Wednesday, July 25, 2007

How to Play the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto

If you are a proficient pianist who enjoys listening to this difficult but one of the greatest pieces of music composed by Tchaikovsky learn to play it. The tips mentioned can help you tackle this legendary piece of music.

Listen to as many recordings as you can find. Be prepared to gain insight on the style of playing. Don't feel as if you are copying the way professionals play this piece - you will inevitably play passages similar to how they play them. Note: If you do this frequently, you may depend on this method, in other words, playing by ear. This is not professional and is looked down on.
Memorize the piece. (That's right. Do it before you even lay your hands on the keys.) This is very easy to do. Just listen to it and think about how it sounds.
Notice that the opening section is repetitious. Learn how to place your hands correctly and learn about the chords you are playing. Once you can play the notes, moving your hands one octave up becomes easier.
Be aware of when the orchestra has the melody and when you have the melody. As with any piece, you must play so the melody is obvious to the audience.
Understand that Tchaikovsky was a master of harmonics. Take advantage of this. Put some meaning into the main theme (when this applies)!!!!
Practice the octave passages carefully. This means not using 5th fingers on each hand during practice. Steady hand motion will result in perfect octave performance (i.e., the 5th fingers will follow the 1st fingers if the 1st and only the 1st fingers on each hand are practiced). DO NOT practice these at full speed. Your arms will surely become tense very quickly. Practice with a metronome with the notes on the 1st fingers initially. One word for the entire second movement (excluding the prestissimo): dolce!
Perfect the prestissimo in the second movement by using a metronome and tearing each measure apart. This can be very challenging to play at full speed and there is a lot of room for error. Don't practice the dynamics when learning the notes in this section. It will delay your progress. When you can play this part to tempo, incorporate the dynamics.
Notice that in the third movement it is important for the grace notes to be heard in the right hand. Again, hands separately. It will be important to practice your scales and thirds in both hands while preparing to play the third movement since there are a few pages of continuous runs in both hands. It is extremely important to practice these very slowly until you can play them absolutely perfectly. Practicing the runs with both hands simultaneously may be beneficial here.
Take care about the rhythm in the ending passage (the measures where the piano starts with the 8th rest). Buying the Music Minus One disc should help you find out when to come in and practice good timing and flexibility. Be sure to apply your own style of playing here!

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Enjoy Playing the Piano

A piano is a beautiful instrument, it looks good and sounds even better. There are different types of pianos, different styles and different sounds. Buy the one that will give you the most pleasure both playing and listening to.

Sit at the piano, even before you even take one lesson. Play the keys, listen to the sound, and enjoy just going up and down keys with your fingers.Make believe a new friend is visiting, and you have to get to know each other. Have fun, play the black keys, and listen to how different they sound from the white keys.
Feel excited about the prospect of playing this instrument. Do you want to learn how to play Classical Music, or do you just want to play songs that you can sing to , with friends and family. Make the decision about whether you are going to be committed to practicing every day, for at least an hour. Whatever you decide will be important for you to really enjoy playing.
Make that decision and then find a teacher to teach you how to play. Either way, you have to practice and learn how to read music, notes and scales, and most important 'timing'
Enjoy playing because you made the choice of what type of piano you want to play. Do not let anyone force their decision on you. If you just want to have fun, play and sing with friends, read 'cheat' music, instead of long serious pieces, then do it. The main thing is, you should enjoy playing and listening to the piano.
Try playing with someone else.
If there is someone also learning the same piece, it will do you good to have competition and have someone to beat.
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Tuesday, July 10, 2007

How to Do a Mean Improvisation Piece on the Keyboard?

To improvise is to make up the music as you go. Some great artists improvise their solos live rather than play the same old album version. Improvising well is about being able to stay in key and stay in the mood while playing through the ideas in your head.

Pick four simple chords to play with your left hand and make up a rhythm to play on the root of each chord with your right hand.
Add more fingers as you become used to the one note and remember to keep on producing different catchy rhythms.
Gain speed on your melodies and begin to use scales and arpeggios to add interest. If you find a riff you like, then remember it. You can always repeat a riff you like and use it as a theme to revert back to.
Start using chords with your right and experiment on what chords on the right hand will cooperate with the left hand.
Use unique scales like the blues scale on the right hand(1, b3, 4, b5, 5, b7, 8 in major intervals) and use common chord progressions like the blues chord progressions on the left hand (I4x, VI2x, I2x, V1x, VI1x, I2x)
Improvisation takes a bit of time and skill. You can probably find a jazz improv. CD on the internet to help you stay in key.
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Thursday, July 5, 2007

Compose Music on Piano. How?

Composing music depends on a basic knowledge of musical symbols and their relative music notes. The mixture of different tunes based on this knowledge and inspiration from various melodies around you can lead to your own musical creation.

1.Decide on a few related musical chords that are in harmony to each other. This could be either in a major or a minor chord, or simply musical notes that appeal to your ear.
2.Select a melody that changes relatively to the music chords you chose. This usually applies to the right hand.
3.Add the chords to the relative music notes for the left hand. This can be found by experimenting. One method is to use chords that contain the same note played in the melody. This step is for those with more musical knowledge, but if you have an ear for music, you probably will be able to do this.

Observe the patterns of existing songs in the genre you are interested in writing in. This will enable you to examine the patterns typical of these pieces, which will help formulate your own piece.
It is also useful to play existing songs, working out its relative melody and chords. That way you can pick a starting note, and work out its relative position on the piano keyboard.
Sometimes it helps to record the music you have created in an written form. This will require knowledge of how to write the notes, or you can note it in a way you understand and find someone with the relevant music knowledge to translate it.