 5 year warranty on the above. Also make sure that the piano is tuned in your home after delivery, this is usually done about 1 week after delivery with a new piano and should also be done with a piano that is second-hand .

Why maintain a piano?

The piano is a highly developed and complicated piece of equipment. It contains about 240 different lengths of high tensioned wire. These lengths of wire make up to 85 to 88 notes spread across the music tonal range. For each note there exists a mechanism which in the upright piano contains up to 14 different moving parts and in a grand piano up to 22 moving parts per note. This means that there is around 2000 moving parts in a piano!! Since the piano must be maintained at a specific tension to achieve a good musical sound the matter of maintenance becomes an ongoing process. If you play the piano several hours a day and work to a performance standard you may need to have your piano tuned frequently. This could be mean that your piano would need to be tuned 5-6 times a year, or more!! A finely tuned and functioning instrument will make practice and performance much easier and encourage students to practice more because their instrument is performing at its best. It will also give you peace of mind that your investment in the piano will last. Having the piano maintained will ensure that it will always be performing at its best and will stand the test of time. You should realize that a piano will never stay in tune, no matter what brand it is or if it is an upright or a grand. However, a piano that is manufactured to a high standard and using better materials will stay in tune for longer periods. Also keep in mind that a new piano will require several tunings throughout the first 2 years. This is usually every 3-4 months until the strings and pin block have time to ?wear in? and settle down.

Does the brand name make a difference?

The answer has changed a great deal over the years. Brand names do not really make a great deal of difference when it comes to buying a new piano. When it comes to buying a 2nd hand piano which has had many birthdays (30 ), the brand name will make a HUGE difference in the quality of the instrument and also the purchase price. In regard to new pianos most brands have a model (usually the height is the model number, 121cm 108cm, 115cm, etc.), and you will find that all brand names have a model in the same height. The price is usually around the same or maybe $500.00-1000.00 difference. The difference in price does not mean that the more expensive one is any better or is going to last any longer or not less tunings each year. Warranty varies on new pianos from 3-5 years, to 10 years to a Lifetime Warranty. The longer the warranty the better off you will be because the manufacture is willing to provide a warranty like this to their instrument, which means they are certain that the piano will be fault free for the warranty period. The only advice really when it comes to buying a new piano is to shop around and be sure you purchase a well known brand name from an authorised piano dealer. If in doubt talk to your piano tuner or call the importers of the product and talk to them. The best advice is to? get advice!!

Acoustic or Digital?

This is really a matter of preference. With today’s digital pianos becoming better and better it is very hard to make judgment between digital and acoustic. I guess the best way to work out which is best for you is to think like this?An acoustic piano is essentially the same instrument that has been around for about 300 years. Music was and is still composed for the piano and for piano performance with orchestras, concert halls, etc. It is a pure instrument and always will be. The digital piano however has a multitude of instruments and drum samples with disk drives, etc. It is more like a computer with a keyboard!! It is an excellent composition tool with various voices like, piano, strings, brass & woodwind sounds and of course the rhythm unit and disk drive to save your work. You can then transfer your work to a computer and using MIDI software printout your composition as a musical score. The digital piano is also great for the younger student providing all these features to help keep their interest in learning the piano. So, as you can see either acoustic or digital, you need to work out which is best for you and what you see to be long-term value for yourself and your family. Although acoustic pianos have been around for 300 years, the digital models change with technology about 12-18 months. So, the digital piano you buy today will be out dated usually within 1-2 years.

Conclusion…

A piano purchased today will always be a piano. Unlike the digital piano where the features are increasing and becoming more impressive each year as technology gets better and better. You will not see on an Acoustic Piano a rhythm unit (drum machine), auto chords, display screens like the star ship enterprise, or a blender or even a milkshake maker!! The piano is a ?true? instrument that requires dedication and determination to master. It takes years of lessons, practice and a belief in oneself of achieving an ability to be able to perform on such a majestic instrument.

Before purchasing any piano keep the following points in mind and your purchase should then be a happy one!!

Best advice is to? Get Advice!

Paul J. Kenny

Paul’s extensive musical career spans over 20 years. His accolades and degrees include several Bachelor of Arts (Music) Degrees, Associate of Music, Licentiate in Composition, Bachelor in Business Administration, Doctorate Degree in Music and Doctor of Philosophy in Music Education. Paul is also a Fellowship Member of the Academy of Saint Cecilia London and a Fellowship Member of the Cambridge Society of Musicians, as well as a Professional Member of the Australian Society of Music Educators.

Paul has been a music teacher and performer for over 20 years. Some of Paul’s students have gone on to be professional musicians or continuing studies at a University or Conservatorium of Music.

I will practice and practice until I become good at it. If I can’t do it in the morning then I will do it when I come home at night after work, and on weekends I can play the piano for hours on end

I do not think you had that experienced too often, maybe never, but my guess is that there are many of you that have friends in other parts of the country or less fortunate countries where they know of people in this situation. The point I am trying to make is that there are people out there that can not wait the moment in which they can have access to a piano or another ‘proper’ like instrument where they can practice and practice, because it is a joy and a dream for them.

On the other hand, I ask myself if there are many people that buy pianos, very expensive pianos just for show, to be used just as furniture display items, that gather dust in a corner of a mansion, while in a different neighborhood we have somebody that would love to get his/her hands on it for just few minutes. How can we develop this same feeling of love for an instrument? I believe some ways would be:

1) By being aware that an instrument, expensive or not needs to be used and care for.

2) By seeking out like-minded individuals with whom you can learn how to play this beautiful instrument.

It should be a rewarding experience to meet a bunch of different people with access to a piano, and you can go to it and improvise and laugh with your friends about the funky noises that you make and start to take some shape. For sure that would be therapeutic, playing in groups, not only the piano, but also music games, piano learning video games and the like.

Another option would be to take your own I Can Play Piano Camp instruction somewhere that is available in your city or at your own home. You can even take advantage of it while on vacation. Take a few moments and head for the entertainment room at the hotel, restaurant, conference area where you can find a free piano and play by ear whatever tune you desire. You will see how music inspiration thoughts come to mind. Remember, your audience either does not know much as you do now, or has gone through the same challenges that you are experiencing and they will be happy for your accomplishments.

My best wishes to you in your new musical adventure. I know it will be rewarding and fun. Awake those hidden talents!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jesse Fisher enjoys writing about interesting new developments in the music instruction world. To learn more about milestones in educational music products, visit PianoWizard’s I Can Play Piano informational page.

Especially when it comes to learning a musical instrument. Scales, repetition, and monotonous exercises abound. Most people love the piano but won’t go near it for fear of not being able to to play it. And most times, their fear is justified!

A typical beginning piano student scenario may go like this: You walk into the teacher’s studio. He or she asks you what you want to learn. You respond with any number of choices; classical, jazz, new age. Then out pop the books. You know the one’s I’m talking about. Hanon scales, Czerny. Maybe if you’re lucky, you’ll get introduced to a chord-based method. Maybe. But probably not.

You see, most piano teachers have this idea that you must learn how to read music before you can play music. That’s nonsense!

In fact, it really works the other way around. You should be able to make music with chords and improvise first. Why? Because music is what the end result is. Music is not notes on a sheet of paper. It’s hammers striking strings produced when a pianist fingers a chord. Children speak their native language first before they learn how to spell and write it. They have no difficulties doing this BECAUSE IT COMES NATURALLY! Music should be the same way! We learn the language of music by understanding how to use chords first. We then use these chords to create our music with.

There is nothing wrong with being able to read music, but if that’s all you can do, you’re limiting yourself creatively. Stop playing piano the hard way and learn how to use chords and improvise first. Because by learning how to improvise, you are actually speaking the language of music first!

Edward Weiss is a pianist/composer and webmaster of Quiescence Music’s online piano lessons. He has been helping students learn how to play piano in the New Age style for over 14 years and works with students in private, in groups, and now over the internet. Stop by now at http://www.quiescencemusic.com/pianolessons.html for a FREE piano lesson!

They usually learn how to play chords in the first position. Called open position chords, the beginning guitarist quickly learns how to finger this position and can immediately create music. That’s why so many people love the guitar and want to learn it!

They don’t waste time learning the masters or anything like that at all. Nope. It’s all contemporary. Unless of course it’s classical guitar.

Now why can’t those interested in learning piano have the same benefits? After all, it’s not like everyone wants to learn how to play Bach or Beethoven.

The good news is you can play piano using only chords. But not just any chords. I’m talking about learning a chord structure that will have you sounding like a professional right away! It’s called the Open Position Chord and with it, you’ll be able to create your own unique music!

I know it sounds far-fetched. I didn’t think I could make my own music either until I discovered this chord position from a book titled The Four-Way Keyboard System. In it, the author Alan Swain goes into great detail about the benefits of learning this chord structure.

I didn’t have to really read what he wrote. I just played it. And I was hooked! Here was something I could learn quite easily. And I could learn it in all 12 keys – just as easily! I had found what I was looking for. A modern sounding chord that would let me improvise with both hands at the piano right away AND sound good doing it!

Most of us know what triads are. This 3-note chord structure has been used to introduce students to chording on the piano. But learning triads isn’t necessarily the best place to start. In fact, there really is no good reason to begin your piano studies with triads.

Listen, if your goal is to read music and play kum-ba-ya, then by all means, spend countless hours learning how to read music and play triads. But, if you want to improvise and create your own unique music, I can think of no better chord structure than the open position chord!

Edward Weiss is a pianist/composer and webmaster of Quiescence Music’s online piano lessons. He has been helping students learn how to play piano in the New Age style for over 14 years and works with students in private, in groups, and now over the internet. Stop by now at http://www.quiescencemusic.com/pianolessons.html for a FREE piano lesson!

Look, if we were meant to have the muse on 24/7 we would burn out faster than an accountant on espresso. There’s something about the creative spark that does not like to be pressured. Sure, you can show up at the piano and try and enter in to the music, but if your spirit is not in it, chances are you’re not going to want to play.

As frustrating as these dry spells can be, they are necessary for further creative growth. Patience is key here but many creative types (myself included) are not patient people. As I said before, forcing rarely works and will leave you even more frustrated. The only real solution to this is to see that we are more than who we are when we sit down to play the piano.

If we identify only with our creative self, we set ourselves up for frustration. It’s also good to know that 99.9 times out of 100, creativity returns and we can relax and entertain the muse once more.

Edward Weiss is a pianist/composer and webmaster of Quiescence Music’s online piano lessons. He has been helping students learn how to play piano in the New Age style for over 14 years and works with students in private, in groups, and now over the internet. Stop by now at http://www.quiescencemusic.com/pianolessons.html for a FREE piano lesson!