Hobbies

A lot of new age piano music consists of repeating patterns, or textures in the left hand while the right hand improvises a melody. This approach is really a good one! It frees you up to create in the moment. First you decide what chord or chords you’ll be using in the left hand. You then create an ostinato or arpeggio that lays the foundation for the entire piece.

It’s like the background a painter uses before the foreground is drawn in. In the case of music, the background would be the textural patterns in the left hand. Then the right hand comes in “to paint” in the rest of the picture - in this case, the improvised melody.

George Winston used this approach in the piece “Rain.” First you get this beautiful textural background created exclusively by the left hand. He covers more than an octave with the left hand using the thumb to reach past and make the music sound fuller. Now, in this piece he uses only a few chords, but interest is maintained through the improvised melody. In my piece, Flashflood, from Anza-Borrego Desert Suite, I use the same technique.

Recently, I had a student ask me to offer some techniques for using the right hand. Usually, it’s the left hand that causes the most difficulty but I had to think about it because up till then, I really did not have any “techniques” for the right hand.

I thought about it and tried to think about what I do as far as improvising with the right hand goes. Basically there are really only a few things you can do. You can:

1. Play single note runs - this is where you just play one note at a time

2. Play arpeggios - broken chords up and down the keyboard

3. Play chords - using 3rds or sixths or any combination of the chord-scale relationship

Different genres of music use the above techniques in different ways. New Age piano usually relies on a softer sound although there is a “minimalist” style that uses hard sounding chords in the right hand ala George Winston.

You see, the problem is that you have to know the numerical relationship between the root note and the rest of the notes that make up the chord to “know what you’re doing” on the keyboard.

One of the things New Age pianist George Winston is known for is what he can do with just a few notes. In fact, in his piece Colors/Dance from the CD “Autumn” he uses an ostinato pattern in his left hand to create a wonderful stark mood.

He creates this atmosphere by using a simple ostinato pattern in his left hand while the right improvises a melody. The trick to all of this is the way he lets the notes ring out. You really get to hear the overtones.

Also, he is a very percussive player, hitting the keys very hard. This contributes to the stark sound created. When I first heard this piece I was in awe! So captivating and alluring, the music instantly took me away and transported me into that wonderful nonverbal realm where magic happens.

Now you too can create like this. In fact, it’s quite easy once you get the ostinato pattern down in your left hand. Then you can really have fun while you explore and create by improvising a melody with the right. Many New Age pianists employ the ostinato technique and in my next lesson, I’ll be showing you how to create a stark mood similar to what George does in Colors/Dance.

It may surprise many to find that the hobby of record collecting, long thought dead after the introduction of the compact disc, is still alive and well. Granted, many music fans have long replaced their records with CDs, but for many Baby Boomers and Generation X-ers, the hobby of buying and collecting record albums and singles continues to be a focal point in their lives.

Records offer the tactile sense of a substantial product, unlike the CD. The seven-inch, 45 RPM single often came with a picture sleeve that has no equivalent among compact discs. The nostalgia of records draws many back to their younger days. And records still sound great. A recent check of the Bay auction site showed 959,857 records for sale. That’s just under one million records!

These records aren’t selling at garage-sale prices, either. At any given time, there might be six thousand records by the Beatles for sale, some of which have sold for up to $40,000. Elvis isn’t far behind; his first five singles, issued on the small Memphis-based, Sun label, routinely bring $2000 at auction in nice condition. Other artists, such as the Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, James Brown, or Madonna have issued records that not only command sky-high prices, but also draw a lot of bids.

The greatest interest in record collecting is in artists of the 1960’s and 1970’s, but newer bands, such as Nirvana, draw a lot of attention from younger collectors. Nivrana’s first single, Love Buzz issued in 1988, sells for up to $2000 and there are several other bands, such as the Misfits, that have released numerous records that sell for more than $1000. What do collectors do with these records? Some play them, some frame them, some simply put them on the shelf. There are collectors who only buy records that they intend to play and others that simply want anything that was ever commercially released by the artist that interests them. There is no pigeonholing a collector; they come in all shapes and sizes. For them, finding a long-unavailable single that has eluded them for years is like winning the lottery.

For those who are interested, there are literally thousands of Websites devoted to artists, records, and record collecting. There are well-known magazines, like Goldmine , Discoveries, and in the UK, Record Collector. Anyone who thinks they might be interested in collecting records has more resources available to them than ever before. Twenty years ago, people thought that records would be long forgotten by now. They couldn’t have been more wrong.

For the self-promoting independent artist, the idea of taking on a radio promotion campaign can, in itself, become overwhelming. But, this idea is usually based on such artists attempting to obtain worldwide airplay on a local budget.

And, in doing so, self-promoting independent artists quickly discover another factor not usually considered previously… that engaging in a worldwide radio promotion campaign translates to hundreds and, possibly, thousands of CD units for media contacts alone.

As you can see, this can also quickly become a nightmare for indie artists, particularly, if the promotion budget only allows for the purchase of 1,000-CD packages at a time.

Starting in the 1980’s, college radio became a dominant force in not only discovering independent recording artists, but also in introducing new artists to the general public. Hundreds of these particular artists have gone on to become established ‘household’ names.

Likewise, the college radio level has a continued history of presenting, practically, all forms of music, much of which would never see the proverbial light of day at the commercial radio level and, in many cases, neither at the non commercial level.

In the late 1940’s, the 45-RPM record replaced the 78-RPM record. The 45 was smaller, less breakable and could be made and sold more cheaply. Despite these advantages, it took ten years before the 78 became obsolete, and in the meantime, record companies sold their product in both formats. In 1982, the major record companies introduced the compact disc, which offered a smaller size, "perfect" sound, and less likelihood of damage in day to day use. As the compact disc offered a much larger profit margin than did the long-play record album (LP) the record companies were eager to rid store shelves of records once and for all. Given that the 78 lasted ten years after the introduction of the 45, it seemed likely that the LP would be gone from the market by 1990. The expected disappearance of the LP never happened. Despite the efforts of the music industry, music fans and collectors not only continue to buy records today, but sales of records and record-playing equipment are on the rise.

Do you remember the movie, Groundhog Day? In this wonderful movie, TV weatherman Phil Connors (Bill Murray) relives the same day - Groundhog Day, over and over and over again. No matter what he does, he wakes up the next morning and it is once again Groundhog Day. This continues until he decides to learn and grow. Only after he begins focusing his efforts on helping others instead of concentrating on himself does he move forward and awaken to a new day.

Groundhog Day Syndrome (or GDS) is the term I use for students who want to continue to play the same song or the same few songs over and over instead of moving forward and learning new skills and songs.

While all students develop favorite songs that they love to play, others get stuck. For most students, this is a temporary thing, and just represents a beautiful song that they have learned from memory. When these students sit down at a piano in a friend’s house or at their grandparents, they play their favorite piece to impress their friends and relatives. A lot of students, for example, learn to play Beethoven’s Fur Elise, which is a wonderful song. They play it over and over, but they are also willing to move forward and play and enjoy new pieces of music. A student who truly has GDS, however, will want to only continue to play their most favorite piece in the whole world, which they have worked very hard to learn to play! They will want to only keep playing it no matter how much other music is presented to them.

Piano lessons provide a wide range of benefits to young children. Here are my "Top Five."

1. Piano lessons help preserve and develop children’s natural creative abilities. The best analogy of how children learn through music that I’ve found is from Donald Kroodsma’s book "The Singing Life of Birds." Every songbird can be identified by the unique song it sings, but a baby bird has to be taught by its parents to sing the family song. Baby birds, like humans, just ‘babble’ at first. Mother birds sing the family song over and over to the baby birds as they try to repeat it back. At first, the baby birds are only able to sing back one or two notes, but they gradually learn to sing the whole song. And birds with two voice boxes even learn to sing their own harmony parts! Once baby birds learn the family song, they can start developing their very own songs. Similarly, I encourage students to compose their own music after developing needed skills. In my experience, young children in piano are a lot like baby songbirds!

"My 6 year old daughter really loves the piano and wants to learn to play, but when I try to help her she gets very upset with me. What should I do?"

The parent who asked the above question has fallen into a hole that I call The Piano Parent Trap!

If this is you, you don’t have to feel bad. In fact you should be flattered! This is just a problem of conflicting needs. The role of Mom or Dad is very important to the emotional security of children. Your acceptance and approval is everything to them! When parents move out of the parental role into the role of piano teacher, young children can become confused and anxious. The expectations of children are that Mom and Dad will always play the specific role needed to protect their emotional security. Because children must have their emotional needs met to feel loved and secure before they can learn, they may refuse to allow a parent to be "the piano teacher," even when they want to learn. And surprisingly, the child who really wants to play the piano may resist a parent’s help even more! So, how does a parent get out of this trap? It’s not really that hard. Here are two key things you can do.

Piano lessons are a great activity for children. They encourage creative thinking, develop math and reading skills, and improve students’ overall educational progress, as well as building a fun life-long skill. As a result, over six million children in the United States take piano lessons! One of the choices that parents have when their child is beginning piano lessons is whether to enroll their son or daughter in a private or group lesson. Parents often have misperceptions, or at least several questions, in making this choice.

Q: What is the difference between private and group lessons?

A: Individual lessons are usually thirty minutes in length, with the piano teacher working one-on-one with a student. Individual lessons provide a high degree of personal attention for a student. Group lessons are generally 45-minutes to an hour in length, and consist of between two and four students working with their piano teacher. During group lessons, each student plays their own piano or keyboard and receives both individual and group instruction. Students are introduced to new skills in the group every week and are then given individual playing assignments. They practice these assignments using earphones and the teacher rotates among the students to check on their progress and provide additional instruction.