Jazz pianist Hoagy Carmichael’s story is one of a musician overcoming the odds. For Hoagy Carmichael, life started with a succession of homes across the Midwest as his father moved their family around looking for steady work, returning always to Bloomington, Indiana. While his mother would play piano for the local movie houses and at dances, Carmichael would stand beside her. He later reflected on this time, stating, “Ragtime was my lullaby.” Lida Carmichael, Hoagy’s mother, dreamed of seeing her son become the president of a railroad. Railroad work wasn’t in the future for Carmichael. With his mother’s musical ear and a burning ambition to become a jazz musician,  Hoagy went to hear Louie Jordan playing with an early jazz ensemble in 1919. The performance convinced him to become a musician. The final piece of his future destiny fell into place when Hoagy Carmichael played an improvised piano tune for coronet player and fellow jazz enthusiast Bix Beiderbecke. Bix asked Hoagy why he didn’t write music himself, and thereafter Hoagy decided to become a musician, songwriter and entertainer for a living. As with many artists, the road to success and fame wasn’t always smooth. After initial success with the celebrated “Washboard Blues” and “Riverboat Shuffle,” Hoagy moved to New York City.  Finding that his initial success faded, Hoagy eventually had to work a job selling bonds with a Wall Street broker to make ends meet. He chose to produce music he believed in rather than succumb to growing pressure to produce commercial songs. The conviction and desire to remain true to the music he loved finally yielded results with the release of songs like “Rockin’ Chair,” “Georgia on My Mind” and “Lazy River.” Alongside artists such as Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington, the new medium of radio quickly thrust Hoagy Carmichael, the pianist from Indiana, into the spotlight. In 1936, Hoagy made the move to Hollywood, where many composers were experiencing unprecedented success. Over the subsequent decade, picking out a tune on a piano earned him success that his mother could never have forseen when warning him against a musical career path many years earlier. During this period, Hoagy Carmichael worked alongside lyricists such as Mitchell Parish, Frank Loesser and Johnny Mercer. By the late 1940’s, the musician had achieved almost unparalleled success. Hoagy Carmichael was a household name with hits on the radio, record deals and appearances in movies such as “To Have and Have Not” and “The Best Year of Our Lives.” In 1946, three of four songs on the Hit Parade were written by Hoagy Carmichael. In 1951, Hoagy won an Oscar along with Johnny Mercer for ‘In the Cool, Cool, Cool of Evening.” Hoagy was even host of his own TV show, “The Saturday Night Review.” The charm of Carmichael as an entertainer was in his ability to remain the kind of person that the public felt they could have a drink with or a share a joke over dinner. Hoagy Carmichael was an entertainer that the average person felt they could identify with easily. He was someone who shared the same hopes and dreams they did. Beneath his easy going exterior, the musician retained an intensity of emotion which powered his music and desire to produce quality work. To see Carmichael late in his career at his piano performing songs like “Lazybones” and “Ole Buttermilk Sky” with his unique style and distinctive voice made it hard to imagine that he ever struggled to achieve success. Carmichael’s tale of himself as a young kid going crazy for jazz music and making the piano his life’s work is the story of a triumph of the human spirit.  Hoagy Carmichael’s journey from humble musical beginnings wasn’t always smooth, but his development as a musician and entertainer gave many popular and highly regarded songs to the public during his long and successful career.

What is an octave? The word “octave” is related to “octopus”, “octagon”, etc — in other words, eight. In music, an octave is 8 diatonic scale notes  higher or lower than  the note of the same name. For example, the “A” note is always 8 notes higher or lower than the previous “A”. The “A” above middle C vibrates 440 times per second, so the “A” an octave above it would vibrate 880 times per second, while the “A” below middle C would vibrate 220 times per second, and so on.  The human ear identifies these octave notes as being “the same” — only higher or lower, so if a soprano sang A440 and a bass sang A110, the human ear would hear it as the same note — just separated by pitch. That’s why there are only 7 distinct diatonic pitches and only 12 distinct chromatic pitches, despite the fact that the piano keyboard has 88 keys. Each note is repeated over and over again, but at a higher or lower octave.

George Gershwin was born on the 26th of September, 1986 in Brooklyn, New York. His roots were a mix of Ukrainian and Jewish roots, from Russia. The key to his interest was a violin recital by his childhood pal Max Rozen. He liked what he had heard. His parents bought a piano for his brother and future lyricist, Ira Gershwin. He took it from there and took to it more than his brother Ira. Gershwin came from a family that had music in their blood. In addition to his brother getting into music, his sister too, started taking it up early in life, but gave it up in favor of a family life. Gershwin was tutored by a number of tutors who didn’t make much of an impact on him and his music until he met his last piano teacher - Charles Hambitzer. Hambitzer taught him to the proper way of playing a piano. Paving his knowledge of European music history, introduced him to the music of the past and encouraged him to attend a concert when he could. When he eventually did this, he was quick at reproducing the same music note of note after returning home after the concert. He also studied with Rubin Goldmark and Henry Cowell. When 15, George quit school and started working at Jerome H. Remick and Company as a ‘song-plugger’ where he took a salary of $15 a week. His first commercial success was tasted with Rialto Ripples in 1917 but he really hit it big time in 1919 with his composition Swanee, which shot him to fame all over the United States. In 1916, he worked with Aeolian Company and Standard Music Rolls doing the recording and arranging piano rolls. There is no official count of the rolls that he came up with, but it is said that he has hundreds of piano rolls to his credit. He credited his work here with number of aliases – some which were Fred Murtha and Bert Wynn. He made rolls for reproducing pianos made by Duo Art and Welte Mignon. He had a small little stint getting into vaudevilles playing pieces by Nora Bayes and Louise Dresser most often at the vaudeville shows that he performed at. In 1924, he and brother Ira worked on their first musical together - a comedy - Lady be Good. The songs from Lady Be Good – Fascinating Rhythm and the title track Lady Be Good - were soon to be standards. Then on, a string of musical followed with most of them being very successful. Some of them are Girl Crazy, Strike Up the Band, Funny Face, Show Girl and Oh, Kay!. From among these, Girl Crazy became the first ever musical to win a Pulitzer Prize apart from spurning the hits I Got Rhythm and Of Thee I Sing. The same year he made music for a musical, he also composed his first classical piece – Rhapsody In Blue. The piece was, orchestrated by Ferde Grofe, played by Paul Whiteman’s band. He tried a hand at learning something from greats like Nadia Boulanger and Maurice Ravel rejected the proposition to teach him saying that bring his technique mainstream would ruin his jazz specialty. His stay there inspired the piece An American In Paris. The piece didn’t do well at the press and with critics, when he played for the first time on the 13th of April in Carnegie Hall. But it, like some of his other early hits, became many jazz band’s standard repertoire. After getting fed up with the music scene in Paris, he decided to return home to the United States. His best was yet to come. Two years before his death in 1937, he composed his most appreciated work yet. Porgy and Bess premièred on Broadway in 1935. The music was a hit mainly because it had a little bit of all kinds of musical culture of the time – a little black music, opera induced recitative and leitmotifs – which was understandable as all the characters were black people. In 1937, Gershwin began complaining of being able to smell burnt rubber and of headaches. He was diagnosed with a condition of a brain tumor called glioblastoma multiforme. Despite the condition, he continued to work. He played with the San Francisco Philharmonic Orchestra in the same year. This was his last performance before he collapsed and died and dies while working on the score of The Goldwyn Follies. Two months after his death, the score of They Can’t Take That Away From Me, from the film Shall We Dance won the Academy Award for Best Original Song.

Auld Lang Syne

By adding color tones to your chords you can create a much fuller sound in most any song: Color Tones in “Hark The Herald Angels Sing”

You have likely seen the US Army band “Pershing’s Own” at various occasions or playing taps, the beautiful and stirring music played as a final tribute to fallen soldiers. Started in 1922, the US Army Band has played a significant role in major US events and happenings. The band plays at the White House and events such as the visit of a leader of a foreign country. The band also performs on official occasions as the need arises. The main mission of the Army band is to provide “musical support to the US troops both at home and abroad as well as for the citizens of the USA.” There are four special army bands that have the honor of performing at special functions. These are Pershing’s Own, Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps, US Army Field Band and US Military Academy Band. These special units are comprised of the best musicians in the US Army. There are several other musical units in the US Army Band. The jazz group called the US Army Blues plays original American jazz music.  The US Army Chorus is an all-male group, which as the name suggests, is the vocalist arm of the band.  Other support units within the main band are the Brass Quintet, Rock and Pop Band, and Stage Band. How to Join the Band Before being accepted into the US Army Band, you have to meet regular army enlistment requirements. As such, if you are considering joining the US Army Band, get in touch with the recruiting office in your area.  Once you meet the standard enlistment criteria, you will need to audition. Only proficient musicians are accepted. So what does being proficient mean? You must sight read music and have an understanding of scales, tone, rhythm and other related areas. The audition is generally administered by a band recruiting officer or a band commander. The US Army website provides valuable information on what’s expected in your audition based on your musical instrument of choice. For instance, to pass the audition for the keyboard, the following requirement must be met, according to www.goarmy.com: * Prepare selections from each of the following: swing, pop/rock, ballad and Latin and classical (optional). This is valued at 40 percent. * Sight read representative literature and chord changes, for another 50 percent * Play major scales with arpeggios, three octaves, memorized, use both hands for 10 percent. * Should be able to demonstrate knowledge of the following chords: Maj 7, Min 7, Dom 7 and the ii-V7-I chord progression. In order to be accepted, you have to audition with a specific instrument. You must be able to play one or more of the following: * Bassoon * Clarinet * Electric bass * Electric guitar * Euphonium * Flute * French horn * Keyboard * Percussion * Saxophone * Trombone * Trumpet * Tuba According to Jeremiah Keillor, Director of the Fort Knox’s 113th Army Band known as the Dragoons, “Band soldiers come in at a higher rank as part of the Army Civilian Acquired Skills Program.” The reason for obtaining a higher ranking when you join the U.S. Army Band is to acknowledge your years of training and experience in music. Once a musician is accepted into the US Army Band, they are required to learn the basics of being a soldier in the US Army. This means that they have to complete a total of nine weeks of Basic Compact Training. There are 30 U.S army bands spread across the USA and internationally. So, do you have what it takes to play in the US Army Band?

From amongst all the jazz legends and pop legendary pianists, Thelonious Monk is most known for what can be called ’straight forward jazz’. Born Thelonious Sphere Monk on the 10th of October 1917, Monk began playing the piano at the tender age of nine. Most of what he knew on the piano was self taught in addition to the tricks he learned while slyly dropping in on his elder sister Marian’s piano classes and a little formal training.He dropped out of Stuyvesant High School where he was doing his schooling to start playing the piano professionally. He toured with an evangelist for whose meetings he played the church organ. In his later teens, he got gigs playing jazz piano. He was the house pianist at a club - Minton’s Playhouse - in the early 40’s. His influences at the time were most the stride pianists of the era - Duke Ellington, James P Johnson and the likes. His trademark style of playing was something that he polished incessantly during the cutting competitions that took place at the club late at night featuring all the piano greats of the time. His stint at Minton’s Playhouse brought him in touch with the other exponents of Bebop - Charlie Christian, Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, Charlie Parker and Kenny Clarke. It is this period of time that the bebop style of playing was created . He influenced the the bebop style of playing so much that he has arguably been referred to as the founder of bebop. Monk then moved on to playing for groups. His first ever studio recording was made featuring the Coleman Hawkins quartet in 1944. He became the leader of the Blue Note three years later. His recordings with Blue Note displayed his penchant for coming up with composing music with strong melodies. The same year saw his marriage to Nellie Smith, with whom he had two children. His son TS Monk was born in 1949. He is a jazz drummer, composer and band leader. His daughter Barbara was born in 1953. In 1951, Monk ran into trouble with the police. A car in which he and fellow pianist Bud Powell was found to contain narcotics. During the trial against Bud Powell, he refused serve as witness testifying against Bud Powell. As a result, his New York City Cabaret Card was taken away by the police. Thus not being able to play in New York where there was liquor being served. He continued to play in other places though. He continued recording, touring and composing. After his contract with Blue Note Records lapsed, he moves to prestige records. At Prestige, he recorded some not-so-successful but critically acclaimed albums with Sonny Rollins on saxophone and Art Blakey on drums. It was around this time that the famous Christmas Eve sessions were recorded which were released in the form of the two albums - The Modern Jazz Giants and Bags Groove and Miles Davis - both of these by Miles Davis. He visited Europe in 1954. He went to Paris to record and perform. He met jazz patron and member of the Rothschild family, Baroness Pannonica de Koenigswarter, with whom he struck a friendship that lasted his life long. Though Monk was well recognized in jazz circles by his contemporaries and the jazz audience , his records didn’t sell as well. He shifted from Prestige Records to Riverside Records, who bought out his contract. In an effort to get the masses in tune with his style of music (which was thought to be too difficult at the time for the average listener), Riverside asked him to record an album two album of his own versions of the jazz standards of the time. Thus Thelonious Monk Plays Duke Ellington was released with the intention of increasing Monk’s market. The album has Duke Wellington’s tunes redone by Monk for which he had to study Duke Ellington’s pieces from scratch. On his next release, Brilliant Corners, he got a chance to actually record his own tunes. Expectedly the title track of the album was so difficult that it had to be put together from a total of three takes. Sony Rollins accompanied him on the album.

Music is simpler than most people make it out to be. There are only scales, scale fragments, intervals, chords, and rhythm. Look for the lowest possible denominator whenever you can. Ask yourself “Is this song made out of a scale? Out of a chord?” In this old Carol, you can see that the melody is nothing but the scale for that key — and only one octave at that. The First Noel The Angels Did Say

You can pump some energy into a song by playing two chords instead of one, or 4 instead of 2. In other words, use a 2 to 1 ratio. Watch this short video and see how easy it is to do. Angels From The Realms of Glory

Alberti was a composer around 1730 or so, and used this style so much that it was eventually named after him. Mozart and many other composers use his style: The Alberti Bass Style on “Angels We Have Heard On High”

Passing tones are notes that are not in the chord, but “pass through” between chord notes. An ostinato is a sustained bass note — usually the 5th of the chord — that is held while different chords occur over the top of it. Watch this short video on O Come All Ye Faithful and you’ll understand quickly. Musical passing tones and ostinato in “O Come All Ye Faithful”

Using parallel major 7th chords is a good way to create a rich sounding chord progression. Watch as I play “O Little Town of Bethelehem”, “White Christmas”, and “Joy To The World:

Irving Berlin started making music long before he learned to play an instrument. Before rising to the heights of superstardom, Irving (then Israel Beilin) was just another son of an immigrant in the United States. Through stubborn determination to express his music, Irving eventually taught himself to play the piano and became one of the most prolific composers in music history. Irving’s parents were poor, and after his father died, he found himself eking a living as a singing waiter in New York. He was already using music as a medium of expression, but it was when he was asked to write something catchy for a local business that he found his true passion. He also found himself with a new name - a misprint read “Berlin” instead of “Beilin” on the sheet music, and so he became I. Berlin. Coming up with the music was easy enough, but arranging it professionally was a challenge. In the early days when he worked alone, he employed outside help to arrange his musical ideas. His work as a lyricist proved successful and soon he was composing songs for modest stage productions. It was a decent step up from warbling for cafe patrons, but his life changed in 1911 when his song “Alexander’s Rag-time Band” hit the big time. It was an ode to the explosion of jazz in the early twentieth century. After Alexander’s Rag-time Band, Berlin was catapulted into the limelight as a songwriting star. He turned his attention to writing songs for full length musicals, and during a stint with the American army in World War One, he penned what became one of the most stirring American anthems in the country’s history. “God Bless America” is Berlin’s most popular and widely-known song, second only to the American National Anthem in popularity. Although he wrote music for many plays, his best known composition was Annie Get Your Gun.  He also had great success in films. White Christmas was sung by Bing Crosby in a movie called Holiday Inn, and the response was tremendous. The song won Berlin an Oscar, and he was the first and only winner to ever find his own name in the envelope. Berlin was also a keen businessman. He built his own Broadway theater called the Music Box. He also established the American Society of Composer, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) for creative minds in the industry. He also donated a great deal of his earnings to charity, most of it towards organizations assisting the army. President Eisenhower (for whom Berlin wrote the presidential candidacy song “I Like Ike”) awarded him a Congressional Medal in 1955 for God Bless America. Although Berlin enjoyed international success for his work, his personal life was sometimes fraught with tragedy. His first wife died only five months after they were married. Expressing his grief in his own way, he wrote “When I Lost You” as a tribute to her. Later he remarried a young socialite named Ellin Mackay. Her father condemned the union and disinherited her from his mining fortune. Berlin fathered three daughters with Ellin. The youngest son died as a baby. One of the most repeated quotes about Irving Berlin was first uttered by his composer friend Jerome Kern. He stated, “Irving Berlin has no place in American music. He is American music.” Despite having foreign roots, Berlin was fiercely patriotic. He loved America and thought of it as his own country. Irving Berlin was 101 when he died in 1989.

One of the most influential pianists in my life was Erroll Garner - affectionately nicknamed “the elf”. I went to see him at a concert in Sacramento when I was 14, and I was astounded that anyone could get that much music out of a piano. I went home that night and played and played, and decades later I’m still trying to master his style, and I still have a LONG way to go. Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on June 15, 1921, Erroll Louis Garner was destined to be an amazing jazz pianist and composer. By the age of three, Erroll was playing the piano successfully. Like many successful composers and musicians, he did not choose to follow traditional teaching methods to learn the piano. He was a self-taught musician who never learned to read music. He simply played by ear, not by the page. Being a piano savant, Erroll Garner began his long career in the spotlight at the age of seven. He started appearing on a Pittsburgh radio show. Nothing could stop Erroll. He was performing on the Allegheny riverboats by age 11. In 1937, his collaboration with saxophonist Leroy Brown became the highlight of Garner’s young career. Little did he know that his life was going to hold even more success. In 1944, Erroll Garner moved to New York. From 1944 to 1947, Garner worked with bassist Slam Stewart and Charlie Parker. Although he was an amazing talent, he was quite small in stature; therefore, according to some, Garner would often sit on top of a large Manhattan telephone book.  During the majority of his performances, along with sitting on a telephone book, Erroll Garner also was rumored to sing while playing. His vocals are featured in many of his recorded performances. Although his musical ear was his major asset, Garner was also well-known for his compositions.  His most recognized and celebrated composition was “Misty.”  “Misty” was written in 1954.  Because of this song, Erroll Garner was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame 37 years after its release. The song “Misty” also became an inspiration for the 1971 movie “Play Misty for Me.” In his own words, Erroll discussed his gift, stating, “I always play what I feel. I always feel like me, but I’m a different me every day. I get ideas from everything. A big color, the sound of water and wind, or a flash of something cool. Playing is like life. Either you feel it or you don’t.”  Of course, Erroll Garner was modest about his talents. However, it is agreed that his ability for playing the piano and using his ear to play music were remarkable talents. Earl Hines, a fellow pianist and Pittsburgh resident, was a great example and influence for Garner.  Garner’s level of success is often compared to the fame achieved by Louis Armstrong and Fats Waller. From 1947 through 1991, Erroll Garner recorded and released 15 records. The most recent record from 1991 was “Body and Soul.”  His most popular live recording was “Concert by the Sea” with bassist Eddie Calhoun and drummer Denzil Best.  Other well-known albums included 1947’s “Giants of the Piano,” 1951’s “Erroll Garner at the Piano,” 1958’s “Paris Impressions” and 1967’s “That’s My Kick.” “Erroll Garner,” “Mambo Moves Garner,” “Misty,” “Feeling is Believing,” “Erroll Garner Amsterdam Concert,” “Erroll Garner Plays,” “Gemini,” “Magician” and “Play it Again Erroll” are the remaining of Garner’s recorded albums. The United Kingdom hosted two rare consecutive appearances of Erroll Garner in 1964 on the British Broadcasting Corporation’s music series called “Jazz 625.” Garner performed with bassist Eddie Calhoun and drummer Kelly Martin in these performances. A notorious shot of Garner was taken during these sessions. This shot includes sweat running down Garner’s face due to extreme thought and concentration during the performances. At the time of his death, Erroll Garner was well-known all over the world. On January 2, 1977, he died at the age of 56.

This favorite carol was composed on a real ‘Silent Night.’ This famous carol might not have been written without a broken organ. Possibly, it was the stillness of the moment that moved the Reverend Joseph Mohr to write those legendary verses in 1818. At the time, he was most likely motivated by sheer desperation as opposed to inspiration. The Reverend Mohr was arranging the details for the Christmas Eve Mass in his parish within the tiny Oberndorf Village of Austria when he discovered the old church organ was out of order. With just a short time to go for the performance and the closest repairman days away, it seemed as though the Mass would have to go on without the arranged music. Desperate to pull off a notable Christmas, Fr. Mohr ventured off to execute another arrangement. This all happened in the middle of his normal parish responsibilities as well as being asked to go out and bless a new baby. In the middle of this visit, Fr. Mohr was instantly hit by what the words to “Silent Night,” or “Stille Nacht” in German, really mean. He ended his conversation and rapidly made his way home, because he did not want to forget the lines that were quickly accumulating in his head. In the English language the first four stanzas of Silent Night are: Silent Night, Holy night, All is Calm, all is bright, round yon’ virgin, mother and child. Holy infant so tender and mild, Sleep in Heavenly peace. When he wrote the words down, he called his friend Franz Gruber, the parish choir director. In addition to his talent on the organ, Gruber was also an expert guitar player. Gruber forcefully told him that he was not a very good guitar player. Unfazed, Mohr offered his new verses of poetry to Gruber. Getting an old guitar, the two gentlemen wrote the music that would be known as the score for Oberndorf’s Christmas Mass. Surely neither Mohr nor Gruber were aware of their future impact on history. For close to ten years, in fact, the song fell away into obscurity. It was, in fact, the Strasser family of Zillertal Valley that took the song “Silent Night” to a whole new musical level. The talent of the Strasser children brought much business to their parents’ glove-making company. Not different from today’s talent scout finding a musical prodigy in the most precarious of places, the Strassers were presented with “Silent Night”. After being redone in four-part harmony the song catapulted the Strasser children to instant stardom. Because the Strasser children sounded so much like a choir of an angels the song was renamed “The Song From Heaven”. Because of their beautiful singing the Strassers were invited to perform in front of royalty. It was possibly a king who prompted “Silent Night” to become a Christian standard. Twenty-two years after the Strasser children started performing it, King Frederick William IV of Prussia heard it and declared it should “be given first place in all future Christmas concerts” under his rule. The accuracy of the story has not been substantiated. What is clear, is that in spite of everything, “Silent Night” became a worldwide hit. Silent Night

Popular piano music

 

For the beginning piano student, the variety of popular piano music is staggering. A simple search will place the sheet music for “Pomp and Circumstance” and Mahler’s funereal variations on Frere Jacques in his Symphony No. 1 in D Major directly on your computer monitor. Download the pieces, print them out and practice until you’ve mastered them. Soon you will be an expert at many diverse kinds of piano music.

Whether you invest time in learning every note and trill involved in a piece or you’re simply looking for a chord progression for accompaniment purposes, sheet music is likely available. Mesmerize onlookers with your knowledge of the entire Beatles catalog! Serenade sweethearts with a flawless take on Irving Berlin’s “Blue Skies.” Why stick to practicing dull scales over and over when friends will be more impressed with a hot rendition of “My Heart Will Go On?” Jokes aside, the ease of obtaining popular piano music is making an extensive knowledge of entire song catalogs a breeze. The fake arrangement, which is a piece of sheet music outlining the basic chord progressions and melodies in a song, is invaluable to those wanting to play piano with modern ensembles. This kind of arrangement enables the pianist to know what is coming at him. It gives him the basic melodic theme with which to improvise, play behind another instrument or just play straight from the paper. Perhaps a more thoroughly written piece is what you’re after. Don’t want the fake arrangement of Beethoven’s “Moonlight Sonata?” Piano music for popular pieces such as Claude Debussy’s “Clare de Lune” and Frederic Chopin’s Prelude in C Minor is a handy tool for the beginning pianist or the tutor to have on hand. The longevity and popularity of pieces such as these makes them fun to learn for any pianist, great or small. So your skills on the instrument aren’t up to par with the virtuosos? Is that any reason to not enjoy a relaxing stay at the piano bench with the ivories at your fingertips? No, it’s not. Piano music doesn’t have to be difficult to be enjoyed. It shouldn’t always require a degree in music theory and performance. There are multitudes of pieces in the lexicon of popular piano music that are stunningly beautiful, yet don’t require years of rigorous practice. Elton John, one of the greatest pop composers in modern music, has songs that come in easy piano translations. Feel free to find a nice version of one of his songs, or perhaps a standard like “Singin’ in the Rain.” Plink out the melody, find the bass line and play until your heart’s content. Piano music is one of the most enduring forms of art and entertainment in the world. With the instrument’s multiple octaves and singular ability to produce melody, harmony and underlying chord progressions, the piano is a timeless wonder. So invite some friends over, find some great sheet music and have a sing along to some of your favorite songs.          

What do those sharps or flats mean at the start of a song? They are known as “key signatures” and they announce what key a song is in. If there are no sharps or flats, a song is either in the key of C major or A minor. Every major key has a relative minor key. Watch this short video on key signatures.

Did You Know That Music Is Based On Natural “Laws”?

Did you know that music is based on natural “laws” — like gravity — and by learning to understand how those natural laws work we can actually understand what we are doing when we play — we don’t have to be at the mercy of what someone else has written on a piece of music.   How many of these facts do you know about music & piano playing? Test yourself and then check the answers at the bottom of the page:    

• Did you know that by learning just 3 chords you can play hundreds of songs?
• Did you know that there are only 12 major keys you can play in, but you only really have to master one key to play most popular songs?
• Did you know that it is possible to easily match any melody note (tune) to a chord, so you can harmonize any note?
• Did you know that Beethoven’s Fur Elise and the blues song “Summertime” uses the exact same chords for the theme of the song?
• Did you know that it is quite possible to predict what chord comes next in a song with accuracy approaching 85%?
• Did you know you can use the same chords to play boogie, blues, new age, gospel, pop, rock, jazz, country - anything except classical music? (And even some classics!)
• Did you know that guitar chords are the same as piano chords — the only thing different is the instrument and the resulting sound?
• Did you know that hundreds of songs use exactly the same form, so by learning that form you can know what’s coming next in a song?
• Did you know that by coming in through the backdoor of piano playing — chords — you can start making wonderful and satisfying sounds on the piano in just a few days instead of a few years — even if you don’t know Middle C from Tweedle Dee?

Answers to piano playing music questions:

     

• True. That’s because there are just 3 primary chords in any key — like family members: Mom, Dad, Child. Get to know those 3 and you’ve got it.
• True. It’s like languages. It’s great to be able to speak several, but you can get by with just one. I’d love to speak other languages, but I can get by with just English.
• True. Every note is part of several different chords. So it is easy to harmonize any song once you know the secret.
• True. Yep. They both use the A minor chord and the E7 chord in their themes.
• True. I know that’s hard to believe, but remember that music is based on math. Once you understand a thing called the “Circle of 4ths” it’s a piece of cake. In fact, I can tell you right now that 85% of the time the G chord comes directly after the D7 chord. So next time you run into the D7 chord, you have an educated guess of 85% that the next chord will be some form of the G chord. (G, G7 etc.) If you’re into amazing your friends, that’ll do it!
• True. Apply different rhythms to the same chords, and you have many styles of music! With the very same chords I can play boogie, jazz, rock, pop, gospel, new age, ragtime.
• True. Chords are chords. Once you know them, you can apply them to any instrument.
• True. Musical forms such as “AABA” and “ABA” are the basis of thousands and thousands of songs.
• True. Understanding chords and how them form the skeleton of music accelerates the learning curve exponentially.

The bottom line is this: music is based on natural law and is mathematical in nature. Understanding is the key to both rapid learning and getting more enjoyment out of the process.    

As you know, there are many many ways to arrange songs on the piano and bring your own unique twist to them. Here is one way you can use left-hand voicing in 4ths to create an interesting sound in this old Christmas Carol. For more ideas on arranging Christmas Carols, be sure to check out “How To Play Spectacularly Beautiful Christmas Carols On The Piano!”

Proper piano instruction is an element extremely vital to learning the instrument well. Though it’s very possible to be a self-taught piano player, piano lessons can really increase the speed and efficiency with which one learns the instrument. That’s not to say that great piano instruction makes great piano players overnight; even the most naturally talented pianists still play for years before they consider themselves advanced. But proper piano lesson instructions will maximize those years to the fullest and ensure that the student is learning the correct techniques. Though teaching styles always vary from instructor to instructor, piano instruction generally covers the same basic areas: fingering, , music reading, scales, technique, and sight reading. The early lessons will cover fingering and posture, making sure the student knows how to hold his or her hands and where to put them on the keys; series of scales practiced repeatedly will be the basis of this area. Piano instruction will then move on to notation essentials, starting with the basics of notes and key signatures and time signatures and then moving forward to more advanced concepts in rhythm, tempo and dynamics. Many of these concepts are introduced into the piano instruction while the student is learning to read music, a practice that runs through the entire course of the piano instruction. Teachers will assign short, easy pieces to kick start the student’s music reading knowledge and eventually move forward to more advanced pieces. Sight reading, the ability to play a piece of music without ever having seen it, is sometimes placed sporadically throughout the piano instruction, after a student is fairly well-versed in reading music. One crucial element of piano playing that is often left out of traditional piano lessons is the study and practice of chords and music theory. To learn to read music without understanding the theory behind the music and the chords and chord progressions that form the music is almost like teaching a surgeon to cut without understanding the human anatomy and it’s interrelated parts. The student will be able to play the piano from a piece of sheet music, but take that music away or have it blow off the piano and he or she is immediately in big trouble. There is a famous story about a lady who was a concert pianist and could impress people with her playing, yet when asked to play “Happy Birthday” at a party had to decline with great embarrassment because she didn’t have sheet music for the song handy. To be tied to the written music is a shame, when learning chords and music theory adds so much to the value of piano instruction. Given a healthy dose of music theory and chord instruction mixed in, all of the other elements of piano instruction eventually begin to work hand in hand. Piano instruction then becomes an intricate web of gaining bits of detailed knowledge little by little and understanding the music that’s being played without fully realizing that it’s being gained. Then playing the piano becomes more fun and a joyful event that can be shared with full understanding of the theory and form that lies behind each song.