Stop Playing Piano the Hard Way!
Let’s face it. Learning isn’t usually fun. It’s a big drag.
Especially when it comes to learning a musical instrument. Scales, repetition, and monotonous exercises abound. Most people love the piano but won’t go near it for fear of not being able to to play it. And most times, their fear is justified!
A typical beginning piano student scenario may go like this: You walk into the teacher’s studio. He or she asks you what you want to learn. You respond with any number of choices; classical, jazz, new age. Then out pop the books. You know the one’s I’m talking about. Hanon scales, Czerny. Maybe if you’re lucky, you’ll get introduced to a chord-based method. Maybe. But probably not.
You see, most
...piece of music. The first and most traditional way is to write out the melody and then harmonize it. Some call this working from the top (as opposed to the chords on the bottom.) The second approach is where you ...
In fact, it really works the other way around. You should be able to make music with chords and improvise first. Why? Because music is what the end result is. Music is not notes on a sheet of paper. It’s hammers striking strings produced when a pianist fingers a chord. Children speak their native language first before they learn how to spell and write it. They have no difficulties doing this BECAUSE IT COMES NATURALLY! Music should be the same way! We learn the language of music by understanding how to use chords first. We then use these chords to create
...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 ...
There is nothing wrong with being able to read music, but if that’s all you can do, you’re limiting yourself creatively. Stop playing piano the hard way and learn how to use chords and improvise first. Because by learning how to improvise, you are actually speaking the language of music first!
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!