When I was growing up in Auburn, California my older cousin Irving (later to become Dr. Irving Eisley, professor of music at the University of California and Mt. Holyoke College) would come to visit us during the summer and thrill and amaze me by playing Flight of the Bumblebee and Bumble Boogie. That was my introduction to boogie, and I still find it interesting and exciting.

Boogie-Woogie, thought to have its birth place in Marshall Texas, Is a style of blues piano playing that is characterized by a steadily repeated left hand bass figure. Sometimes called eight to the bar with a succession of right hand figures, much of it is written in 4/4 using eight notes. Boogie-Woogie pieces are generally 12 bar Blues.

This raw rhythmic style is considered the most impressive form of Jazz music. This piano music is infectious. Once you catch the Boogie-woogie “there ain’t no going back”. This music is extremely rhythmic with a real strong drive. It just grabs hold of you and makes you want to submit to its amazing power. It takes you to rapid highs and fast paced rhythms before you know what is happening to you.

The lively, exhilarating, rhythmic Pinetop Boogie Woogie was first recorded in 1928 by the incomparable Pinetop Smith. But that wasn’t the beginning of Boogie-Woogie. It was just the first recording of this exciting fast paced music. Soon to follow was a hit by Mead Lux Lewis that was called The Honky Tonk Train Blues. The Boogie Woogie was soon being played in house parties and Juke joints across the country. It wasn’t long before it even hit Carnegie Hall in 1938.

Boogie-Woogie style is characterized by the pumping left hand patterns that were said to be inspired by the steam locomotives that were opening up new opportunities for the recently emancipated Afro- Americans in America. This syncopated style of blues piano playing, has had a major influence on popular American music. In the early forties it had a huge influence on the swing bands and RandB style Jazz music. It was soon to become one of the major ingredients of what would become known as Rock and Roll.

Boogie-Woogie was originally called Barrelhouse music because it was played in the Barrel Houses that were a place where barrels of liquor were stored. The Boogie-Woogie has a distinctive 8 beat rhythm that will get your toes tapping in no time and will make you want to shout with enthusiasm. The roots of this style of music are said to go back as far as the 1900s But it really came into it’s own in the 1930s.

Fats Domino and Dr. John are a couple of all time favorites when it comes to Boogie-Woogie. Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis are not to be forgotten when talking about Boogie-Woogie piano playing. They brought this style of music to a whole new generation.

The Boogie- Woogie style is kept alive by current piano players both famous and amateur. The most famous Boogie-Woogie piano player today is probably Axel Zwingenberger. Ben Waters and Caroline Dahl are also known for their mastery of playing a mean Boogie- Woogie piano. Some of the well known songs by these pianists are Boogie Woogie Be With Me by Axel Zwingenberger, Boogie Woogie Stomp by the UKs Ben Waters and Caroline’s Boogie by Caroline Dahl.

If you are a relative beginner, take a look at Boogie For Beginners. It will get you started as a boogie-man or boogie-lady.

Sometimes people ask me why they have to learn all those different types of chords, such as augmented and diminished and 9ths and so forth. The answer is “They don’t. They can get by with just the primary chords UNLESS they want to create sounds that produce the feeling they want.” But for those of us that DO want to create some more complex sounds, it’s a good idea to learn all the possible chords.

To learn lots more about chords please go to All The Chords In The Whole Wide World!

Four Music Resolutions for 2012

Just because we’re now in to January doesn’t mean we can’t continue to make resolutions for 2012. Statistics show that most resolutions won’t make it far beyond January but maybe that’s because they aren’t realistic or we aren’t willing to leave our comfort zone. If you’re trying to improve your health, save more money, or spend more time enjoying life with your family, those are all admirable but maybe you have room for one goal relating to your study of music. Need some ideas? Here are a few.

Practice More

This is not a lot different from saying, “more exercise” so before we set a goal that has a long history of being unattainable for many, let’s make it realistic. How about practicing one extra hour each week? Still too much? How about an extra 30 minutes? 30 minutes of extra piano practice would equal 26 extra hours of practice per year and that’s a good step forward. You could even use those 30 minutes to practice something that your teacher never hears. Lean a new song on the radio, maybe. Remember that any time you spend with your voice or instrument will make you better providing you’re practicing with good technique.

Branch Out

Musicians who only learn how to play an instrument become burnt out over time. There is so much more to music than just performance. Music has hundreds of years of fascinating history that has shaped who we are today. The way music is constructed is as much based on math as it is on art and the way movie composers use technology to mix electronic and traditional instruments in to a gourmet meal for the ears is worth exploring.

Read at least one book about music this year. Find one on Amazon.com that interests you and branch out as a musician. You may not see it now but once you read one book, you’ll want to read another. As you learn more about music, you’ll want to become a better musician.

Upgrade

If you’re a vocalist, you can’t upgrade your voice but some instrumentalists can purchase step-up mouthpieces, reeds, method books, and new instruments. Pianists don’t have as many options but if you made a lot of progress last year, a new piano may be worth a look. Of course you should never change equipment without first talking to your teacher but make the resolution to spend some time talking to your teacher about what’s next when it comes to your equipment.

Play with Others

Music is best enjoyed in groups. Being a soloist has its benefits but interacting with other musicians brings on a whole new level of joy that may give you a fresh perspective. Make the resolution to become a part of a community band or orchestra, jazz trio, or form a group of your own. There is no minimum skill level required for playing in groups as long as you play with others that have similar skill levels.

What’s Your Resolution?

Maybe there’s something with your music that you’ve been wanting to do but haven’t had the courage to try. When if you try and fail, you just gained valuable information that will help with your next attempt. Remember, when you’re engaged in music, there’s no wasted time. You’re always getting better when you’re doing something. Have a happy and musical 2012.

One of the best things you can do for yourself this year is to take at least one piano course from our PlayPianoCatalog!

Two Musical Questions You’ve Never Asked But Always Wondered About…

You know what we’re talking about. In all areas of our lives there are those little mysteries that don’t seem important to ask about but still, it would be nice to know. It’s not like the answer is going to change our lives in any meaningful way but it would close the book on one of life’s little mystery so we can move on to another.

Music has those little mysteries as well and although there are enough for dozens of articles, we thought we would pick two today.

Note Stems

You know what we mean when we say, note stems, right? It’s the stick that the flag sits on. The note head is the circle that tells you what the note actually is and the stem is the stick coming up from the circle. Sometimes the note stems face up while other times they face down and although the reason for that is very simple, it’s hard to find a clear explanation for that.

In actuality, most of the rules for writing music are functional instead of musical or artsy. Although it would be nice to tell a grand story of Beethoven sitting in a cabin on some European mountain coming up with stem direction rules, that’s not what happened.

It’s purely functional. As you know music is printed just like words. We read it left to right and when we get to the end of a line, we go down to the next. Because every piece of paper costs the publisher money, they want the staves as close together as they can be without sacrificing readability.
The magic line on the treble clef is the third line or “B” line. On the bass clef, it’s the third line “D”. When a note is at the third line or below, the stem is written up. When the line is at the third line or above, the stem is written down. If a note is on the third line, the composer can write it how they would like.

By following these rules, the music stays better contained in the staff which allows the publisher to include more lines of music on the page. It’s also a little easier to read.

What’s With the Funny Words?

Why are all of these different languages used in music? Why say ritard when you could say, slow down? Why say cantabile when you could say, singingly? You could but that’s not what the composer wrote and he or she is free to write whatever they would like. If you play music long enough, you’ll find some pretty “interesting” notes to the performer.

Composers, especially those of earlier periods tended to be very nationalistic because communication was such that the world wasn’t globalized the way it is now. They knew the word they wanted and they wrote it in their native tongue. The bulk of the traditional musical marking are Italian because of tradition. Some speculate that it’s origins come from the widely accepted father of modern music notation, Guido d’Arezzo, an Italian monk who created the solfege system.

All classically trained musicians learn the same terminology and like any tradition, it has been passed down over centuries.

Modern composers are increasingly using words that have more meaning. With the English language being taught in schools all over the world, many composers are now using English since more people have a fundamental knowledge of the language than they do Italian.

Remember…

Much of music has traditional roots and much of its rules are grounded in tradition. Often, that tradition has attached to it some very interesting stories.

Do you know about Duane’s Crash Course in Exciting Piano Playing?

As you well know, songs are made out of various chords linked together in a series called chord progressions. The more you know about the techniques of getting from chord to chord smoothly, the better, and one good way is to use “walk-ups”. They almost always work when the chord you are moving to is a perfect 4th higher (a frequent progression), but they also work in other situations. Watch this short video and you’ll get the idea:

For a TON of techniques like this, click on “101 Ways To Make Your Piano Playing Fuller!”

If you want to play hymns straight out of the hymnbook as is, go to it. But most hymnbooks are written for 4-part voices — not for piano — and it’s a shame to waste all those 10 fingers of yours on just 4 part harmony when you could be getting such a much bigger and more flavorful sound! When sopranos, altos, tenors and basses sing those four parts, it sounds great. But you as a pianist have a MUCH bigger range. You have 88 keys, from the lowest A to the highest C. So why not use many of those to create more interest and color in your gospel songs and hymns? Watch this short little video I made to demonstrate some of the ways that can be done:

For a complete course on arranging hymns and gospel songs, come on over to “The Best-Loved Gospel Hymns Of All Time!”

Beethoven was never much for rules so why obey them for one of his most famous pieces?

Even the title of the piece popularly known as the Moonlight Sonata bears reference to Beethoven’s love of not doing things the way people expected. He called it Sonata Quasi Una Fantasia which means Sonata in the style of a fantasy or literally “Almost a fantasy”.

Listen to most music on the radio today and it follows a very similar style: It starts with a little bit of instrumental introduction, then the singer sings what is known as the verse. Then it goes in to the chorus, that’s the part that you often remember about the song which is why it is also called the hook in most songs. Then the song goes back to the verse, sometimes with different words and after that, the chorus again. Then we get to the bridge where the song changes pretty drastically but eventually makes its way back to the chorus (often played twice) and then a little instrumental at the end. The whole song takes about 4 minutes but rarely more than 5 minutes. Songs on the radio today are fairly predictable.

In Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven’s day, they had the Sonata. It was a very predictable style and although we’ll save a discussion of sonata form for another article, what defined a sonata form was a fast and lively beginning with a slow movement somewhere in the middle and ending with a medium and then fast tempo movements or just a fast movement. Moonlight Sonata is slow, medium, fast.

By the way, in case you’re wondering, a Fantasy is often a piece of music based on an improvisatory style. In other words, by throwing in the word Fantasy (fantasia) Beethoven is giving himself license to do whatever he wants. (Not that he needed it. He often did whatever he wanted anyway)

Every piece of art has to have a story and if they don’t, we romantic humans with big hearts will often make up a story to give a piece of art more personality. Here are the two stories behind Moonlight Sonata. Beethoven wasn’t much in to giving piano lessons to people and there seems to be evidence that he wasn’t all that personable as a general rule but around 1800 Beethoven was giving lessons to a royal family who was most likely paying him well when he met Countess Giulietta Guicciardi.

He fell in love with her (artists fall hard, you know) and wanted to marry her. Sadly, Beethoven being a commoner couldn’t marry royalty. Instead, she married another amateur composer. Beethoven dedicated this piece to her and judging by the not so happy sound of it, one wouldn’t think that it was an upcoming wedding gift. If you believe this story, you can certainly hear the sorrow of a broken heart present in this piece.

On the other hand, some stories, far more boring, say that Beethoven visited Lake Balaton, located in Hungary. (yawn) If a lake was his inspiration, it must have been raining when he visited. We’ll let you decide which story you like better.

The term “Moonlight Sonata” was given to this piece by Ludwig Rellstab who said that the piece sounded like moonlight shining down on Lake Lucerne. (Yes, another lake.) Beethoven didn’t live long enough to know of his piece as Moonlight Sonata.

The piece starts with a slow movement that is absolutely beautiful and when a pianist plays it, they can’t help but hear the sorrow that comes from the piece. It is commonly known that the first movement is played with dampers and very softly the entire way as to not only paint a picture of sorrow but also deep reflection by a tired soul. (As you learn it, see what the piece says to you.)
The second movement sounds much more like a classical period piece, a little more lighthearted than the movements surrounding it. This is probably the least liked movement as many people only know the first and last movements.

The third movement, a technically challenging and musically complicated composition speaks to anger and not just inner anger but anger that bursts out of the soul. As you listen to it, think about what the inspiration for such a piece would have been.

This piece was wildly popular in Beethoven’s day. In fact, he got tired of hearing it himself. He once said, “Surely, I’ve written better things”.

If you’re about to embark on learning this piece, you’re most likely starting with the first movement and quite possibly, not playing the second and third. That’s ok with Beethoven as some of his students and other musicians of the period often did not play complete sonatas.

Now that you know a little bit more about the piece, dive in and have a great time with it.

To learn the first movement of Moonlight Sonata (that’s the theme — the part everyone recognizes) click on the link below to learn about our audio CD course (not a video — an audio course with the original sheet music of the first movement):

Learn to play Beethoven’s “Moonlight Sonata” on the piano

Here’s a bluesy little chord progression you can use in quite a few musical situations. It involves playing the IV chord of the key and then playing the IV chord of that IV chord to create a chord progression that gives a blues oriented sound. It sounds confusing but I think you’ll understand it when you see it on the video below:

For more instruction on the blues check out Blues, Boogie & R&B

Why do I need to learn scales and chords and music theory? Well, if you have the talent of a Mozart or Bach or Erroll Garner or Oscar Peterson or Dave Brubeck, you probably don’t. But if you’re like the rest of us — and 99.9% of us are - the more you learn about music, the better. After all, chords are formed from scales, and scales are the building-blocks of melody. And of course there would be no rhythm without the juxtapostion of note values and chord lengths. If you are at all interested in increasing your knowledge of music in any of these areas, come on over to http://www.playpianocatalog.com and browse through our 300-plus courses.

Here are some ideas for improvising on the blues scale. I picked the key of F, but of course you can play it in any key you choose as well. Notice that in the blues scale we use a flat 3rd, a flat 5th, and a flat 7th, plus the other notes of the diatonic scale. It is the juxtaposition between the notes of the scale and the flatted notes that creates the typical “blues” sound. Watch this short video:

For a complete course in playing the blues please go to Playing Blues, Boogie & Rhythm & Blues

Perhaps the most useful kind of chord is the 7th chord, partly because there are so many variations of 7ths. Far and away the most-used 7th chord is the dominant 7th, notated as F7, Bb7, D7, etc. But there are also at least 6 other types of 7th chords, including maj7, dim7, aug7, m7, etc. Watch this short video and you’ll get the idea:

There are so many things you can do with chords there seems to be no limit, After playing piano for many years, I still discover things to do with chords. In this video I demonstate how you can take any 4-note chord (you can also do it with 3 and 5 note chords as well) and starting with a tremolo create a rapid run up the keyboard. But like all techniques, don’t overdo it — use it sparingly and mix it with other techniques:

To create a tremolo as illustrated in this short piano video, take any 4 or 5 note chord and rapidly alternate the notes using wrist action, not finger action. This creates a sustained effect of the chord in play and is useful in certain situations, often at the end of a song.

Like Mr. Rogers used to say, “Won’t you be my friend?” (for those of you who are old enough to remember Mr. Rogers).

We just opened a brand-new Facebook Page so you can have easy access to all my videos, podcasts, articles — all in one place. So come on over to my Play Piano Using Chords Facebook page and get the free “Major-Minor Chord Chart” just by clicking on the “like” button at the top of the page.

Click on this link to go there: “Major-Minor Chord Chart”

You can make any simple chord sound more complex simply by using inversions, using different voicings, and adding color tones. You can also add arpeggios, grace notes, turns, and lots of ornaments to “dress up your playing”.

Click the audio player below to hear this short but interesting podcast.

Enhanced Podcast [ 2:53 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Melodies (the tune of a song) are made from scales, and sometimes purely from scales.
In “The First Noel”, for example, the melody is made entirely from the diatonic scale. I demonstrate it in the key of C, but the same would be true in any other major key. Watch this short video:

Lots of great courses on this type of thing over at our catalog.

Joy to the World is one of those wonderful songs that we get to play and sing every year. Many people don’t know the music was partially written by George Frederick Handel, the composer of The Messiah, with it’s finale, the Hallelujah Chorus. The words are in an English hymn by Isaac Watts.

We can add some rhythm to Joy To The World simply by adding a simple bass line and juxtaposing it with 3 chords played in the right hand beneath the melody. Watch this 9-minute video:

If you are interested in arranging carols like this, come on over to How To Play Spectacularly Beautiful Christmas Carols.

Do you know how to use parallelisms in your piano playing? Parallelisms can create some lovely sounds in most any type of music. Watch this short video where I demonstrate how to use them in some Christmas Carols:

If you would like to be able to arrange Christmas Carols using a wide variety of techniques, please go to How To Play Spectacularly Beautiful Christmas Carols On The Piano!

Sometimes in piano playing it’s nice to play a little trick on the listener by moving to a chord they don’t exepect. In this piano podcast I demonstrate several ways to surpise your listeners though the use of false endings, known in music theory as “deceptive cadences”.

False endings and deceptive cadences Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

7th chords are wonderful and satisfying, but at the same time they can be kind of confusing since there are so many different types of seventh chords. The most common type is the dominant 7th chord — usually just refered to as a “7th”. Then there is a major 7th chord, a minor 7th chord, a diminished 7th chord, a half-diminished 7th chord, an augmented 7th chord, etc, etc.

Watch this short video and hopefully it will clear up the confusion somewhat: