How To Learn To Play Piano Efficiently And Easily By Mimicking Professional Piano Players

           

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The best way to learn a language is to imitate native speakers. Likewise, the best way to learn the piano is to imitate professional piano players.

When you learn a foreign language, you try to converse with those who speak the language fluently. Hopefully, youll pick up the right intonation, phrasing, accent, and pronunciation. The more you imitate, the more fluent you become.

Learning the piano is no different. Music is a language. As such, it has intonation, phrasing, dynamics, etc. But the key to mastering the piano, like mastering a verbal language, is to acquire good habits from the start. This is why its important to learn from someone who has already mastered the language of piano. Many beginning piano students fall into the trap of learning by themselves without the proper guidance to master the fundamentals. The following pointers help to get beginning students into the right track to becoming competent piano players.

 Seek out a good piano teacher who does not hesitate to let you imitate his/her skills. Ask yourself this question is he/she going to teach me the necessary skills to become a well rounded player or is he/she just going to teach me the same old Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star like many other old school teachers do. If you go with self study, make sure you choose a system that emphasizes the imitation technique.

 Learn the fundamentals  take your time to learn the basics. When you first learn a foreign language, you dont try to converse in full sentences right away. You start out with one letter at a time, one syllable at a time. Then you put syllables together to form one word, and then you put words together to form sentences. Before long youre able to communicate with your fellow students. Likewise, when you start out learning the piano, learn one hand at a time, then hands together; one chord structure at a time, then chord progressions. Simply and joyfully.

 Choose a method that de-emphasizes note reading and encourages chord style playing and playing by ear. Im not saying that you should not learn how to read note, but if you want to start playing hundreds of songs, start learning chord style piano. Chords are much easier to learn and master. With only a few chords you can play many pop songs pretty quickly. And if you are so inclined to learn classical piano later on, you can always focus on pure reading then.

 Have fun or else  just because you are starting out learning the piano, doesnt mean you cant have fun. This is important if you want to keep playing the piano for years down the road. Many students give up early because they dont have fun. Unfortunately, traditional methods that teach rote memory and emphasize on sight reading tend to discourage this important element. Thanks to todays technology and other alternative piano methods that focus on chord style piano playing, students learn to play and have fun from day one. Some online piano methods incorporate audio, video, and computer games to help the beginning students learn better and faster.

The key to learning to play the piano well is not about suffer first then enjoy later, but to enjoy it now - from day one! It doesnt have to take 6 months before you start having fun. Take all the time you need, but enjoy every moment of it now.

Alex Nguyen is the Rapid Piano Expert who has been playing the piano for over 20 years. Now hes helping others learn to play the piano rapidly and enjoy it from day one. To get your FREE mini report The 7 Most Powerful Tips To Learning The Piano Rapidly, and learn how you can get personal piano coaching from Alex for FREE for a very limited time, go to http://www.RapidPiano.com

Play Piano - Preparing to Practice

           

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When the practicing "blahs" strike, you just need an attitude adjustment. You don't have to sweat blood to practice well. You don't even have to think of it as work, or duty, or even something that you ought to do.

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.

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.

Piano Lessons For Beginners - A New Approach

           

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If you're interested in learning how to play the piano and you're a beginner listen up. What I'm about to share with you will have you playing the piano in no time at all.

First off, forget about note reading. Forget about sheet music and trying to play Bach or Beethoven. While all of these have their place in piano lessons for beginners, it's not what I'm going to teach you. I promised you a new approach and that's exactly what this article will deliver.

Take a look at my free piano lesson "Reflections in Water," (available by clicking below.) The first thing you probably will notice is the title followed by what this lesson will teach you to do - namely using open position chords in the Key of C major to create a calm, relaxed atmosphere.

Notice anything here? This piano lesson actually looks like an art lesson doesn't it! It's completely different as it takes you step by step through the process of actually creating your own music.

After you notice the title and the description of the lesson, you may also notice a small paragraph of text to the left that reads "materials used." Again, like an art lesson, you see exactly what you'll be using to create with. At the beginning of most art lessons, the author introduces you to the materials and techniques you'll be using to complete a finished painting. That's exactly what I do with piano instruction.

And my students love it. It gets them playing piano almost right away. Plus, it allows them to create music with modern sounding chords instead of the usual boring triads.

Note reading is not required for this approach. Just a little knowledge of chords. For the lesson "Reflections in Water," you'll see 4 chords and the keyboard diagrams they are laid out on. Once you get the feel for the open position chord, you'll love it and want to play the piano with enthusiasm. Why? Because it's fun! And it's easy.

And if that wasn't enough to get you motivated, there are also audio samples that let you hear how another pianist plays it.

Piano lessons for beginners do not have to be the same old boring thing most of us have come to know. They can actually be fun AND creative!

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/piano_lessons.html for a FREE piano lesson!

Piano Lessons: Creating an Impressionistic Soundscape

           

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Ah? the Soundscape. That indefinable rush of notes that envelopes and soothes. The first classical composer to really embrace this type of music was Claude Debussy.

In fact, a whole style of music (Impressionism) was coined based on his music alone.

It's a lush style that tries to steer clear of too definable a melody line. Instead, textures and rhythms are explored. Some students think this style is the hardest to learn but I think it's actually easier to play this style than the straight melodic style embraced in the classical period.

For the improvising pianist, creating an impressionist Soundscape requires nothing more than learning a few chords and playing them.

Debussy based much of his music on something called the whole-tone scale. This scale basically takes out any "tension" that can be found in our major and minor scales. The Chinese and Japanese use pentatonic scales frequently and this is also similar.

But, we don't have to use these scales to create our Soundscape. The C Major scale will work just fine. For instance, in the lesson "Reflections in Water," we use open position chords to create with. It's HOW we use them that gives us the feeling of a Soundscape.

We play slowly and allow the notes to ring out. No rushing is involved here. Instead, we adapt an attitude of exploration. The music is created by allowing our fingers to play with the tones in the C Major scale. Chord changes come every few bars or so. The music is repeated a few times and then we stop.

You see, you don't need fancy materials to create beautiful Soundscapes with. You can use just a few chords from the C Major scale and improvise a beautiful piece of music! We play with the textures and allow the music to appear - without forcing or willing it into being.

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/piano_lessons.html for a FREE piano lesson!

What Piano Bears Can Teach Kids about Lessons

           

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Did you know that animals can help children learn? It's true. By giving human characteristics to animals, anthropomorphic literature and learning aids create an adventure to help children explore new ideas and develop new skills. This is no less true when it come to helping kids learn piano. Creative piano education resources give meaningful context to learning with literary aids that delight, inspire and inform. Here?s a story example using two characters from Piano Adventure Bears Music Education Resources.

Beary Ann is a young girl bear who likes to dress nicely, with a ribbon in her hair and socks that match her shoes. She loves music and is learning to play the piano, but one day at her lesson she started to worry. While starring down at her shoes, she tells her teacher,

"I'm having soooooo much trouble remembering the line notes of the bass staff! How will I ever learn my new song in G Position?" Her teacher, Mrs. Treble Beary suggests a fun sentence to help Beary Ann remember.

"I'm sure you can remember this sentence to help you read the notes, said Mrs. Treble beary, Great Bears Do Find Answers."

Beary Ann looked up at Mrs. Treble Beary with a smile on her face, "That's not too difficult. I think I can remember that, but how will it help me learn to read the notes?"

"Well, the first letter of each word names the line notes of the Bass Staff." Mrs. Treble Beary pointed to each line on the bass staff beginning with the bottom line and said, "G, B, D, F, A - Great Bears Do Find Answers."

"Oh, I see, said Beary Ann, you invented a sentence to help you remember the line notes."

"Yes. You can make up your own sentence, if you like, Beary Ann," said Mrs. Treble Beary.

"I can?"

"Sure you can."

Beary Ann thought for a while...and then said excitedly, "GBDFA - Gorgeous Bears Do Find Accessories!"

"Very creative," replied Mrs. T., chuckling. "You're good at this!"

Beary Ann went on to read the lines of the bass staff and learn her new songs in G Position. She made up a sentence for the space notes as well - ACEG, All Chocolate Eats Good. At her piano recital Beary Ann wore a matching outfit and played, "Ode to Bears" and "Elise's Fur," by her most favorite composer in the whole world, Beartoven.

See how stories and make piano lessons more fun and inspire children to feel more confident about learning. It's hard to believe that a simple thing like a little story, can help students change perspective, overcome worries, and set goals. But it's true. Simple things (and bears) can make a big diffrence in a child's future.

To learn the best way to share the gift of music with children visit Amazon.com for my Piano Adventure Stories for Children These exciting Piano Adventure stores for children ages 5 to 11 feature the loveable characters, Mrs. Treble Beary and her passionate, new piano student, Albeart Littlebud. Children love following along with Albeart to Mrs. Treble Beary's piano studio in Musical Acres Forest. Here they learn what piano lessons are all about in a fun way that kids readily understand and appreciate! Piano students laugh and giggle while reading "Little Bear's Musical Garden" and "Little Bear's Piano Goals."

For a wealth of f'ree information and piano music online visit Piano Adventure Bears Music Education Resources Don't Wait to Share the Gift of Music!

Piano Lessons For Your Kids

           

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Children can start taking piano lessons at the age of four when they already know ABCs and numbers. You don't have to wait untill your kids show interest in piano. You can always start introduce the instrument to them. When they can learn fast and enjoy the lesson, you know that it's in their blood to play piano.

When you planned to give your kids piano lessons, you better start planning to buy a piano if you don't have it already. Piano player, even the professional ones still need to practice on the daily basis.

Piano lessons need more than just understanding and memorizing, the fingers need to feels the lessons through practices. So it is very crucial to have a piano in your house.

You should not substitute piano with keyboard or digital piano. At this early stage of learning piano, the fingers are going to an important stage of forming the muscle. The kids also learn to coordinate their fingers with the sounds they make. Accoustic piano give an unlimited sounds that will influence the sensitivity of ears from the sounds it makes.

It doesn't have to be a good piano from an expensive brand, but an ordinary accoustic piano will do. A used ones will work nicely too. You can always try to rent them if you can't afford to buy one.

Last but not least. When choosing a piano teacher, you should examine if that person is really just a player or is a teacher. You will need to find a teacher. Not all piano player is a good teacher.

Dini Shanti is a working at home moms who own a site dedicated for moms including articles about piano. Please keep the links active when using this articles on your website.

Should You Learn on a Keyboard or Digital Piano?

           

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The keyboard and digital piano market is certainly much larger today than the acoustic piano market. The reasons for this are mainly due to the available space in the modern home, advances in technology that allow you to record your own music on your digital piano or keyboard, and the useful feature of being able to play with headphones.

- - Grand Pianos - -

In an ideal world it is best to learn on a grand piano.

The grand piano produces the best sound, has more weight to the keys which strengthens the fingers more, and has a faster repetition due to the superior horizontal piano action which relies more on gravity than the upright.

The disadvantages of the grand piano are mainly the space they take up and the high price tag.

- - Upright Pianos - -

The upright piano is the next best thing to learn on.

Much less space is required than a grand piano, prices are cheaper and the sound of the tallest uprights are almost identical to the grand piano.

- - Digital Pianos - -

The digital piano comes next in line.

The sounds are recordings from a grand piano and the touch, although lighter than a grand or upright piano, is pretty realistic.

The main advantages of the digital piano are:

* Cheaper to buy * Easier to mover around * Lots of different instrument sounds to play around with * Can be used with headphones * Takes up less room than an upright piano * Easy to record your own music * No tuning required

Disadvantages:

* New improved models are brought out every 2-3 years * They wear out very quickly if played a lot * The touch is not quite heavy enough * The sound is easily identifiable as electronic

- - Keyboards - -

Last in line is the keyboard.

The keyboard is not the best thing to learn on.

Advantages are:

* Much cheaper to buy than any other type of piano * Easy to carry around * Takes up limited space. Easily storable * Record your own music * No tuning required

Disadvantages:

* The keys are way too light * Only 61 keys instead of 88 * Poor sound quality * Harder to play dynamics

- - Conclusion - -

If your budget is tight, then a keyboard will do for the first year of playing only.

Practicing on a keyboard is ok if you are mainly learning the notes and the theory of music. After one year you will need to upgrade to either a digital piano or an acoustic piano.

There is a free piano course I have created for you below. It will give you a taster for piano lessons without you having to spend any money. I have given as much information, tips and techniques as possible.

Graham Howard is considered an expert in the piano industry. He has spent his whole life SURROUNDED by pianos. You can get some free piano lessons: "Learn How to Play Piano, Read Chords, Understand Rhythm and Read Music", a free 5-part mini course written by Graham Howard here: http://www.ukpianos.co.uk/free-online-piano-lessons.html

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Five Great Practice Ideas I Learned From My Piano Students

           

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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:

1. A Colonel in Virginia that I taught for several years got up at 4AM every weekday morning and practiced on an electronic keyboard with headphones so he wouldn't disturb anyone at that time of the morning. "I love the early morning", he said, "because it's so quiet and peaceful and I'm fresh and raring to go. No phones are ringing, no people walking into the room, no disturbances at all. I practice for a half-hour, have breakfast, and then hit it for another half-hour -- all before I have to show up for work. When I get home in the evening, if I'm too tired to practice, I don't feel guilty because I've already got my licks in for the day. And if I'm up to practicing some more -- well, it's a bonus!"

2. An elementary school teacher in Indiana told me she took each piece I assigned her and transposed it into all 12 keys -- not written out, but at the piano -- in her head. She said "It doesn't always sound so hot, but I find that if I keep at it day after day, I can at least get by in the most difficult keys, and it makes the easier keys seem real simple. And it gives me a perspective that I just wouldn't get it I just played it in one key -- the key it is written in. I've learned that each key has it's own "feel", and some keys are bright (like "D") and some keys are mellow (like "Db").

3. Another piano student with a similar idea, who was the Minister of Music in a Catholic church, said he took one whole month of the year and devoted it to mastering just one key. Since there are 12 months in the year and 12 Major keys, that works out perfectly. So in January he played everything he could find in the key of C, and transposed anything that wasn't in C into C. In February he went up 1/2 step to the key of C# (also known as Db enharmonically) and played everything in Db and searched for pieces written in the key of Db, and so on. By the time the year was up, he had a pretty fair grasp on the 12 Major keys. I suggested that he devote the next year to the 12 minor keys, and the next year to the modes, and the next year to polytonality, etc., etc. -- but as I recall he decided to just recycle through the 12 major keys, since he used them so much more than the ones I suggested.

4. Still another piano student took an idea from me and twisted it a bit. I suggested that she play along with pieces she liked on tapes and CD's, so she would get a feel for the motion of the song. (I used to do that by the hour when I was a teen-ager, and it paid off big time for me!). She took the idea and tried it and liked it so much that she started getting videos of people playing the piano. She arranged her TV and video player so that she could be at her piano while the video was playing, and she would play along with the pianist on the screen, following her/his hand motions and arm motions and finger position and thereby getting a feeling for the flow of the music. (Patterning). Her creativity is paying off for her -- she is advancing rapidly. (And by the way, don't think she is "copying" the person she is watching -- not at all. It's the same principle as watching Michael Jordan moving toward the basket, or watching Sammy Sosa swing a bat -- it just gets you in the right groove before you apply your own style to it.)

5. A doctor I have taught for years makes a idea file of things he has learned about piano playing over the years. He notes where in a given book or tape or video I discuss such and such a topic, and files that alphabetically. Then later when he needs to refer to that idea, he simply looks up the idea in his file, locates the video or cassette or book, and presto -- he can review that idea or concept almost instantly. It's like a card catalog in the library -- makes finding things so much faster than flipping through endless books trying to find that idea you saw long ago.

With the advent of the computer a person could store and categorize ideas such as this very quickly.

Hope this gives you some ideas of your own!

Duane Shinn is the author of the popular free 101-week online e-mail newsletter titled "Amazing Secrets Of Exciting Piano Chords & Sizzling Chord Progressions- Intelligent Piano Lessons For Adults Only! " with over 84,400 current subscribers.

Piano improvisation: Learn To Improvise On Your Piano By Faking

           

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Do you have a fake book? Just one of those songs could be the source of many meaningful exercises that will help you grow as a musicician and as a pianist.

What is a fake book?

A "fake book" contains songs written in a concise format that includes only the melody and chords, letting you interpret the song's performance according to your own taste.

The songs in a fake book have a single melody written out in notes with the lyrics written beneath the notes. Above the notes of the melody you'll find the names of the chords to play.

This format is very compact. You will often see fakebooks containing 500 or more songs. Here are some suggestions on how to use one of these songs for increasing your improvisational skills:

1. Chords. The suggested chords are often very rudimentary. Most jazz pianists spice up the songs with more elaborate chord progressions. Try to find more chords to use in the song. This exercise will increase your skills in chord theory.

2. Scales. When you have elaborated upon the chord progressions in the song you can choose scales that work with the chords you have chosen. If you find this hard to do you can buy scale books with scale suggestions for different chord progressions. This is an exercise in scale theory.

3. Practising piano chords. Start with the first chord in the song, play it in different positions on your piano and in different combinations.

4. Practicing chord progressions on the piano. Take a couple of bars of the song and practise to play the progressions over and over again varying the chord voicings.

5. Practicing scales on the piano. Begin with the first chord and the scale you have chosen with it and start by playing the scale up and down the keyboard with the right hand and the left hand.

6. Practice piano improvisation with scales. As soon as you master playing the scale up and down the piano it is time to create music with the scale by playing around with it, creating patterns and inventing melodies.

7. Practise piano improvisation. Take a couple of bars and play them over and over again with chord voicings in the left hand and improvising with the appropriate scales with the right hand.

It is also good to practice piano improvisation with your left hand and voicings with your right hand.

There are of course many more things you can do with a song in order to develop your skills in piano improvisation. Help yourself and don't forget to have fun and to also play the song in its entirety with the melody.

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