Poseur to Composer

A Chunk of Chords

Posted by Jason Comely on July 18th, 2019

A Chunk of ChordsI've put aside So What for now and will learn chords instead, something I know almost nothing about. Chords seems like a world of knowledge unto its own. There are major chords, minors, diminished, augmented, dominant and so on. Branching out further into unknown territory is scales.

I skimmed Google Play for a good introductory app, but everything seems over my head. Luckily, Robin Hall in his Pianoforall learning system has a straight forward, shut-up-and-do-what-I-say teaching style and starts with easy C family chords. I won't get into specifics here (Pianoforall is proprietary), but I will say he uses mnemonics and chunking to good effect.

If you're unfamiliar with the chunking technique, here's an excellent article on how it can improve your memory.

Say What?

Posted by Jason Comely on July 17th, 2019

Say What?Interesting how the piano notation for So What by Miles Davis differs from person to person. I've been learning the main riff from sheet music uploaded to MuseScore. It's different than this video tutorial from Playground Sessions which is different than the way Willie teaches it.

Then I listened to the original recording again. It starts with those epic introductory piano chords played by Bill Evans. I need to learn that first!

I've been practicing the song for several days but may have to start this from scratch.

Touching Advice

Posted by Jason Comely on July 16th, 2019

Touching AdviceIn Piano and Song: How to Teach, How to Learn, and How to Form a Judgment of Musical Performances, the author Friedrich Wieck, going under the name Dominie, emphasizes the importance of touching keys correctly.
An incorrect touch, Dominie tells his student:
makes too much unnecessary movement, and tries to produce the tone in the air, instead of drawing it out with the keys.
He continues:
Above all things, I wish you to observe how I try to bring out from the piano the most beautiful possible tone, with a quiet movement of the fingers and a correct position of the hand; without an uneasy jerking of the arm, and with ease, lightness, and sureness.
Although this book was published 144 years ago, it's timely advice for me at this early stage. When I practice, my fingers on the left hand feel unsure. My right hand contorts to play the chords and I rarely get a clean sound. When I see others play the piano, their fingers look relaxed and gently kiss the keys.
I'm working on relaxing though, and "drawing the tone out of the keys". Whatever that means.