Monday 13 June 2011

FREE KEYBOARD/PIANO LESSON: How to play "Three Little Birds" by Bob Marley!!

Hi my friends! Today I want to show you how to play the melody for Three Little Birds by Bob Marley.
Below is a document with the letter names used. I have also provided a model of the keyboard showing what notes to used for the song.

Enjoy!!


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Notes used on the Keyboard.


Have a great day!!



 

The Elements in Music - What are the different elements of music?

It doesn’t matter what country or race you belongs to, there must be an appreciation or love for some genre of music. When we listen to our favourite style of music it definitely has some physical and emotional effect on us. But do we take time to identify the different components that exist in all the different styles of music we listen to?
The music we love listening to has special pack of ingredient which is referred to as musical elements. Today we will look at some of the main elements of music and what they mean to us as listeners.
Some of the main elements of music are rhythm, timbre/instrumentation, melody, harmony, texture, musical form, genre/style, pitch, tempo and articulation.
Rhythm
Rhythm is one of the most important elements of music. According to Roger Kamien in his book, Music: An Appreciation (4th Edition), Rhythm is the flow of music through time; the pattern of durations of notes and silences in music. So therefore rhythm is an arrangement of sounds and silences to create specific musical patterns during a particular time or duration. Rhythm also includes beat, meter, accent, syncopation and tempo.
Timbre/Instrumentation
Timbre (which is pronounced tam’-ber) refers to the quality of sound that differentiate one from another. We are able to identify a trumpet different from a saxophone in music because of the timbre or tone colour of the instrument.
Instrumentation includes the wide variety of musical instruments that exist based on an era and culture of the composer. All musical instruments have its purpose and time in music. Some categories of musical instruments are; voice, brass, keyboard, electronic (electrophone), percussion, strings and woodwind.
Melody
Melody is a series of notes that are place at different pitch creating a tune. When you hear a saxophone playing “Marry had a Little Lamb” you will recognize the song because of the tune or melody. A good melody has a beginning, development and an ending. Some important aspects of melody are tonality (the key of the music), intervals, phrasing, articulation and cadence.
Harmony
Harmony refers to harmonic notation that accompanies the melody of a song. For example; when an individual is singing and the piano is playing in the background supporting the soloist, the piano that accompanies the singer is creating harmony. One interrelated aspect of harmony is chords. A chord includes three or more notes playing at the same time. Harmony can be created by other musical instruments even voices.
Texture
According to Roger Kamien in his book, Music: An Appreciation (4th Edition), texture refers to how many different layers of sound are heard at once, whether they are melody or harmony, and how they are related to each other. Monophonic, polyphonic and homophonic are three popular textures that can be identified easily in music.
Musical Form
Most music that we listen to is designed so that we can identify the verses and chorus. Musical Form is the way in which a musical piece is structured or designed. In musical form music can have repetition, contrast and variation. There are different types of form; however, two popular types of forms are Three Part (Ternary) ABA and Two Part (Binary) AB.
Genre/Style
Genre/Style simply refers to the type of music. The types of music are based on culture and geographical location. Some genres of music are; Hip hop, R&B, Souls ballad, Reggae, Rock and Gospel.
Dynamics, Pitch, Tempo and Articulation
Dynamics, pitch, tempo and articulation can be classified as part of the expressive features in music.
Dynamics is how soft or loud the music is.
Pitch is the highness and lowness of sound in music.
Tempo refers to the speed of the music, how fast or slow the music is been played.
Articulation refers to how notes in music are been played. Notes can be played short and detached (staccato) and smooth flowing into each other (legato).

Thanks you for reading this article! Please subscribe so that you can get future articles on the same or other topics. The author intends to write more articles explaining each element in details.

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Thursday 9 June 2011

PIANO LESSON - Free Piano Lesson. Learn to play the scales on the piano. Piano Finger Techniques for Major Scales.

I have created simple documents illustrating how to play major scales on the piano. The major scales illustrated are C, G, D, A, E, B F# and C#. C major scale has no sharp and nor flat. However, all the other scales illustrated in todays music lesson have sharps. The major scales illustrated are arranged according to the number of sharps that exist. The finger techniques for the right and left hand are also included in the illustrations.
Please practice each scale at a comfortable pace, then gradually increase the speed if you think you can play them faster. Also try practicing right hand first then left hand. When you can play the scales with each hand fluently, try playing each scales using both hands the same time.



THANK YOU FOR PARTICIPATING IN TODAYS LESSON. REMEBER TO LEAVE COMMENTS.

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Tuesday 7 June 2011

FREE PIANO LESSONS FOR BEGINNERS: (VIDEO CLIPS - How to play the F# and C# major scale on the Piano/Keyboard.) Keyboard lessons for children and adults.

Hi guys! I Just want to say a big thank you to all the persons who are taking part in the music lessons on this site. Continue to leave your comments and share this link with your friends. Please remember you can also follow me on this site and on twitter.

Today we are going to look at the F# and C# major scale. The finger patterns for these two scales are a bit different from the others that we have looked at so far.

NOW LETS LOOK AT THE F# MAJOR SCALE.

                             F#, G#, A#, B, C#, D#, F, F# - ( Letters of F# major scale)
FINGERS USED  2    3     4     1    2    3    4   5
(RIGHT HAND)

ILLUSTRATION FOR F# MAJOR SCALE




NOW LETS LOOK AT THE C# MAJOR SCALE.

                            C#, D#, F, F#, G#, A#, C, C# - (Letters of C# major scale)
FINGERS USED 2     3    1   2     3     4     2   1
(RIGHT HAND)

ILLUSTRATION FOR C# MAJOR SCALE



By now you should notice that both scales starts with the second finger instead of the thumb. This is because the thumb is more effective on the white or natural keys when playing scales.

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Monday 6 June 2011

FREE PIANO LESSONS FOR BEGINNERS: (VIDEO CLIPS - How to play the E and B major scale on the Piano/Keyboard.

Hi! By now you should be able to play the C, G, D and A major scales. (If you are new to this site please click here to view previous lessons.)

Today we will continue on major scales. Lets take a look at how to play the E and B majors scale using the right fingers.

ILLUSTRATION 1 - E MAJOR SCALE

E, F#, G#, A, B, C#, D#, E - (The letters that make up the E major scale)


ILLUSTRATION 2 - B MAJOR SCALE

B, C#, D#, E, F#, G#, A#, B - ( The letters that make up the B major scale)


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Sunday 5 June 2011

FREE PIANO LESSONS FOR BEGINNERS: (VIDEO CLIPS - How to play the D and A major scale on the Piano/Keyboard.

Hi guys!
Today I want to show you how to play the D and A major scales on the keyboard. In the previous piano lesson, I show a short video illustrating the finger techniques used when playing the C and G major scale using the right hand. (Click to view previous lesson)

Well, today I will be sharing some more videos.

PLAYING D MAJOR SCALE

D E F# G A B C# D - Letters of D major scale.
NB> Instead of playing "F" and "C" you will play F# and C# repectively.

PLAYING A MAJOR SCALE

A B C# D E F# G# A - Letters of A major scale.
NB> Instead of playing C, F and G you will play C#, F# and G#.



Thank you for participating in todays lesson. Remember to leave your comments.

Here are some other useful Piano Lessons on this stite.

Piano/Keyboard lesson - Part 3 (Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star)

Piano Lesson - How To Play Major Scales On The Piano



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Saturday 4 June 2011

Free Piano Lessons For Beginners - (Video Clips for C and G Major Scales)

In previous piano lessons on major scales, I have shared some great information and illustrations showing to play the C, G and D major scale on the piano.

View link below:
How to play major scale on the piano.
Playing the G and D major scale on the piano.

To make these lessons a bit easier, I will be sharing some video clips showing the basic finger techniques used when playing a major scale.
In todays lesson you will learn how to play the C and G major scale using the right hand. I know these video clips will help. (The quality might not be a 100%)

ILLUSTRATION 1 - THE C MAJOR SCALE


ILLUSTRATION 2 THE G MAJOR SCALE


Remember to leave your comments!!!

Friday 3 June 2011

Great musical talents can take you a far way. Music, Music, Music! (Watch Music Video Now!)

Music is such an exciting aspect of our lives. We cannot predict what will happen next in the world of music. As years and decades go by, great musicians are being developed and the techniques used in their styles of performance is more interesting.
Watch this video of young Sungha Jung as he performs Michael Jackson’s Billie Jean. You can also check out other videos of his performances at http://www.youtube.com/. He is an inspiration to the world. May his teachers and parents continue to work with him.



If you are interested in knowing more about Sungha Jung here is a link to his website: http://www.sunghajung.com/



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