James Gilbert MusicLet’s talk about slurs, phrases and ties. As a long time piano teacher, I find many students, even advanced players get confused. Slurs – curved line over/under two or more *different* notes. Tie – curved line connecting the *same* note(s) immediately next to one another. Phrase – a musical idea, often indicated with a slur […]
Playing from a Leadsheet for solo pianists Back in 2014 I did a tutorial video on YouTube titles How to play a Leadsheet on solo piano. A followup to it is below. The video pretty much tells all you need to know to get started playing a leadsheet. One correction is that the D7/F […]
Does anyone use the iPad or other computer software to help them learn to play the piano? I asked this question at my tumblr blog – which I have just to have a presence on tumblr. (Usually I post blog content here and link to it on tumblr, but this time its the opposite). Read […]
Just an article to get the mind thinking. I’d love to hear some insightful comments on this subject. Are people learning to play the piano enough to keep the piano going as a popular instrument? Is it becoming like the pipe organ or electronic keyboards/synthesizers, all instruments played by a small percentage of musicians? Is […]
I’m not sure if anyone actually reads this or not, but I hope someone does. I wanted to let those that are interested know that I’m still around & busy with music projects. That’s one reason I’ve not posted in a while. The main reason I’ve not posted is that I’m not getting any feedback […]
iPad music apps See also an updated article HERE If you have some time, please listen to my music on iTunes (Click here) This is a followup to my previous blog about sheet music apps for the iPad. My favorite and the app I use the most for viewing sheet music is still forScore. If […]
Introduction to Music for those wanting to become musicans, or improve their musicianship Conclusion I hope this Introduction to Music series has been helpful. While it is obviously not a comprehensive look at all there is to music notation and music theory, if you know this stuff, you have a great amount of tools to […]
Session Strings Pro Animator Revisited Back in 2011 I did a YouTube video showing the Animator function of Session Strings Pro. It was a quick overview and not terribly detailed. At the request of a few people, I’ve come back to the Animator to take a more detailed look. The video is intended as a […]
Introduction to Music for those wanting to become musicans, or improve their musicianship Scales and Modes Rather than a long blog article about scales, I’ll point you to a video I did on YouTube about scales and modes. I’ve added a few things below the video, so come back here when you’re done with the […]
Introduction to Music for those wanting to become musicans, or improve their musicianship Chords and Intervals Intervals An interval is the distance between two notes. We describe intervals in numerical terms, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc. From the note C to the note D is a 2nd. Although D is only one note away from C, […]
Introduction to Music for those wanting to become musicians, or improve their musicianship Music symbols, part 2 As we look into more symbols a reminder of how we will talk about symbols in this series. I divide symbols into a few categories: 1) Articulations; 2) Accidentals; 3) Dynamics; 4) Tempo or rhythm; 5) Ornamentations and […]
Introduction to Music for those wanting to become musicans, or improve their musicianship Music symbols, part 1 First of all, notice the time signature is “C”. That is known as Common Time which is the same as 4/4 time. Let’s take a break from rhythm and counting and look at various symbols that can affect […]
Introduction to Music for those wanting to become musicans, or improve their musicianship Time Signatures and Counting Up until now we’ve talked about each measure having 4 beats and the quarter note equaling one beat. Can we have 20 beats in a measure? Can the 8th note equal one beat? Yes, to both questions. But […]
Introduction to Music for those wanting to become musicans, or improve their musicianship Measures and rhythm Rhythm is the relationship of note values to one another and their placement in a measure. A measure is the space between the two bar lines. We are measuring beats. If we say that a 1/4 note is one […]
Introduction to Music for those wanting to become musicans, or improve their musicianship Note and Rest Values Now that we know what the letter names of the Treble and Bass clef are, we need to learn about note and rest types and their values as well as an introduction to rhythm. Shown are the most […]
Introduction to Music for those wanting to become musicans, or improve their musicianship Basic Notation, Part 2 To review from our last posting – Basic Notation, Part 1 – refer to the grand staff shown here.. We have staffs made up of lines and spaces. We have two clefs, the treble for the high notes […]
Introduction to Music for those wanting to become musicans, or improve their musicianship Basic Notation, Part 1 You may be thinking, ‘why a piano keyboard, I’m not a pianist.’ Knowing the layout of a keyboard can be helpful in figuring out some elements of music. This will make more sense later, but for now, be […]
Introduction to Music for those wanting to become musicans, or improve their musicianship A quick word or two before we get started This series is designed to introduce you to the world of music. It is not intended as a music appreciation series for the non-musician, but rather it is intended for those who want […]