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Piano
To play by ear, or to play by note? This is a big debate among many who play piano. I learned to play by note as a child – but always had a hard time sight reading the left hand. I would always need the right hand in music form, and would make up my own left hand. Later in life have learned that I was unable to play well in some situations. When I started playing piano in church, sometimes there was no music for the song that people wanted to sing. Sometimes all people had was a chord sheet that guitarists used. I quickly learned that I needed to learn how to do chording on the piano, making up my own accompaniment. Also, when people are singing, it is best not to play the main melody on the piano – you need to know how to improvise and make up your own accompaniment. Therefore I have learned that it is necessary to learn how to play piano with a variety of methods.
I learned you need to have a balance. Playing by note does limit you – but if you play with chording only you are also much limited. My daughter can play both ways, but would much rather do chording where there is no melody being played at all – that would not work in an offering setting in church unless she was singing. She is being encouraged to go back to playing by note more.
Beginning students should start out playing with written music. Once they are comfortable with sight reading, they can learn how to fill in their music with extra notes not on the writting music, or alter the style with different types of chording in the left hand. Experimenting with the chording, improvisation, and playing by ear has greatly increased my knowledge of music theory and confidence at piano playing.
Looking for a Christian piano course? Try Davidsons Music Piano Course for Christians by Madonna Woods. Complete piano course in 6 levels. Comes with 8 audio cassettes. Based entirely on Christian music, concepts, text and illustrations.
Some excellent Piano courses on DVD can be found at Yoke Wong's site. Some lessons can be viewed online for free. Our family has the Piano Improvisation course, and it is good for those wanting to learn how to play piano without using written music. It is suggested that you know how to play by note first before you take this course. There are also a variety of other courses on DVD at her site – all Christian based.
Looking for a piano course that is computer based? Piano Suite is one that our family has. You can even compose your own songs and print out sheet music if you buy the full version.
Anvil Studio is another good program for making midi files with a computer. You do not need a piano keyboard hooked up to your computer to use it. The basic program is a free download. I use this program all the time for composing my own songs, and am very pleased with it.
Do a search on the internet. There are sites that teach people how to play various instruments like the harmonica, recorder, piano, guitar .... You may be surprised what you can find.
Some people like the recorder as a first instrument. It is low cost, and easy to learn to play.
Also browse the internet for good prices on instruments (watch the shipping though) We were able to buy a brand new violin on e-bay for under 70 dollars (shipping included in that price) that was decent for learning on and it has lasted well for the past several years. You may be surprised at what you can find.
Once you learn how to play one instrument, often times learning a second can come easier. Once you learn how to read music on a piano staff, you also know how to read the same music for other instruments that use the same music staff.
For example: Everyone in our family knows at least a little bit of piano. When we started playing harp, it came easier for us. All that was needed was to learn what strings were what. The red strings are C, the blue strings are F, all the other strings where the other notes of the C scale. Once we knew that, we were playing songs by ear immediately. Our technique was not right, we needed lessons for that – but we were making music right away. This also went the other way for me. When I started practicing harp, I paid attention to how the music was written for a harp and learned how to vary my style on piano a little bit more by copying what was done on a harp.
Another example, if you know how to play violin, mandolin is easier to pick up. (My husband plays both.) Both instruments have the same strings and fingering, the difference is how you play the strings.
Everyone in our family plays more than one instrument – but you will never learn how to play more than one instrument and play them all well. We all have picked our main instrument and that is the one we practice the most. Others are added only if they do not interfere with our main instrument. Some of the secondary instruments are rarely practiced – some are not practiced at all but only played with. Even in the playing around with instrments, learning is still being done that does enforce learning the other instruments.
Learn about the different instruments found in the orchestra. Can you tell what instrument is playing by its sound?
Study the composers of classical music. Read about their life and then write a report of what was learned. Listen to some of their most famous songs that they wrote.
You can learn music theory without an instrument. Learn how to read notes on the staff, how to count the timing of the songs, how to tell what key the song is in. Do some copy work of the song. Get some staff paper and copy the notes of a public domain song down as closely as possible. If possible listen to the song while you watch the notes on the paper.
Take a public domain song and then enter it into Anvil Studio or Piano Suite (links above in the piano section) one note at a time. Again, you don't need a piano keyboard to use Anvil Studio. Then listen to the song to see if it sounds right. As you use these programs you to enter songs into the computer, it can help you learn how to read notes and tell where the key is on the piano for that note. Then later, when you are able to learn how to play the piano, it will go easier.
Don't forget about the great hymns, patriotic songs, and other songs people used to sing long ago like: Dixie Land, Eating Goober Peas, Lavender's Blue. The words of these songs can be copy work exercises, and can be sung as a family. Try to learn how to sing a new song every week if possible.