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Christmas Carols You Can Play This Christmas With Just 3 Chords! Did you know that there are literally thousands of songs you can play if you know just 3 chords? And some of them are Christmas Carols that you can learn to play this Christmas if you know, or are willing to learn, three simple chords. How To Play The Piano Using "Shorthand" -- Chord Symbols -- Instead of Reading the Full Score Most people who took piano lessons as a kid, including me, grew up learning to read music exactly as it is written on the printed page. Being able to read music is a valuable skill, and I am delighted I learned that skill at an early age. Can YOU Play All The Major Chords in 3 Seconds or Less? Some people go through their entire lives not being sure about what such and such a major chord is -- and it's all so unnecessary, because you can memorize them in just a few minutes, and learn to play them in 12 seconds or less - one second per major chord. Exciting Improvising: How to Make Up Music Out Of Your Head As You Play Improvisation (also known as improvising) is the act of making something up as you go along -- an act with which we all have a little experience. To Make Your Kids More Successful, Teach Them Music! Besides being a sure way to become the life of the party, learning to play an instrument can make your children smarter, better adjusted, and better equipped to adopt a position of leadership in a diverse world. I Like It, But Is It Music? Are you frustrated when you try to explain your taste in music? Fortunately, one of the benefits of learning a musical instrument is a better understanding of your own musical taste. Learn to play an instrument, and soon you will be able to discuss what works or doesn't work for you, in music. Learn a Musical Instrument, Prepare for a Career From education to video games, there are careers available for those who happen to have a background in music which the rest of us never see. Each of these fields requires time and study for proficiency, but they represent a career path that is nonexistent for non-musicians. Can You Really Learn To Play a Musical Instrument From an Online Course? Out of the 250 million people in the United States, about 25 million of them play an instrument of some kind, or at least used to when they were in school and would like to pick up where they left off. Another 30 million or so sing in a church choir, a barbershop quartet, or at the very least, in the shower. Learn To Play The Piano Better By Learning To Arrange Chords & Chord Progressions Piano arranging is the process by which you take a written piece of music and rework it with chords, adding new bass accompaniment, fills, or even slightly altering the song's structure. And while it's a process that takes years to truly master, anyone with a basic education in piano and a working knowledge of a few key techniques can create an inventive, satisfying arrangement. Can You Become a Boogie-Man or Boogie-Lady? Boogie music, also known as boogie woogie, is a genre of piano-heavy music particular to America in the 1940s and 50s. Playing The Piano Using Chord Symbols Instead of Being Tied To The Written Sheet Music Piano improvising and arranging is an art but definitely not a science. It is all based on chords and chord progressions. There aren't any steadfast rules for creating an arrangement, nothing to dictate the limitless potential of your imagination. Real Shortstops Don't Chew Their Gloves When I was growing up, even though I loved baseball, I nervously chewed on my baseball glove. I guess I wasn't meant to be the next Derek Geter. Improvising On The Piano: Jazz Musicians Do It -- Why Not Other Styles? Jazz pianists improvise all the time. So why not classical pianists, gospel pianists, and piano players of many other styles? Piano Playing is Easier than You Think When You Understand Musical Form Understanding musical form in music is one of the proven shortcuts to better piano playing (or better guitar playing, or any instrument). Form is like the blueprint to a house -- it holds the key that unlocks the musical map of a song or a musical compostition. Mp3's - - The Future of Music? Mp3 music is audio file that has been digitally encoded and compressed to make the amount of data smaller without compromising the overall sound quality. Because of it's portability, it promises to be the future of music. How Grandma's Lap Robe Saved My Legs As I was growing up, Grandma always made sure that I wouldn't catch cold by insisting I have a lap robe over my legs. Didn't matter if it was 32 degrees or 100 degrees; the lap robe was an absolute necessity. How Many Guitar Chords Do I Need To Know? Most simple songs contain just 3 chords called "primary chords". So even a stark beginner can learn 3 simple note groups well enough to strum along and accompany himself as he sings. But after that, the sky is the limit; there are thousands of possible chords, so it is up to the individual guitarist as to how many he or she wants to master. Five Great Practice Ideas I Learned From My Piano Students Sometimes the teacher learns more from the student than the student does from the teacher. Hopefully, not too often, but today I would like to share with you some great practicing ideas that have come from my piano students over the years. What All Do I Have to Know to be a Really Good Piano Player? Many students ask me a question that goes something like this: "What all do I have to know to be a really good piano player?" The answer is multi-facited and depends largely on the motivation and talent of the individual. Is Your Child Struggling in School? Get Him (Or Her) Music Lessons Playing music has been discovered to have a direct and almost immediate effect on the brain of the student. Music lessons have been shown in a German study to have a significant impact on the way the brain functions after as little as five weeks. Never Open An Outhouse Door Without Knocking I suppose that every hometown of every child holds certain favorite hiding places, or short cuts, or little-known doors or cubbyholes or secret passageways or whatever, and Auburn, the little town where I grew up, was no exception. Music Downloads: Free & Low Cost Ways For Musicians To Get Their Music Known All Over The World For the musician, music downloads are an absolute breakthrough technology, allowing, for the first time in history, for a musician to develop a following without ever leaving his or her house! Marketing possibilities are unlimited for the musicians who avail themselves of this wonderful new technology. Why Piano Students Knew More About Sex Than The Other Kids In My Home Town The center for sex education in my home town of Auburn, California in the mid-to-late 40's was not the home, the church, the school, or the health clinic. Not that these did not contribute to our growing body of knowledge; they certainly did; but the center for the dissemination of actual facts was a piano studio on Jasper Way. Oh My Aching Head! Can Music Really Make You Feel Better? We all know, if only instinctively, that music has a profound effect on us. If we didn't believe that music affects us then singing lullabies to calm children and help them sleep wouldn't be universal. In reality melody, harmony, and rhythm probably impacts the human brain in ways that are far more profound than we realize. How To Impress Girls - Or Maybe Not I suppose that all males at some time in their life attempt to impress girls. My efforts started in about the 5th grade, and left a great deal to be desired. So You Want to be President? Learn to Play a Musical Instrument! From Bill Clinton and his sax to Richard Nixon and his piano, many Presidents and leaders have played a musical instrument. Does Condi Rice have an edge in future presidential elections because she is also a concert pianist? How I Found Out That God Bowls On Monday Evenings at 7 I grew up wondering what Jesus did on Monday evenings. My Uncle Verge went bowling on Monday evenings, and although a good Methodist child wouldn't be caught dead inside a bowling alley back in those days, I sometimes visualized Jesus bowling along side of Uncle Verge, since they both apparently had Monday evenings off. Killer Piano Playing Secrets of a Chord Addict! When a lightbulb comes on in the mind of an individual who is seeking knowledge in some area, it is amazing how much progress can be made in a short time. For piano players and other musicians, that moment of insight that changes lives often has to do with understanding chords and how they progress to create music. Musicians: What Chords Do You Absolutely, Positively Have To Know? There are thousands of different chords in music, but there are 3 chords -- just 3 -- that you absolutely, positively have to know. If you don't know these three, there's hardly a song in the whole world that you could play. But by knowing just 3 chords, you can play hundreds, if not thousands of songs! Music & Emotions: Can Music Really Make You a Happier Person? How many times have you turned to music to uplift you even further in happy times, or sought the comfort of music when melancholy strikes? We all know it works -- we just don't know why. Now science is beginning to unravel some of the mystery behind the relationship of music and our moods. Win Friends & Influence People Through Music -- Is It Possible? Can learning to play a musical instrument really help you "win friends & influence people?" It almost seems like a stretch, but scientific research seems to support the idea. Rock stars aren't the only ones to be popular; there is a direct correlation between music study and the ability to relate will with others. Piano Playing Your Way: How To Have More Fun Playing The Piano Than You Ever Have Before Piano playing doesn't have to be boring. There's no law that says you have to play a song the same way everyone else plays it. By learning some basic music theory and chord formations, you can have the time of your life playing music like you've always wanted to. Is It Possible To Create Cool "New Age" Sounds On The Piano Without Knowing A Thing About Music? I'll admit that for many years as a piano teacher I didn't think so. But in the last couple years I made a discovery about creating pleasant "new age" sounds on the piano that I never would have believed during my earlier piano teaching career. They Laughed When I Sat Down at the Piano -- but When I Started to Play -- Is there a "backdoor to piano playing?" Chords are a way in to the world of piano playing without having to go through the front door: years and years of scales, drills, rote practicing, etc. Chords are really a shortcut to understanding and playing music without all the formal training. The Many Incredible Benefits Of Learning Chording Techniques On The Piano Many piano players seem to spend their entire lives "chained to the written music". They can sight-read sheet music, but when it comes to knowing what to play when the music blows off the stand and onto the floor, they are entirely lost. How To Match The Melody Notes Of Any Song To A Chord In Your Left Hand! Is it really possible to know which chords go with which notes in a song without having to depend on the written sheet music? Can you pick out a song by ear and then harmonize that tune with chords that match it? How To Predict Which Chord Comes Next In A Song It is quite possible to predict which chords will occur in a given song, once you know the key and understand the "guts" of music theory & chord progressions. How To Play More Notes On The Piano Without Reading More Notes! Most people learn to play the piano by playing just the written music. Playing by written music is exactly what the phrase says it is -- playing the exact notation on a piece of sheet music. 33 Tips to Becoming a Great Pianist "There are at least 33 elements that contribute to becoming a good pianist," says Duane Shinn, pianist and owner of Keyboard Workshop in Medford, Oregon. "There are probably more, but without these 33 principles a pianist cannot hope to rise to the level of his ability." I Know a Man Who Can Take You To Narnia... I know a man who can take you to Narnia. Well, not really Narnia, but to the very spot in England where Narnia was born in the mind of C.S. Lewis, author of "The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe" which is now a major motion picture by Disney, and the entire Chronicles of Narnia series. "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" - Einstein would have loved it! Einstein would have loved the movie "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" because it is filled with not only imagination, but also time dilation and wormholes that tunnel into distant regions of space and time and black holes and string theory and spacetime curvature...all implicated in his General Theory of Relativity. 3 Secrets To Understanding What Music Is Made Of It's no secret that virtually everyone loves music in some form or other. After all, it is the universal language, and we all participate in it to some degree from the cradle to the grave. It starts with our Mothers' lullaby, ends with our funeral song, with a zillion other stops along the way Does Music Impact Epilepsy - For Bad Or For Good? At the present time music is not yet used as a formal treatment for epilepsy, but the sheer fact that music has shown a potential ability to be a treatment for epilepsy as well as its ability to induce epileptic seizures would seem to indicate that music just might play a more significant role in the human experience than we ever imagined. Music & Intelligence: Will Listening to Music Make You Smarter? Will listening to music make you smarter? Will learning to play a musical instrument make your brain grow larger than normal? Questions like these ones have been popping up all over the place in the past few years, and not just in scientific journals either. Do you really need college to learn to play music? In the last few years a new dimension to learning music has appeared in the form of the internet - the world wide web. Now instead of being limited to classroom courses, students are free to create their own schedules and learn at their own pace. Families That Hit Pine Cones Together Stay Together It is said that families that pray together stay together. I think it's almost equally true that families that play together stay together. If play time is the glue of family life, our family is a sticky crew! What In The World Would We Do Without Music? What in the world would you and I do if there was no such thing as music? Can you imagine a world without music? No songs, no tunes, no rock, no roll, no jazz, no hymns, no boogie-woogie, no country-western, no symphonies. No singing in the shower. No whistling Dixie. Music Therapy: Can Music Really "Soothe The Savage Beast?" It has long been suggested that "music soothes the savage beast." But is this true? And if it is, does this have any implication where humans are concerned? How To Play Piano Using Chord Symbols Chord symbols (for example, Cmaj7 or G6) are a type of notation used frequently in jazz and other areas of modern music to notate chord progressions and changes. How To Dress Up "Naked Music" On The Piano What in the world is "naked music?" You know it when you hear it, but the words that describe it sound strange, don't they? We've all heard of popular music and rock music and gospel music and jazz music, but naked music? How To Make a Fortune Teaching Piano (or Guitar, or Drums, or Singing, or...) To Beginners Every year millions more kids get to the age where their parents start thinking about getting music lessons for them, so your prospect list is constantly getting bigger every day. There are plenty of beginners to go around, so competition is really not an issue at all for a person who loves both people and music. 3 Quick & Easy Steps To Playing Music by Ear Playing by ear is the ability to play a piece of music (or, eventually, learn an instrument) by simply listening to it repeatedly. The majority of self-taught musicians began their education this way; they picked up their instrument and began playing an easy melody from a well-known song, slowly picking out the notes as they went along. How to Become a World Class Expert in Just 20 Minutes a Day Is it really possible to become an expert in some field in 20 minutes a day? Here's some ideas that just might make it possible. How Many Chords Are There, Anyway? Since chords (the main component of harmony) are one of the three most vital elements of music - the others being melody and rhythm - it would be useful to know how many chords there are. And it doesn't matter whether you play piano or guitar or some other instrument - chords are chords. 10 Top Reasons You Should Learn to Play 'Chord' Piano There are roughly umpteen zillion reasons why you should learn enough chords to be able to "chord a song" at the piano. By "chord a song", I mean the ability to play 3 or 4 chords on the piano in some sort of rhythm while you or someone else sings the tune. To do this, you don't need to be a Van Cliburn; all you need to do is learn a few basic chords and be able to more back and forth between them in some organized rhythmic pattern. Church Service Family Style: How a 3 Year Old Preacher & a Beagle Made Our Sunday Unforgettable One unforgettable Sunday our church had a three-year- old preacher, an organist who could play one song, an altercation involving the offering and a visiting beagle who knocked over the pulpit. Is Your Child Capable of Composing Music? Maybe the next Mozart? We've all heard of them. Child prodigies who begin composing music at some ridiculously young age. For instance, history reports that Mozart was writing minuets by the time he was five years old. Amazing. At five years of age, I'm not sure that I knew the difference between my finger and my thumb and I certainly wasn't composing music. If Seals Can Sing, Why Can't You? Music moves us, often in ways that we don't understand. For example who hasn't been calmed by the sound of quiet singing such as a lullaby? But more than that, who can explain why cows produce more milk and chickens lay more eggs when listening to certain songs like The Blue Danube?

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