In preparation for my upcoming trip to Italy, I thought it would be appropriate to teach you some of my extensive Italian vocabulary. Many Italian musical terms are used in musical composition, and in the English language. In fact, there are SO many Italian words used in musical composition, that in this post, I’m only going to focus on a small subset of them: a few of my favourite words used to describe tempo. And, oh my goodness, the word “tempo” itself is the first word we will learn!
Tempo
I discussed the use of the word tempo in a previous post. Basically, the word tempo is synonymous with speed. It can be used in a musical context; For example, to describe the speed of a piece of music. However, it can be used outside of the musical context as well, to describe the rate of a repeating event. For example, runners may use the word tempo in the context of describing running pace, or heart rate.
Largo
Largo is a term that you will come across quite often in classical music. Translated literally, it means “broad”. A piece marked Largo will be slow and drawn out. A piece of music you may want to listen to is the second movement of the New World Symphony by Dvorak. This will give you an idea of what largo is. Actually, you can listen to it here! Yay, don’t you just love the internet?!
Presto
The word brings up imagery of magicians and rabbits popping out of hats… In music, it should bring up the same imagery. OK, maybe slightly different. There are no magicians, and no rabbits. No hats either. Really, all it means in music is VERY FAST. Check out this piece of music and tell me it isn’t presto enough for you!
Rubato
The literal translation is “robbed time”… Hunh? This is my favourite tempo marking. It means that the music can be free flowing, and doesn’t have to follow a steady and strict rhythm. This means you are free to take some creative liberties with the music. My buddy, Claude used this marking in his music quite often. You may know Claude – he composed the famous piece called “Clair de Lune”, which is marked “tempo rubato” in sections. Great guy.
I know I’ve touched on the topic of teaching children in previous posts, but I thought it would be fun to have a series of posts designed to help parents and teachers come up with fun ways to teach their students and children. Children are able to learn the most when you are able to keep them engaged in the material. How do you do that? Well, you make it fun!
So, I’m going to prepare some lesson plans, and hopefully some additional downloadable material that can be incorporated into lesson plans for kids.
Before we get started there may be some basic supplies that you will want to consider:
A whiteboard- What classroom wouldn’t be complete without a whiteboard? It’s fun to write on, and easy to erase. A great way to provide visual stimulation. Get funky with the colours.
A computer – The internet is wonderful for so many reasons – there is a plethora of resources available to you and your child.
A method book - This may be Alfred’s or Bastien, or another method. You may choose not to use a method series, but I would recommend getting the books either way. At the very least they will provide you with songs for practicing, even if you choose not to follow their method.
Assignment books – This could be a notebook, or journal that you would use to coordinate assignments and progress on a weekly basis.
Achievement Awards – Depending on the age of child you are teaching, this could be any number of things. Some ideas are: ribbons, stickers, certificates, knick knacks, pencils, erasers, etc. These are intended to reward the child for their achievement.
Flash Cards – Flash cards are a fun way to do musical drills and memorization work.
Blank Staff Paper – Blank paper can be downloaded from any number of places. For teaching children, you want to make sure the staff is big enough for them to use.
These items will probably give you a good head start in your teaching ventures. If a specific lesson requires anything extra, I’ll mention it in the lesson plan outline. If you have any ideas that I can use for this series, please reply with a comment or email me.
In a previous post I discussed the importance of sight reading. That’s all well and good, but if I don’t give you any practical tips, what good am I? (Even if I do give you some practical tips, I am probably of limited use to you.) So this post is dedicated to discussing some tips and techniques you can use to improve your sight reading skills. Actually, the word “tips” makes it sound like improving your sight reading will be easy. It’s not. It requires a lot of dedication to become a good sight reader, and it won’t happen overnight. But, with time and effort, you can improve your sight reading skills to the level that you desire.
Step 1: Improve your knowledge of music theory.Know your key signatures and chords so that you can identify them in a piece of music. Know common chord progressions. And hey! it looks like you are taking a good step in visiting my blog! Good for you! Here you will find some useful (and some not so useful) information on musical theory. (<- shameless self-promotion)
Step 2: Start simple. You didn’t learn to read by picking up Tolstoy. Well, I shouldn’t speak for you. *EDIT* Ididn’t learn to to read by picking up Tolstoy. Similarly, you probably won’t learn to sight read by trying to play Chopin’s Fantasie Impromptu right off the bat. A good rule of thumb is to start sight reading several grade levels below your current level. If you find that unreasonably easy or difficult, adjust as necessary. If you are a beginner yourself, you are learning about sight reading at the perfect time! Starting early will allow you to develop your sight reading skills along with your technique. And that’s a good thing.
Step 3: Start slow. When first starting to practice sight reading, you don’t necessarily need to play the pieces up to the correct speed. The elements of music that you have to worry about when sight reading in order of importance are:
Most important: Notes and duration. Hit the right notes for the right amount of time, and you are golden!
Next most important: Dynamics. Make your louds loud, and your softs, soft. Put some feeling into it!
Also important, but a little less so: Your tempo. Advanced students will want to put a little more focus on this aspect of sight reading, but for beginners, slow and steady wins the race!
Step 4: Play A LOT of music. Don’t practice it! This means playing through the piece once, and then leaving it be. Don’t repeat sections, don’t study the music. Just let it rest.
Step 5: Play a lot of DIFFERENT music. Different styles, different keys, different books, just different!
Step 6: Try not to look at your hands as you play. Learning to sight read is learning about where the keys are on the keyboard just as much as where the notes are on the page. Looking up and down from a piece of music can be difficult. Eventually, with practice, you will just KNOW where the keys are without looking at your fingers. (Kindof like a Jedi power, but cooler.)
Step 7: Scan ahead. As you play, try to be looking at the next measure and recognizing notes, rhythms, patterns, and other goings on. Scanning ahead will prepare your brain for what it needs to tell your hands to do.
Step 8: Use memorization with caution. I think I’ve touched on this before. Memorization is not always a bad thing. Indeed, it is sometimes even a good thing! But memorization can actually hinder your sight-reading progress. Don’t memorize every song you play. Look at the book while you play, and deliberately read the music.
As a side note, I feel like I’ve used more exclamation marks in this post than I usually do. Part of me finds this to be slightly disturbing.
Close your eyes and imagine you are one of the world’s greatest pianists. World renowned. (Actually, don’t close your eyes – continue reading.) Now imagine that you are asked to play with the New York Philharmonic – a beautiful concerto by Chopin. You are provided with sheet music that you have never seen before. Now what?
Sight reading! It’s what we all do the first time we lay eyes on a piece of music. Whether or not we are GOOD at it is a whole different issue. Imagine, in the above scenario, that you have sub-par sight-reading skills. Not only would it take LONGER to learn the piece of music, it could be downright embarrassing. (Uh, Mr. Boico? Could you wait a second while I write letters above the notes?)
Here are a few reasons why having good sight reading skills is important:
It makes learning a piece of music easier. A good sight-reader can identify notes and patterns without laboring over every note.
It allows the musician to try more pieces.Being able to read music easily can allows the musician to “test out” all sorts of music. Sitting down and playing a new piece of music gives an idea of whether or not they like the composition.
It improves versatility.Do you want to be a studio musician? A musician in a band or orchestra? Play the piano in church? Being able to sight read will allow you to be more versatile in these situations. A new piece of music will not be a major hurdle to overcome.
Now these are just some of the reasons why sight-reading skills are important for most musicians. Of course, it’s not important for every musician. There are plenty of musicians that can’t read music at all, but have excellent ear training and improvisational skills. It all depends on what your goals as a musician are. Next post I’ll introduce some techniques that you can use to improve your sight reading skills.
Quick! What are the five different types of accidentals?! I’ll pretend like I can hear your answer…
If you said: sharps, flats, naturals, double sharps, and double flats, you are correct! If you didn’t answer correctly, just pretend you did, and give yourself a pat on the back! I won’t know the difference!
Here is a look at all of the accidentals together.. I didn’t include any labels. Try to name the accidentals and identify what their function is.
The next challenge is to put them all together. For example: You have a piece of music with 3 flats: B flat, E flat, and A flat. In your piece of music you encounter a B with a natural sign next to it. What note do you play? Well you would play the natural version of the key – the white key!
Try to answer theses questions yourself before you look at the answers:
What symbol would you use to raise a flat 1 semitone?
What symbol would you use to raise a flat 2 semitones?
What symbol would you use to raise a flat 3 semitones?
What symbol would you use to lower a double sharp one semitone?
What symbol would you use to raise a double flat one semitone?
What symbol would you use to lower a double sharp 2 semitones?
Here are the answers:
What symbol would you use to raise a flat 1 semitone? A flat is one semitone lower than a note in its natural state. Therefore, to raise a flat one semitone, we must use a natural sign.
What symbol would you use to raise a flat 2 semitones?Since a flat is one semitone lower than a note in its natural state, and a sharp is one semitone higher, if we use a sharp, the note will be raised 2 semitones.
What symbol would you use to raise a flat 3 semitones?A natural will raise it one semitone, a sharp will raise it 2. To raise it 3, we must use a double sharp. Remember, a double sharp raises the pitch of the note by 2 semitones above its natural state.
What symbol would you use to lower a double sharp one semitone?A double sharp is 2 semitones above the note in its natural state. A sharp is only one semitone above the note in its natural state. Therefore, to lower a double sharp by one semitone, we will use a sharp.
What symbol would you use to raise a double flat one semitone?A double flat is 2 semitones lower than a note in its natural state. A flat is only one semitone lower. We would use a flat.
What symbol would you use to lower a double sharp 2 semitones? A double sharp is 2 semitones higher than a note in its natural state. To lower a double sharp by 2 semitones, we would use a natural.
I hope this gave you a good idea of how accidentals work when they are all put together into the same picture. I have nothing more to say about accidentals. You know just as much about accidentals as I do now. I feel inadequate all of the sudden…
Oh no… More accidentals? Yes, I’m afraid so. But this is it! After you learn about double sharps and double flats you will know every accidental that exists! That should give you a feeling of accomplishment.
Let’s review. Do you remember what an accidental is? They are symbols that are located WITHIN a piece of music that modify the pitch of a note. If you need to review how accidentals work, check back on Lesson 22: Key Signatures and Accidentals. So far we learned about 3 types of accidentals: SHARPS, FLATS, and NATURALS. Each of them has a different purpose. A SHARP accidental is used within a piece of music to RAISE the pitch of the note by one semitone. A FLAT is used to LOWER the pitch of the note by one semitone. A NATURAL symbol can be used in front of a note to change it back to it’s NATURAL state. You can click on the highlighted words to review the lessons.
OK, on to the new stuff. DOUBLE SHARPS! You don’t see them very often, but they do exist (kindof like Big Foot .. dun dun duuunnnnn).. A double sharp is an accidental that RAISES the pitch of a note by TWO semitones (or ONE whole tone). This differs from a regular sharp which only raises the note by ONE semitone. Take a look at the image below to see what a double sharp looks like. Kindof looks like an ‘X’, and it is placed in front of the note you wish to change.
A DOUBLE FLAT actually looks like 2 flat symbols. Way too logical. I bet you can guess what a double flat does… It LOWERS the pitch of a note by TWO semitones (or ONE whole tone). Again, peek at the image below to see what a double flat looks like. Exciting stuff.
Now you know your accidentals. All of them. It almost makes me want to sing. Next time we’ll put them all together. FUN!
Here is a fun (or not so fun) fact: Sharps and flats are not always accidentals, while naturals, double sharps, and double flats are always used as accidentals.. Can you think of a scenario where sharps and flats would be used as something other than accidentals?
Some people love to be graded. Some people just love learning, and don’t necessarily need the feedback that a formal assessment provides. For the former, this post is for you. I have some (a lot of) experience with practicing for and taking examinations through an institution called the Royal Conservatory of Music. I thought I would take this opportunity to explain the program a bit, and maybe give a bit of personal insight into my experience with the process.
The Royal Conservatory of Music is Canada’s most well-established arts educator. Their mandate is to help develop human potential through music and the arts. Although their programs are many, I’m going to focus mainly on the RCM Examinations certificate program, as it is an internationally recognized curriculum (not to mention I am most familiar with this program.)
The RCM Examinations certificate program spans 11 grades, from beginner (Grade 1) to ARCT (Associate of the Royal Conservatory of Music). Each level has certain requirements that need to be achieved in order to obtain recognition for that level. Curriculum for a specific level includes technical requirements, ear training and sight reading requirements, as well as a selected repertoire. These skills are evaluated at a one-on-one practical examination in which a certified examiner will assess the student. The student will received a mark, as well as written feedback about their performance.
As the student progresses through the levels, the requirements become more demanding. Theory examinations, intended to complement practical study, begin at the Grade 5 level. There are several different types of theory examinations:
Rudiments of Music - This examination evaluates the student on their knowledge of basic musical theory and notation.
Harmony- The harmony curriculum is intended to introduce the student to composition, with basic theories of classical composition
History - These examinations focus on a specific period in musical history, studying both the composers and the compositions
Counterpoint- I’ve never taken this exam, so I have no personal experience in it. However, it also focuses on compositional principles.
The Royal Conservatory of Music also offers a Piano Pedagogy curriculum for those interested in teaching.
The cost of an examination can range from just under $100 for the beginner levels, to over $500 for ARCT examinations. For more information you can visit their website to see if examinations are taking place in your area.
The best things in life come in threes… Like… umm…uhhh… Well, maybe the best things in life don’t come in threes. So this introduction isn’t going to work very well… But I’m pretty much committed to it now. I’ll make it work. Here goes…. Although the best things in life usually don’t come in threes, some notes do. (Awesome.)
So far we’ve figured out how to fit one note into the duration of one beat, using a quarter note. To fit two notes into one beat, we can use two eighth notes. To fit four notes into one beat, we can use four sixteenth notes. All of this we have learned in previous lessons. But… and you can probably see where I am going with this… how do we fit THREE notes into a beat? *insert anticipatory pause here…*
We can use TRIPLETS! The use of triplets tells the musician to play THREE notes in one beat. Triplet notes look like 3 notes that are connected together using a bar. Additionally, the number “3″ is displayed above or below the notes, depending on their position in the staff. See the image below for two examples of triplet runs.
Now that we know what the triplet looks like, we need to know what to do when we encounter triplets. There are different ways to count triplet notes, but I like to use the phrase “One-and-a Two-and-a Three-and-a Four-and-a… ” etc. If you have triplet note runs, it can sound a lot like a gallop. Just try repeating the phrase “One-and-a Two-and-a Three-and-a Four-and-a” over and over again. You’ll be lucky if you don’t end up galloping around the room by the time you are done. Now, you don’t HAVE to use the “one-and-a..” counting technique to count triplets. Some people like to say “trip-uh-let” when they encounter a triplet run. This doesn’t make much sense to me because the word triplet only has two syllables. But hey, whatever works for you!
So, in the phrase above, try to count out the rhythm using the method summarized in Lesson 14, including what you learned about triplets in this lesson. It will sound a lot like this: “ONE TWO THREE-and-a FOUR. ONE TWO THREE-and-a FOUR”. Remember to tap your foot slowly and evenly, and that each number will fall on a foot tap. Pretty soon I hope to get some worksheets up in the download section so you can practice your triplets!
I firmly believe that there is no one right way to learn a new instrument. Just as there is no one right way to lose weight, study for your midterms, or eat a block of cheese (where every way is the right way), the experience of learning a new instrument varies from person to person. The Suzuki method offers a methodology for children to develop their musical ability and creativity by using a number of techniques including musical recordings, parental involvement, musical integration, and focus on memorization. The following is a discussion of the background of the method, as well as pinpointing a few of the key techniques that this method uses.
The Suzuki method was developed by a Japanese violinist who had an interesting idea. The idea was that music is a language, and all children have an innate talent for acquiring languages. And much like a child learning a language learns to speak before they learn to read, the Suzuki method does not focus on note recognition at first. Rather, it focuses on playing and mastering the instrument. First, become comfortable with the instrument and music. Then, learn to read.
So, how does one become comfortable with an instrument without knowing how to read music? Well, the Suzuki method first focuses on learning music by ear, that is, listening to a piece of music and then imitating it. Along with ear-instrument training, the Suzuki method also prioritizes memorization of music. You can imagine that these techniques have led to some controversy over the effectiveness of the method. Some may (and do) argue that a child taught using the Suzuki method may not acquire the skills necessary to become a well-rounded musician.
Despite these types of arguments, supporters of the method argue that the method is most effective when used with very young children. It facilitates the process of learning the instrument, and focuses on musical notation when the child is mature enough to remember and apply musical theory. It does not eliminate musical theory completely, only shifts the initial focus.
The Suzuki method requires a lot of parental involvement. In fact, it encourages parents to be active participants in their child’s musical education to the point of supervising every practice and every lesson. Some may even be encouraged to learn the instrument themselves in order to more effectively coach their child.
The last key philosophy of the Suzuki method is musical immersion. The method encourages children to attend concerts, listen to music at home, talk about music, and perform in public often. This is intended to ensure that the child develops musicality and musical creativity, as well as becoming comfortable with public performance.
Like any other method, the Suzuki method has pros and cons. Ultimately, it is up to the parent to decide if the method is right for them and their child.
Its been a long time since I’ve talked about rhythm and the time values of notes. So perhaps a mini-refresher lesson is in order. (I know it is for me.) So far we have learned about the following notes:
whole notes
half notes
quarter notes
eighth notes
sixteenth notes
dotted notes
I’ll go over these one by one during this lesson so that we can move on to more complex rhythms during the next lesson.
OK, lets start with WHOLE NOTES. The whole note looks like a white circle with no stem; the simplest note there is. The whole note is worth 4 counts.
Next, we discussed HALF NOTES. The half note is white with a stem. It is worth 2 counts. That means in the same time that you play one whole note, you could play two half notes.
QUARTER NOTES are worth one count. It is a black note with a stem. You can play 2 quarter notes in the time it takes to play a half note, or you could play 4 quarter notes in the time it takes to play a whole note.
The diagram below displays the whole note, half note, and quarter note, and how they would be counted in a piece of music.
Now it gets a little more difficult. An eighth note is worth half a count. This means two eighth notes can be played in the same time as it takes to play a quarter note. It makes things a little more difficult to count, but you can use the technique discussed in Lesson 14 (Figuring out rhythm). The eighth note is a black note with a stem and a flag. The flag can either be a fancy flag that is not attached to it’s neighbor, or they can be connected together with a bar (see the image below). These two notations are equivalent, however the notation on the right is used more often when there are multiple eighth note runs. It just looks cleaner, and it can be easier to read.
So the SIXTEENTH note is worth half of the value of an eighth note. This means that 2 sixteenth notes could fit into an eighth note, and 4 sixteenth notes could fit into a quarter note. Again, it is more difficult to count than the other types of notes, but to help count these notes you can use the technique discussed in Lesson 14. The sixteenth note is a black note with a stem and two flags (as shown above). Like the eighth note, the flags can be (and often are) connected together if more than one sixteenth note occurs in a row.
Now for the DOTTED NOTE. A dot can be slapped onto any note: whole notes, half notes, quarter notes, eighth notes, etc. Putting a dot behind a note changes the duration of the note by increasing it by half of its original value. For example: A whole note is worth 4 counts; A dotted whole note would increase the duration of the note by half of it’s original value (+2), so a dotted whole note would be worth 6 counts. A dotted half note would be worth 3 counts. A dotted quarter note would be worth 1 and a half counts. (This is where it gets fun.) A dotted eighth note would be worth 3 quarters of a count, and on and on it goes.
Lesson 14 does not cover how to count dotted notes. Keep you eyes peeled and your ears tuned for the next lesson where I will explain how to count out the most common dotted notes and commonly-used rhythm patterns that use dotted notes.
If you have studied or listened to piano pieces, you have probably run into different types of words that are used to describe a piece of music. Preludes, Nocturnes, and Etudes are just a subset of the many different types of musical composition. In this post, I will discuss the differences between them. Next time you listen to a Prelude, Nocturne, or Etude, see if you can distinguish the elements that make it what it is.
Prelude:
Preludes are characterized by being short and sweet (relatively), with a melodic and/or rhythmic motif that is featured throughout the piece. This motif will recur throughout the piece, sometimes differing slightly as the music progresses. A prelude may be played on its own, or as a preface to another piece, usually more complex.
Nocturne:
Nocturnes are generally lyrical and tranquil pieces. The nocturne is known for being expressive above all else. It follows no specific form, but evolves as the music progresses.
Etude:
You can probably guess this one. Etude is the french word for study; so a musical etude is just that – a musical study used to perfect a particular technical skill. Generally etudes are quite difficult, featuring runs of quick notes, and arpeggios.
Those were just three terms that are commonly used to characterize a piece of music. For some examples of these styles take a look at the works of Chopin. He composed 24 Preludes: One in each key, major and minor, 27 Etudes, and 21 Nocturnes.
Learning to play music by ear can be a useful and fun technique to employ. Combined with note recognition and technique training, it helps form a strong musical foundation that will serve you well in the future. Some people have a natural talent for picking out tunes and being able to play them. But even if you don’t, you can still learn! Here is a few steps you will have to complete to master the art of learning music by ear:
1. Learn your instrument:
Teach your fingers where the notes are; be comfortable finding different keys on the keyboard. It is important to learn to recognize notes and play off of sheet music as well. Having a balance of skills will make you a well-rounded musician who can adapt to different musical situations quite easily.
2. Playback
Playback consists of a someone playing a short tune on the keyboard, and then the student trying to mimic it. Start with short and easy tunes consisting of only a few notes. Beginners can be told what note the tune starts on, and more advanced students can be told what key the tune is in. As the student progresses, the playback can become longer and more advanced, and involve some harmony as well.
3. Listen to the radio
How is the radio going to help me, you ask? Well, picking out a tune and trying to play it on the piano can not only be fun, but very helpful for your ear-training regimen. Sing the tune in your head first, and then try to pick it out on the piano. If you get stuck, try starting in a different spot. Once you have mastered the art of picking out a tune, you can start adding harmony and embellishment.
4. Play around!
Practice picking out new tunes and playing around on the keyboard. Play random notes, play patterns, just play! Doing this allows you to find sounds and patterns of notes that you like. While you are playing around on the keyboard you might find that you come across a pattern that you recognize from a song. This is one of the most fun ways that you can help train your ears to pick out tunes.
Well, that should help you get started. Playing by ear is a very useful tool to have in your repetoire of musical skills. But more importantly, it’s fun!
We have already been dealing with tones and semitones in previous posts without even realizing it. A SEMITONE is the smallest distance between any two sounds used in Western music. It is the smallest distance between any two adjacent keys on the piano, whether they be black and white, or white and white. We have already touched this concept when learning about sharps, flats, and accidentals.
A TONE (or WHOLE TONE) is equals to two semitones (in the same direction). Pick a note on the keyboard, now find the next semitone to right. Move right one more semitone, and you’ve got a WHOLE TONE. You can do the same thing in the opposite direction.
Now that we have fleshed out the intracacies of the Western concept of a semitone, we can delve a bit further. A semitone comes in two “flavours”: chromatic and diatonic. When a semitone contains two notes with the same letter name, it is called a CHROMATIC SEMITONE. See below for examples of chromatic semitones. As you can easily see, the notes of a chromatic semitone are the same, but one is altered with an accidental.
A diatonic semitone occurs when a semitone contains two notes with different letter names. See below for examples.
A chromatic semitone can be manipulated to be a diatonic semitone and vice versa. Remember, that most notes can be referred to by different note names. For example E# and F are the same note. Take a look at the two intervals below. They are equivalent, but one is a chromatic semitone, and the other is a diatonic semitone. Try to identify tones and semitones on the piano keyboard. The more you practice the easier it will become. It is very important to grasp this concept fully, as it will form the foundation of many future lessons in musical theory.
Key signatures tell us which sharps and flats to play consistently in a piece of music. But just because a piece of music has a key signature, does not mean that no other sharps are flats are allowed. Often, a piece of music will have a combination of a key signature and ACCIDENTALS which are sharps, flats, and naturals that are located in the piece of music. An accidental is located in front of a note, and alters the pitch of the note for the remainder of the measure. (If you remember naturals in Lesson 21, all accidentals act much the same way.)
There are several particulars you should know about accidentals:
Accidentals do not affect the same note in a different octave
Accidentals are not repeated on tied notes.
Accidentals affect the pitch of the note for the remainder of the measure
So you’ve learned the basics of accidentals – basically they are SHARPS, FLATS, and NATURALS that can be strewn throughout a piece of music (rather than being in the key signature).
But wait! There is more! We haven’t learned of every type of accidental. Soon we will learn about DOUBLE SHARPS, and DOUBLE FLATS, which alter the pitch of a note by 2 semitones instead of 1. I’m sure you are looking forward to learning about that, but I will leave that for the next lesson. photo credit: oh_candy
There is a world of piano styles out there to discover. Jazz piano is a great style of piano that is a lot of fun to play. There are many fundamental differences between jazz piano and classical piano styles. Below I summarize some of these differences in the rhythmic styles.
Swing: swing rhythms are quite popular in jazz music. In swing rhythms, a series of eighth notes is played with the first eighth note having a slightly longer time value. The second note has a slightly shorter duration.
Syncopation: Jazz rhythms use a lot of syncopation. Syncopation occurs when one accents a ‘normally’ weak beat. Another word for this style could be ‘off-beat’.
Polyphony: In the post, “Musical Texture”, I discuss different types of musical texture including polyphony. Polyphony (also called counterpoint) occurs when more than one melody exists at the same time in a piece of music. This is very common in jazz music, often with several instruments improvising around different melodies.
Well, that’s just a taste of jazz! We’ll have to discuss it more later – it’s a really wonderful style of music!
I grew up with a fluorescent green book full of a wonderful world of finger exercises by a man called Charles-Louis Hanon. This book had several redeeming qualities: It glowed in the dark, and it entertained me for hours and hours upon end. OK, so maybe it wasn’t so entertaining… and it didn’t actually glow in the dark. But little did I know, as I was hammering away at my Hanon exercises, a raging debate was taking place about whether these exercises were helpful, or … dun dun duuuuuun….. harmful! to your technique.
There are several arguments for Hanon:
Hanon-the-Good
Hanon develops finger strength and dexterity. I can’t argue with this one. Hanon is equivalent to running on the treadmill: It takes you nowhere, but you can certainly feel the burn!
Hanon develops finger independence. I think this could be true, except for that in my experience most Hanon exercises are the same in the right and left hand. But don’t take my word for it – I haven’t used Hanon in quite some time.
You can let out your anger with Hanon. It certainly is satisfying to bang out a quick Hanon (pardon the ahem, innuendo). You can play it loud, you can play it ugly
You can annoy your neighbors with Hanon. Yeah. I find these exercises very annoying. This might belong under the Hanon-the-Bad category. But sometimes it can be useful to annoy your neighbors.
You can train your fingers to find intervals with Hanon. In my opinion, this is one of the major strengths of playing Hanon. It’s all about learning where the notes are and training your fingers where to find them.
Hanon-the-bad
Hanon gives you wrist problems? Some say that the repetitive nature of Hanon exercises can give you wrist problems? I’m not saying it’s not true. I’m just skeptical.
Hanon does not increase musicality. Hanon is repetitive. Hanon is boring. So by extension, Hanon cannot be musically engaging and increase your musical ability. Again, I tend to disagree (not about the repetitive and boring part), because I think that an increase in control can help your musical expression. Hanon does help with control if played correctly. Hanon exercises are not intended to stimulate your creativity.
Hanon exercises were developed like a million years ago… how could it be applicable today? Argue this one yourself. Or don’t.
OK, that’s it. So it’s pretty obvious that I’m biased. Hanon is boring, Hanon is repetitive, but in my opinion it IS useful for strength and dexterity if practiced correctly. My verdict: Hanon is OK!
Check out the new book. Its not bright green, and it doesn’t glow in the dark, but its still Hanon.
So I’m playing the piano for a wedding in May, so today I dusted off the old “Canon in D” by Pachelbel. While I do love that song, I can summarize it for you in 8 letters. D, A, Bm, F#m, G, D, G, A. Yes, that’s all. Just play these notes over and over again, and you’ve got Canon in D.
Of course, I exaggerate. But if you haven’t seen this guy, you should:
Now that we know all about key signatures, we really need to know more about playing music with a key signature. Remember that a key signature consists of 1 or more sharps or flats. This group of sharps or flats is located at the beginning of the music. And what does this group mean? Well, it means the notes located in the key signature are ALWAYS played sharp or ALWAYS played flat. Or are they….. *insert eerie music here *….
Well, in fact, you can change the note back to it’s original or NATURAL state IN the music. How, you ask? Well, I’ll tell you! With a NATURAL sign. Nice and intuitive, right? In case you haven’t guessed already, a natural sign looks like the symbol on the left. OK, so how does this work? Lets say you have a key signature that contains an F# and a C# (Like the music below). In the music below, in the second measure the first C is marked as a natural. These means it should not be played sharp, but in it’s natural state: on the white key. In FACT, and this is an interesting and important tidbit to know, when a note is marked natural, it remains natural for the rest of the measure! So, in the piece of music below, BOTH of the C’s in the second measure should be played natural. Similarly, in the 3rd measure. In the 4th measure, the first C should be played sharp, and the second C should be played natural.
OK folks, well thats how naturals work with a key signature. Check out the worksheets section for downloads of practice sheets.
Key signatures are a very important topic, but difficult for some to grasp. The key signature tells you what notes (sharps or flats) will be played consistently during the piece of music. The key signature is denoted by a group of sharps or a group of flats positioned after the clefs and before the time signature. Key signatures will never mix sharps or flats. Whats more, the sharps or flats in a key signature are always presented in the same order! That is, the first sharp is always F#, the second sharp is always C#.. and on and on. Never will you have a key signature with only a C#. F# ALWAYS has to precede it. These are the rules – take ‘em or leave ‘em. But if you leave them, you would be wrong. Actually, not wrong – just not conforming to the standards of Western music.
So how do you remember the order of sharps and flats in a key signature? Well, like we always do – with a little saying! The saying to remember the order of sharps is: Father Charles Goes Down And Ends Battle. Isn’t it nice? Well, the saying to remember flats is a little morbid, even though it is the same words but backwards: BattleEndsAndDown GoesCharles’ Father . So when you write a flat key signature, B flat always come first, followed by E, A, and so on.
These are the basics of key signatures. Remember: the key signature is there to tell you to play certain sharps and flats every time you see the note in the piece of music. So if your key signature has an F# in it, every time you see an F in the piece of music, you should imagine that there is a sharp sign in front of it, and play it sharp.
I’ll be posting a key signature worksheet in the next little while. So check the worksheets section for some practice!
Teaching piano to children has its own set of challenges and rewards. In a previous post I talked about how to know whether your child is ready to play the piano. The next thing you need to know is the types of challenges that you will face… such as… how do you make practice fun? how do you know that your child is learning? how do you ensure that your child gets the most out of their music lesson?
Children generally have shorter attention spans than adults, so it is important to break up the lesson into fun, manageable activities. For children ages 4-6 I would recommend a lesson from 15 minutes up to 1/2 hour long – depending on the attention span of the child. Each child is different.
So how do you make practice fun? Well, take a lesson from modern early childhood education. I love talking with my teacher friends and finding out all about the fun activities that they plan for their classrooms. Have a repetoire of activities that you can practice with your child. This can include flash cards, note recognition games, clap-back games, and more! Fire up your creative juices! (Or take a page from my book and take advantage of google.)
Apparently I have a short attention span too. We’ll continue this thread later – until next time!
In preparation for my upcoming trip to Italy, I thought it would be appropriate to teach you some of my extensive Italian vocabulary. Many Italian musical terms are used in musical composition, and in the English language. In fact, there are SO many Italian words used in musical composition, that in this post, I’m only going to focus on a small subset of them: a few of my favourite words used to describe tempo. And, oh my goodness, the word “tempo” itself is the first word we will learn!
photo credit: David Paul Ohmer
Posted on March 5th, 2010 by sharlene
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