Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
This report is free and does not contain any afliate links. Share it with the world, or give out the following link to ensure the latest version will be enjoyed: http://www.piano-couture.com/?p=3231 Please share without altering, changing or in any way adapting the structure or contents of this .pdf le. 2013 Coen Modder, Piano Couture http://www.piano-couture.com
Contents
Intro. p.4 - First and Foremost. p.8 - The Effective Dose and superuousnesses. p.10 Part 1. Basic knowledge - Pianos bare essential abcs
1.1
1.2.1
Basic knowledge: Technique, ngering. p.24 1.2.2
Basic knowledge: Technique, posture and the instrument. p.27 Part 2. Chords - An introduction to Pop-Pianos what
2.1
2.2
Chords: Triads, major and minor chords. p.33 Chords: 7 common major and minor triads. p.38
Intro.
This is not your average piano-method. This is a book, course, that will make you see music, feel music, understand music by hacking the piano; hacking music, if you will. It will teach you Pop-Piano, enabling you to play along with-, accompany- and even compose any song you like in the shortest amount of time possible.
Piano Couture
Effectiveness is at the heart of this course.Youve picked up this book because you want to learn to play the piano. Maybe youre looking to be entertained. Well, playing the piano certainly is entertaining! In fact its great fun and its very entertaining. The fact that youve picked up this book means that youve dared to take the rst big step towards starting a new hobby and thereby, youve taken a step in the direction of signicantly increasing your own entertainment too, so I hope youll appreciate the odd joke, the anecdotes, the background-stories and -information. Everything that Ive written is meant to contribute something to the whole; either to your entertainment or to the effectiveness. Hopefully to both. At the start of this adventure, you need to realise that in the end, life often proceeds more comfortably and even quicker- when you choose a path which might at rst seems to be the long way around. Are you going to wait for your car to be xed or are you going to walk? Might depend on how far you have to travel, of course. All the background stories in this book are aimed at supporting my personal approach, broadening your general understanding and giving you a glimpse into my mind. Into how I think about the piano, learning and playing. If you read them, your understanding of my teaching method and my approach to playing the piano will deepen in such a way that the rest of the course will be easier to follow, sink in better and progress a lot faster in the end. If you prefer to get going right away (and choose to start walking), thats also possible. In that case, you should tackle only those chapters which are marked at the beginning with the following underlined headings: Terms and Knowledge, Style and Level. These chapters contain the theory, exercises and techniques necessary to achieving the fastest and most effective learning-curve. The titles of these chapters are in bold type. In the background stories I have tried to explain the underlying ideas in a light, easygoing manner but when it comes to what you absolutely need to learn (the chapters with titles in bold type), I have tried to present everything in the most effective way and in brief. At least as briey as possible. After all, Rome wasnt built in a day. This course is designed to maintain the highest possible level of efciency in learning and practising so that you can reach your musical goal as quickly as possible. By focusing solely on what is really relevant and, just as important, on what is broadly usable, and by ignoring whatever is superuous, Ill teach you how to lay a rm foundation for your piano playing in the shortest possible time. Based on this foundation, you will experience playing the piano as something completely logical and yes -believe it or not- even really easy. The fact that each new bit of theory and each new technique youll learn will not only enable you to play one particular song (as is the case with conventional methods), but will immediately be applicable to any and every other song, means that all of your playing will benet. This way, every bit of theory and every exercise contributes to your growth as a complete pianist. Effective. Efcient. As you grasp the logic of the approach, your ability to recognise, assimilate, see, recognise and create constructions and coherence will increase and the learning process will get steadily easier. I hope you decide to wait for your car Have fun! Coen
Piano?
Playing the piano can be done in countless different ways and many different styles. If, for example, youd compare Alicia Keys, Chris Martin (Coldplay), Stevie Wonder, Wibi Soerjadi, Paul McCartney (The Beatles), Dr. John, Art Tatum, Tori Amos, Jamie Cullum, Elton John, Sergio Mendez, Jordan Rudess and Herbie Hancock, youd hear how all these world-famous musicians play the same instrument (yes, piano), yet seem to make it sound beautiful in their very own, unique way. All gifted pianists do have one major thing in common, though: Theyunderstandboth their instrument and music in general. This gives them the freedom to play whatever they feel like, whenever they feel like it, and truly express their emotions through their music. This 'fundamental skill' is exactly what I'm going to teach you. With just 10 minutes of super-effective rehearsal time per day, this will enable you to (select any one or more): - Learn to play any one of your favorite songs, using chord-knowledge, your own musicality and ears and without having to ever 'read' a single note (more on this later). - Learn how to play by ear. - Create your own (cover) piano-version of any song in the world, wether the original version has- or HASN'T got a piano in it. - Learn to be creative with the piano, by truly understanding both the instrument and music itself. - Learn how to accompany any singer, including yourself. - Learn how to be the keyboardist in a rock-/soul-/funk-/singer-songwriter or any other pop-band. - Improvise. - Use the piano to write your own songs, in the same way all famous (and lesser famous) pop-musicians do. - It's incredibly easy and suitable for anybody, regardless of any previous experience with piano or music in general. Whatever your musical goal is, I'll show you how to get there asap.
At age 17, I taught myself how to play the piano. Four years and exactly zero piano-lessons after I rst (re)touched the instrument (get to that in a sec), I was accepted into the Amsterdam Conservatory of Music (Pop-Piano), which I nished in four-and-a-half years (some personal problems caused a half-year delay) without EVER needing the skill of sight-reading. Not once. Am I that talented? No. Sure, I suppose I am what you might call a 'musical' person, and yes, I might even have some amount of talent (it might get a little tricky getting accepted into a Music BA if you don't have the slightest bit of talent), but mostly I blame it on the fact that I gured how to 'hack' the piano. And music in general, for that matter. I saw the logic. Understood it's 'construction'. Really understood it. And saw that it was actually quite easy. To play pop-music, whether on the piano, or any other instrument, you don't need sheet music or sightreading skills. If youll let me, and are really motivated to do this, to learn how to play real music yourself, I'll show you exactly how it's done.
different names for a specic musical term or just the one way to gure something out whilst there may be 20 different roads that lead to the same goal. To make a decent dish, you dont need to know the Latin name of every herb, how to grow every green or the best way to catch the sh youre about to prepare. Im going to show you how to cook the dish and enjoy it. Youll know everything you need. If the above points sound like jibber-jabber to you now, dont worry, it will all follow itself. Practicing in the most efcient way means practicing exactly that, which is most relevant for you at a specic time. This implies doing (an) exercise(s) that will raise your overall level as a pianist and will make you play everything a little better. Nothing less, but also certainly nothing more. Playing the piano should be seen as exercising, just like in sports. Practicing the piano should therefore be seen as nothing less than serious training, both physically and mentally. Like with training in sports, it's not very wise to immediately start with that which is your end goal (for instance running 26 miles, lifting 400 pounds or whatever your goal might be). To get the best and fastest results and prevent injury it's best to steadily head towards your goal with easyto-manage, small steps. Often this is contrary to what one might feel or believe, so try and remind yourself of this fact every now and then. Do what is suggested and then stop. Don't ever skip it, always nish it, but equally important: don't exceed it, don't over-do it. Both the physical 'over-training' of your hands and ngers, which can (and probably will) cause injuries, as well as the 'information overload' in your brain, that will interfere with optimal remembrance, will stagnate your growth, in stead of speed it up. Injuries, wether physical or in your brain, will force you to pause your 'training' to rehabilitate, and will slow down the learning curve. On top of that, of course, nobody is keen on getting injured in any way, right? The information in this course, that will be saved into your (muscle-)memory, will stick way better when it is 'consumed' and practiced in small, accessible 'bites' and at a slow pace. Slow pace' here stands for a tempo (of a song) that is barely low enough for you to manage when really putting in some effort. We're looking for the dividing line in tempo, between 'difcult but doable' and 'to fast', where the latter would be the tempo causing you to constantly 'crash' (make mistakes). A very important extra note to this tempo advice is this: everything you rehearse, will be remembered and become a 'habit'. In other words: if you try and learn a new skill, and practice (repeat) it correctly, you'll learn how to do it that way: correct. This 'correct' way will be saved as being your 'habit'. Mistakes, however, when being made over and over again (even a few times), will also be 'saved' and become bad 'habits'. I probably don't have to tell you that changing a bad habit is a tedious process, that is rather to be avoided by not creating it in the rst place. So, always try to repeat the correct thing and avoid repeating mistakes too often. Try to nd this ne line between 'difcult' (where you manage to play it correctly when truly putting in your effort) or 'too difcult', but never cross it! Sticking to this advice may prove to be the most difcult, yet most valuable part of this course.
This 'Effective Dose' of 10 daily minutes proves to be the most effective scheme to maximize the saving capacity of your (muscle-)memory, putting the speed of your progress in overdrive mode. I also like to treat this part of our Effective Dose as a 'psychological motivator': - 10 minutes a day is a very short period of time. Anybody that is truly looking to succeed in this task of learning Pop-Piano, should be able to free these few minutes, every day. If not, I don't think you're motivated enough.
- Because of the fact that it's a daily routine, to go and sit behind the piano will very soon start to feel like a smaller and smaller step to take. It will simply become one of those fullling AND fun things to do in your day. - When followed correctly and with the little amount of discipline required, the effect on your progress will be HUGE. This will cause the most important thing: the fun, pleasure and enjoyment of playing the piano, to grow as well. Fun and efciency. That's what its all about, remember? As you'll progress through the course, you'll notice that along with your increasing knowledge, technical skills and experience, you'll also be starting to get more enthusiasm, endurance and fun out of it and you'll be able to steadily increase your piano-study-time (without all the negative side-effects mentioned). When your motivation to learn more and get better is high and practicing for just 10 minutes a day seems short and easily sustainable after the rst week, this is my advised schedule to follow for increasing pianotime:
Now this may sound quite logical to most of you, but in fact it appears to be one of the most difcult points to stick to, for almost every one of the many students I've taught over the years. Below, I indicate the most common mistakes, and how to prevent them step by step.
2. Thinking you can do something, that actually, you cannot (yet) do. Going (on) to fast.
You can play something, when you can play it in the tempo youre aiming for (either the actual tempo, or a slowed down version to t your current level), without hiccups, stops, hesitations (!!) and without mistakes. In other words: awless. I'll get back to you on this point, because it is very, very important, yet another way-too-often overlooked point in piano-practice. Dont go (too) fast(er), too soon. If you cant keep up and do make mistakes: go a little slower.
3. Ignoring the fact that you cannot (yet) do one thing, and continue with the next. Going on to fast by lack of discipline.
Wether you tend to go on doing something more difcult, playing faster or just something completely different, before actually being able to awlessly do the step before: try rst to focus on the thing you cannot do and have some patience to really learning that, before continuing. Dont give up too easily.
Side note 2:
There are things that are just too difcult to learn in a single session. Set aside time blocks (for instance 1 minute, 5 minutes, etc.) for these things that youre really struggling with and do them every day for that set block of time. Stop after the time block, even though you might not be able to play whatever youre practicing awlessly yet. Note that, on the other hand, there almost always IS a tempo in which you CAN play it. Stick to that tempo. Slowly. Dont make to many mistakes. Dont go too fast to soon.
4. The ip-side: Over-rehearsing and not realizing, that by learning a thing you cannot yet do, the things you can already do, get better as well.
There comes a point, when you can play something. It is very important that you learn to recognize this point. 'Can play' = being able to play without mistakes, in the original or desired tempo. If you can play it awless three times in a row but hiccup at the fourth try, this does not mean you cannot yet play it. People make mistakes. Don't sweat it. If you play it awless, but when you listen to a recoding of yourself you think that the 'feel' might be a bit off, the timing on that one note isn't perfect yet or you should have put more expression in that one accent: great, work on it some other time. All of these things and all of the things that you can already do, will improve too when you learn something new, something more difcult. In other words: this mistake no 4. actually comes down to making mistake 1. again: when you think you should practice something, that in fact you can already do, you'll actually be starting with the thing you can already do. It's a circle. Start with what needs to be done. Focus on it. Ace it. Make it awless. Don't over-do it. Keep it fun.
information into that what needed to become this high-fun, highly effective end-product: the moment of eliminating superuousnesses. The thing I'm going to warn you about now, is that I myself am the one who decided on what is, and what isn't superuous for learning how to play. On the other hand, I think my experience sorta gives me the right to say that I'm quite capable of deciding this. However, I feel obliged to give you this warning upfront, to prevent you from continuing and afterwards realizing this wasn't for you after all. I dont want to waist your time. When I started this project I was looking to fabricate a book / method, that would: - Teach any- and everybody that is interested enough (ranging from the complete piano nitwit, to those who can already actually play, but are interested in learning in WHAT exactly they are doing* to gain more freedom on the instrument) how the piano works. How music works. - Teach everything, no more and no less, that is necessary to truly understand and play pop-piano. - Do this in the fastest way possible. This meant that -and yes, here comes the actual warning- I had to leave out some stuff. The thing is, there's an awful lot of 'stuff' in the 'learning-music-journey, that is in fact superuous for actually PLAYING. When I rst started to play, I wasn't a music-theory expert. Not by a stretch. Nor did I particularly cared to be. Wanted to be. Because I could play. I knew what I had to know to play. In music, you can always learn more, but I decided to pick out what is best to learn rst. What is essential. What is necessary. In regard to this point, there might be musicians, teachers, music-theorists etc. that might respond to certain parts of this book, in some way similar to: "Well, that's an awfully easy way of putting it.", "That's not the whole story.", "That's theoretically not the 100% correct way of putting it.", "..but what about.", "..that's not how to ofcially call it!", "have you thought about this and that alternative?" and so on. Yes. I have thought about EVERY alternative. No. This is not a 'Complete Music-Theory'. There are plenty of those out there already.Yes, sometimes I simplied, because the simple version perfectly sufces and yes, there is more. In music, there's always more. That's one of the many beauties of it. However, this is ALL you actually need to start playing. Like a pro.Yes. A pro. Pro's see beyond theory. They use tricks. They use logic. They see. I extracted the best of my tricks, my logic, my mindset and vision out of my knowledge of music and the keys. It works. Like a charm. I know there's more than what I decided to put in this course (although, to be fair, were going to get pretty advanced in later chapters). I also know that to learn how to play like a pro, you won't ever actually NEED more than what is to be found right here at your ngertips, here in this very book. Once you're there, at a level of playing like a pro, you can contact me for a follow-up course. There's always more. Do you want to become a music-theory-analyst, or do you want to learn how to play the piano? These are the essentials. See ya in a year or 15.
EXERCISE 1
Take a close look at the keyboard and make sure that the structure of the keyboard: 3 blacks, 2 blacks, really sinks in. Take close note and store this recurring pattern in your mind.
EXERCISE 2 Play a few random notes (press a few random keys) and listen carefully how every key produces its very own, unique sound. Can you hear that, the more to the right you play, the higher the tones get? If this isnt obvious to you, try and sing the notes you are playing, while gradually going higher: moving to the right side of the keyboard. This way youll soon notice that singing along becomes quite difcult.
The white key that is positioned right below (to the left) of a group of 2 black keys (highlighted in red in the above image) is called c.
Moving to the next group of 2 black keys by either going up- or down 7 white keys youll nd a white key, looking exactly the same (because it is again positioned right below a group of 2 blacks). That white key is again called a c. In fact, all white keys positioned right below a group of two blacks, are called c.
The distance between two of the same notes -in this example, between two cs is called an octave (or scale), coming from the latin word octo, meaning eight. -> there are 8 notes in an octave. So, going up one octave means going up 7 steps from a specic key -> walking up until you reach that same key again. All cs also sound very similar all over the keyboard, only higher (more to the right) or lower (to the left). Its not just cs that repeat all over the keyboard. As the visual pattern on the keyboard repeats, the names of the notes repeat as well. This way, in stead of 88 different notes (the amount of keys on a regular- or grand piano) there are just 7 different names for white keys, which correspond with the rst seven letters from the alphabet: a, b, c, d, e, f and g. Ah. Logics and ease. Nice.
The names of the black keys are derived from the name of the white key they are next to. As black keys are in between two white keys, and thus next to two different white keys, they can also be named two different ways and in fact indeed have two names. In my method, either one is ne and will be used interchangeably.
First, the black keys can be named by adding a # (sharp) to the white key to their left (or, in other words, by going up / to the right from their white, left neighbor). This results in c#, pronounced c-sharp being the black key right above the c. D# is d-sharp, positioned right above the d, f# is f-sharp, positioned above the f, g-sharp (g#) is the black key above the g and a-sharp (a#) is found above the a. Secondly, the black keys can be named by adding a (or b; pronounced as at) to the note they are under (naming them after the note that is to their right / above them).
This way the black key right below the d is called db (d-at), the black key below (to the left of) the g is the gb (g-at), etc.
So, gb (g-at) is in fact THE SAME key as f# (f-sharp), db=c#, eb = d# etc. Theyre just names. If they confuse you right now, dont pay to much attention to them for now and just make sure you try and at least learn to remember the names of the white keys. As blacks are simply derived (same names with an addition) theyll follow accordingly.
EXERCISE 3 Play the c and say its name out loud. Next, play the white key above it (to the right) and say its name too (d), after that the e, then the f and the g (just like the alphabet). To the right of the g is the a, b and c etc. again. The most important thing is to play SLOWLY and look very thoroughly. Really try to soak it up.
In Hack the Piano I therefore decided not to start with single-note melodies, like is the approach in conventional methods. This often results in very limited- to no understanding at all, of cohesion and context of musical constructions, which in its part, results in your melodies, however dainty, being completely unfounded. Here well learn piano (and music) with a solid foundation as our base, starting with harmonies. On this solid foundation we can then safely start building beautiful constructions. Youll soon see that by starting with this harmony-approach, logics and contexts will start to become clear that will simplify playing the piano enormously. A chord are multiple notes, played and sounding together. In other words, a chord is a harmony. Because were tackling piano and music through a harmony-approach, these chords are going to be the rst building blocks well be using to lay our strong foundation for learning music. Chords are a really useful tool for learning pop-music theory, to gain insight in music and the piano, easily remember songs and for a lot more. Starting to build at the foundation also seems kinda... logic, right?
EXERCISE 4 - Simultaneously play the notes c, e and g* with your right hand, by using your thumb to play middle c (the c in the middle of the keyboard), your middle nger to play the e (two white keys above the c) and your pinky to play the g above that. This chord is called the C chord, or simply C.
- Now play the same notes, only one octave down, with your left hand. Notice that you are playing the same form only one octave lower on the keyboard. To play this same form with your left hand, use your pinky to play the c, your middle nger to play the e and your thumb to play the g. - Play this C chord with your left hand and hold it (keep the keys pressed down). Then, while holding this chord with your left hand, use your right hand to play the notes c, d, e, c, AFTER ONE ANOTHER. - Youve just played your very rst harmony + melody! (Frere Jaques / Brother John / Are you sleeping).
Summary
- The keyboard is the part of the piano that is used for playing. It consist of white and black keys. - The more to the right side of the keyboard youre playing, the higher the tones will sound. The more to the left, the lower theyll be. To the right is therefore called up, to the left is down. - There is a repeating visual pattern in the keyboard consisting of groups of black keys: 2 black keys alternated with 3 black keys. 2 blacks, 3 blacks, etc. - The names of the white keys are a, b, c, d, e, f and g, just like the alphabet. When youd start on the c and go up (to the right) youll get to the d, then the e, f, g, a, b and then youd get back to c again. - The black keys have 2 different names, for they can be named either after the white key the are situated above (adding a # or sharp) or from the white key they are below (adding a or at). This way the note d# (d-sharp) is the same note as the eb (e-at). - The distance between 2 of the same keys that are nearest apart is called an octave. After each octave, both the visual pattern of the keyboard and the names of the keys repeat over again. - The harmony is the base, the carpet or foundation of a song, which is created by two or more tones sounding simultaneously. In pop music, often this is that what is being played by the instruments* (bass, keys, guitar). - The melody is a succession of single notes that form the foreground, lead or main-line. In pop music this often is the singing line or the hook, the catchy tune that sticks in your mind.* - A chord is formed by multiple notes sounding together. In other words, a chord is a harmony. In the Theory part of Hack the Piano youll learn all about chords and how to use them to really get insight and understand how music works, to learn how to play Pop-Piano like a pro in an easy, fast and highly effective.
1.2.1. Basic knowledge: Technique, ngering. Terms and concepts: Fingering Style: All Level: Elementary Although Technique is in fact sort of an important aspect of playing the piano, it is also often over-rated. A good technique will follow accordingly, by practicing the theoretical things youve learnt. As long as you know the basics and stick to those, all will be ne. Never go to fast, to soon. Always play right at the tempo-limit of your capabilities of playing awlessly. The basics are vital. The rest will follow accordingly.
To simplify which nger were talking about at a specic moment, theyre numbered as shown in the image above. We start counting at the thumb (1) up to the pinky (5). Thumb = 1 Index nger = 2 Middle nger = 3 Ring nger = 4 Pinky = 5
This applies in the same way for both the left and the right hand!
At the start, playing the piano can often be quite a struggle with the ngers. Which nger are you supposed to use for which key? Actually, there are no strict rules here. More like guidelines. That said, when you try to stick to these guidelines as much as possible, youll soon start to notice that your playing will start to go easier, more uently, faster and due to of all of that -and most importantly- sound better. De main guideline well be trying to stick to -both for playing chords and single notes- is to try and place our ngers as efciently as possible. This implies moving your hands around as little as possible, by placing your ngers on keys that they (are going to) play, as soon as possible. Always try and position your hand in a way that allows you to play as many notes from the song as possible, without having to move your hand from that position. To accomplish this, you should always try and think ahead -> What key am I going to play next and is it possible to already place a nger on that key?. As an example, lets take another look at EXERCISE 4 from the previous chapter. In that exercise we were playing the tune Frere Jacques (also called Brother John or Are you sleeping in English), a French nursery song that, because of its simplicity, lends itself perfectly for clarication.
EXERCISE 1 Lets st take a look at the left hand. This was simultaneously playing the notes c, e and g (the C chord*).
When, as indicated here, the ngering for this chord is 5, 3, 1, this means: Play the c with your 5 (pinky) Play the e with your 3 (middle nger) Play the g with your 1 (thumb) Now, lets take a look at the right hand.
This was playing the notes c, d, e, c (are-you-slee-ping), after one another. Lets repeat this sequence 2x and then add e, f, g (bro-ther-John). So the complete the melody now is: c, d, e, c; c, d, e, c; e, f, g; (e, f, g). When wed start with our thumb (1) on the c and put a nger on every key well be playing above it (the index (1) on the d, the middle (3) on the e, the ring (4) on the f and the pinky (5) on the g) youll see that its actually really easy to stick to the following ngering, for there is already a nger on every correct key: 1, 2, 3, 1; 1, 2, 3, 1; 3, 4, 5; (3, 4, 5). This way you can play the entire tune, without moving your hand one bit!
NOTE:
1.2.2. Basic knowledge: Technique, posture and the instrument. Terms and concepts: Touch (/touch), dynamics, sustain pedal, posture Style: All Level: Elementary Now that we know how the keyboard is structured, a few more technical know-hows about how the instrument functions and how to use them to your advantage.
Touch / Touch.
As I already mentioned, its virtually impossible to strike a key in the wrong way. At most, you can hit the wrong key, meaning a key you did not intend to hit. On the other hand, there are in fact a couple of different ways of pressing down the keys, that can make major differences in the way theyll sound. Use them correctly and your playing will start to really come alive.
Dynamics:
A key can be pressed, struck, hit, slammed or touched with many different velocities, from very hard to really soft and everything in between. The harder youll strike, the louder the tone will sound, but also, depending on the velocity that you strike the key with, the color or character of the tone changes. The harder you strike, the more open, clear and bright the tone will sound. Contrarily, the closer youll get to the soft end of the striking spectrum, the more mufed, round and warm the tone will be. Dynamics is the difference in velocity (affecting volume and color) of the different notes you play in a song. Next to which keys youre playing, this is the most important expression tool in playing the piano. Playing louder (striking harder) can easily cause an overwhelming, upset, harsh, intense, mad, climactic, fresh, open, bright, excited/ing etc. kind of feel. On the other hand, playing softer will cause your expression coming from the instrument to be more intimate, warm, mysterious, sweet, dreamy or comparable sort of emotions. Some keyboards dont have touch sensitivity and wont respond in the same way as a real piano does. With these keyboards, the tones will sound similarly loud and also, wont change character. If youre looking to play piano (as opposed to, for example organ or synthesizer) but due to space or budget limitation, cannot afford a real piano (acoustic-, wall-, or grand-piano), keep an eye out for keyboards that offer the feature of touch sensitivity.
Length of notes:
A key can be played, pressed down, anywhere from really short (named staccato) to very long (legato) and all thats in between. At the moment you release a key the note immediately stops. With all forms of acoustic pianos, this is caused by dampers that fall right back onto the string that was sounded by pressing the key. When keys are not pressed down, every string that resembles its own tone (every key makes a little hammer slam the designated string to produce the correct note) inside the piano has its own damper, muting the notes that are not played. Pressing a key causes two things to happen: the tiny hammer slams the string and at the same time the damper is lifted enabling the string to actually vibrate and produce the note. When the key is released, the damper falls back on its string and mutes the note. This way, youre able to control the length of the tones by keeping the key pressed down. As long as its down, the damper is lifted of the string which will keep vibrating and thus: sounding.
In short: as long as you keep the key pressed down, the tone will keep sounding, slowly dying out, releasing the key will cause the key to stop more suddenly. This is the same for (virtually) every keyboard instrument. The length of tones plays a great part in the character of the tones. Apart from the fact that longer tones can produce more drag, sloth, slow, tension, ow vs. short notes that are more stingy, intense, bouncy, funky, bite, jumpy etc.; another very important point is that both the point in (the start of the tone, the moment you press the key) AND -less obvious to most people- the point out (the moment of releasing the key, stopping the tone) are EQUALLY and VERY IMPORTANT for your timing. Timing is very,VERY important. Ill get back on this extensively at a later stage. Experiment with short and long notes to get a grasp of their difference in character.
Posture
Correct posture behind the piano is important. Both for avoiding physical injuries as for improving ease of play and expressional ability. - Sit at the front end of your stool. - Make sure your stool is at a hight that allows your hands to rest comfortably on the keyboard when your elbows are next to- or just a little in front of your sides and bent in a 90-120 degree angle.Your wrists should be straight-slightly bent up while youre -of course- sitting up straight.
- The distance between your stool and the piano is ok when the posture described above can be accomplished in a relaxed way. When your elbows stick out behind your back, your stool is to close to the piano. If you have to reach out and your elbows are way in front of your body or you have to bend forward, youre to far away. - Then, to the posture of your hand: slightly bent ngers, like youre holding a baseball. Put your hand around one of your knees while sitting on your piano stool. Then remove your hand, but keeping that form, as if your hand is still around your knee and put your hand on the keys. When striking a key, imagine your different ngers acting like little hammers striking.
The major difference here is an effort when having to actually press down the keys vs. the relaxation of letting your arm rest on the correct nger (key). The more relaxation, the better. Being as relaxed as possible will reduce the chance of injuries and will increase your quality of accuracy, expression and playing in general. Try and start using this approach from the very beginning. Use the weight of your forearm by fully relaxing your arm (let it rest) while using the correct nger(s), placed on the correct keys, not so much to press these keys, but more to support the weight of your underarm. Fingers that shouldnt press any keys should also be fully relaxed, thereby automatically NOT pressing down any keys. Even when youve already played (a lot) of piano without this mindset of relaxation vs. effort and might therefore be used to using a wrong technique, its wise to start thinking about playing this way. It will help your playing. Trust me.
EXERCISE Using gravity. - Sit on the stool of your piano and move it back a few yards. - Extend your right arm straight in front of you (like pointing at something in front of you with all your ngers at the same time). - Next, relax all the muscles in your arm, causing your arm to fall on your right knee. If youre doing this correctly youll slap your right hand onto your right upper-leg causing a loud smack. Try to actually fully relax your arm, indeed causing it to smack, in stead of leading it down. - Repeat this three times, then do the same thing with your left arm. - Then, move your stool forward, sit back at the piano and play the melody of Brother John (c, d, e, c, c, d, e, c). Focus on relaxing your arm, using gravity and constantly switching to the nger to play the correct note, to support the weight of your arm, causing the correct keys to be pressed. - Fully concentrate on the feeling of relaxation and the gravity pulling down the weight of your arm while youre constantly using the correct nger (rst the 1 (thumb) positioned on the c, then the 2 (index), positioned on the d etc.) to support it and keep it from actually crashing. Keep your ngers bent like indicated on the previous page. This way constantly walk to the next nger, key, note.
Chords.Why?
When you watch pop musicians play the piano, youll notice that they seem to be playing freely. Theres no looking at sheet music, the sound is rich and the playing is beautiful, expressive and sometimes complex. It seems as though not everything is entirely xed beforehand; a few extra notes may be added unexpectedly here and there to heighten and strengthen the expressiveness even more. How does such a performer manage to memorise all those separate notes and play everything by heart? How is he or she able to play so freely and improvise music on the spot which really sounds good simply in response to what hes hearing and feeling at that moment? In this section youll learn the foundation that will make all of this clear to you and enable you to do the same. Say goodbye to complicated series of notes on paper and embrace the theory of chords.
Why do beginner pianists often sound so boring, dull, unappealing and so much like, well, beginners. Why cant they also quickly learn to play a lot of songs? The simple answer is: they arent taught how. Even though it appears that 90% of those who want to learn piano would much rather be able to play their favourite song, accompany a singer or just play that well-known hit which everyone loves (round the campre for instance) than become a before mentioned classical concert pianist, as many as 95% (!) have nevertheless chosen the classical route (or been offered that by their teacher). What most dont know, is that just like on the guitar, piano can also be learnt through chords, enabling the student (indeed, just like beginner guitarists) to quickly and easily grasp the concepts of pop-music and play a lot of recognisable songs. The teaching method based on classical theory, classical exercises and musical notation is primarily aimed at training you to become a classical pianist. If your aim is to become a POP pianist, however, its logical to assume that this method, with classical music as the nal goal, will not lead you efciently to your intended goal. To learn how to play pop music, its also necessary to choose the route which leads to understanding pop music: the theory of chords.
2.1 Chords: Triads, Major chords and Minor chords Required knowledge: Part 1. Intro and Basic Knowledge. Piano keys, the keyboard, names of the keys, tones, notes, octave, harmony, melody, ngering New terms and knowledge: Major, Minor, Triad, Bass Style: All Level: Elementary
EXERCISE 1
Major - With your right hand, play the notes c, e, g; in other words, the C major chord. The ngering is 1, 3, 5 - Start on middle c. Thats the c in the middle of the piano keyboard.
(thumb, middle nger, pinky).
- Now play the C chord with your left hand using the following ngering 5, 3, 1 (pinky, middle nger,
thumb).
- You have now learnt how to play the rst major chord with both hands. Minor - Now with your right hand, play the C major chord, c, e, g again. - Change the note e in the chord for the black key directly below, the eb (e-at), and play: c, eb, g. - The chord which you are now playing, c, eb, g is the C minor chord.
- Listen carefully to the way the sound of the chord changes from happy (c, e, g -> C major) to
sad (c, eb, g -> C minor). This way youll clearly hear the difference between major and minor.
Notation
A capital letter is used to write the name of a chord. C = the C chord (the notes c, e and g played together). C is called the chord symbol*. When you see small letters, these stand for single notes: c = just the note c. When only a capital letter is used and nothing else (as in C above), this refers to a major chord. For a minor chord, m or min is added to the chord symbol. Cm = the C minor chord (c, e-at, g) When we either write or talk about the C chord then we mean the major chord. If C minor is meant, this is always specically mentioned.
Bass
The bass in music refers to: the lowest note played. The bass in a band is often played by a bass guitar or a synthesiser. But if you are playing the piano by yourself, its possible to full the role of the bass yourself by playing the low bass notes with your left hand while you play the chords with your right hand.
EXERCISE 2
Bass, 3 new chords and the rst of many pop songs - Play the C chord with your right hand, with middle c as the lowest note. Now at the same time and
with your left hand, play the note c one octave below the c that youre playing with your right hand. Can you hear how the chord immediately sounds richer and fuller with this added bass note?
- Now were going to play a new chord: the G chord. With your right hand play: g, b, d with 1, 3, 5 as the - With your left hand, play the note g an octave lower.
ngering. The lowest note g is 3 white keys below middle c.
Take a good look at your ngers and the notes youre playing and notice that the structure of G actually looks very much like the structure of C -> you play 1 note, skip 1, play 1, skip the next, and play 1 again. But for the G chord, you start this structure on the g which in this case is 3 white keys below middle c.
- The next chord were going to play is Am or in other words A minor. The notes are: a, c, e, ngering 1,
3, 5. With the right hand, shift up all the notes from G by one. With the left hand, play the a an octave lower again as the bass note.
- The next chord: F. With the right hand: f, a, c. 2 steps below the Am you just played. Left hand - the f
an octave lower.
Theres that same structure again! The chord progression* above forms the beginning of the song Let it Be by The Beatles. Try practising these chords until you can play them smoothly one after the other. The golden tip: Make sure to look carefully and really listen to what youre doing and most importantly, play slowly so that you can really memorise what youre doing. Smoothly means playing all the chords at an even pace without any hesitations or mistakes. Dont go any faster until you can play them at that tempo really well and not for instance when you can play 3 in a row quite well but still need time to think about 1 of the 4 chords. If thats too difcult and youre not managing: play a bit slower. The MOST important thing to remember when practising is Dont play too fast too soon. Only when you continue to follow this advice (therell be a few more reminders) will your progress be as fast as promised. The biggest mistake most people make is playing too fast, too soon. For more information, review the explanation of the Effective Dose on page 7.
In exercise 2, we played the rst few chords of the song Let it Be by The Beatles, but at the same time we also collected baggage that we can use for playing a whole lot of pop songs. Many songs actually use the same chords; sometimes in a different sequence and sometimes in precisely the same sequence. Thats why its important to memorise all the chords you play really well so that when you come across them in another song, youll have them at your ngertips. For each new chord, try to immediately remember which notes make up the chord, what they look like, the position of your hands and how it feels. A C chord always has the same notes c, e, g, whether you play it in Let it be, No woman no cry, Frre Jacques or Fr Elise. This is also true for G = g, b, d ; F = f, a, c and so on for ALL chords. A specic chord always consists of the same notes in whatever song its used. So with each new chord you learn, you add to your baggage which is not only relevant and usable in the song youre currently learning but for all music.
EXERCISE 3
- Repeat the chords C, G, F and Am and also try to play them in another sequence that you think sounds
good. Youll discover that by using the chords youve learnt so far (C, G, Am and F), either in this or some other sequence, its already possible to play hundreds of pop songs.
Summary - A triad is a chord made up of three notes played simultaneously. - The sound of a Major triad is often described as happy. - The sound of a Minor triad is described as sad. - A chord is represented by a capital letter. C is the chord symbol for the chord of C major. - Individual notes are represented by small letters. For instance, c, d, e, c are the notes in the melody of - The chord symbol used to indicate a minor chord has an m (or min) after the capital letter. Cm means
C minor. - The bass is the lowest note played. If youre playing the piano by yourself, you often play the bass notes with your left hand. - Remember: Play SLOWLY when practising (it will often feel too slow) and LOOK and LISTEN carefully to what youre doing. Remember the Effective Dose. Frere Jacques.
2.2 Chords: 7 common triads in major and minor Required knowledge: Triads, major and minor New terms and knowledge: The root (of a chord), major and minor triads for A, B, C, D, E, F and G Style: All Level: Elementary-Beginners
14 triads
In the previous chapter, youve learnt the chords of C, G, Am and F. The image below shows you how to play all major and minor chords that have a white key as their root*.
Major
Minor
As mentioned before, there are already a lot of songs that can be played with the chords of C, G, Am and F, either in precisely the same sequence or in another sequence. With the 10 extra chords displayed on the previous page added to those four chords you already knew from the previous chapter, your musical vocabulary now stands at a grand total of 14 chords. With these 14 chords you can already learn to play literally tens of thousands of songs. Learning to play is now just a matter of: Remembering which chords to play as well as remembering the correct order, rhythm / pattern and duration of each chord. So, by learning the chords in the diagram above by heart and having them at your ngertips, you already know how to play more than 80% of tens of thousands of songs.
EXERCISE 4
EXERCISE 5 Divide the following exercise into 10 minute sessions so that you dont exceed your Effective Dose. In this exercise youll learn chords based on the music you like personally by practising a song that youll choose yourself:
- Think of a song you really want to learn to play. For now, dont worry about things like whether its too
difcult, too fast or too slow, or not even originally written for piano. It can be any pop song whatsoever. (For the moment, jazz, classical and dance styles such as house, techno etc. are not recommended. Most dance styles are by nature minimalist making them less suitable for this exercise whilst jazz and classical
music often contain more complicated chords and more advanced techniques which we will only be learning later on). - Lets nd the chord progression for your song: - Google chords - your favourite song -. (For instance: chords Let it Be). - Theres a very high chance that a lot of sites that come up will seem to be specically for guitarists (guitar tabs, ultimate guitar etc.). This doesnt matter at all. For now, were taking the same route as beginner guitarists and well also use the same notation. The search result is suitable when: your song is found and the chord symbols above the lyrics can be found in the diagram above (A G, major/minor). - If the chord symbol is followed by a 7, 9, sus2, sus4 or some other extra, just ignore that for the time being. Read only the rst capital letter of the chord. For instance, if you see Gsus2 just read it as G. F7 = F etc. If you see a chord with a / such as C/E for example, just read it as C. - Are you unable to think of a song or are you unable to nd a suitable chord progression using the above method? Choose a song from the list under My Gifts - Song Tutorials on the site. - Print the chord progression or write out the chords of the verse* and the chorus* (possibly including the lyrics). The advantage of printing it out is that the chords are often placed above the word where they should be played. This makes it easier to know when to play which chord. If you write it out, you should try to do it this way too.
Example:
Title:
LET IT BE (Beatles)
C G Am F When I nd myself in times of trouble, Mother Mary comes to me C G F C/E Dm C Speaking words of wisdom, Let it be C G Am F And in my hour of darkness, she is standing right in front of me C G F C/E Dm C Speaking words of wisdom, Let it be Am Em/G F C Let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be C G F C/E Dm C Whisper words of wisdom, Let it be
- Lookup the chords from the song that you dont yet know by heart in the image on page 38 and look - Then slowly play each chord in the song separately, one after the other, with your right hand. Use the
ngering 1, 3, 5 for each chord. Listen carefully and look carefully at what your ngers are doing! - With your left hand play the bass notes by playing the root of each chord an octave below the lowest note in your right hand (just like exercise 2). - Press down the keys of the rst chord, hold it 10 seconds and take a good look at the position of your hand. Then the second chord, hold it 10 seconds and look at the position. Keep doing this until youve played all the chords in the song. - Now try to play all the chords one after another at a very slow tempo in the same order as they appear in the song. Sing, hum or say the lyrics out loud as you play the chords, making sure to play each chord at the right moment (the chord is written above the word where it should be played). Slowly means: a tempo that allows you to play the chords one after another smoothly. In other words, without any hesitations, pauses and/or mistakes. If youre not yet able to do this, play a bit slower. If you are able, then carefully at how you should play them.
play a bit faster and practise at that tempo until you can play that smoothly too. Only then should you step up the tempo and so on until you can play the song at the correct tempo. - When you feel that youre able to play the chords in the actual tempo of the original song: surf to YouTube and nd a (preferably original) version of your song. Play along with the original version. Playing along with the original version is the best and quickest way of learning a song. However, it is only possible when you are able (or almost able) to play it smoothly at this tempo! If you have the song on CD or as an MP3, you could of course also play along with that. - If youre able to do this: enjoy playing! - Repeat this exercise with as many other songs with different chords as possible so that you get to know all 14 chords from this chapter.
TAKE NOTE: Unfortunately, most of the sites that provide chord progressions are not ofcial and present progressions that have been made by non-professional or amateur musicians. Often theyre very good but sometimes youll nd that the chords dont sound quite right when you play along with the original. There could be 2 reasons for this:
1.The person who picked the chords didnt hear it correctly and/or wrote down the wrong chords. 2.The song has been notated in a different key* from the original song for the sake of ease of playing. In
chapter 2.4 this will be explained in greater detail and show you how you can turn these into the correct chords yourself. If this applies to your song, choose another song or else try to nd the chord progression on another website.
This manifesto consists of the rst few chapters to my full book, course: Hack the Piano. The full version can be found @ http://www.piano-couture.com This report is free and does not contain any afliate links. Share it with the world, or give out the following link to ensure the latest version will be enjoyed: http://www.piano-couture.com/?p=3231 Please share without altering, changing or in any way adapting the structure or contents of this .pdf le. 2013 Coen Modder, Piano Couture http://www.piano-couture.com