It's never too late to learn the piano!

Composition on the iPad 2

2012-01-23T14:40:00.000-08:00

I am pretty excited because yesterday I discovered Symphony Pro. A very capable app for the iPad allowing me to write music anywhere, anytime. The developers have cleverly implemented the touch screen interface in a quite intuitive way to get the dots on to the stave with a finger. Alternatively, you can use the internal keyboard or an external keyboard, which I have done using my Yamaha S90XS with the Apple camera connection kit and a USB cable from the To Host USB port.
Incredibly, you can import pdf, jpg, gif, png and bmp files and the experimental sheet music scanner will have a crack at converting it into an editable MusicXML file. At this point in time it is not always successful but does put the file in to a format that allows you to then send it to Sibelius or Finale for further work. As I use Sibelius the Dolet plug-in needs to be installed to read the MusicXML file.
As well as MusicXML, you can export in PDF (B&W and colour), MP3, AAC, MIDI and as a Symphony file to share with other Symphony users.
This app is new so it has frozen on me a couple of times but the developers are resolving these issues very quickly. The app costs $15.99 here in Australia and is worth every penny. When I first got an iPad 2 I had no idea how much I would be using it in my musical life but it has already become an essential tool as I keep many of my scores on it using OnSong and now it has become even more useful!

Newcomer - Edison's Tune!

2012-01-16T19:10:00.000-08:00

Newcomer - Edison's Tune by Ramsnake

I wrote this piece to mark the birth of my first grandchild Edison James Cornwallis Thomson on the 11th of January 2012. It happens to be a good exercise in arpeggiated octaves too! You can get the dots from Score Exchange here!

Pianomania!

2011-11-30T17:36:00.001-08:00

I have just finished watching this fascinating documentary that I am sure anyone who is into the piano would also appreciate. The main film itself is wonderful but do watch the extras too as they are a viewing experience in themselves!

At the center of the film is a collaborative work between Pierre-Laurent Aimard and Stefan Knüpfer Steinway's virtuoso piano tuner. Bach's The Art of Fugue is to be recorded and Pierre-Laurent Aimard has decided in favor of concert grand piano Nr. 109 for the Bach recording. In order to prepare the piano succesfully for Aimard, Knüpfer feels he needs to to study instruments from the time of Bach leading to experiments with sound absorbers made from felt and with glass sound mirrors. But as fate will have it, the number 109 grand piano is sold to Australia a few months later; and that is not the last obstacle that gets in their way. Knüpfer and Aimard meet regularly and at times the tension is so thick it can be cut with a knife with Knüpfer saving the day with his sense of humor and incredible patience. In the end a highly succesful recording is made and already downloaded by myself I may say. One afternoon, a rather sleepy artist in jeans and sneakers shows up. It is the Chinese star pianist Lang Lang, who will be giving a guest performance in the Viennese concert hall. Still suffering from jet lag, he has to choose an instrument to play. His overcrowded tour calendar leaves little time for individual settings. Instead, and almost shyly, he asks for a heavy bench that will hold up through his extroverted style of playing without sliding around. The Piano superstar completes his performance in the large hall in a dark suit and wild hairstyle. The bench holds up, and he receives thunderous applause. I was less enamoured with the sketches of the comedy duo Igudesman & Joo always parody the elitist music world. Together with Knüpfer they come up with some of the craziest scenarios for the next show. The film also features on of Alfred Brendel's last concerts at the Grafenegg Music Festival. Knüpfer prepares the piano for him while the star pianist gives his directions humorously.

Pianist Magazine

2011-10-30T18:25:00.000-07:00

I discovered this great magazine recently and have been looking forward to finding the new edition each month at the local newsagency. Having recently, purchased an iPad and enjoyed the reading, audio and video experiences it so ably provides, it occurred to me that it might be considered an ideal platform within which to view a magazine like Pianist that provides scores. I am delighted to report that an iPad version is indeed available and well worth subscribing to as the rates are significantly less than the printed magazine and that there are indeed sound files for all the scores!

Andy's Song

2011-10-28T16:09:00.000-07:00

I wrote this recently in honour of a pillar of our arts community who passed a way recently. You can get the dots here.
Andy's Song by Ramsnake

It's been too long.......

2011-08-28T23:06:00.000-07:00

.......since I posted here. I have been a bit busy playing guitar of late since Ramsnake started gigging. Yes, I am still playing the piano and have chosen 20 or so standards to practise. The reason is I am hoping to get my playing up to scratch enough to team up with a local trumpeter, bass player and drummer and plus some jazz gigs. I can tell you I would be stoked to have got my playing up to that standard within three years since I started learning to play piano. I have got quite a few of them going playing the melody and improvising over thirds and sevenths in the left hand. I am ok this but have not quite got the hang of adding a 3rd or seventh in the right hand along with the melody. The image at the start of this post shows Randy Halberstadt's neat trick, from his great book Metaphors for the Musician, for deciding whether to play a Root and 7th or Root and 3rd whilst maintaining the best range for the middle voices, which is straddling middle C. If you are using the 5th finger for the root play a 7th above and if the 2 finger is used play a 3rd above.
What I really need to practise though is more accompaniment style playing for when others are doing the soloing. This is proving a bit of a challenge oddly as I am not that familiar with playing chords in the right hand? Bizarre I know! I have found the "Incomparable Comping" section of Metaphors for the Musician very useful. Randy explains in detail what voicings to use solo, in duos, trios and quartets. Basically it means becoming much more familiar with voicing rich sounding chords across both hands. One great and relatively easy technique he talks about is using improvised octaves over rootless left hand voicings. I must start practising that!

Metaphors for the Musician - Perspectives from a Jazz Musician!

2011-01-09T17:47:00.000-08:00

I have been after this very interesting looking publication for sometime now and recently I finally got it in my dirty little mitts along with three other useful books including:

Tons of Runs for the Contemporary Pianist
Intros, Endings & Turnarounds for keyboard
berklee Jazz Piano

Metaphors for the Musician has turned out to be everything that I hoped, distilling the complex world of jazz piano into easily understood chunks. For instance there is a wonderful section called Voicings 101 for solo, duo, trio and quartet situations in the chapter titled, Incomparable Comping.
I have a reasonable handle on the use of rootless voicings if playing with a bass player for duos, trios and quartets but for some reason I have had a mental block about what to do with the left hand if playing solo and Randy explains it beautifully. So now I feel a lot better equipped to play the Real Book tunes and to actually produce something that sounds reasonable on my own.
There are many great chapters including:

Picturing Jazz
In the Practice Studio
Painless Piano
Ways to Develop Your Improvising
Theory Demystified
Incomparable Comping
At the Gig
Paths To Success

A great companion to Mark Levine's The Jazz Piano which gets plenty of mentions throughout Metaphors. Get it!

Been busy as!

2010-12-05T18:36:00.000-08:00

I haven't posted for awhile as all sorts of musical things have been happening or are about to in my life. I have just started work on this classic tune with the help of rounder2u. Apart from the video above he has also created three others that detail the bass line during the famous opening chords intro, the right hand part and the bass line during the solo section. He also plays lots of other great tunes too.

Caroline and I have been meeting regularly and our differing approaches to what we like to play on the keyboard has provided both of us with the inspiration try new things. We have even pulled out our old flute and guitar duets to play which has been a lot of fun.

I have also decided it is time to get out there and gig again but I am determined to make sure it happens on my own terms as I am not interested in playing beyond 10.30pm so will be looking to restricting to gigs during the day or late afternoon to early evening. This has essentially knocked out the possibility of joining an existing line up as most seem to do the late gigs.
So I am on the hunt for a like minded bass player and drummer for a blues based trio. This time around I will also be playing keys which is a very exciting thought. I have also retrograded from a Line 6 Variax 500 guitar and Pod XT Live amp simulator based rig back to a Fender 72 Telecaster Deluxe and Deluxe Reverb valve amp. A terrific combination with the DR providing bags of luscious and quality clean tone from the humbucker equipped Tele. I am also looking forward to the addition of a modded Ibanez TS9 Tube Screamer although I may still find a way to incorporate the POD XT Live in to the signal chain somewhere. Ultimately, I want the band to be versatile enough to invite other musos, including Michelle who has just equipped herself with an Alto Sax, to play with us on the odd occasion.

A piano buddy!

2010-10-18T21:55:00.000-07:00

Following a successful meeting with proposed piano teacher friend Caroline last week, it turns out I have gained myself a piano buddy instead. We have agreed that the best arrangement for both of us would be to meet every week to play for each other. This way we both get the benefit of a regular session for which we need prepare a piece/or pieces thereby ensuring the establishment of a solid and properly learned repertoire.
I have gained such a lot more confidence from having successfully played for Caroline and also thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity just to talk piano with someone. I was stoked that she took home 2 of the pieces I had played for her as she liked them so much. A really positive step to have taken and and I am so looking forward to this weeks session.

Lessons!

2010-09-30T02:54:00.000-07:00

After more than a year of directing my piano journey alone, I have approached a former flautist musical duo partner and colleague from the now defunct Fremantle Music School, Caroline Blumer, to give me some guidance. Interestingly, I found her pic on the Simply Music website. This seems to be a most successful approach to teaching piano and funnily enough mimics, to some degree, the way I have approached it myself over the last year. However, I think I need to be reined in a little to be honest and to get some fundamentals in place. I am a bit nervous to tell the truth and am currently preparing 3 disparate pieces to present to her so she has some basis from which to decide what to do with me. Been such a longtime since I have been a student that although I am looking forward to it, I am also feeling some trepidation. I'll let you know how it goes for sure!

D Scarlatti K 380

2010-08-19T15:46:00.000-07:00

One of my favourite Scarlatti Sonatas that I used to play on the guitar and now I am starting to learn to play on the piano.

The Brightcecilia forum

2010-08-01T16:57:00.000-07:00

Whilst researching clavichords, I discovered Ryan Layne Whitney had created a video playing Telemann Fantasias on an Epinette.

As I am trying to improve my keyboard sight reading, I am always on the look out for what I call sight reading fodder and the Fantasias looked ideal. So as is my way, I went on a search for them and lo and behold found that a wonderful person known as Philidor on the Brightcecilia forum had been painstakingly re-engraving an original 1923 Urtext publication. You can get the first 12 without joining the forum but if you want to get your grubby little mitts on the rest of them you will have to register.

The Clavichord

2010-08-01T15:33:00.001-07:00

I was cruising around on the internet recently when I came across teafruitbat's youtube site. He has created a wonderful array of videos (258) of his playing many of which are on original keyboard instruments. It is the clavichord that particularly caught my interest as it has such a unique sound and is portable.
I would really like to have a non electrified keyboard instrument but a piano is too loud for my current living circumstances so a clavichord fits the bill beautifully as the 61 note version can play all of Mozart's work and Beethoven's up to 1801!
I am particularly fond of Renaissance and Baroque music and on the clavichord it sounds wonderful.

So I am thinking "One could probably build a clavichord so there have got to be plans/kits available?".

Amongst the many fascinating sites I found, my research discovered the Renaissance Workshop Company that sells kits for all manner of original instruments and another that shows step by step pictures of Kenneth Sparr constructing a clavichord at the now discontinued annual instrument building course in Marholmen in Sweden.

Do I have the patience?

It's been a year now.............

2010-07-14T18:36:00.001-07:00

........since I made the decision to take a major change of direction musically and learn to play the piano. Never too late as they say! It is not a decision I have regretted for the piano has now become an important part of my daily life. I am pleased with what I have achieved and learnt in this first year and look forward to what I may have accomplished at the end of the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th........etc!! Here is a recording I made yesterday of a standard blues piano impro in the key of C using a split keyboard to handle the bass with an onboard drum backing. Apologies for the slightly ropy quality.

2010-07-04T17:26:00.000-07:00

'Play as if you could not speak!'

Comping?

2010-07-04T04:10:00.000-07:00

I felt I needed to know more about playing the piano as an accompaniment to a voice or instrument rather than playing the melody also. Funnily enough there isn't terribly much out there on the internet but eventually I came across Bill Hilton. He has clearly also recognised the lack of material available and has created an array of really useful video lessons available on YouTube that provided me with exactly the information I was after.

Here are 2 on Jazz piano comping.

Here are two on Pop piano comping

He has also produced a very aptly named book 'How to really play the piano'

Denmark is born!

2010-06-19T22:40:00.001-07:00

Denmark by Ramsnake

Inspired by Chick Corea's Spain and hearing MoodSwingz are about to rehearse the tune, 'TwentyTen', that I wrote for them sometime back, I have whipped up another tune for them. It is a head based on the changes in Spain and it is available on Sibelius Music here.

Spain

2010-06-16T02:54:00.000-07:00

I have added the above solo version of Chick Corea's Spain available from here at Musicnotes to my practise schedule.

Having played classical guitar for many years and consequently many Spanish pieces, I can really appreciate this great piece and I am really enjoying the challenge of coming to terms with it rhythmically.

Here is the man himself with his electric band with Aussie Frank Gambale on guitar. Enjoy!

A legend of the rock keyboard world!

2010-05-24T01:34:00.000-07:00

Nothing like a bit of........

2010-05-16T17:45:00.000-07:00

Beethoven to get one pumped up in the mornings!
I have started work on the 1st movement of Sonata No. 8 in C minor Op. 13, "The Pathetique".

It is a little hard to contain one's emotion and maintain at least some degree of detachment in the build up through the intense Grave opening before jumping into the Allegro di molto e con brio.

I am now so hyped and ready to hit the waves this morning for a good session as current conditions are indicating it may well be really good out there. Surf's up - yee hah!

Improving hand independence 2..........

2010-05-11T18:59:00.000-07:00

...............here are two riffs to practise from Toto's great song "Hold the Line".

They are in the key of F#m so don't forget to sharpen the F, C & G.

The first is the classic introductory riff

The second one is when the verse starts

Although each are only a couple of bars long they include the guitar part in the left hand so they are a solid test of your level of hand independence. Enjoy!

Improving hand independence.........

2010-05-09T00:23:00.000-07:00

... the fun way! As you would know from previous posts, I don't mind the music of Steely Dan and of course there are some great piano riffs thanks to Donald Fagen.

They are pretty tricky to play and I use them to help develop further independence between the hands which is an ongoing project.

Here is a relatively easy one, Bodhisattva, for you to try if you are interested and I will post a few more in time. It doesn't look too bad until you actually have a go at it, but practising each hand separately, in time of course, should do the trick.

Improv in C

2010-04-24T16:39:00.001-07:00

Crazy Saturday by Ramsnake. Here is a soundtrack, for a short surf movie I shot recently, created and performed by me using the Yamaha S90XS. Such a brilliant music creation tool and the sax voice is particularly wonderful fun! I utilised the Performance named "Smooth It Over" in a one off live take with all the arpeggio variations to create variety in the backing track and recorded it straight to USB.
I then transferred the .wav file to my iMac, converted it to an mp3 using Audacity and then imported it into the project in iMovie HD.

A moment of pure ecstasy!

2010-03-25T16:35:00.000-07:00

As I have mentioned in an earlier post, I am working on the first half of the slow movement of Beethoven's Pathetique sonata.

Anyway, last night I was working my way through it and I suddenly realised that here I was actually playing a piece of Beethoven's that I have loved for so long and it was sounding like it should and I was sight reading it!

Talk about a proud and epiphanetic ( new word I have made up ) moment!

Still a lot of work to go as I want to memorise it but hey I am definitely getting there!

Donald Fagen - The Nightfly!

2010-03-23T19:01:00.000-07:00

I have always been a fan of Steely Dan and since taking up the piano appreciate them all the more. So I have spent some period of time recently searching for charts for their music and Bingo - I found lead sheets for 11 Steely Dan songs at Lucas Pickfords site where there are many other useful transcriptions also.
During this search, I discovered Donald Fagen had continued to release albums and that one in particular was extremely highly regarded "The Nightfly". So of course I went looking for the dots yesterday but with little success as the original publication is out of print and all I could find were a Donald Fagen - Five of the Best. Fate - you have to wonder about it sometimes because when I ordered the Five of the Best book I noticed that I had inadvertently mispelled my email address. Idiot Robin! So, this morning, I went back in search of the publication at SheetMusicPlus and buggar me if I didn't discover a downloadable link to Scribd for the complete original publication! So I have consequently cancelled my order - Enjoy!

It's interesting.............

2010-03-17T18:53:00.001-07:00

........... observing my progress on the piano in relation to what I know and understand of the process of learning the guitar. As I mentioned in the previous post, I am embroiled in jazz piano currently amongst all the other bits and pieces, and that has meant pushing my knowledge of chords particularly left hand voicings.

Learning chords on the guitar is very much about shape once one has worked out what finger goes where and for some reason this did not seem so obvious to me on the piano.

Yeh, I know your thinking:

"Well you Dill, how could you miss that?"

Then it suddenly occurred to me the other day that it must be the same on the piano and - that there must be a finite number of meaningful shapes as an octave is an octave is an octave if you get what I mean.

So I have shifted my perception a little as I am playing chords and trying to feel the physical shape of a chord in my hand and to recognise when it occurs again but is for a different chord!

So where am I at currently................

2010-03-14T18:19:00.000-07:00

...with this learning the piano business? Well after 9 months of endeavour, I can report that all is going very well and that I have made the transition from merely a guitarist to a least some sort of keyboardist also.

What's improved?

Independence between the hands. I have no problem improvising a C blues over a simple walking bass. I am working now working through the other keys and more complex left hand bass patterns. I am particularly pleased that I have almost mastered a swinging shuffle version which I had no chance of doing some months ago without the right hand following the bouncing rhythm of the left.
I have a far clearer relative physical mind map of the notes on the instrument meaning I am not having to look down at my hands to find notes all the time but can often feel where they are. Fantastic!
My sight reading is improving and I am recognising groups of notes more easily because of my work on jazz and popular piano.

How have I done this?

By studying 4 genres of piano playing including:

1. Classical - the reading side of things

2. Blues - 'cos I love it!

3. Jazz - the improvisation side of things

4. Popular - the gigging side of things

Classical

My resource of the moment is Carl Humphries "The Piano Handbook".

I have just started today to do some serious work on the first of J S Bach's Two part Inventions and the theme from the slow movement of Beethoven's Pathetique. I can sight read through the Bach piece slowly but the Beethoven is a little more challenging mainly because I am unfamiliar with the right hand be required to play some of the Bass clef notes. Hmmm! I hear the more experienced of you saying, well, keep in my mind that I am not just diving into these 2 more difficult works as I have worked through the first three John Thompson Piano Tutors, the earlier sections of Carl's book, memorised and can play up to speed the theme for Couperin's The Mysterious Barricades and I have completed additional work in three other genres of playing also. I have really valued and appreciated the efforts I made to become an accomplished sight reader on the guitar and I am keen to be so on the keyboard as well.

Blues

My initial resource for this piano style was David Sprunger's "Blues for piano and keyboard" course which is available on-line. I have not completed all the lessons in it but worked through the first 9 or so which gave me a terrific grounding in the style teaching me a few basic licks which I have now added to through my own practise. Following the discovery of Mark Harrison's pop piano resource mentioned below, I also purchased his Blues Piano publication which is also an excellent reference. Mystified that I have not blogged about that resource. Oh well you know about it now.

Jazz

I have been working through Mark Levine's wonderful "The Jazz Piano Book" and his equally useful accompanying text "The Jazz Theory Book".
I have been concentrating on learning left hand voicings to a few of the easier jazz standards such as Tune Up, All of Me, Fly Me to the Moon and Autumn Leaves.

Popular

The main resource I have been using to explore this genre is Mark Harrison's "The Pop Piano Book". This is a huge book providing a complete and thorough resource of the genre and which I have mainly concentrated on the Pop Ballad style until my chops get a little more proficient and I can attempt some funk and rhythm and blues. Apart from that popular songs I have been working on include Van Morrison's Moondance, Missy Higgins' Ten Days and I am about to revisit Cocker's Feelin' Alright.

So there is always plenty to do and as you can see my studio is inundated with all my resources!

The Yamaha S90XS? - What an amazing musical tool.....................

2010-03-08T19:36:00.000-08:00

...........I have got for myself!
My new S90XS has kept me very busy over the weekend since I received it early on Friday morning.
I have sussed out alot of what it has to offer but I still have so much more to learn about it and feel a little daunted.
However, there is help out there though in the form of the Yamaha Arranger Workstation Forums and SNinety.com and Logic Pro Help for the DAW side of things. Each have proved to be useful for queries I have had in relation to newfangled terms I am learning about such as Performances, Multi, Master, SEQ PLAY etc!?

The arpeggiators on this thing are incredible and many of the heaps of default Performances sound oustanding and are such a lot of fun to play along with.

I have managed to get the XS talking to Logic Pro and I am looking forward to getting some of my favourite performances properly into Logic now that I have found out the method for doing so. My first attempt at it being an abject failure.

One thing I have to say about synths is they are certainly not very user friendly and I know Yamaha have really tried to make this product more so! Sheesh!

The new S6 piano voices have received a lot of flak but to my neophyte ears they are wonderful and very tweakable anyway and they will certainly do me. I have managed to pick up some tweaks created by one of the gurus at the Yamaha forum.

I have the theme for Couperin's The Mysterious Barricades down and it is wonderful to play it using the harpsichord voice. It actually provides some sense of the strings twanging away and just transports me to the 16th century. Amazing!

The Tenor sax voice is also a pleasure to use and there are heaps of other wonderfully realistic and rewarding sounds.

Want to have a one hell of a good time and own an all-time great music creation/performance tool? Then do yourself a favour and get either the S90Xs or the equally brilliant S70Xs!

SoundCloud!

2010-03-03T15:00:00.001-08:00

SoundCloud lets you move music fast & easy. The platform takes the daily hassle out of receiving, sending & distributing music for artists, record labels & other music professionals. I have just uploaded 3 more tracks to my Soundcloud site to add to the 3 that are already available there. If you write music of any sort and want to get it out there then Soundcloud is a terrific means for you to be able to do so. Check it out!

SoundCloud: The Tour from SoundCloud on Vimeo.

A Yamaha S90XS is on the way!

2010-03-03T01:27:00.000-08:00

So now I am getting serious about this piano thing! In case you don't know anything about this awesome instrument here are 3 vids for your viewing pleasure featuring the S90XS's little brother, the S70XS!

Moondance guitar solo!

2010-02-26T16:17:00.000-08:00

Local guitar hero Colin Reeves, of local band MoodSwingz, creating a tidy arrangement of notes over the Moondance changes.

More jazz piano resources!

2010-02-17T23:23:00.000-08:00

Following on from the previous post, II V I left-hand voicings in both "A" & "B" positions around the cycle of fifths. Enjoy!

The Jazz Piano Book extra resources

2010-02-15T21:43:00.000-08:00

I have been working through the beginning of Mark Levine's "The Jazz Piano Book" and to assist with my learning, I have created myself some useful extra resources using Sibelius. Yes, I know jazz piano playing is primarily an aural art but, being a reader, I find it useful to have the dots in front of me initially to find the notes I need and then work towards internalising them from there.

1. Notated Cycle of Fifths - II V I - 3 note chords starting with the 3rd on top.

2. Notated Cycle of Fifths - II V I - 3 note chords starting with the 7th on top.

3. Notated Cycle of Fifths - II V I - Substituting the II V with a Sus chord

4. Notated Cycle of Fifths - II V I - Substituting the II V with a Phrygian chord

I am happy to share these for free and have published them on my webpage at Sibelius Music.

Double click on the Jazz folder and then the Jazz Learning Resources folder and either download or print them off for yourself.

The Guitar Wall!

2010-02-13T17:03:00.000-08:00

So yes, I have been concentrating my musical efforts on the piano for the last few months but the guitar still plays a role in my life and here they all are including a couple that Michelle owns. They look pretty good up on the wall and it is a great way to store them as they are always immediately ready for action.

Starting from the left:

1. Michelle's Yamaha G-225 classical that a friend gave to her

2. My Regal Square-neck dobro

3. My Simon Rovis-Hermann concert classical

4. My Line 6 Variax 600

5. My Tanglewood TW170AS-CE cutaway electric acoustic

6. Michelle's Washburn bass

There is one other that is not functional but decorative and is stored high up on the adjacent wall.

Michelle painted it for a guitar related exhibition and, as nobody bought it, adds excellently to the ambience of my studio.

And yesterday I received..................

2010-02-08T18:09:00.000-08:00

............Mark Levine's "The Jazz Piano Book" and the two other books that I mentioned I had also ordered in this post.
The Drop 2 Book

The Jazz Theory Book

Having spent all of last year building our new home, I have dedicated this year specifically to the piano, composition, performance and surfing!
Bring it on!

7notemode and Barbara Lister-Sink

2010-01-23T15:41:00.000-08:00

As you know I have been trawling through lots of jazz based sites lately and there are a number of fantastic Youtube based player/teachers uploading thoroughly helpful and informative renditions and explanations of standards. Some examples include Lot2learn, jazz2511 and 7notemode. Anyway 7notemode is an advocate of the Barbara Lister-Sink method and uploaded this vid of a session he had with her which led me to investigating further what she has to say about playing the piano too. It is well worth viewing her YouTube videos and in particular that in which she plays Debussy and Rachmaninoff where her silky, smooth and seemingly effortless technique is a delight to watch and listen too.

Her method is based round her own ideas, the Alexander Technique and Russian Release method of piano pedagogy. I know a bit about Alexander Technique as my first guitar teacher ended up training as one so I was exposed to it and still use the little I have learnt today for myself and in my teaching.

During my training as a guitarist with my second and main teacher Stephan Bulmer, I was taught much of what she speaks about in reference to the use of the whole body in relation to the instrument and tension free structures. So I have been able to apply a little of what she talks about and I think it has already made some difference. Well worth a look!

The Jazz Piano Book

2010-01-18T19:12:00.000-08:00

I have been surfing all the online jazz piano sites recently and have come up with some ripper resources and very helpful information.

There are some great start up lessons on Scott Ranney's site Learn Jazz Piano and LessonRating.com has useful resources and reviews the best piano lesson sites online. Somewhere along the way one of the many sites I visited recommended Mark Levine's "The Jazz Piano Book" as the best seminal resource available. So I "acquired" it and having worked through the first few sections, can recommend it highly as the explanations and examples provided are very clear and informative. I really feel like I am understanding the jazz process far more than my futile attempts to do so many times on the guitar. It all makes so much more sense on the piano and I am absolutely delighting in the new vistas that are opening up for me, following my decision 6 months ago, to take up the piano seriously! I have just completed an order for an official copy of "The Jazz Piano Book" along with 2 of his other publications "The Jazz Theory Book" and "Jazz Piano Masterclass with Mark Levine" which delves exclusively into Drop 2 voicings. Magic!

TwentyTen is born!

2010-01-04T15:47:00.001-08:00

On the weekend, Michelle and I finally got around to seeing local band MoodSwingz play a gig at the Matilda's Meadow Winery.

My mate and former colleague Colin Reeves, who is an awesome and talented musician, is the guitarist and it is always a pleasure to hear him play.

The band also features consummate music man David Rastrick on trumpet/cornet, guitar, bass - you name it he probably plays it!

Holding down the bottom end are the inimitable Joel Barter on drums with sidekick Mark Tupman doing a great job on bass.

They were sounding tight and comfortable with the music they were playing so we had a great time even getting up on the dance floor to shake booty for a few songs!

Although nicely funky, alot of the music was a bit all sweetness and light so in the last 24 hours I have whipped together a composition with a little more edge for them which I hope they might like enough to include in their repertoire. It is based around a descending progression I wrote on the guitar sometime ago and I have added a contrasting B section to round it out and for the soloists to have a good time with.

Created in the "Oh, so capable and brilliant Sibelius", it is called TwentyTen and is available on Sibelius Music in full score and all the parts.

Since I have acquired Sibelius 6....................

2009-12-29T15:03:00.000-08:00

......... I have used it to rescore and revise all my compositions/arrangements both finished and still incomplete and uploaded some of them to my homepage at Sibelius Music with more to come as time passes by.

There are quite a few little pieces for guitar including what I believe is the first transcription for solo guitar of the lovely little Adagio in F by J Haydn which you can buy for $5.00 US.

There is also a short piano piece in the style of Philip Glass.

I also have ready to upload a wind quintet which is a Homage to a musical acquaintance of mine, still young being in his 40s, who has unfortunately contracted an incurable cancer and is not expected to live for much longer.

Currently I am working on a piece called " Passion Play" scored for string quartet which is sounding interesting.

Apart from Haydn's Adagio, the rest of the guitar compositions are free, so please do take the opportunity to print them off for your own or your student's use if you would like.

Sibelius 6!

2009-12-14T18:53:00.000-08:00

Most years, I take the opportunity at Christmas to splurge a little, and buy myself a present that I would really like.
Now that we have finally moved to Denmark, I am looking forward to becoming far more actively musically than I have for some years.
Apart from playing and performing, I would like to include a more regular composition regime than I have sporadically done so in the past.
I have been an on and off user of both Finale and it's quite capable little off shoot Musicprose for many years
However, following some fairly extensive online research, as is my want nowadays when contemplating a purchase, I have chosen to switch to the "other" music composition software Sibelius now in it's 6th version.
Why you ask? Well it appears to be more user friendly and intuitive than Finale ( I downloaded the demo version to trial and is particularly so of score layout which can be a pain in Finale! ) and this is confirmed by the many comments made by users and particularly so this latest version!
The main new features are:

Magnetic layout
Track changes and compare versions
Conduct your own scores
Better sounds than ever
Syncs with many sequencers and DAWs including Logic Pro which I use
New keyboard/fretboard windows and much easier chord symbol and guitar chord diagram generation
Top notch looking scores with pro engraving
Sell scores around the world

and many, many others.
I cannot wait to start using it so looking forward to getting my 24" Imac back today with a new hard drive to replace the original one that was starting to fail? ( So I am pleased I took out some Applecare warranty )
Check out a video of the new version here and Sibelius Senior Production Manager Daniel Spreadbury's terrific blog.

The International Music Score Library Project!

2009-11-30T17:54:00.000-08:00

Wow, what a great resource I stumbled upon today as I was looking for Beethoven Piano Trio scores.
The Petrucci Music Library at this site provides tens of thousands of scores by thousands of composers that are free to download. Quite extraordinary and must have site to Favourite/Bookmark if you are at all into playing classical music on the piano.

The Mysterious Barricades

2009-11-23T03:50:00.001-08:00

Couperin's strange little gem for the harpsichord has always been a favourite transcription for guitarists, due to a similar lack of sustain as the harpsichord, unlike the piano where the degree of existing sustain can destroy the charm of this piece.

On Radio National recently, the luminary of the day being interviewed, someone called Bill, who knew an awful lot about Lucian Freud, had chosen this wonderful piece and it was played by George Malcolm on the harpsichord. Well, what a treat that was and it sounded far more convincing than when I had played it on the guitar. So immediately I tracked down a terrific free arrangement in F ( rather than the original Bb ) by William Wallace and have started working on it.

C Blues - just love it!

2009-11-10T17:01:00.000-08:00

Now that we are all settled into the new house I am back into my piano practise routine.
I spend far too much of that time improvising over a 12 bar blues in the key of C (working on G and A also). I use a simple walking bass pattern in the left hand and a combination of David Sprunger licks I have learnt and a whole lot of other licks I have come across in the hours I have wiled away. On the advice of Mr Sprunger I have also been practising blues scales in octaves (block and split) and have just started to introduce these into my impros too. Damn - it is such a lot of fun and a style I really want to nail ultimately.
I have finally got my Casio connected up to Logic Pro and will put together a little track with backing and post it soon so as you can hear how I am going or not!

I couldn't play my piano for a whole day! :-(

2009-10-28T00:18:00.001-07:00

So yes, you can just see it there in my great new studio behind the chair but unplayable because the idiot that owns it left the power lead 55kms away when he moved! Uh duh!

Brilliant!

2009-10-15T17:32:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Play Piano for this one

A real piano!

2009-10-14T15:52:00.000-07:00

Denmark TAFE, where I work, very successfully delivers music courses from Certificate II through to Diploma level. As a consequence of this there are quite reasonable facilities and equipment including a real piano! Yesterday, as the music students were obviously occupied elsewhere off campus, I had the opportunity to play said instrument during my tea breaks during the day.

My impressions were:

1. A disappointing sound in comparison to my digital piano based on a Steinway and which I normally play wearing headphones.

2. I struggled to get much volume out of it but it was nice to really attack the instrument and have it respond.

3. The touch was certainly a little heavier but not so much that I struggled which is a testament to the designers of my Casio CDP100 which is only an entry level instrument.

4. Eventually, I did start to enjoy playing it and look forward to getting the opportunity to do so again soon.

The Piano Handbook

2009-10-09T20:01:00.000-07:00

I think many of you might agree that bookshops can be dens of temptation, but not normally for piano books!

However, I happened to drop in to the local Angus & Robertson bookstore yesterday - just for a browse of course and no intent.

Lo and behold, a few minutes later I am walking out with "The Piano Handbook" grasped firmly in my sweaty, damn I have done it again, hand.

Well, no regrets! What a gem of a resource because this illustrated handbook offers a comprehensive tutorial for learning to play piano alone or with a teacher. An accompanying audio CD demonstrates key techniques and concepts, and the author explores the common origins of different musical cultures to show that learning different kinds of music can be an enriching experience. Readers discover how classical piano technique and musicianship inspire creative approaches to composing and improvising across a variety of styles, including pop and jazz. There is so much useful information in here for the beginning to intermediate player wanting to stretch out a little.

A must have resource that I have always recommended for my guitar students is Ralph Denyer's Guitar Handbook and this publication for the piano is very similar.

I don't think you can really have too many resources when you are learning an instrument and even if the whole resource is not relevant so often there are a few little gems that kick you further along the road.

David Sprunger's fantastic Blues for Piano & Keyboard Course

2009-09-14T21:44:00.000-07:00

I have blogged earlier about the brilliant and comprehensive resources that David Sprunger offers at playpianotoday.com.
Having worked through his "Pattern Piano & Keyboard" over the last few weeks, I ordered and downloaded his "Blues for Piano & Keyboard" course couple of days ago.
I cannot believe what good value he offers considering the numbers of hours of effort that David must have had to put into preparing his really comprehensive resources.
And amazingly the first 9 lessons of the "Blues for Piano & Keyboard" course can be viewed for free.
Sometime in the quite distant future, as it is going to take me a long time to absorb and practise all the material in the "Blues for Piano & Keyboard" course, I intend to also purchase:

"Phat Chord Voicings"
"Piano & Keyboard Salsa"
"Intros, Fillers and Turnarounds"
"Modulation Tips & Tricks"

Oh and hey I forgot to mention - You do not need to be able to read a note of music as it is all by ear!!!!!!!!! What's holding you back? Go for it and enjoy as I am doing!

Here is what another fan of David's can do

Practise - becoming a welcomely unmanageable load at times?

2009-09-07T22:11:00.000-07:00

As you can imagine from the number of resources I have blogged about, I have alot of different stuff to work on. Currently:

The John Thompson Method books and have just started to delve into 4th grade
The pop piano book within which I am concentrating on Pop and Rock styles
Having worked on the above, I can now start to flesh out the very simple arrangements in the Hands On piano method
Improvising on a simple blues in C using what I have learnt from PlayPianoToday's Online Blues piano site
A few pieces from Microstyles Book 1
A piece out of the 2nd grade AMEB book

So my practise sessions are busy, but it is wonderful to have got to this point after only 10 weeks so far!

Another useful tome!

2009-08-30T15:41:00.000-07:00

Yeh I know yet another book, this guy must be crazy you say to yourself!

The Pop Piano Book is such a thorough examination of how to become comfortable creating your own accompaniments from lead sheets in the following styles:

Pop Ballad

Pop-Rock and Hard Rock

New Age

R'n'B Ballad

R'n'B Funk

Country & Country Rock

Slow Gospel

Fast Gospel

The author Mark Harrison starts with a comprehensive section on contemporary harmonic and rhythm concepts before launching into all the above mentioned styles. Midi files of all 800 music examples are available.

Not for the complete beginner, this is a must own book if this is your game on the keys!

The Keyboard Grimoire!

2009-08-25T19:49:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, one of my colleagues popped his head into my class to ask if I would assist a prospective IT student.
I recognised David immediately as one of the few piano players to have gone through the music programme offered at this college.
Having worked out that he was already skilled up IT wise way beyond what we could offer we got talking about piano which was when he mentioned that I should get my hands on "The Keyboard Grimoire".
Well, I thought I had a fair handle on scales but this tome goes way beyond what I know.
The book is designed for guitarists to find their way around a keyboard for sequencing it so it works for both genres of instrumentalist.
Well worth searching out and adding to your piano resources if your are into impro at all!

Independence - it's coming!

2009-08-24T20:08:00.000-07:00

Wow, I am really pleased to report I am finally achieving noticeably greater independence between the hands.
So it seems it is just practice over time that results in a gradual improvement rather than suddenly a thing that becomes automatic!
Oh well, it is still encouraging.

Bert is brilliant!

2009-08-19T02:04:00.001-07:00

I'm a fan!

A really excellent on-line resource!

2009-08-18T19:14:00.001-07:00

Aswell as my goal to learn to read well enough to play any genre of music, I am also interested in using the keyboard in a band context. I am therefore, delighted to have discovered David Sprunger's website and the wonderful array of video lessons he provides based around his rhythmic patterns. I was initially drawn to his blues piano lesson section working through all the free videos before realising that it might be a good idea to purchase his very reasonably priced ($19.95US) original Pattern Piano and Keyboard lesson pack which I have done and am starting to work through.
Once I have completed it, I am looking forward to purchasing the complete Blues piano lesson series.
Well worth a look if you are not interested in learning to read and only interested in chordal accompaniment.

Or a Yamaha S90XS.............................maybe!

2009-08-18T19:08:00.000-07:00

Really impressed by Yamaha's latest offering and may purchase the S90XS instead of the Roland RD-700GX.

Starting to get serious about playing keyboards

2009-08-10T20:26:00.000-07:00

I have just ordered John Thompson's 4th grade tutor as I am getting through the 3rd grade book pretty quickly.
I am rapt that my ability to read the bass clef is becoming far more instinctive and so I am getting quicker at familiarising myself with each piece. I am also still amazed at how much easier I am finding memorising piano music is in comparison to the guitar. It is almost automatic once I have decided that I wish to work further on a piece and I am starting to get a core of memorised repertoire together which is fantastic.
Typically, I am already looking at upgrading my Digital Piano and I am most impressed with Roland's RD-700GX depicted above. Apart from the reported brilliant sound and touch etc I am really interested in the USB stick feature that allows the use of the keyboard to run backing tracks.
Once Michelle and I move to Denmark, within the next month or so, I am hoping we will get back to playing and performing music again. With some hard work, I hope I have my keyboard chops up enough to make use of them and being able to use it to run backings would allow us to create a massive sound for a duo.
I was contemplating purchasing a laptop to run the latest version of Mainstage to do the job but I think this maybe a more elegant solution.
I really feel gaining these keyboard skills is rounding me out as a musician and adding new and exciting possibilities for the future creation and performance of music.
Why have I not chosen to start this journey earlier! Bewildering!

The journey continues..........

2009-07-28T05:21:00.000-07:00

Started the John Thompson 3rd Grade book this evening and am a bit stunned at the rate of progress I have been making. My initial goal was to be playing 4th grade pieces within 12 months and I think I am well on track to achieve that.

I am using the same strategy I have used with my guitar students over the years, which is to work through new material, getting it to a reasonable level before moving on to something new rather than trying to perfect everything before doing so.

I then revisit that previously studied material after a period of time and it is always amazing how much easier it is to play.

Yesterday, I returned to the First Grade book and played through the whole lot in one session and it took me two weeks to get through it initially!

So I will continue that successful process with the 2nd Grade book also once I have gone some way into the 3rd grade book and consequently build up lots of repertoire, much of it that I can sight read which is my primary goal.

Another part of my teaching process is to also choose some more challenging pieces to memorise ready to perform when the opportunity arises. Interestingly, I have found it far easier to memorise piano music than I have guitar music.

Microstyles!

2009-07-23T15:48:00.000-07:00

Many years a go, I used to own the musicaI instrument store here in town before various events including my own mismanagement caused the whole operation to fall over but that is a story for another day.
In any case, the point of mentioning that is, we supplied books to many of the local piano teachers students and I remember one of the books that was particularly popular was the series by Chris Norton, Microstyles for keyboard.

The first of the series of four constituted one of 3 new books I bought yesterday along with John Thompson's Grade 3 tutor and the AMEB Series 13 4th grade publication. Yes, yes I know, I haven't finished John Thompson's Grade 2 tutor yet but......!!

Anyway the Microstyles books are wonderful with tremendous and reasonably accessible pieces written in wide variety of popular styles. I have listed the contents of Volume One here for your edification. In searching the internet for an image of the books cover to post, I note that all 4 books are now available in one volume and had I known that at the time I would have ordered it instead. If you want to add a bit of variety to your daily practise, do yourself a favour and check out Microstyles.

Cheeky - Rock 'n' Roll Style
Down South - Rock Ballad
Fax Blues - Ostinato
Heavy Work - Mancini Stomp
Hideaway - Rumba
In the Bag - Glenn Miller Style
Latin Nights - Bossa Nova
Martinet - Heavy Rock
Omnibus - Swing
On the Line - Half Time Rock
Oriental Flower - Slow Waltz
Short and Sweet - Boogie

For a moment...............

2009-07-20T22:49:00.001-07:00

the other day, i think I might have really got in touch with the arm/wrist/finger action that Alan Fraser is talking about in his book "The Craft of Piano Playing".
As far as I can remember, as I haven't got the book by my side, he talks about feeling as if the fingers are effortless and just gliding above the keys with a direct connection all the way up to the shoulders.
It is worth checking this book out for Sonya Arden's wonderful drawings of the hands alone (a challenge for any artist).
I am going to have to order the DVD!

Bach - a challenge for me on the piano!

2009-07-16T18:11:00.000-07:00

On the guitar, I have always loved to play J S Bach's music most of all (and Barrios' too to be truthful), so naturally I have a tendency to gravitate to his music on this new journey with the piano.

Apart from continuing to work through my main tutor, John Thompson's second grade method and scale and arpeggios etc, I am also getting some more challenging pieces to memory.

That includes the Menuet in D Minor from the Anna Magdelena collection from the Series 12, second grade AMEB publication. This is a piece I can play easily on the guitar but damn it is a challenge at this point on the piano.

But, I am definitely progressing as there would have been no chance of playing this piece a month ago.

Josef Hofmann

2009-07-11T18:43:00.001-07:00

And just in case Malwine Bree's book on the Leschetizky method was not enough for you, here is another digitised book of interest that can also be downloaded for free.

"Piano Playing: With Piano Questions Answered" by Josef Hofmann.

Theodore Leschetizky

2009-07-11T18:15:00.000-07:00

The teacher of many of the great players of the 20th century, Theodore Leschetizky's name comes up frequently when one researches the topic of piano playing. Here is a link to a fully digitised copy of the original publication (that you can download for free) "The Groundwork of the Leschetizky Method" authored by one of Leschetizky's assistants, Malwine Bree, and fully approved by the Maestro describing his ideas in relation to piano playing.

Touch?

2009-07-04T17:52:00.001-07:00

I have been doing a lot of reading about the technical aspects of playing the piano and what some of the great pianist's have to say and do about it also. Today, during my regular morning practise session, I really felt that I am starting to understand and put in to practice some of what I have been reading about.

The key issues:

1. A well supported upright sitting position from which relaxation from the shoulders down through the arms and wrists and in to the hands can be achieved

2. Position of the hands on the keyboard, being much flatter with lower wrists than I when I first started this journey which seems to allow me to pass the thumb through under the fingers more easily resulting in more facility and ease in scales and arpeggios and produces a far better tone.

Finger numbering issue!

2009-07-03T04:50:00.000-07:00

I am slowly overcoming it, but it is a little annoying as I find myself having to stop and think momentarily.

You see, being a classical guitarist, I am used to the fingering shown in the image above. You will note that the left hand is numbered with index finger number 1, the middle 2 etc etc.

The right hand is different again with letters allocated to the fingers.

Now for the piano, of course, both hands have numbers allocated to the fingers but they are different to what I have been used to for the last 30 years or so.

The thumb is number 1 and the index 2 etc etc.

It is probably not quite such an issue for the right hand as I have not associated that with numbers but for the left it is definitely an issue and amplified by the fact I am still becoming accustomed to reading the bass clef. I look forward to a time in the future where I am instinctively using the correct finger!

Piano Mastery - Talks with Master Pianists and Teachers

2009-07-02T15:31:00.000-07:00

An innocuous looking little book but chock full of gems to guide us along the road to piano mastery for no cost to you at all.

A funk piano lesson with Jonathon Wilson

2009-07-02T01:47:00.000-07:00

Too soon for me but might be something you can try out for yourself.

I was really impressed by the presentation and delivery of this series of lessons, being one of the jewels available, amongst all the charlatans trying to get money off beginner piano players on the internet!

Enjoy!

The Art of Piano - Great pianists of the 20th century

2009-06-30T05:06:00.000-07:00

I discovered this documentary by accident whilst Googling Neuhaus's book The Art of Piano. Amazingly, the complete video is available on YouTube, surprisingly so as it does not appear to be out of print. Maybe the distributors figure that people are going to want a better quality version of it and buy their own copy.

Oh you want to know what I think of it? Well, sensational and hugely inspiring to be frank and fantastic to see Glenn Gould included with this illustrious group of humans.

I cannot imagine the number of rigorous hours of effort they must all have subjected themselves to and marvel at the individual differences in wonderful tone between them all.

Well worth checking out for a bit of inspiration.

Egad - I have cut off my fingernails!

2009-06-29T16:43:00.000-07:00

One of the things about playing the classical

guitar that has completed pissed me off at times over the last 30 years or so is the need for a well cared for set of fingernails on the right hand. I have developed great skills in repairing my fingernails using super glue and crescents of ping pong ball and so often because I damaged a nail just before I needed to perform! So.............,

as they are a hindrance when playing the piano, I have an excellent excuse and the other day I clipped them all off. I can tell you that was harder to do than you might think having invested so much effort over the years to maintain them.

It must be a new dawn!

The Craft of Piano Playing

2009-06-29T16:18:00.000-07:00

As I am not in a position to engage a teacher at this time and acknowledging the importance of a sound technique, I ordered this wonderful treatise by Alan Fraser.

Having read some considerable part of the book, interestingly, it seems my years spent developing a sound technique for playing the classical guitar, has equipped me well to intuitively understand some of what is required of the relationship of the fingers, hands and arms for piano playing.

So I think I am on track and am looking forward to applying more of the information that is so clearly explained through the use of the most wonderful drawings. I am also keen to get my hands on Heinrich Neuhaus's The Art of Piano Playing.

I am now into the second grade book of the John Thompson Modern piano course (a quantum leap form the first, I may say)and have started the process of learning and playing the scales and arpeggios in all keys now that I have a better understanding of the techniques required to play them. I plan to regularly go back to the first grade John Thompson book to reinforce what I have learnt.

The beginning!

2009-06-28T18:55:00.000-07:00

As is my usual way, and how I came to purchase a Casio CDP-100, I scoured the the internet using Google for a piano tutor and settled for the not so modern, been around for ever, method depicted to the left. Having played the classical guitar for more than 30 years, I am acutely aware of the importance of a sound technique and so have opted for this traditional method rather than the myriad of new ones that are available. I have found it to be excellent for my purposes and have already purchased and commenced the second grade book.

I do need to find a teacher though but as I am about to move 50 kilometres to the the

west when Michelle and I get the house we are building in Denmark to the stage where we can move in, it is a little difficult.

Resisted for years...........

2009-06-28T18:35:00.000-07:00

but have now decided that the piano has a place in my musical life and that I need to learn to play it properly. So I used some of my KRudd money to buy a Casio CDP-100 88 note fully-weighted digital piano and I am incredibly impressed with it. There are just 5 sampled sounds - 2 grand piano, harpsichord, electric piano and strings and it has midi so as I can connect it to my computer.

The touch and feel of the keys is so piano like and is also graduated relative to the different weight of the strings from bass to treble.

So I have purchased Book 1 of John Thompson's Modern Course for the Piano and have started the process of teaching myself. As I already read the treble clef fluently it is mostly a matter of becoming more familiar with the bass clef and to develop a sound technique for the instrument. I will go and get lessons to ensure I am staying on the right track technique wise and I am really keen to particularly develop good sight reading skills as I have for the guitar. I have high expectations as I usually do with everything I start and look forward to playing Beethoven piano sonatas some time in the future. Laboriously worked my way through the opening of the Pathetique yesterday, the music sublime, the playing? Umm, well, more practise required!