Thursday 16 June 2011

Free Music Lessons - Free Piano and Keyboard Lessons for beginners. Don't miss your free music lesson online today. Start playing the piano/keyboard is minutes.

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Here is a list of our piano/keyboard lessons for beginners that we have published so far. Take your time and go through each topic.


 
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RHYTHM, AN ELEMENT IN MUSIC. What is rhythm all about? (beats, meter, accent, syncopation & tempo)

Rhythm is an arrangement of sounds and silences to create specific musical patterns during time. Rhythm also includes beat, meter, accent, syncopation and tempo. Let us look at these interrelated aspects of rhythm.
Beat is very important because it allows the music to flow in an organized way. Beat is a regular, repeated pulsation that divides music into equal units of time. So if the music is slow then the beats are arranged to move at a slow pace. It is important to note that the beats in music are not notes but they are pulse that the arranger or conductor used to create melodies and other rhythmic patterns. Therefore a note can be a fraction less than a beat, can be the same length as a beat and even longer than a beat. The pulse that is created by your heart is a perfect example because it is a steady regular pattern.
Let us now look at the term “Meter”.
Meter is the organization of beats into regular groups. When a group of set number of beats is used then a measure is created. The first beat in the group is usually stressed. This stressed beat is called the down beat.
There are different types of meter. Each meter is named according to the number of beats in each measure. Some types of meter as they relates to music are; duple meter, triple meter, quadruple meter, sextuple meter, quintuple meter among others. In this article we will only focus on three types of meter. They are; duple, triple and quadruple meter.
Duple meter is when each measure in the music has two beats in it. A group of two beats in each measure is counted like this:

Triple meter is when each measure in the music has three beats in it. A group of three beats in each measure is counted like this:

Quadruple meter is when there are four beats in each measure. A group of four beats in each measure is counted like this:

Click link for topic on Time Signature
 
 
Accent and Syncopation are two effective musical techniques used to enhance the rhythmic structure of a piece of music. Accent is when a note in the group of beats in the measure is played stronger than normal times in the music. The symbol used to illustrate accent is >. (When the accent sign (>) is placed over specific notes in each measure it means that the note must be played stronger than the other notes.)
Syncopation is an “off-beat” note that is stressed or accented. If you listen to a jazz music then you will hear a lot of syncopation.
The tempo of the music definitely has an effect on the rhythm. Tempo refers to the pace of the music. However, there are different types of musical terms that are used to tell us the tempo that is to be used or suitable for the music. Two popular tempo terms are; andante and allegro.
Andante means – at walking pace or moderately slow.
Allegro means – fast.
Some other tempo terms used in music are;
Largo – very slow
Grave – solemn and very slow
Adagio – slow
Moderato – moderate
Allegretto – moderately fast
Vivace – lively
Presto – very fast
Prestissimo – as fast as possible
It is very important to note that most tempo terms used in music are normally Italian.
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Wednesday 15 June 2011

FREE PIANO/KEYBOARD LESSONS: Another great musical piece for beginners, children and anyone who is learning to play the keyboard or piano.

Hi guys! Here is another popular but simple song that I have used over the years for my piano and keyboard beginner students. While learning to play this piece, your will gain confidence in learning the white keys on the keyboard. Like other simple songs that I have posted in the pass, I know you will catch this one quickly and will be waiting for other simple lessons.

The song we will be looking at today is "Old Macdonald Had a Farm".
Below is a simple sheet music with the melody of the song.

Even though you should know all the letter names of the keys on the keyboard by now, here is model showing the best notes to use for this song.



Thank you for particiating in this lesson. Feel free to take a look at all the other articles that I have posted on this site. Please remember to leave your comments!!





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).

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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.



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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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