3 September 2018 Why You Should Learn To Play The Piano

Why You Should Learn To Play The Piano

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Most people learn the piano for entertainment. They have a desire to create beautiful music, and playing the piano is the perfect way to accomplish that goal. 

But playing the piano offers a whole lot more. When you come home after a hectic day at work, sitting down at the piano is a great way to reduce stress. Just touching the keys can soothe your soul and make the knots in your neck go away. 

It can also exercise your brain. There’s a lot of action going on when you challenge yourself to read a new piece of music. Your brain must communicate with your fingers where the notes are, and how to put them all together to create the sounds that you hear. Why You Should Learn To Play The Piano

What was once thought to be strictly entertainment, now has been proved to be therapeutic too. 

It’s well documented that playing the piano helps older adults stay active and alert. It can protect against certain illnesses, such as dementia and Alzheimer’s. 

It’s also beneficial for children to learn, as it stimulates the part of the brain that controls fine motor skills, reasoning, memory, and speech. Want to help a child do better on their test scores as they age? Introduce them to the piano early on in life. It works. There’s even documentation that shows music majors make some of the best medical school students. It gives kids a special awareness for both self-discipline and determination for how things connect in this world. 

What’s more, kids that continue to play the piano are shown to have more self-esteem, show a greater sense of pride in accomplishment, and are more likely to participate in other physical activities. The hand-eye coordination vastly improves when learning the piano, thanks to the need to develop skill and technique to connect both hands and visual processing when moving from a sheet of music to the keyboard, and back again. 

Because the piano has an 88 key playing board, it is the broadest musical instrument you can play. It plays the melody and the accompaniment and allows composers to create for every other type of instrument available. 

Are you ready to bring the piano into your life? 

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18 August 2018 Become A Pro At Knowing Your Piano Keys

Become A Pro At Knowing Your Piano Keys

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Looking at a piano, the keyboard can be a bit intimidating. If you sit at an acoustic piano, the black and white keys seem to go on forever. How do you know which one to tap? Which key do you push when you look at a sheet of music? 

How are you ever going to figure all of this out? 

Actually, it’s not as frightening as it may seem. 

A standard keyboard has 88 keys. Yet it’s not exactly 88 separate notes; instead, it’s a series of repeating groups of 12 notes that are repeated over and over again. Become A Pro At Knowing Your Piano Keys

Take a look at a keyboard and notice how the keys are displayed. You’ll see the black keys are grouped together in two’s and three’s. This separates the white keys into the appropriate pattern. Every twelve note pattern (there’s seven of them on an 88 key keyboard) repeats over and over again as you move up the keyboard. Every 12 note pattern consists of a group of two and three black key patterns, and the 7 white keys that surround them. Rinse and repeat. 

That should make your keyboard a little less intimidating. 

Now let’s find your starting point. When you hear people talking about playing, you’ll invariably hear them mention Middle C. 

The C note is always to the left of the two black key pattern on your keyboard. You can take a moment and find all 8 of them on an 88 note keyboard. Don’t forget the highest C, which is always the last white key to the right. 

Middle C is the C note residing almost in the center of your keyboard. No matter how many keys a keyboard has, this is always the pattern. Middle C is your starting point. When you start lessons, you’ll often hear teachers call it “first position” or “number one”. 

All of your music will be based from Middle C on. 

Feeling a bit more comfortable with the keyboard? Realizing it’s just a series of patterns can help you with your approach. 

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10 August 2018 The Best After School Routine Includes Piano

The Best After School Routine Includes Piano

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The school bells are ringing once again. And if you’re like every busy household, you’re struggling to fit it all in. 

Teachers seem to be dishing out even more homework every year. And of course, every grade of advancement brings new challenges and opportunities. 

Then there are after school activities. Sometimes it feels like you’re running from place to place, always running a little behind. How will you fit it all in and have a life too?The Best After School Routine Includes Piano

We want our kids to be active. We want to give them every advantage possible, so we sign them up for every fun thing we can find. 

But think back to your own after school routine. Were you flying from activity to activity every single day?

Transition from school back home and to other activities is important. No one can be expected to be active every waking hour. Kids are no exception. If your child is:

Extroverted – she’s exhilarated after a day in the classroom. She needs to tell you all about it. She wants to stay active.

Introverted – she’s exhausted and needs a chance to recover. Only a quiet space will do. 

With this in mind, the sooner you start your after school routine, the more focus your kids will be. But only you can decide what that routine will look like. 

Will they start in on homework immediately? Will practicing the piano be a part of it? 

Or will some things be better pushed a few hours, to make time for other activities? 

If you have several children or an active family, a digital may make your life easier. Instead of trying to find a quiet place for homework while one child practices, simply plug in the headphones and let them go. 

This means one child isn’t separated from the activities of being a part of a family. They’re still in the presence of siblings doing homework, or you and your spouse making dinner. 

Digital pianos are often the solution to trying to find the time and space to fit it all in. 

How do you fit piano practice into your after school routine?

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2 July 2018 Music: We’re Losing An Important Part Of Our Culture

Music: We’re Losing An Important Part Of Our Culture

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Having a child today comes with a lot of responsibility. What will you teach her? What activities will you guide her into? What will fill her time?

Parenting used to be a hands-off approach. With lots of kids around, kids simply did what kids do. They played together and went to school. Parents provided a firm hand as necessary. 

But with fewer children per family, many have become integral parts of their children’s lives. They drive here and there. They sign up for lessons. They set up playdates and events. They keep busy morning, noon, and night. Music: We’re Losing An Important Part Of Our Culture

That means there are more choice than ever for a child’s attention. And peer pressure may also have a guiding hand. Join the soccer team? Yes. Practice the piano? No. 

It’s easier to provide group instruction. It’s also more lucrative. Why teach one child when you can teach multiple at the same time? 

And besides, teams give kids important skills about communication and being together with others in your peer group. That’s the best way to go, right?

Well…

There are two sides to the coin. Of course, kids can learn a lot when joining a team. There’s nothing wrong with physical activity. Whether it’s soccer, or swimming, or gymnastics, it offers many different characterizations for a growing child. 

However, it’s important to remember your child needs work from the inside out too. 

That’s where many parents are overlooking one of the most successful ways of helping to develop a young brain – learning an instrument. 

A piano specifically is one of the best instruments to learn on, offering the player the chance to play both the melody and the accompaniment. 

And it’s more than learning how to play an instrument or making music. It’s also about improving your brain. 

Studies show musically inclined individuals are better students, do better on tests, and perform better at learning multiple languages. You’ll find some of the most successful students in med school majored in music. 

And those characteristics last a lifetime. Playing the piano improves cognitive abilities. It’s been shown to lessen the effects of memory-related diseases.  

When you need to destress and decompress, nothing can satisfy like sitting down at the piano.

So why aren’t we pressing more for piano lessons for young kids? Maybe it’s time to make it a priority. 

Filed Under: Piano Music, Piano Playing Tagged With:
13 June 2018 Should You Use An iPad For Your Piano Music?

Should You Use An iPad For Your Piano Music?

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If you took lessons as a child, you probably remember getting new books of music every few weeks. Your teacher would present you with new music, and you’d carry it back and forth as you learned to play. The music would stack up on the side of your piano or in your piano bench as you worked your way through different music. 

Things have changed since then. In many cases, people no longer carry along a file folder of music, but instead tuck away all of their music on an iPad. It’s easier to carry your entire library conveniently in one place. Should You Use An iPad For Your Piano Music?

Today’s iPad comes in four sizes: 12.9, 10.5, 9.7, and 7.9 inch retina displays. Each size comes with its own benefits and upgrades. While the smaller version is less expensive and is easier to tuck away into your bag, it’s also the most difficult to see, especially if you place your music several feet away. The larger size makes reading music more convenient. It also comes with a higher price tag. 

It also extends beyond the screen. There are many apps and attachments that can help you get even more out of your digital experience. 

Start with a Bluetooth foot pedal. With the PedPro, you can quickly and silently turn the pages all with a tap of your foot. And it comes ready to work right out of the box – no setup. 

You can place your iPad on a traditional music stand. However, there are many digital stands available that give you more flexibility when moving your music around. iPad’s are heavy; putting them on a traditional stand can be risky. iPad mounted stands keep your iPad secure and make it easy to move and turn your music, depending on your needs. 

Another tool to consider is the Apple Pencil. As you progress with your music, you’re more likely to write notes on the scores. Apple Pencil is easy to carry around and gives you the ability to mark up your music whenever you desire. 

Finally, there’s the music. iPads make it easy to carry your entire library in one convenient place. If you have traditional music, snap a photo or upload a screenshot and keep it safe in one place. Plus you’ll never need a music light to see your music; it comes already in place. 

A quick search will give you ample suggestions for places to find piano music. Consider using a variety of apps to help organize your sheet music, help your practice routine, and help you become a better player. Try:

forScore – the music reader for iPad. It gives you the power to organize all of your music into one convenient app. 

Notion – allows you to compose, edit, and play scores anywhere your iPad can go. 

Tenuto – a music theory app that requires no internet access – great for playing on the go. 

Genius Scan – lets you scan any document, any time. Perfect for digitizing all of your music into readable documents. 

GoodNotes – this allows you to take down notes, store them, and have them fully searchable forever. Try creating your own music using the music template. 

How do you use iPad to help you play piano better?

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30 May 2018 A Simple Guide To The A-B-C-D-E-F-G Piano Notes

A Simple Guide To The A-B-C-D-E-F-G Piano Notes

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Seven different piano notes create all of the music we know and love. 

A-B-C-D-E-F-G

Of course, it’s a little more complicated than that. But a piano is built around this simple pattern. It repeats again and again, up and down the keyboard. 

It’s a repeating pattern of 12 notes, or pitches. It is made up of 7 white keys and 5 black keys that give you your sharps and flats. A Simple Guide To The A-B-C-D-E-F-G Piano Notes

A sharp raises each note you play by a half step. A flat lowers each note you play by a half step. This represents the smallest change in the keyboard; the smallest change you can have between musical notes. 

So the black key between A and B, for example, represents both A sharp and B flat. 

Simple.

One of the first lessons every piano student has is to commit this pattern to memory. 

You can start at the bottom and run your hands across the keyboard playing the pattern over and over again. 

Almost every modern piano has seven octaves. The keyboard has 52 white keys and 36 black keys to represent these seven octaves. That’s a total of 88 keys. And while some pianos may have less or more, the 88 keys is considered standard in the music industry. A piano with 88 keys will give you a lifetime of enjoyment. 

If you want a simple challenge to help you learn the piano notes, start at the bottom and find all As. Then Bs. And so on. 

When you’re comfortable with that, select a note at random and define it. Your goal is to learn every note and its placement on the keyboard, so they will easily come as you read music. 

This simple activity will improve your piano practice immediately. 

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20 May 2018 What It Takes To Learn To Play The Piano By Ear

What It Takes To Learn To Play The Piano By Ear

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What’s easier: learning to play the piano by ear or focusing in on learning to read music?

That, of course, depends on the person. 

In most cases, parents today take the path of teaching their kids to read music. They start young by putting their kids in piano lessons. And most teachers prefer to teach visual skills and music comprehension rather than focusing in on playing by ear. 

To play by ear, you have to work on developing two major skill sets: listening comprehension and aural skills. What It Takes To Learn To Play The Piano By Ear

Can you recognize the chords and notes that you hear in a song?

Can you reproduce it quickly and without error?

Developing the ear doesn’t mean sitting down at the piano and tinkering around with the keys until you have the music correct. Instead, true aural skills involve understanding music well enough that you can sit down and play, knowing exactly which keys to press to play the song. 

And that takes skill. 

It takes extensive knowledge of music theory. You have to understand scales, chords, and how music is created to be able to put it together quickly in your mind, and transfer it to your fingers on the keyboard. 

If you want to be able to play by ear, that means increasing your knowledge of music theory. It also means learning that the keys are not the notes. A-sharp is B-flat on the piano keys. But that doesn’t make them the same note. They may sound the same, but they have different meaning in music. And if you don’t have an understanding of how they fit together, you’ll never be able to transfer that to the keyboard. 

It takes training. It takes studying. It takes practice. 

Have you trained yourself to play by ear?

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14 May 2018 How Technology Is Improving The Piano

How Technology Is Improving The Piano

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When you look at an acoustic piano, very little has changed over the past century. Piano are still  a cherished, classical instruments, proudly displayed in homes all over the world. 

 When most parents decide to introduce music into their children’s lives, pianos are almost always one of the top choices. 

But like everything, pianos are changing. Technology is impacting the way we play and the instruments we play music with. 

How Technology Is Improving The PianoWireless technology adds the benefit to the smart pianos to connect other devices including computers and tablets. This means you can control what you play and how you play it no matter where you are in the world. 

It starts with teaching. There are a variety of products and apps that are  helpful and allow you to learn everything from hand placement to musicality. They help you be a better player, and can help you become the writer and conductor of your own music. 

With Internet connections, you no longer have to visit a teacher locally. Hop online, and you can connect with an instructor anywhere in the world. They can teach you via Facetime and help control lessons through a variety of resources. To help guide your playing progress, smart piano provide lights to assist your next move.

Of course, programs extend beyond helping you play. They make becoming a songwriter and sharing your music easier than ever before. Smart pianos make connectivity just a touch of a button away, and once your music is edited just the way you like it, it’s easy to share with the world. 

There are programs available for every age, every level, and every interest. In an age where people spend hours online with their favorite video games, why not make learning music just as easy. Piano playing is a skill that lasts a lifetime, stimulates creativity and boosts your brain power. 

Whether you’re young or old, there’s a creative way of using today’s technology in helping you become the best piano player possible. 

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7 May 2018 7 Advantages To Learning Piano As An Adult

7 Advantages To Learning Piano As An Adult

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While there are many things children can pick up quicker than adults, playing the piano isn’t one of them. Sure, some kids seem to be able to carry a tune easily. Their nimble fingers can quickly run across the keyboard. 

But as an adult, you already have musicality. You’ve had years of taking in composition, and deep down inside, that helps when you place your fingers on the keyboard for the first. Time. 

Advantage 1: You’re committed

7 Advantages To Learning Piano As An AdultKids usually start playing piano at their parents’ request. As an adult, you make the decision yourself. You have an interest. You seek out music education. That gives you an added advantage of having the desire to see it through. 

Advantage 2: You’re ready to pursue piano

As an adult, you’ve already learned how to place priorities in your life. If you want to spend time at the piano, you’ve already let go of other activities to make the necessary time available for lessons and practice. 

Advantage 3: You know what music you like

What type of music do you like? Have you always dreamed of playing like the band you grew up with? Or is your desire to play the classics? The good news is there’s piano music for that, and your teacher can quickly help you move towards what you want to play. 

Advantage 4: You’re focused

Kids get bored. They give up on a lot because there’s always something else to capture their attention. You know what you want and can stay more focused on the end result. 

Advantage 5: You’re open minded

Sure, you’ve always wanted to play songs from your favorite band. But you’re also open to new opportunities. Why not try jazz? Or play a tune from Bach or Beethoven? You might be surprised at how much you enjoy playing something new. Especially when you know it will increase your talent. 

Advantage 6: You clear distractions better

How do you operate best? Do you need a quiet room? Can you schedule in time for yourself? You know what works for you. And you can ensure you create quality time for you and playing. 

Advantage 7: You’re more patient

Kids like instant results. As an adult, you realize perfection takes time. Instead, you can focus on progress. You can see improvement along the way. You can also understand timing and how long it takes to reach new plateaus. 

Are you ready to take up piano as an adult?

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3 May 2018 How Much Time Does It Take To Learn Piano?

How Much Time Does It Take To Learn Piano?

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How long does it take to learn to play the piano? It’s a question we hear all the time. Maybe you have a certain song in mind you’d like to play. Or maybe you want to play in a band and want to know how long that will take. 

How long does it take to learn to play the piano? It depends. 

The real question is: How well do you want to be able to play?

How Much Time Does It Take To Learn Piano?Even a person with no prior experience can tap out a tune on their first try. Sit down with an experienced piano player and they can help you learn simple songs without prior training. 

However, if you want to become a world-class classical pianist, it will take years of training before you can ever expect to sit on a stage. 

For most, their goals fall somewhere in between. Whatever level you are hoping to accomplish depends on how much practice you put in to reach your goal. It can also depend on the teacher you select and how hard they push you. Your motivation and drive will also impact your final outcome. 

In general, many of today’s popular piano study programs are organized into levels or grades. When you master one level, you move to the next. And that can happen as quickly and easily as the time you put into it. For a child who puts in average study, they may move between levels after a year of study. For an adult who is looking for quick action, they may move in months. 

It’s not just a question of what songs you’ll play. It also is a matter of increasing skill and technique. Your fingers have to learn to stretch and handle a variety of chords. You learn independence between your hands and your feet. You learn performance skills, working with speed, and developing your own expression. 

Above all, you should never get discouraged with your progress. Piano is a journey, not a destination. If you enjoy what you do, then the outcome is always at your personal best. 

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