Piano Clues

Every three months the members of the Adult Beginners Forum over at Piano World get together for an informal recital.

Everyone who wishes to participate performs and records a solo piano piece and then uploads it to a special website.

On the day of the recital, all entries are made public on the Piano World Forums.

Last month we had our 10th recital, and it was awesome (as always )!

With 63 participants, this was our biggest recital ever. People from all over the world, old and young, ranging in experience from complete beginners to seasoned players, created over 3 and a half hours of piano music.

Any style of music goes, as long as it’s played on a piano. Last time we had classical, jazz, new age, pop, you name it.

Visit the recital here

You can also listen directly to all the tunes using the online streaming player.

Go check it out!

And if you play the piano, be sure to send in a recording for recital 11 on August 15!

About a year ago, I set myself the challenge to compose (or improvise) and record one new solo piano piece every week.

Each piece had to be at least 2:30 minutes in length. I aimed to produce only original pieces but once in a while I also did my own variation on an existing piece.

I posted these pieces on a blog and a podcast, not because I expected to find a big audience, but to keep the pressure on.

However, I managed just fine and actually did more than one piece per week on average, so I’m happy about the results.

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In my overview of online piano courses, I mentioned that I am a happy member of Piano Magic, the course that really teaches you how to play by ear.

This past weekend, Michael Anderson — who is the Piano Magic teacher — opened up the “Piano Magic Concert Hall” to the public.

In the Concert Hall, there are 20 performances of solo piano music by Piano Magic members. Everyone is playing their own arrangements — by ear.

Some of the performers have only been with the course for several months, while others have been around for one or more years (like myself).

So for some excellent free piano music, and for proof of what this course delivers, visit the Piano Magic Concert Hall!

A “lead sheet” is a simplified form of sheet music that only contains a single staff with the melody, and chord symbols that give an indication of the harmony. It’s up to the players themselves to create the arrangement.

Lead sheets are very popular with many musicians, especially those who play Jazz and popular music.

A lead sheet gives you a quick idea of how a piece is supposed to sound, but it also gives you the freedom to play it however you feel like.

Often lead sheets are sold in thick books called “fake books” that can be pretty expensive. I have a couple of them and they are well worth the money — together they contain more than 2,000 songs — but they are not exhaustive (and there is quite a bit of overlap between them).

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Speaking of chord progressions, there is a very cool web site called chordmaps.com where you can learn all about them.

For example, here is a chord progression map for the key of C.

In the key of C, the C chord is the home chord, the most important chord. This is where chord progressions begin and end.

Here is how to read the chord progression map: from the C chord you can go to any of the other chords, and then you have to follow the map back to the C chord.

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Music software doesn’t have to be expensive. There is a lot of good free and almost-free software on the web, you just have to know where to find it. On this page you’ll find links to legal versions of music programs that I use and recommend.

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If you like to play computer games, and want to learn to play the piano at the same time, then check out Synthesia.

This game is similar to the popular game Guitar Hero. Notes come falling down from the screen and you have to press the right keys on the piano at the right time to score points.

The music comes from MIDI files, which means the number of songs you can play is virtually unlimited because for almost any song you can find one or more free MIDI files on the internet.

Download Synthesia for free at: www.synthesiagame.com

Even if you don’t like to play games, Synthesia still provides a good way to see what’s going on in the MIDI file.

It’s much nicer than the on-screen keyboard from VanBasco because you can see the notes ahead of time. This is quickly becoming my favorite tool to play back MIDI files.

Give it a try!

You can watch a nice video demo of Synthesia here.

Today’s tip is especially for pianists who play, or want to learn to play, classical repertoire.

A fine gentleman by the name of C. C. Chang has written a book called The Fundamentals of Piano Practice and he is kind enough to give it away for free on the web.

Chang claims that with the principles from his book you can learn piano up to 1000 times faster compared to other methods. The book not only teaches you how to play, but more importantly: how to practice!

You can download the book here as PDF or read it online here.

Worth checking out!

If you can’t get enough of piano music, then tune into the following internet radio stations. You can listen to them for free on your computer, provided that you have a reasonably fast internet connection (something better than dial-up).

Whisperings: Solo Piano Radio - Music to quiet your mind. Need I say more? (Also on Live365.com)

The Jazz - Great radio station from the UK that plays jazz all day long. Not just piano jazz, but all kinds.

NPR Piano Jazz - Jazz pianist Marian McPartland interviews famous jazz musicians. You can listen to old episodes online.

Solo Piano on SKY.fm - Top artists and undiscovered pianists in all kinds of genres.

Lucky Seven Radio - Several different channels, including Solo Piano, Piano Jazz and New Age.

Elena Kuschnerova Classic Radio - Classical piano and chamber music.