Archive for November, 2009

How to Play the Piano Fast by Making the Right Preparations

If you want to learn How to Play the Piano fast, it is important that you prepare yourself mentally, emotionally and physically. You must take time in finding out what is the importance of the keys and the pedals. You also need to know the seven basic notes first and their positions on the keyboard. Even if you do not know how to read piano sheets, you should at least familiarize yourself with the notes of the 88 keys found on the piano keyboard.

Believe it or not, proper posture is also important in learning to play the piano. You need to sit up straight and position your hands properly. Some people do not really mind proper posture that much. But come to think of it, you really won’t be able to play well for hours if your back is aching and your wrists are hurting. Any form of discomfort will affect the sound of your music. Besides, have you ever seen a pianist that has a sloppy posture while playing the piano? Even the recommended distance of your body from the piano should also be studied properly, especially if you have unnaturally short or long arms.

In piano, there is such a thing as correct fingering. Piano masters can easily detect if the person playing the instrument is a beginner or an advanced player just by looking at how the fingers of the pianist hug the keys. If you really have no piano background whatsoever, it is a good idea to look for a piano video tutorial that will teach you the right way of fingering the keyboard. You need to know which finger is assigned to a particular key because if you don’t, you will not achieve fluidity. Since there are pieces that may require you to cross over, you must know how to do it correctly so that you would not look funny or that the music you are playing will not sound strained or hurried. You need to know when to use your right hand and left hand carefully.

If you are keen on learning how to play this string instrument like the masters, you ought to learn how to read the notes and the music sheets first. But if you just want to learn how to play by the ear for pastime piano, it is important to focus on proper timing, key signature and time signature. You would surely agree that knowing when to play slow or fast and soft or loud is a key in achieving the right mood and harmony of the piece that you are playing. With video tutorials, you can learn all the essential techniques fast.

Benoit is a Passionate Piano Tutor who’s life mission is to share the great wonder of playing the piano to spread happiness to the world. For more information on How to Play the Piano , visit http://www.PianoTutorialSongs.com

From Keyboard Beginner to Expert – A Personal Story

When I first came into contact with the keyboard, I was absolutely clueless about how I should start learning. I had a little bit of music training when I was younger, but I could barely remember what I was forced to learn in those lessons back then.

Just as I thought I have wasted yet more money buying a keyboard that I will never use, I decided to give it one last try to see if my love for music has died completely. Just like most keyboard beginner, I began searching around for simple music sheets that I can play on. I went on the internet and downloaded some classical scores, but they were too complicated for a keyboard beginner like me.

I started to get a little bored until I decided to invest in a cheap home study keyboard course. The course came with work books to practice with and detailed videos lessons. The best part about it, however, was the game that came as an add-on bonus. The objective of the game is actually to familiarize you with the sounds of the chords, so basically I had to listen, recognize and come up with the correct answers. This was something that I have never been exposed before and it got me highly involved.

In fact, my obsession with that game was almost bordering on insanity as I started to listen to the radio to try to figure out the chords used in the composition of the current pop tunes. As a result, I became extremely good a recognizing chords in a matter of days of buying the home study course and I was tremendously proud of my achievements.

With the ability to recognize notes through listening, I began to learn the basics of playing the keyboard in the hope that I will soon be able to play the melody from my favorite songs as I listen to them. While things did not go as easily as I thought, I learnt and enjoyed myself so much that I was able to finally play the keyboard entirely by ear within 6 months of purchasing the home study course, spending less than an hour a day.

In retrospect now, I am extremely thankful that I allowed myself the opportunity to learn to play the keyboard as it was actually an unintentional decision. After I learnt to play the keyboard, I find myself being able to use the music to take my mind off some of my worries. Never much of a believer for the new age healing methods, I will, however, gladly spread the gospel of musical healings as it has certainly changed my life, for the better.

My name is Bryan and I have been playing the piano for over ten years. I personally know what it takes to become a good piano player. If you want to learn how to play the piano or the keyboard or even organ, visit http://www.lifesmusic.com

Learn to play Chopsticks on keyboard

A Fast and Easy way To Learn Piano and Keyboard

The perfect solution to learning the keyboard

Have you been looking for lessons that offer more than just one style of playing? Do you feel a little disappointed when you realize you’ve basically learned how to play a dozen or so tunes and that’s it – end of story – and you have to pay for another method to learn more?

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An ingenious way to learn piano and keyboard

Play like a professional keyboard player

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Imagine being at a party or function, it’s a little dull, you jump up to play an impromptu song, your friends and strangers join in, start singing and dancing and it’s all because you can play the piano and keyboard. You’ve made their night! Who knows – you might even go on to play for a living.

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Have you ever dreamed of playing like Elton John, Billy Joel, Lennon & McCartney, Barry Mannilow, Lionel Ritchie, Coldplay or Norah Jones? It’s possible and it’s EASY – you really are able to achieve a professional sound almost immediately. Once you are sounding great and are having a whole lot of FUN (which motivates you to learn more) you then expand step-by-step on your chord and rhythm knowledge into Blues, Ballad style, Jazz, Ragtime, Improvisation and yes… even Sight Reading Classical music.

If you know a little bit, nothing at all or just want to feel inspired to get back into playing the keyboard or piano then don’t delay. Check out this site for fast results. There are 10 ebooks, 200 videos and 500 audios.

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You too can become a professional

Photo by Bengt Nyman

Learning to Play Ode to Joy on the Keyboard

You have never played the keyboard. Your task is to start learning the keyboard and to perform “Ode To Joy” at the mid-year concert.

You will have one term of learning and ten half hour private lessons with a teacher before the concert.

So what is a keyboard?
A keyboard is an electronic piano-like instrument which has many functions to create varying sounds and rhythms. The most popular keyboards have four or five octaves.

and the keys are the same size as the piano. Keyboards vary so it is best to follow the manual to work what does what.

Step By Step Learning Guide
You can follow this guide, a teacher to show , play and guide you and a suitable tutor book which has information, exercises and pieces, including “Ode To Joy”.

Step 1: Introduction To Music

You will learn the following:

1. The musical alphabet: A B C D E F G

2. The white and black keys: The black notes are grouped in Twos and Threes in the same repeating pattern.

3. Your first note(s) C: ‘C’ is found to the left side of the Two Black Notes. Find all ‘C’s and play them.

4. Numbering your fingers: Start with the thumb as number 1, then work through the fingers 2, 3, 4 with the little finger as 5.

5. Basic Notation:

clef signs: treble clef – use right hand
-bass clef – use left hand
-grand staff: the set of five horizontal lines used to read notes in the treble clef joined with a vertical line to another set of five lines underneath, used for the bass clef
-bar lines: the horizontal lines seen regularly on the grand staff
-bar or measure: the music written between two bar lines
-double bar lines: two thin double bar lines indicate a change of theme in the music
-one thin and one thick double bar line indicates the end of a piece

6. Time Signatures: The figure after the clef sign tells us how many counts there are in each bar. To begin with we only need to read the top figure.

eg 4 count 4 in each bar 3 count 3 in each bar

4 4

7. Note lengths: You will learn 4, 3, 2, 1 count or beat notes with their given names of semibreve, dotted minim, minim, crotchet respectively.

8. The keyboard can play and sound like a piano or like a keyboard where there is a split point. This means that notes played to the right of that split point are melodic and played with the right hand. Notes played to the left of the split point are on the Accompaniment Section where chords with the left hand are played along with any rhythm which has been set

9. Your first tune: This will be ‘Mary Had A Little Lamb using any set of three black notes and your second , third and forth fingers.

Step 2: Playing Notes and Tunes With Your Right Hand by:

1. finding and playing all C’s, D’s, E’s, F’s, G’s separately on the keyboard. Each letter name has a specific place related to the black notes; therefore you can find eg all E’s on keyboard by playing the note to the right of the set of two black notes.

2. playing rows of one note using each of the four note lengths learnt in step 1 part 7. eg row of F’s on 3 beat notes

3. playing rows of one note using varying note lengths.

4. making up your own tunes using C D E F G and 4, 3, 2, 1 beat notes.

5. learning to read and play middle C D E F G
Middle C is the C closest to the middle of the keyboard.
Use the fingering 1 for C, 2 for D, 3 for E, 4 for F, 5 for G
Follow the guidance of your teacher and your tutor book to give you exercises and pieces to practise. Count out loud to help keep you in time. Numbers above the notes are the fingering numbers and means you play that particular note with the finger related to that number.

Please note that when learning a new exercise or piece you:
~ name each note
~ clap and count out loud the rhythm
~ play and say the notes

6. Read and play ‘ Mary Had A Little Lamb’ on the white notes using middle C D E F G

Step 3: Left Hand Notes In the Accompaniment Section:
You will start learning
1. six notes starting on G one and a half octaves below middle C; namely G A B C D E and using your left hand fingering 5 4 3 2 1 1 respectively.
You should have pictures of the keyboard and note positions plus relevant music to play and practise in the tutor book.

2. Chords: A chord is a group of notes played at the same time. A letter name eg C is placed above the melody to indicate which chord to play.

You will learn ~ C major chord – G C E

~ G major chord – G B D

~ F major chord – A C F or F A C

3. Tunes with right hand melody and the left hand chords.
There will be tunes just with C and G chords and then with F added.
Learn each hand separately first and when secure put the two hands together

4. Repeat Signs: these are signs to indicate repeating a section of music.

First and Second Time Bars: these are used when there is a section of music repeated but have two different endings.

Step 4: Introducing The Tie
A TIE is a curved line written above or below notes of the same pitch. The second note is not played but held for its full value.

You will practise exercise and pieces related to the TIE and what you have learnt previously.

Step 5. Introducing Quavers
You will learn what 1 quaver looks like, what 2 quavers look like and that each quaver gets half a count.
Follow your book for exercises and pieces.

Step 6: Introducing The Dotted Crotchet and Ode To Joy
1. Dotted Crotchet:
When you place a dot after a note it increases that note by half as much again.
A crotchet equals one beat and the dot after this beat equals half a beat. So a dotted crotchet equals one and a half beats.
A dotted crotchet is therefore followed by a quaver to complete the second beat.

dotted crotchet quaver

1 1/2 + 1/2 = 2 beats

counted 1 2 +

2. Ode To Joy

Learn this piece as you have learnt all the others.

When you can play this piece with two hands then it is time to use some functions on the keyboard to enhance the piece.

Some of the functions are:

a. Sounds: Experiment with the range of sounds your keyboard has by pushing the sound button followed by a number related to your chosen sound. Pick a suitable sound.

b. Dual Sound: This is where you can set two sounds together to get an effect. When you play a piece you can play a single sound, dual sound or mixture of both.Keyboards may or may not have this feature.

c. Metronome: Press this button and you can practise keeping in time.

d. Drum Beat: Play your piece with a background drum beat on the press of a button

e. Style: There are a wide range of background rhythms you can pick on the press of the style button followed by entry of a number given to the chosen style.
Ode To Joy has 4 beats in a bar so there will be a limitation of choice. Pick a suitable rhythm.
When you change the chord you play in the left hand the sound of the rhythm changes.

f. Introduction and ending: There may be a button you can push to give you an automatic introduction and ending to your piece.

Experiment with the above functions and add them to your piece. You may like to consider repeating the piece to show off the varying keyboard features. Sometimes putting a piece up an octave for a repeat works.

This is your 6 step written guide to learning ‘Ode To Joy’. You will need music to read, as in a tutor book plus a keyboard teacher to guide you.

Good luck and Enjoy The Concert

I am a business person providing a service as a keyboard, piano, flute, recorder teacher and work at home opportunities.

Take the technique of learning Ode To Joy to any piece.

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Grab some FABULOUS SHEET MUSIC IDEAS HERE

Hilary

Fast Fingers

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lecates/ / CC BY-SA 2.0

Learn How to Play the Keyboard – Mistakes That People Make

It is actually very easy to learn how to play the keyboard. All you need is starting out with the right components and follow up with consistent practices to become a good keyboard player. Some people make some silly mistakes because they were ill-advised in the beginning and end up wasting a lot of time and money in a bid to learn how to play the keyboard. Here are some common mistakes that you should avoid if you want to get your keyboard learning off to a flying start.

1. Learning from the wrong sources

The worst possible thing to happen when you learn how to play the keyboard is to learn from the wrong people who provide you with unsuitable material. When it comes to choosing the right piano teachers, it is always better to stick to the ones who are more experienced in this field. Similarly, when it comes to buying the right course that teaches you how to play, do not always make your decisions based on price. There are good online courses that are much more educational compared to the more expensive ones, but having said that, it certainly does not mean the cheap ones are all good as well. Always look around and do your research first.

2. Unprepared mentally

To learn how to play the keyboard depends heavily on your attitude. Some people claim to want to learn to play the keyboard, but they are not prepared to put in the hours and efforts to practice. There are also others who started out very seriously, but lose steam as time goes on. The simple fact is, the more time you put into practicing, the better you will get at playing the keyboard. The process cannot be any more straightforward because you need to go through the phase of making mistakes, to be able to improve on them and learn what it takes to play a particular song well. The process basically repeats itself as you go on, regardless of what level you are at.

3. Skipping on the basics

There is a group of people that want to learn the keyboard to play their favorite songs. There is nothing wrong with that except that they will be limited to just playing those few songs well. By not paying attention to the important foundation completely, they usually sound very imbalanced and unsteady when they play the keyboard because of wrong hand postures. Skipping the basics such as learning music theory can make progress very inflexible, and at some point of time they will be forced back to the basics.

The common mistakes that people make to learn how to play the keyboard are often ones that can be easily avoided through better judgments right from the start. There is nothing that discourages motivation more than bumping into too many walls when we learn. Thus, it is extremely crucial to embark on the right path to prevent unnecessary problems in the future.

If a cat can do it – you’ll be a master in no time.

charlie schmidt’s “cool cat”