http://www.pianopilot.com Thu, 20 Mar 2008 02:00:12 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en So, you want to learn how to play piano by ear. You think this skill is reserved for those with "special" talent. You're wrong about that!What does it mean to play by ear? Simply that the musician understands the fundamentals of diatonic harmony. To understand this, you just ... http://www.pianopilot.com/index.php/354/play-piano-by-ear-in-less-than-1-hour/ A student once asked me; "Can I determine what my favorite piano player is actually doing on the keyboard just by listening?" An excellent question and one that can be answered in the affirmative. Here's how to do it.First, figure out what the left-hand is doing. This is ... http://www.pianopilot.com/index.php/353/how-to-figure-out-what-another-pianist-is-doing/ How do you choose the right piano teacher? That's a question newbies at piano frequently ask. And it's an important question as well. Let me tell you how to do it.First, you really have to identify what your goals are. Do you want to play classical piano pieces? ... http://www.pianopilot.com/index.php/352/piano-teachers-and-how-to-choose-one-thats-right-for-you/ The sound of New Age music can be divided into the 3 parts melody, harmony, and rhythm. The harmony aspect can be thought of simply as chords. Now New Age music does use certain piano chords more than others.One chord I'm fond of is the 9th chord. All ... http://www.pianopilot.com/index.php/351/chord-progressions-for-new-age-piano/ To the uninitiated, the piano keyboard looks like a sea of black and white. So many keys!The way most piano teachers handle this problem is to first show students where middle C is - and I agree this should be the first thing newbies learn. But after they ... http://www.pianopilot.com/index.php/350/piano-keys-and-how-to-make-sense-of-them/ As someone who has played the piano for quite a long time, I can tell you that there is nothing more enjoyable than being able to sit down and just improvise.Now, I don't do this every day, but when the mood strikes I do. It might be a ... http://www.pianopilot.com/index.php/349/piano-improvisation-easier-than-you-think/ Why jazz piano improvisation?Why not gospel piano improvisation?Is it not possible to improvise classical music, or sacred music, or any other kind of music?Bach improvised many of his fugues and inventions while playing organ in church. Many others in all musical styles have improvised within the context of ... http://www.pianopilot.com/index.php/348/improvising-on-the-piano-jazz-musicians-do-it-why-not-other-styles/ Things were sad at our house when our nineteen-year-old sister died in June of 1940. Her name was Alice. She contacted polio when she was a three-year-old.Alice wore braces until she was in her teens. I spent more than one morning trying to repair the leather and iron ... http://www.pianopilot.com/index.php/347/five-christmas-trees/ *Great men are the gifts of kind heaven to our poor world; instruments by which the Highest One works out His designs; light-radiators to give guidance and blessing to the travelers of time. Moses Harvey.*Grief, like a tree, has tears for its fruit. Bulwer-Lytton.*She grieves sincerely who grieves ... http://www.pianopilot.com/index.php/346/quotations-9/ Piano sheet music is a printed musical notation for piano. Before phonograph and radio became popular, sheet music was used by musicians to make their compositions known to the people. Many of these were piano sheet music since piano was the most popular musical instrument back then.In the ... http://www.pianopilot.com/index.php/345/piano-sheet-music/