5 October 2016 How Music Affects The Human Brain

How Music Affects The Human Brain

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Your brain is the control center of your body.

The right brain processes information in an intuitive, creative, and engaging manner. The left brain processes information in an analytical, thinking way. This is the side that controls your verbal and mathematical skills. The corpus callosum connects the two hemispheres together and facilitates the communication between the two.How Music Affects The Human Brain

In recent years, studies are showing just how powerful music is to our well being. Music impacts the human brain in a variety of ways.

Music has the potential to alter a person’s state of consciousness. With music therapy, for instance, it’s possible to shift perception of time from virtual time, perceived in the left brain, to experimental time, with is perceived through memory. Virtual time is described in hours, minutes and seconds, while experimental time is based on memories throughout our lives.

Music can also allow communication between the left and right brain to take place. Music may activate the flow of stored memory. When the right and left brain hemispheres come together to work in harmony, it triggers a therapeutic nature to flow between the two sides of the brain.

Have you ever heard the music … even when there isn’t any music playing? That’s because imagining music can activate the auditory cortex almost as strongly as listening to it.

Music can also trigger synesthesia when one sense activates a perception in another sense. If you experience music synesthesia, you may begin to see color, smell something, experience a taste, or feel a change in the environment all from the music you hear playing. That’s why music can transport us back in time, take us to places that have significance in our personal lives.

Music also triggers creativity. Do a search for many apps, programs, and playlists that use music as a single trigger. Highly creative people have a different pattern of brain waves than normal or non-creative individuals. Music stimulates both alpha and theta waves in the brain. Big bursts of alpha brain waves induce creativity. Combine them into music you listen to every day to heighten your awareness to the creativity within.

Filed Under: Owning a Piano, Piano Playing Tagged With:
2 October 2016 How People Judge Music

How People Judge Music

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Think about music for a moment.

Music is something we listen to. It’s an auditory activity. We pop earbuds into our ears and listen to our preferred songs. We hit a few buttons in the car and listen to preselected music stations, all chosen for our preferred listening habits.

But is music just for listening? Do we judge what music we like simply by what we hear?

It’s not always the case.How People Judge Music

While music is auditory, we associate music with visual preferences. Watch your favorite musician in action. You enjoy the performance just as much as you do the music.

It also impacts musicians at every level of performance.

Classically trained pianists that compete regularly are often judged differently depending on whether judges have audio or visual access. It’s not just amateurs or non-professional musicians that judge it differently; seasoned judges view it differently as well.

When we see someone perform, we judge more than the music they create. We judge their passion, their creativity, the way they move, the theater they put into their performance.

Overall, humans have evolved to weigh visual information heaviest. We rely on visual cues to identify different traits. While you may be able to hear great playing in a recording, when you add in body movements, costume design, even performance backgrounds into the picture, it can sway how a person really feels.

Music is truly an art form, one that can change and grow depending on the person it’s impacting. Get into it. Let yourself go. And enjoy all it has to give.

Filed Under: Piano Music, Piano Playing Tagged With:
10 September 2016 Do Men Or Women Play Piano More?

Do Men Or Women Play Piano More?

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Head back in time throughout the history of the piano and you’ll find it to be predominantly male. No surprises there, right?

While men of high status were encouraged to increase their cultural activities by getting degrees and learning to play the piano, women were refining their cooking skills and learning how to be proper wives. Therefore you’ll find a lack of women pianists prior to the 20th century.Do Men Or Women Play Piano More?

Then things began to change.

Women began taking up the piano and soon were making names for themselves across the platform. But like many industries, the further up you get, the more successful men are over women. When you look at the music world, male pianists outnumber female pianists four to one. When men choose to follow their musical inclination, they do well in the musical world.

But is there a difference between the way men and women play? Is there an inherent difference that causes one to be better than the other? With a lot of research behind us, the answer isn’t what you would think.

When it comes to the differences, the way we play or the ability to create music has little to do with if we are male or female, instead, has to do with our size.

Playing the piano isn’t just a “finger touching the keys” action. Instead, to play the piano, it takes the work of your entire body, from your height and weight, to the size of your hands.

A large man with a wide hand reach can play larger chords more effortlessly. A small woman with a short hand reach will put more into her body movements, use her forearms more to create a similar sound.

So in many cases it would seem that a person with a smaller body size and a shorter hand reach would be at a disadvantage. And in some cases that may be so. However, like all activities, it depends on the passion within as much as it does the physical approach.

Some of the best female pianists barely reach five feet tall. Yet watching their performance will quickly show you just how talented they are.

You approach piano playing from within. What you desire to produce comes from the way you approach it. And when the desire is there, anything is possible.

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8 September 2016 Piano Lessons: What To Expect The First Year

Piano Lessons: What To Expect The First Year

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Not sure if piano lessons are right for your child? Nervous about how well they’ll do their first year? You’re not alone. The piano can be an intimidating instrument. With so many keys and so many rules to learn in the process, will your child ever pick it up well enough to enjoy it and play something they know and enjoy?Piano Lessons: What To Expect The First Year

The piano playing journey is one your child should enjoy. The focus should never be placed on how well they do compared with others in the field. Instead, it’s all about mindset. Whether your child ends up playing professionally, or simply uses piano playing as a stress reliever throughout their lives, starting small is always the best strategy.

The first lesson is always designed to introduce you to the instrument. Your skills will grow from that point forward.

Finding A Good Teacher
The first step is finding a good teacher. What may work for a friend might not work for you or your child. Be flexible in your quest for finding the right instructor. Establishing a solid teacher-student relationship is important to ensure a long-term relationship with playing the piano. Before you begin, find out how the instructor works:

  • What does a typical lesson look like?
  • What equipment, books or other accessories will we need?
  • What is the policy for rescheduling lessons?
  • What is expected of a student the first year?

Then approach an instructor with goals of your own. Include things like:

  • I’ve always wanted to play pop songs. How long before I can play? Give specifics.
  • I prefer digital piano. Is this a problem?
  • I hope to write my own music. How long before I can do this?

No matter who you choose as your instructor, the better they understand your goals from the beginning, the more succinct your education will be while working together.

Be Patient
Your results will depend on your state of mind, and how well you put into practice what you learn. Someone who practices 30 minutes a week won’t have the same results as someone who puts in an hour every day. Give yourself a chance to build over time. Your first lesson will probably start with a major scale, probably in the key of C Major. And thought the basics might not be the most exciting thing at first, realizing it will give you the control you need for the future can help make every step more enjoyable.

Think for the long term. Piano is truly a one of a kind instrument. No other instrument gives you the total range of the orchestra right at your fingertips. Learning the basics can give you a lifetime of pleasure, one that can take you anywhere in the world you desire.

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18 August 2016 Yes, Learning The Piano Can Turn Into A Lucrative Career

Yes, Learning The Piano Can Turn Into A Lucrative Career

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When our kids are born, we hope to give them every advantage. We want them to lead happy, productive lives. And most of all, we want them to be happy.

That’s why from day one, we push. We choose good schools. We provide books and help them learn. We steer them into sports; after all, that’s where the most opportunity lies, right?Yes, Learning The Piano Can Turn Into A Lucrative Career

Think again.

While music programs have increasingly gone away in many school districts, getting your kids active in music as early as possible has its benefits. And while very few kids today will ever end up turning pro in sports, there is a good chance your child can turn their love of music into a lucrative career.

If your child learns to play the piano at a young age and sticks with it throughout school, they have a beneficial skill that will last a lifetime. And they can do a lot more with their skills as well.

Video Game Audio
One of the fastest growing careers in the music business is a career in video game audio. While they might have to start as low person on the ladder as they learn their skills, assisting wherever needed, they can quickly escalate to the position of an audio engineer, who creates music mixes in studio, to audio director who oversee video game audio production. Audio tool developers can easily pull in a six figure salary for writing original code.

Orchestral Musician
Though many community music programs have witnessed shrinking budgets over the past few years, there are still opportunities to get involved as an orchestral musician. Starting in the local community may give a person a low paying job. But with experience and improvement, moving to the largest symphonies across the nation can quickly escalate into a six figure career.

Music Therapists
Baby boomers are aging; currently, about one in seven Americans is over the age of 65. And we’re just beginning to see how music can soothe the soul and help many overcome symptoms from a variety of diseases with the help of music therapy. Of course, it doesn’t stop with the aging. Benefits have been seen in many different programs, from learning disabilities in kids, to rehabilitating prisoners, to dealing with PTSD. Developing an outpatient private practice can easily net a music therapist a six figure income.

Movie/TV Music Production
Top Hollywood actors and directors are still producing high budget films. Television shows are as diverse and as far reaching as ever. And in order to create that much content ever year, someone must be in charge of creating the music that goes into it. Enter the position of music supervisor. While salaries are usually low, associated only with one project at a time, a top producer can easily move into the six figure level and beyond.

Music Attorney
Every successful musician needs a lawyer. And a lawyer that is familiar with all things music ensures a thorough knowledge base for her client base. There are many intricate details to music law, including copyrights, trademarks, and contract negotiations. The bigger more successful the client base, the more lucrative a music lawyer can make.

Still think sports is the only way to give your child all she needs to move into a successful life? Maybe today’s the day you give her the gift of music. Let’s get her started on playing the piano today.

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15 August 2016 What Piano Playing Can Do For Your Brain

What Piano Playing Can Do For Your Brain

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Remember when your parents pushed you to play the piano? They encouraged you to keep practicing, to spend time every day trying to get a little better. They said it built character. That said it would help you become a better person.What Piano Playing Can Do For Your Brain

Turns out they were on to something.

According to a National Institutes of Health (NIH) Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) Study of Normal Brain Development, musical training doesn’t stop at improving your musical ability, it also provides tremendous benefits to a child’s emotional and behavioral maturation as well.

In the study, the analyzed brain scans of children 6 to 18 years old and found that the more a child trained on an instrument, the more it accelerated cortical organization in attention skill, anxiety management, and emotional control. As cortical thickness increases, memory function, attentional control, and organizational skills improve with it.

Because of that, musical training is thought to potentially be a powerful treatment for many different cognitive disorders, including things like ADHD.

And it doesn’t take a lot of formal training. Even small doses of musical training, from listening to different types of music, to playing basic songs can do the trick.

These results continue to challenge the current direction of education within the school system.

In our current American education system, three out of four high school students rarely or never have received lessons in music or the arts. Without dedicating adequate time and resources to music training, we are potentially robbing kids of not only the joy of bringing music into their lives, but the opportunity for becoming more successful in their pursuit of education, and the chance of having a more well-rounded life.

Is it time we rethink the power of music in our lives?

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10 August 2016 7 Reasons People Stop Playing The Piano And How To Break The Habit

7 Reasons People Stop Playing The Piano And How To Break The Habit

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The drop out rate of piano students deciding to stop playing is high – some estimates list it as high as 80 percent.

While playing the piano may seem like a daunting task, especially after the first lesson or two, there are many reasons to stick with it and create a lifetime of learning.7 Reasons People Stop Playing The Piano And How To Break The Habit

It’s easy to hear a song or watch a performance and think to themselves “I’d love to play like that.” Yet in most cases, they don’t realize the level of commitment it takes to achieve what looks easy in a professional performance.

Piano is different than many other instruments a child may pick up and begin playing. You can’t put your fingers on a strong and strum and be able to play a song. It takes effort to create music. It takes determination to master the art of reading music. It takes skill to learn to read music while each hand operates at a different pace.

It takes baby steps over and over again to realize a dream of playing the piano for life.

With every beginning piano student we see, there exists a very wide gap between their initial expectations and the realities of what it takes to make beautiful music.

  •  They get frustrated after months of practice, and they know very little beyond the basics.
  •  They get frustrated at how slow their growth is despite their daily effort.
  • They don’t realize that practice is a never ending process, and they will only improve a little at a time.
  •   They get frustrated at how the teacher and other advanced students seem to play effortlessly.
  • They have other things – family, school activities, obligations, other commitments – that constantly get in the way of practice.
  • They feel alone in their routine, with no support system to help them get through difficult days.
  • They mistakenly believe that one day they will wake up and magically be able to play all they desire flawlessly.

It’s easy to lose your passion if you don’t have realistic expectations from the start. The more you learn up front, the easier the process will be in the long run.

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7 August 2016 Do You Have The Correct Piano Playing Posture?

Do You Have The Correct Piano Playing Posture?

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Playing the piano means plopping down in any direction and gliding your fingers over the keys.

Or does it?

In reality, playing the piano effectively also means having a correct piano playing posture. Try it without and you’ll quickly feel the results in your shoulders, arms, and fingers.Do You Have The Correct Piano Playing Posture?

But what does it mean to have a correct piano playing posture? It starts with four things:

1. The piano bench
It’s not as easy as dragging any old chair in front of the piano in order to play. A piano bench should put you at proper height to play. Make sure your elbows are aligned with the keyboard. Don’t sit too far or too close – avoid the uncomfortable backward pointing elbows. And move the bench, so you’re sitting on the edge; this one act helps provide you with a better posture from the beginning.

2. Your back
Sitting hunched over or slouching will allow the energy to die within. Instead, keep your back straight and well aligned. It’s not only good for playing the piano, but it’s also good for your overall health.

3. Your legs and feet
Never place your feet under the piano bench or cross them at the ankles while playing. You need stability while playing. Keep your feet near the pedals and flat on the floor, which will keep your overall body structure well grounded.

4. Your arms
Always, always avoid tension. If something doesn’t feel right, it probably isn’t. Your arms should be relaxed. Your shoulders should be down, with your elbows a comfortable distance from the body. Wrists should be flexible and relaxed. Hands and fingers should also be well rounded and able to move comfortably from key to key.

Do you have the correct piano playing posture while you play? If not, it may be time for a new piano bench.

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22 July 2016 How Piano Tone Is Created

How Piano Tone Is Created

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What does it take to make beautiful music?

Even the best singer in the world didn’t start out that way. They sang because they enjoyed it. They sang with their favorites songs on the radio. They signed up for the school musical. And somewhere along the way a coach jumped in to help refine their music, hit the notes that made their voices sound magical. And they keep refining to this very day.How Piano Tone Is Created

The same goes with a piano. Piano refining is about creating beautiful piano sound. Piano tone doesn’t happen at the time a piano is built. Piano tone isn’t something that’s set and never needs work again. Piano tone is something that is acquired through work and restoration, over and over again throughout the life of a piano.

And it happens whether it’s with a newly built Steinway or a decades old piano you take loving care of every day.

Why?

Every time a key is pressed and a hammer jumps into place on a string, a system is put into play. If any part of that process isn’t pure precision, the tone of the piano is “off.”

This is where tone regulation comes into play. It’s a multi-step process. It includes:

  • Piano hammer voicing
  • Piano string voicing
  • Piano action regulation

Piano Hammer Voicing
Each time a key is pressed, the hammer strikes the string. This “whack” bends the string ever so slightly before returning to its original state. Piano hammer voicing defines how much pressure is behind the hammer when it hits the string, and how the bend in the string takes place during that contact. To regulate hammer voicing takes a variety of accomplishments, from steaming the hammer felt, to hardening the hammer, to adding or removing hammer weight, and more.

Piano String Voicing
Piano string is a stiff, taut wire. The wire is connected and wrapped around various bends and loops as it connects the pieces together. These bends and turns must occur in a certain way and be consistent to have the string vibrate in a certain way. If the turns or connections are off, the tonal effects will be anything but pleasurable.

String bends must be consistent throughout the piano. Notes use more than one string in order to produce sound; if one of the strings is off, it will impact on sound quality. String voicing is performed on all pianos, from the brand new to the decades old. Without consistent string voicing, tonal quality will always be off.

Piano Action Regulation
The piano action is the series of levers that connect the keys to the hammers. The way the hammer contacts the string defines the quality of the tone. The speed at which the process takes place also has impact. This is where action regulation comes into play. Different accelerations create different tonal qualities. With even a tiny adjustment in the speed, a tone can be dead on or completely off. Furthermore, if the action doesn’t provide precision connection between the hammer and the string, connection isn’t perfection and the result can be noisy and harsh.

For all of this to happen in unison, it takes a specially trained technician to fully adjust every part, every step of the way. With 37 steps in the process, it’s important to have an expert who knows how to retain tonal quality every time.

Filed Under: Piano Music, Piano Playing Tagged With: ,
8 July 2016 Is It Time For A Silent Piano?

Is It Time For A Silent Piano?

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“I’ve played piano for years. But I’ve moved recently, and with neighbors above and below and all around me, I can’t play it as much as I used to. Six in the morning used to be my practice time; I’d love waking up to beautiful music. Needless to say, my neighbors don’t agree. The thought of having to convert to a digital piano just to be able to silence my piano and play whenever I choose doesn’t work for me. But I’m not sure what my options are. Is there anything else I can do?”

Is It Time For A Silent Piano

Thankfully, there is.

A silent piano is an acoustic piano where there is an option to silence the strings by stopping the hammers from striking them. In silent mode, sensors in the piano pick up key movement and convert it to MIDI Signal that is sent to an electronic sound module.

This gives the player the opportunity to silence the music to the rest of the world, while bringing it into headphones he or she can use at any time. And because it has MIDI capability, the music can be sent to any computer for download and use.

In a silent piano system, engaging the silent function causes a bar to fall into place that intercepts the hammer movement before it hits the strings.

With an older model, it detects key movement by using mechanical sensors; the mechanical process sometimes produced a clicking sound that could be heard under the music.

With today’s models, optical sensors do the job seamlessly, never affecting the feel or sound of the piano.

You can find silent pianos available from many different manufacturers, including Yamaha, Bosendorfer, and Kawai.

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