Mikes Music Room – Music Articles

The most important factor to decide is whether you want an electronic keyboard or a real acoustic piano.

Here are several things to keep in mind as you make this first decision:

1. Before you buy a great big acoustic piano, think about why you are buying it: if you are buying it for a child, and they have never played piano before, you might consider buying an inexpensive electronic keyboard first to determine the level of interest the child has. If your child demonstrates interest, then consider upgrading to a real piano. Why? Pianos are big and expensive, and once you buy it, it will cost $200-300 to move it, every time. And if you want to sell, it is not quite so easy. And if you CANNOT sell it, they are hard and expensive to dispose of (unless you have bought a very top of the line model such as Steinway.)

2. Do you have room for an acoustic piano? An average piano requires at least five feet in width, plus room to get around it. And if it’s a grand, it can be 5 to 6 feet long. The average acoustic piano weighs at least 500 pounds.

3. Are you planning on moving? As mentioned above, piano moving is not cheap unless you have some strong friends and a truck. Count on $200-300 for a simple move. Then add more to the cost if you have steps. Piano movers have been known to charge as much as $100 per step if it is a difficult move. You can shop around for movers and save a bit, but choose a reputable company that has experience moving the specialty of pianos. The point is that if you have an acoustic piano, do not plan on moving it around easily or inexpensively.

ELECTRONIC MUSICAL KEYBOARDS

Let’s assume you have decided to buy an electronic keyboard for reasons of cost, convenience or portability. Here are points to consider before you buy:

1. You must know why you are buying the instrument, once again. For example, if you are buying a small electronic keyboard for a small child who has never played, my advice is to get the simplest, least expensive keyboard. The reason is that you do not know what your child’s interest will be until the child actually tries the keyboard. The may love the keyboard or they may not. Your safest bet is to purchase an inexpensive model until your child shows interest. Then you can upgrade inexpensively rather than paying a lot initially for an electronic musical keyboard.

2. Do not let a sales person sell you a fancy model with a lot of features. There are dozens of models made by companies like Casio that cost perhaps $99 and will do everything you need to do and more. I’ve seen and taught people who were sold horribly complex keyboard setups for $7500, and they would have derived exactly the same education and enjoyment from the $99 model. The truth is, and I’ve owned recording studios so I have some idea of it, that there are no features on an expensive electronic keyboard of which a beginner can make fruitful use. Get the simple model first.

3. What are the requirements of a keyboard? Good question. A basic electronic keyboard for piano lesson or recreational use should have around 48 keys (a few more or less) counting both the black and white keys. This is what most basic electronic music keyboards (Casio) have. The keys should be

Many parents are presented with the idea of music lessons by their children. That’s because children have a natural love of the sweet and happy sound of music.

At around six years, many kids will want to start an instrument because they see their friends doing so, and because most school instrumental programs do not begin until the 4th grade.

The two most common choices are the guitar or the piano.

The correct choice actually, is up to your child. In fact, if they said they wanted to play the bassoon because they saw it in a movie, I’d let them have a shot at it. Seriously, you want the child to be happy that they were allowed to make the choice. They will have more fun with it if you let them have their way with this choice at first. Later, when they are wildly bored with the bassoon, suggest the piano or the guitar.

But most kids will want piano or the guitar, anyway. Which might be the better choice for a six-year-old?

Here are a few things to consider:

1. The guitar is rather the more glamorous choice, perhaps because of the “Elvis Syndrome” that entertainment for kid’s drums into them. But the guitar is deceptively difficult to get started with for most kids. First and foremost, a guitar must be tuned by the player or it will sound very bad, and the child will not want to play a bad, discordant sound. Tuning is not easy to learn or to maintain, especially for a child beginner. So unless you are prepared and qualified to tune the guitar, I’d stay away from it unless the child insists. If the child insists, learn to tune a guitar, quickly.
2. The piano, on the other hand, needs to be tuned twice a year at very most, and is always ready to play a tune if you want to. Pianos tend to be more rugged than the guitar, which is really quite fragile because of the thin neck and the tendency for six year olds to drop and generally abuse things. It’s fairly hard for a child to abuse a 500 pound piano.
3. The guitar is arranged such that the two hands perform two different tasks, the left hand stopping the strings, and the right hand strumming. The piano is arranged such that the two hands perform largely identical and interchangeable tasks. Thus, in terms of the usage of the two sides of the brain, the piano might seem easier for a child, still building the neuron path between the two hemispheres. And frankly, it is easier for kids. The piano has the added advantage that it can be played fairly well with an index finger alone, which is easily within the comfortable motor skills of the average child of this age. That’s a big plus for kids who are by this age refining the coordination of their arms and legs, and fingers.

Ultimately, the guitar will win out as the child gets older and there are more and more images of cool guitarists. Many kids, boys especially, who are faithful piano students when younger, drop it when they approach puberty because they begin to see guitar as cooler.

But as far as musical education goes, the piano is a far easier instrument on which to gain a deep knowledge of musical theory, perhaps because on the piano there is only one unique piano key for each note, whereas on the guitar the entirety of notes must be divided onto only six strings, making calculations and motions sometimes beyond the reach of most kids. There is a knack to the guitar that some people have and some don’t. You have to try it to find out which type you are.

Remember also that almost every great composer has been at least a competent pianist, if not in many cases a great one. This is perhaps because it is easier to play quickly a huge variety of notes and sounds on the piano that the guitar cannot hope to match.

Nonetheless, the guitar is an endless favorite, a noble instrument that historically predates the keyboards and has been a favorite for hundreds of years. Almost all popular music nowadays and for the past fifty years has been designed around the sound of a guitar.

Whichever instrument your child chooses, music lessons and indeed all musical activities have demonstrable benefits for children. Here are but a few I have witnessed from piano lessons:

1. Better math skills
2. Better handwriting
3. Higher self esteem
4. Better handling of tasks

Let your child try the instrument they wish, and see the results. Then, move on to another if the child wishes. It’s important that the child feel part of the choice and is excited at the prospect of learning the instrument, rather than having a choice forced upon them.

By John Aschenbrenner Copyright 2000 Walden Pond Press. Visit http://www.pianoiseasy.com to see the fun PIANO BY NUMBER method for kids.

John Aschenbrenner is a leading children’s music educator and book publisher, and the author of numerous piano method books in the series PIANO BY NUMBER.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=John_Aschenbrenner

If you are considering purchasing one of the standard, conventional piano methods for your child and want a basis for comparison, here are some facts and interesting points that may help you make a choice.

THE BASTIEN METHOD
Of the conventional piano methods, this is my favorite. Published by kjos.com, they are the standard these days that most teachers use.

The virtue of the Bastien Series books are several.

1. The type is large, like a BIG NOTE book, so kids aren’t squinting, looking for tiny little musical symbols to decipher. In fact many of the usual symbols are omitted in the interest of clarity.
2. There are finely done color pictures, which children find interesting and comforting, and can lead to a relaxing bit of conversation between teacher and student.
3. The sequence of exercises is in precisely correct order in terms of piano pedagogy: each concept builds easily on the last, from piece to piece. That is why, in fact, piano teachers love these books, because they can go from page to page without much effort. But that is bad for the children, that rote approach, and these colorful books are useful for much more than that.

THE JOHN THOMPSON METHOD
This is an older piano method that perhaps your parents or grandparents used, but it is still popular today, exactly for that reason. Similarly, methods such as Schaum use much the same old-fashioned approach. I’ll bet you that you have a copy of one of these piano methods in your piano bench!

Thompson is a little boring in the early books in the series, with frankly uninteresting pieces illustrating the basics of piano. But where they shine is in subsequent volumes, wherein most of the great piano teaching pieces (Fur Elise by Beethoven, for example) are laid out in order of increasing difficulty. These pieces can be useful for older children who are refining the basics but are not yet playing easier masterpieces.

Tried and true, but a little boring and the type seems very small to most kids.

OTHER METHODS
There were dozens of older methods from the heyday of the piano, ending around the 1960′s. Alfred, Schaum, Mel Bay, Faber all still exist today.

The main factor to remember is this: all these conventional methods follow the same curriculum with minor variations. All conventional piano methods start out the same, learning the first five white keys in the middle of the piano. It’s like teaching the alphabet to your child: you start with A and proceed upward. It’s the same with piano, and in all conventional piano methods the methodology is the same: learn the first five white keys.

Many songs can, of course, be played using only these five white keys. For example, Jingle Bells, or Mary Had A Little Lamb, Alouette and a thousand other familiar songs.

Our suggestion is to examine the Bastien piano method. I use them myself in my piano lessons, after I have prepared students to enjoy the piano using PIANO BY NUMBER. You can find the Bastien Series at kjos.com.

By John Aschenbrenner Copyright 2000 Walden Pond Press. Visit http://www.pianoiseasy.com to see the author’s fun PIANO BY NUMBER method.

John Aschenbrenner is a leading children’s music educator and book publisher, and the author of numerous piano method books in the series PIANO BY NUMBER.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=John_Aschenbrenner

There are dozens of piano scales in music. There are major, minor, pentatonic and a whole lot more. There are four important piano scales that every piano player should learn. This article will tell you what those scales are and how to play them.

Half Steps/Whole Steps

To learn how to play piano scales, you must first understand half and whole steps. A half-step is the distance from one note to the very next note. For example, the distance between E and F is a half step. The distance from F to F# is a half step. A whole step is simply two half steps combined. The distances from C to D and G to A are whole steps. In learning how to play the scales, we will refer to half steps with an H and whole steps will be referred to as a W.

Major

Major piano scales are the most common type of scales used in Western music. To play a major scale, you simply start on the root note and use the following formula: W-W-H-W-W-W-H. Using this formula, you will find that the notes of the C major scale are C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C. The notes of the F major scale are F-G-A-Bb-C-D-E-F. You can use this formula to find the major scale of any key.

Natural Minor

Natural minor scales are also the most commonly used piano scales. To play a natural minor scale, you start on the root note and use the formula: W-H-W-W-H-W-W. Using this formula, you will see that the notes of the C natural minor scale are C-D-Eb-F-G-Ab-Bb-C. The notes of the F natural minor scale are F-G-Ab-Bb-C-Db-Eb-F.

Melodic Minor

The next set of piano scales to learn is the melodic minor scales. To play a melodic minor scale, you begin on the root note and use the following formula: W-H-W-W-W-W-H. By using the formula, you will see that the notes of the C melodic minor scale are C-D-Eb-F-G-A-B-C. The notes that make up the F melodic minor scale are F-G-Ab-Bb-C-D-E-F.

Harmonic Minor

The last set of piano scales that everyone should know is the harmonic minor scale. The only difference between the harmonic minor and the melodic minor scale is the sixth note. Instead of going up 1 whole step from the fifth note, you are supposed to go up 1 1/2 whole steps (3 half steps). Therefore, the notes that make up the C harmonic minor scale are C-D-Eb-F-G-Ab-B-C. The F harmonic minor scale is made up of F-G-Ab-Bb-C-Db-E-F.

These are the most important piano scales to learn. You should pick a key and learn all four scales before moving on to the next key. Soon, you will be able to play all of the piano scales quickly and easily.

If you want to receive six free piano lessons, make sure you stop by http://www.supreme-piano.com today.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=D_Swain

Let’s assume that you have the requisite musical education, regardless of your age, to teach a child the basics of the piano.

With that requirement in hand, no small accomplishment itself, you are ready perhaps to embark on a career of piano teaching.

“But wait,” you say! “Won’t I need a few other things to become a piano teacher?”

That is true, you’ll need a car and a studio, a piano or perhaps two.

But we’re not here to consider the physical nuts and bolts of piano teaching. We’re here to consider the psychological requirements for sitting with one child, a half hour at a time, again and again, day after day, showing them how to play the piano.

If you’ve guessed some of the qualities already, let me enumerate the most important:

1. Don’t even think about being a piano teacher if you don’t really love kids. I mean “love kids” on those days when they’re tired and hot and sticky and in a bad mood and don’t want any more education right now, thank you. That’s when you’ll really be tested. So unless you have an affection for kids and an understanding of how hard it is to grow up, don’t bother to become a piano teacher. The children will know who you are the moment you walk through the door, and they better like you a lot.

2. You will require the patience of a block of stone. If you’ve ever herded cats, you’ll have an idea of how difficult it can be to grab and hold a child’s attention, even with a great big noisy piano at your disposal. I’ve witnessed kids who took years, literally, to figure out the basics of the piano such as fingering and reading music, but if you wait long enough and keep trying, you can do this with any child. The key is to let them set the pace, at least on the surface. By this I mean that if they need to fool around for a few moments, it may be more productive to go along with it, even encourage it, so that they are able to blow off a little steam. Then they are ready to work because they know you will let up when the pressure is too much. It’s simple child psychology.

3. A sense of humor will get you 10,000 times more results than a gruff attitude. Gruffness and disapproval are two qualities that I utterly banish from my manner while with a child. It’s THEIR piano lesson and I need to go at their pace, aware of their mood, always on the lookout for that momentary opportunity to press their musical knowledge forward. You will get a lot more done by using the little spaces in between the fun. Let them be happy, sing, make up songs, then when the moment is right, they’ll be ready for your next point.

4. You had better love repetition and have an almost biblical ability to disguise a simple task in a thousand and one different ways. No child accepts blind repetition gladly. If you disguise it as a game, they will adopt it wholeheartedly. Let me give you an example. Recently I instituted a game using a pair of dice, or a single one. Kids call it PIANO DICE. I teach the child six songs, like Jingle Bells and Star Wars, etc, and then number the songs from 1-6, writing this list down on a post-it which I put on the piano. The child rolls the dice and then has to try to play the piece with the number on the dice. Not play it perfectly, but as well as they can. It’s an excellent opportunity to point out a fingering idea, a wrong note, a pattern in the keys that might help them. And the kids respond, because we go on to the next roll of the dice right away, not dwelling on the piece but trying to get the entire list more clear in their minds. That is an example of disguising repetition as a game.

In closing, let me give you the image in my mind that allows me to start each piano lesson with a child and make them happy about it: I imagine the child before I arrive, having their own happy day. And then magically I appear. I say to myself that whatever has happened to ME that day is irrelevant, and all that matters is how that child feels about THEIR lesson on THIS day.

And I resolve that no matter what, that child is going to feel GOOD about playing the piano on that day. It doesn’t matter if they have practiced or not, if they are in a good mood, or if they make great progress. It matters only that they sat at the piano, gave it their best try, enjoyed it, and were praised for their honest efforts.

It’s my job to make their musical education a happy one by accurately gaging their mood and acting appropriately. It works every single time.

By John Aschenbrenner Copyright 2000 Walden Pond Press. Visit http://www.pianoiseasy.com and see the PIANO BY NUMBER method.

John Aschenbrenner is a leading children’s music educator and book publisher, and the author of numerous piano method books in the series PIANO BY NUMBER.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=John_Aschenbrenner

Fur Elise Is a very popular piano solo by Mozart. It is fairly advanced to play for a beginner. In this piano lesson you will learn a simplified version of the melody without sheet music.

Piano tabs

Instead of using piano sheet music we will use a form of piano tabs that show you with letters and numbers what piano keys to press down to play Fur Elise.

First you have to learn a few notes on the piano. The note C4 is the middle C on your piano. You will find it immediately to the left of two black keys.

In some piano tabs it is called number 1. The number 4 indicates that the C is in the fourth octave of an ordinary piano keyboard with 88 keys.

Actually there can be pianos and other types of keyboards with a less number of octaves but the C in the middle of the keyboard is still called C4.

Fur Elise part 1

Now we will start to play the first notes on Fur Elise. Here is the first little melodic phrase:

E5 D#5 E5 D#5 E5 B4 D5 C5 A4/A3

E5 is the E in the octave that is to the right of the middle octave with the note C4. D#5 is the black key immediately to the right of the note D5. A4/A3 means that at the same time as you play the A in the middle octave you will play the note A3 with your left hand as a bass note.

A3 indicates that you play an A in the octave to the left of A4.

Let us continue with Fur Elise:

C4 E4 A4 B4/E3 E4 G#4 B4 C5/A3

G#4 is the black key to the right of G4.

E4 E5 D#5 E5 D#5 E5 B4 D5 C5 A4/A3

I guess the best way to learn the melody is to memorize it one line at a time. Here are the next piano tabs.

C4 E4 A4 B4/E3 E4 C5 B4 A4/A3

This was the first part of the melody.

Fur Elise part 2

The next part has a contrasting melody:

B4 C5 D5 E5/C3 G4 F5 E5 D5/G3 F4 E5 D5 C5/A3 E4 D5 C5 B4/E3

Now it is time to play the first melody again:

E5 D#5 E5 D#5 E5 B4 D5 C5 A4/A3

C4 E4 A4 B4/E3 E4 G#4 B4 C5/A3

E4 E5 D#5 E5 D#5 E5 B4 D5 C5 A4/A3

C4 E4 A4 B4/E3 E4 C5 B4 A4/A3

This was a portion of Fur Elise written with piano tabs. As I mentioned above the best way to learn this very simplified version of the composition is to memorize it one line at a time. You will then have access to it whenever you are asked to play piano for your friends!

Peter Edvinsson invites you to download a free easy piano version of Fur Elise as a high quality pdf music sheet and more free piano sheet music at http://www.capotastomusic.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Peter_Edvinsson