Improvisation
How to Get Past Creative Blocks
When I first began playing the piano and improvising, there were times when the music just wouldn't flow. No matter what I did, I couldn't make it go any further.
Everything I Play Sounds the Same
Many students want to create music that has a certain emotional quality. For example, I once had a student ask me to show her how to play something that sounded happy.
How to Play What you Feel
Many students think that being able to play what you feel is difficult. They believe you must have years and years of training in improvisation and theory.
How to Create an Original Melody
Here's a method I use that works. First, sit down at your piano or keyboard and just improvise.
Top 7 Donts for Successful Improvisation
1. Don't try and make something happen.
How to Find Musical Ideas
The Russian Composer Igor Stravinsky once said: " A good composer does not imitate; he steals."I think what he meant by this is that it's OK to use a technique developed by another and make it your own.
How to Improvise Using a Few Chords
When a painter is getting ready to paint, a color palette is usually chosen first. For example, if a forest is to be painted, the artist may choose browns, greens, and blues for the sky.
Avoid These 3 Common Mistakes - When Improvising
Mistake #1 - Thinking about what you're going to play A lot of students think there should be some kind of preparation before improvising on the piano. They are right! There should be some thought as to the sound, tonality, key - but once these choices are made the thinking should stop and the playing should begin.
Improvisation and Musical Form
Do you ramble on endlessly with your improvisations? If so, good. This has its place in music making and in new age piano playing in particularly.
You Cant Force Play
A student once asked me; "How come sometimes the music comes freely while other times, I feel blocked and can't play?"A perfectly valid question and one that many students of improvisation ask. You see, the problem is that many think they should be able to just sit down at the piano and play anytime anywhere.
Inspiration Wanted - Apply Within!
One of the biggest stumbling blocks for music students is knowing what to practice. In the early years students listened to their teachers and did what they told them to do, which is still of course perfectly valid.
How to Construct Chords and Improvise
How To Construct Basic Chords on the PianoThe easiest way to start learning how to build chords is to practice their constructions in the key of C Major. You're just playing all white keys.
Learning How To Improvise
Those of you who have been reading my articles for some time now know that I believe improvisation to be the cornerstone of musical creativity. Why? Because without the ability to just play, we become stifled and the "real" music that is within each of us withers and dies.
Creating Caverns - an Improvisation Exercise
In a recent post to my Yahoo group, I mentioned that I created the piece "Caverns" using one chord. I'd like to explain how I accomplished this.
What Works Best in New Age Piano Improvisation
Many students want to know how to improvise. What they really want to know is how to be able to keep an improvisation going.
Why Learning How to Improvise is So Important
Imagine asking a beginning writer to write a short story from scratch. Our writer does not yet have much experience in writing but accepts the challenge and begins to plunge ahead.
Just 3 Chords? No Way!
A student wrote me an email about the lesson "Ocean Dreams." Here it is:"Dear Edward, I can't believe that you're using just 3 chords for this piece.
How to Stop Thinking and Start Playing
Learning how to improvise is confusing for most. The sheer number of choices becomes a burden.
Musical Improvisation Basics - Four Strategies For Playing Wrong Notes
While it probably doesn't seem like this would help - let's face it - if you are unwilling to play a lot of wrong notes, you're never going to learn how to do anything hard. And improvising is hard! It isn't something that you can do safely, with the assurance that you will look good while trying to get good at it.
Musical Improvisation Basics - 8 Vital Things To Remember
This article discusses 8 vital things to remember as improvisers - whether advanced or just getting started:1. Your technique is probably miles ahead of your ability to think.
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