It's not just another piano lesson… It's a physical, intellectual, and spiritual journey!
Learning Outcomes To integrate the way we think about the music (theory) with the way we hear and feel the music. Links to Lessons The What and Why of Ear Training Three Skills How to Listen Absolute Versus Relative Pitch Is Absolute Pitch a Learn-able Skill? Ear Training Recommendations
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Learning Outcomes To profoundly understand the role that scales play in the function of music, both melodically and harmonically. . To expand your visio-spatial awareness of the piano keyboard. To develop your aural comprehension by expand your conception and perception of pitches in functional terms. To develop Relative Pitch (RP), the ability to comprehend and perceive pitch
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Learning Outcomes To understand the physical parameters that constitute sound. To understand how sound is created. To understand the organic physical basis of harmony. Links to Lessons What is Sound? Pitch Loudness Harmonics Timbre The Physical Basis of Harmony
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In order to play like an artist, one need to appreciate both the utility and limitations of Music Theory: Lesson #1. Whether you read music or play by ear, a strong theoretical foundation in scales, chords, chord changes, keys, key signatures, form, rhythm, solfege, and ear training will transform you into a superior musician. Lesson #2.
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One way to expand the harmonic possibilities of a chord progression beyond diatonic triads is to “borrow” chords from a parallel scale (a scale that has the same key center). The Borrowed Chords substitute (serve a similar harmonic function as) the chord in the original key. If, for example, you are playing in the key of
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A Chord Progression is a sequence of chords that achieve a larger-scale harmonic purpose than can be achieved by a single chord alone. These purposes include: Establishing a key center. Establishing a tonality. Building harmonic tension. Releasing harmonic tension. Creating a sense of forward motion and anticipation. Changing the mood. Introducing tonal ambiguity. Changing key center.
Continue readingA scale is so much more than a string of notes that go up and down in “steps”. Every scale is a musical pattern that is rich in harmonic relationships. Each scale is a palette of sound-feelings that have various degrees of harmonic stability-instability and harmonic tension-resolution.
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Mastering the Major Scale is absolutely essential for your development as a musician because it is so widely used in music around the world and because it provides a rock-solid foundation upon which to build a rich network of scale and chord mastery. C Major Scale: Notation, Scale Degrees, Solfege, & Keyboard Layout… Ear Training Reading
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Every scale has as many modes as it has notes. Each mode is simply the same notes in the parent scale played starting on each possible note. Such knowledge prepares the way for fluent improvisation… where the ability to see and hear the relationships between chords and their related modes is an important part of your skill
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