Mikes Music Room – Music Articles

Many piano students want to learn how to play piano by ear. Some are hesitant to learn because they fear it will be too difficult. While it can be hard at first, the more you practice, the easier it becomes. This article will show you how you can learn how to play piano by ear easily.

Melody

The first thing you need to work on to play piano by ear is the melody. Find a song you like that has a simple melody, then sit down at the piano and try to pick it out. This will be easier if you work on recognizing intervals. An interval is simply the distance between two notes. If you can recognize intervals easily, you will be able to pick out a melody much faster.

Chords

After picking out the melody, the next step to play piano by ear is to harmonize the melody with chords. If you’re a beginner, you will be happy to know that you only need to know three chords in order to harmonize any melody. These three chords are based on the first, fourth, and fifth notes of the scale in whatever key you’re playing in. In the key of C, the three chords would be C, F, and G chords. These three chords include every note in the key of C.

Chord Voicing

The last thing you need to know to play piano by ear is chord voicing. Chord voicing is when you play a chord in any position other than root position. Let’s take a C chord for example. In root position, you will play a C, E, and G in that order. To voice the chord differently, you could play the E on the bottom, followed by a G and C. You could also play the G on the bottom, with the C and E played above it. When you play piano by ear, you could play all chords in root position, but you could vary your sound by using different chord voicing.

Learning how to play piano by ear is not that difficult. Once you have the melody figured out, all you have to do is harmonize it with chords. After that, you could experiment with different chord voicing to vary the sound. After practicing for a while, you will know how to play piano by ear with ease.

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

Let’s assume you’re an adult who has always wanted to play piano but has never gotten around to it. Don’t be shy, you are in good company. A recent survey says that 8 out of 10 people wish they had learned the piano.

Many of you perhaps had piano lessons as a child, but you didn’t have the time to play much as an adult. Now, you have the time and have decided to try again. Good. I’m here to help you find what might be the right strategy for YOUR musical education.

And that’s the key: strategy. You have to have a plan, implement it and then refine what you found.

For example, don’t try just one piano teacher and then stick with them, out of loyalty, perhaps. Try several, just to see what their approach is. It will cost you the same, and you will probably learn more from multiple approaches than one.

But here’s one thing you may find as well: the perfect teacher, and that’s the first essential for success at the piano. Even if that teacher must be you yourself.

So, if you are in a position to look for teachers, visit several.

Be careful to explain to the teacher what YOU want to learn, or they will simply start you into their program, which may or may not be what you want.

Here are some things to ask yourself:

1. What kind of music do I want to play? If you want to play jazz piano, perhaps a disciplined classical teacher of the old school is not for you.
2. Do you want to read music, or play by ear, by number, memorize? What method do you feel comfortable with. Ask for a demonstration of the options.
3. What kind of teacher do I want? A disciplinarian? A friendly mentor?

Next, be honest with yourself in determining how much time you can devote to learning the piano. I can offer you the advice that my father gave me: 5 minutes a day is better than 35 minutes once a week.

That’s the best advice I ever got about learning the piano. In my own teaching practice, the adults who learn fastest and stay with it the longest are casual about it, but try to play even a few minutes a day.

A very destructive cycle is started when you say, “Oh, I could only play five minutes today, so I might just as well skip it.” But that’s so wrong: just sit down and play the 5 minutes, or tomorrow you will say, “I didn’t play yesterday, so what’s the point today?” Then you have already quit.

Next, if it’s possible, use a piano teacher who will come to your home. In my experience, half of all piano lessons that YOU have to travel to will be cancelled by you. The convenience of an in-home piano teacher outweighs the cost, and if you want to stick with your piano learning program, you’ll want to stick with it as long as you can.

Regardless of the piano teacher you select, here are several tips for success at learning the piano:

1. Play hands separately for a while. Don’t immediately try a piece with both hands and expect less than chaos. Your brain requires repetition to get the idea of where your fingers go, and two hands at once is too much at first.
2. Play slowly. Most beginners assume that they are supposed to play the piece as fast as it traditionally goes. Play slowly, even painfully slowly.
3. Break the piece up into very small sections and resolve to conquer that one small area. It’s too daunting to look at a page full of notes and think, “I have to play all this?”
4. Repeat more than you think necessary, as much as you can stand. This is the hard part. You have to be persistent.
5. Balance repetition with variety: play a piece you like until you are a little tired of it, and then go on to some other piece. Come back to the first piece when you are refreshed and not tired of it.

Now go out and find a teacher, but a book about piano, just make an attempt to get started.

If you can find a sympathetic, special piano teacher, you will learn very quickly.

Remember, just 5 minutes a day.

by John Aschenbrenner Copyright 2000 Walden Pond Press. Visit http://www.pianoiseasy.com to 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

Nowadays, it isn’t that difficult to find a good piano teacher for your child or even for yourself. If you have no previous experience trying to get musical instruction, there are a few things you need to keep in mind so you know what to look for in a good piano teacher. Only a handful of people are musically gifted as to be able to teach themselves how to play the piano. With the right piano teacher, however, you or your child will be able to learn much faster. Below are 5 tips you can use when you’re looking to hire a piano teacher.

1.Word of mouth

Chances are, you have a friend or friends who is in lessons, has been, or will be soon, and you can always pick their brains. Ask them what their experiences in this area have been like and what sort of instruction that they received. You can talk with them about teaching methods, and how much time they have put into it. There is a lot of interesting material that you can find when it comes to what your friends say, and this can lead you to a great teacher.

2.Look online

Many people advertise themselves online these days, and you can take advantage of that. You can get a sense for the teacher in question, learn about rates, and also learn about their specialties and philosophies, all without leaving your home. This is a great way to filter out some of the teachers who may not mesh as well with you, and you’ll find that with just a little bit of critical thought, you are left with the cream of the crop!

3.Go to the music store

One of the best way to find piano lessons if you are starting from scratch is to head to a store that sells musical instruments. Many teachers leave a notice that they give lessons at places like this, and some of the stores will even end up letting you have a place to practice. Take some time to ask around at the store and find out who is recommended. This is a great way to move forward in your search.

4.Talk with your prospective teacher

Learn about their methods, their goals, and how far along you can expect to be with a reasonable amount of preparation and practice. This is quite important when it comes to make sure that your goals and the goals of the teacher mesh well.

5. Ask to watch them in action

It’s not unreasonable to ask a prospective piano teacher if you could watch them conduct a piano lesson. You want to see how the piano teacher treats her student and how her student appear to be around her. Auditing a lesson can be useful in that you can have a better idea if the piano teacher is the right one for you or your child.

For more valuable information about piano lessons check out online piano lessons

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When I was a child, there was not as much competition for my time as there is for kids now. I realize that, but I believe that practicing the piano should be a habit. A habit like brushing your teeth everyday, exercising, doing homework.

In the beginning having a child practice Monday-Friday at least 15 minutes a day not only shows consistent advancement, but also decreases anxiety over practicing.

For example, ever parent expects their child to do their homework every night and every child accepts that and it is worked in as part of their daily routine. When piano lessons are started your child should add piano practicing as part of their daily routine.

If you plan exactly when and what time the piano practice will take place, then anxiety and fighting over practicing is eliminated. In return, the child knows what is expected of them and their reward is the confidence and fluidity of playing that comes from practicing.

Here are a some tips:

1. Sit with your child in the beginning and watch them practice. Then be in the room and listen to your child practice. It is very important to children that parents praise and listen to them when they practice.

2. Help make practicing a habit by doing every day and if you can at the same time every day. For some the morning is better, for others the afternoon, and others right after dinner. By doing this at the beginning, you will save having to remind your child to practice when they are older. I personally, tell my child to practice before any t.v. or video games.

3. It takes about 3 years of practicing before a child begin to appreciate how s/he can play the piano and at this point will not want to stop. The first year is fun. The second is more challenging, and the one that requires constant practicing and encouragement. In the third year, your child becomes confident in their ability and your child will be considered a “musician.”

4. Your child may want to quit from time to time. This is normal. Music lessons can go through difficult stages at times. It is at these times, discontinuing lessons may seem to be the obvious solution. Children, who are allowed to quit, rarely return to lessons. I have never heard an adult say, “I’m glad my parents let me quit.”

Children complain about homework but parents turn a deaf ear, sometimes with the piano, the same thing has to be done to get a child through the second year.

Parents wouldn’t think of letting their child show up for school without their schoolwork done, and that same attitude should be carried over to music lessons.

Copyright2006JDean

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

Learn How to Play with step-by-step piano lessons

Supported by video and audio files. Rocket Piano is organized into 3 high quality books taking you on a journey from beginner to advanced in your gospel piano playing.

Click here to find out more