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Duane Shinn's Articles in Piano Lessons

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Playing Hymns & Gospel Songs On The Piano: A Treasure-Trove of Riches If you're a beginning or intermediate pianist interested in learning and playing hymn tunes -- particularly those relating to the Christian faith -- there are several issues working in your favor. First, as the words and tunes of hymns generally date back to pre-20th century times, most hymns live entirely in the public domain. Piano Improvisation in Three Steps Because of the technical virtuosity and skill of famous jazz, blues, and classical improvisers, many beginning pianists mistakenly assume that improvisation is to be learned in the distant future, when one's piano abilities are more developed. On the contrary, though, most contemporary piano teachers feel that improvisation is a huge part of playing piano at all skill levels, not just for experts. I Took Piano Lessons As a Kid, But I've Forgotten Almost Everything There are literally millions of adults today who took piano lessons when they were growing up, but at some point along the way gave them up. Some couldn't care less, but many have an urge down deep to take up piano playing again someday. Is It Really Possible To Play The Piano By Ear? Playing by ear is the ability to play a piece of music (or, eventually, learn an instrument) by simply listening to it repeatedly. The majority of self-taught musicians began their education this way; they picked up their instrument and began playing an easy melody from a well-known song, slowly picking out the notes as they went along. And even after these musicians master their instruments or a particular song, playing by ear still plays a large role. Piano Playing Secrets Of The Pros It's no secret that professional piano players use techniques that amateur piano players don't. So what else is new? Professional golfers use techniques that amateur golfers don't use (at least not very well), and pro ball players use techniques that sandlot and weekend athletes don't use -- or again, not very well. Music Theory & Harmony: The Key To Understanding How Music Works! It's a sad fact that most people, including piano players, regard music theory and harmony as some abstract concept that has very little to do with the songs they play on their pianos. Nothing could be further from the truth. Knowing music theory and harmony is the key to opening a whole new world of exciting insights into the songs we play, and enable us to do things on the piano we never dreamed we could do, to say nothing of enjoying the process a hundred times more. Piano Books: The Top Piano Books To Help You Become a Better Piano Player There are umpteen zillion piano books available in music stores and online at such places as Amazon. And piano books are usually necessary if your goal is to become a better pianist. How To Become a "Chord Detective" And See Through The Notes Right Into The Music! Over the years I have been a piano teacher I have had many people call or write me and ask me something like this: "I play by ear, or by chords, but lots of music doesn't have chord symbols written in -- how do I know what chord to play when?" Runs & Fills: How To Add Real Excitement To Your Piano Playing! We've all heard pianists who make us drool with musical jealousy when they play, using a tool box full of lighting-fast runs and clever fills that have us clamoring for more. How Pitch & Duration Are Determined Notes are the musical notation representing a fixed pitch. While the word strictly refers to the physical notation of a pitch, it's more commonly used to refer to both the pitch and the notation. Piano Lessons: Make Sure They Include Chords & Music Theory! 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. Transposition and Modulation: How To Transpose To a Different Key & Modulate Between Keys How do transposition and modulation relate? Are they the same? Let's take a look at both of them and see what makes them tick. How To Tell What Major Key A Song Is In Quickly & Easily Key signatures are a type of musical notation that indicate which key the song is to be played in. How To Color Without Crayons: Adding Color Tones To a Chord Adding color tones to a chord is like adding colors to a black and white drawing; it adds depth and dimension and well as bringing it to life. Inversions: How To Stand a Chord On It's Head Many people get all confused when chords are turned upside down. They recognize them when they are in root position, but when you stand them on their head...well, it gets kind of fuzzy for folks. Sprinkle Some Pepper On Your Musical Meal Through The Use Of Augmented Chords Augmented chords are to a piece of music like pepper is to a meal; you would never sit down to a meal of pepper alone, but you might sprinkle a little on your food to liven up the taste a bit. Use augmented chords judiciously and you will find they add real interest to your piano playing. Add Some Spice To Your Musical Meal By Using Diminished Triads Major and minor chords are the meat & potatoes of a musical meal. To add saltiness to the meal, add a few diminished chords. Minor Chords -- How To Form Them & Use Them Minor chords create a sound which is somber or serious; some people even think of minor chords as "sad", as opposed to major chords which sound "normal", or "happy". Christmas Carols You Can Play This Christmas With Just 3 Chords! Did you know that there are literally thousands of songs you can play if you know just 3 chords? How To Play The Piano Using "Shorthand" -- Chord Symbols -- Instead of Reading the Full Score Most people who took piano lessons as a kid, including me, grew up learning to read music exactly as it is written on the printed page. Being able to read music is a valuable skill, and I am delighted I learned that skill at an early age. Can YOU Play All The Major Chords in 3 Seconds or Less? Did you have any idea how easy it is to learn ALL the major chords (there are 12 of them) and be able to play them in seconds -- not hours or days or weeks or months or years? Exciting Improvising: How to Make Up Music Out Of Your Head As You Play Improvisation (also known as improvising) is the act of making something up as you go along -- an act with which we all have a little experience. Can You Become a Boogie-Man or Boogie-Lady? Boogie music, also known as boogie woogie, is a genre of piano-heavy music particular to America in the 1930's and 1940's and 1950's. It's characteristic walking bass is familiar to many as a harkening back to rock and roll, even though the form is based strongly on the blues (in fact, it's often been called an upbeat version of the blues). Five Great Practice Ideas I Learned From My Piano Students 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: What All Do I Have to Know to be a Really Good Piano Player? Many students ask me a question that goes something like this: "What all do I have to know to be a really good piano player?" Improvising On The Piano: Jazz Musicians Do It -- Why Not Other Styles? Why jazz piano improvisation? Why not gospel piano improvisation? Is it not possible to improvise classical music, or sacred music, or any other kind of music? Piano Playing Your Way: How To Have More Fun Playing The Piano Than You Ever Have Before Piano playing doesn't have to be boring. There's no law that says you have to play a song the same way everyone else plays it. By learning some basic music theory and chord formations, you can have the time of your life playing music like you have always wanted to. Playing The Piano Using Chord Symbols Instead of Being Tied To The Written Sheet Music Piano improvising and arranging is an art but definitely not a science. It is all based on chords and chord progressions. There aren't any steadfast rules for creating an arrangement, nothing to dictate the limitless potential of your imagination. Musicians learn to arrange by simply arranging and improvise by improvising -- over and over again. It's a big game of trial and error. But it's also a scientific method: you keep the experiments that work, and abandon those that don't work. Learn To Play The Piano Better By Learning To Arrange Chords & Chord Progressions Piano arranging is the process by which you take a written piece of music and rework it with chords, adding new bass accompaniment, fills, or even slightly altering the song's structure. Musicians: What Chords Do You Absolutely, Positively Have To Know? As you probably know, there are thousands and thousands of different chords in music - everything from basic major chords to minor 7ths to 13ths to suspensions to poly-chords. Someday, you might want to learn all those chords if you don't already know them. They Laughed When I Sat Down at the Piano -- but When I Started to Play -- Remember the old ad that used to run endlessly in magazines and newspapers: "They laughed when I sat down at the piano...but when I started to play..." ? Piano Playing is Easier than You Think When You Understand Musical Form Form is the key that unlocks the musical map of a song or a musical compostition. Like a house has rooms, so a song has rooms or sections. Killer Piano Playing Secrets of a Chord Addict! I wish you could have seen me play the piano when I was just learning. I was the nearest thing to "hopeless" that you could imagine. I was into baseball, not music; and my heroes were Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, and Ted Williams. (And by the way, I still have a picture of those 3 guys on my wall.) My dream was to hit baseballs like them, not to play the piano. The Many Incredible Benefits Of Learning Chording Techniques On The Piano Do you know the incredible benefits that come to you by learning chording techniques on the piano? Is It Possible To Create Cool "New Age" Sounds On The Piano Without Knowing A Thing About Musi I'll admit that for many years as a piano teacher I didn't think so. But in the last couple years I made a discovery about creating pleasant sounds on the piano that I never would have believed during my earlier piano teaching career. How To Match The Melody Notes Of Any Song To A Chord In Your Left Hand! If you've ever wondered how you can know which chords go with which melody notes, I've got good news for you! How To Predict Which Chord Comes Next In A Song Wouldn't it be nice if you could predict which chord would probably come next in a song? How To Play More Notes On The Piano Without Reading More Notes! Most professional musicians play from a book called a "Fake Book". I bought my first fake book containing only about 200 songs when I was a teenager -- they were illegal then, but most musicians owned them -- for $50. That would be equal to $500. 33 Tips to Becoming a Great Pianist Are there really secrets to becoming a really good piano player? Or is it just a matter of practice, practice, practice? How Many Chords Are There, Anyway? Since chords (the main component of harmony) are one of the three most vital elements of music – the others being melody and rhythm – it would be useful to know how many chords there are. And it doesn’t matter whether you play piano or guitar or some other instrument – chords are chords.

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