Posts Tagged ‘Learning’

5 Laws to Learning Piano Music

The Piano is arguably the most beloved instrument in the world.  It has been the backbone of songwriting and musical composition for centuries and with good reason – there is no other instrument that suits such a vast array of musical styles quite like the piano.  , yet many people struggle when trying to hone their skills.  This is often because people are using outdated and ineffective methods to learn piano music.  Let’s look at 5 rules the digital age has has created to revolutionize the process of learning piano.

1.     Teach Yourself

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Paul McCartney and Rewsnat all have two things in common.  They were all absolute masters of their respective genres of music AND they were all self-taught musicians.  The lessons learned through personal experience don’t only teach you what doesn’t work, but they offer the opportunity for players to find what works for them.  It’s important to understand that too.  Teaching yourself piano helps you develop your own skills and gather a more natural feel for music, much more so than with a teacher looking over your shoulder.

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2.     Play the Music You want to Play

This one is simple, and it is likely the most prominent reason that most people who try learning piano fail.  When students are beginning in a lesson-by-lesson cycle with a teacher or a ‘beginners guide to piano’ book, they rarely start with the music they’ve fantasized about being able to play.  Too often people struggle with music because they aren’t interested in the type they are required to play.  Remember that –playing the music you love keeps you interested and excited to take on more challenging pieces.

3.     Only Practice When You Feel Inspired

This goes hand in hand with number 2.  When piano students are caught in a hectic schedule, practicing becomes another chore on the laundry list of daily tasks.  This is why traditional lessons are often the root to people’s failure with the piano – having to meet deadlines because you have a lesson tomorrow makes learning music a dreaded job.  Instead, when you practice on your own time, you are treating yourself to the joy of making music and it becomes something you love to do!

4.     Set Achievable Goals

Understand yourself and your abilities.  Understand that you are working towards a greater good when you decide to learn piano songs.  There are hurdles to overcome, but that is why all successful musicians set goals for themselves.  Not even the greatest musicians expected to produce a repertoire of hundreds of piano songs right out of the gate.  Know what you want, and know how you’re going to get there. 

5.     Respect Your Instrument

The Piano, as stated earlier, is the most capable instrument out there.  Take care of your piano and it will take care of you.  The best way to do this is follow rules 1-4 and take the matter of learning piano into your own hands.  There are some phenomenal course packages available out there that give you the freedom to learn on your own while still maintaining the structure necessary to be an effective player.

There you have it, the 5 laws to effectively learning the piano.  Remember, your musicianship is about you, not your teacher.  Take advantage of the resources available in this wonderful digital age and start learning piano on your own terms.

Learning Piano Chords

If you are playing several notes at the same time, then you are playing piano chords.  Simply put, when multiple notes are played together, piano chords are achieved.  The chords then come together to form a melody.  Every song that you hear has a melody and it is through each melody that music is achieved.  Sound complicated?  Well, that’s ok because it really isn’t as difficult as it sounds.

As a musician, whether it be professional or hobbyist, you will need to learn the various types of piano chords.  The more that you understand about piano chords, the more variety you will have when playing.  If you want to write your own music, you not only need an ear for tunes, but also the understanding of how to make them come together.  A good instructor will introduce you to piano chords during lessons.

If you already have some experience, but simply want a better understanding of advanced piano chords, discuss these options with a private tutor or music teacher.  By gaining an understanding of what sounds good and what doesn’t, you will have the undeniable edge over other budding musicians.

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Every piano has 88 keys and while it may seem intimidating to learn piano chords, it actually comes down to memory.  When typing on the computer, you know which keys to press in order to make a lowercase letters change to uppercase, right?  By studying piano chords, you will begin to understand which keys to press at the same time in order to play a chord.  During your introduction to learning piano, an instructor will cover some of the basic chords and you will come to know their sound when you hear them.  After enough practice, you will be able to immediately identify piano chords by ear.

There are several other ways to help in your learning of piano chords, including instructional books, tutorials and videos.  In the beginning, it may even help to label the keys until you have a better understanding of each of their unique sounds.  As you progress in your learning, you can remove the identification labels and play using any arrangement of sheet music.  Learning to identify notes will play a large part in your understanding of piano chords.  As you move through your studies, you will learn all of the terminology associated with piano playing and the definition of each.

Learning piano chords is a very important part of the process, but it does require a certain degree of patience.  Always remember that time will lessen the difficulty and, before you know it, you will be playing and identifying piano chords by ear.  While it may seem intimidating at first, you will soon begin to notice the ease of playing piano chords will come naturally.  Happy tunes!

For more info, visit www.learnandmaster.com Anyone can learn to master the piano with Learn & Master Piano! Instructor Will Barrow takes you through 28 Sessions; step by step…concept by concept. You’ll use four different modes of learning: watching, reading, listening and doing. By the end, you’ll navigate the ivory keys with ease! The course includes 20 professionally produced DVDs, a workbook and 5 play-along CDs.
Video Rating: 5 / 5

Learning Piano By Ear | Easy Steps

So you’re ?

In this article I’m going to talk about learning piano by ear! Learning piano by ear is something that isn’t the easiest thing to learn however if you get the right advice and learn it’s a fantastic thing to be able to do!

I’ve always wondered about learning piano by ear. I wondered whether I could actually do it because I’ve been interested in learning piano by ear for a long time but had no idea where to start!

Learning piano by ear is one of those great things that only a select amount of people can do! You see, often a lot of people can play the piano using proper piano music or from remembering a pattern however learning piano by ear is something completely different!

If you can master learning piano by ear you’ll be able to play pretty much anything you want just from listening to a song!

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I started playing piano years ago when I was at school! I decided that I wanted to play an instrument so I had a think then asked my parents if I could have piano lessons! At first I was a bit sceptical as to whether I’d be any good at playing however I soon realized that I was actually a fairly quick learner!

I started to have lessons with my tutor who was very good! I remember that he could literally play anything even if I just put a piece of music in front of him that he’d never seen and also he could play music by ear and literally just play anything!

We never spoke about learning piano by ear because I was always learning songs from piano music however once I’d left school I no longer had lessons! It was during this time after I’d left that I started getting interested in learning piano by ear!

I didn’t want lessons anymore and I was pretty good already but I needed to learn how to play all my favourite songs without music simply by learning piano by ear!

I came online in search for something that could teach me all about learning piano by ear! After quite a while of searching I finally managed to come across a great website which talked all about learning piano by ear!

The website had fantastic reviews from people who’d finally learned to play piano by ear so I decided to give it a shot myself!

In the past 3 months since learning piano by ear from this website I’ve finally managed to play my favourite songs! I’m not a pro yet but I’m sure that I’ll be able to play practically anything by ear within the next couple of months!

The website I highly recommend to anyone learning piano by ear can be found here:

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