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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. First off, Caverns is an improvisation exercise. Certain things I knew about this piece. One being technique. I knew that my left hand would just be playing an ostinato pattern using a D minor chord. My right hand was to play melody and bass notes. With these decisions out of the way, the piece really created itself. I start by playing the pattern, then jump in with a right hand melody. Then come the bass notes. These are played by crossing the right hand over the left but at no time does my left hand stop playing the ostinato pattern. This is really a unique little improvisation because it requires some skill in keeping the music fresh sounding. After all, I'm just using one chord. However, and this is important, the freshest sounding music will always come when the thinking mind lets go and the intuition is allowed full rein. Once intuition takes over, the music that is created will always sound fresh. Why? Because it comes directly from the source. And this source also knows when to wind down. There is no ending planned out. The music winds down when the performer senses that it has played itself out. Edward Weiss is a pianist/composer and webmaster of Quiescence Music's online piano lessons. He has been helping students learn how to play piano in the New Age style for over 14 years and works with students in private, in groups, and now over the internet. Stop by now at http://www.quiescencemusic .com/piano_lessons.html for a FREE piano lesson!
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How Many Chords Are There, Anyway? Since chords (the main component of harmony) are one of the three most vital elements of music ? the others being melody and rhythm ? it would be useful to know how many chords there are. And it doesn't matter whether you play piano or guitar or some other instrument ? chords are chords. Be An Organized Church Pianist Playing in front of a congregation each Sunday is no easy feat. Make sure you are well prepared before giving your best for God and before others. Prepare for the Master (CD Mastering) Many artists are still confused as to what goes on during a mastering session. This article will try to shed some light on the last step before fame and riches (well, at least the last step before duplication), and help you with preparing your music before sending to a mastering studio. CD Clubs: How to Get the Best Deals Online (1) The BMG Music Service offers the best deal you'll find -- 11 CDs for the price of shipping ($2.79 each) when you buy one CD at full club price, which is typically about $15 plus shipping. That works out to about $4 per CD. Its chief competitor, Columbia House, has an offer that works out to about $8 per CD. The History Of Drums - A Journey Of Sound Music and musical instruments are an extremely important part of human history. The use of rhythm and song has long been used to express meaning, and feeling and accompany rituals. The Ostinato - What It is and How to Use It Ostinato means "repeating pattern" and is used frequently in all types of music. For New Age piano players, it provides a great way to lay down the background of the piece while the right-hand improvises a melody! Piano Chords and New Age Music There are basically two ways you can compose a piece of music. The first and most traditional way is to write out the melody and then harmonize it. Some call this working from the top (as opposed to the chords on the bottom.) The second approach is where you create some kind of rhythmic harmonic pattern and improvise (or compose) the melody on top. Now, which one is best for New Age music? The Post-rock Revolution (Explosions in the sky) A lot has been said about the 'post-rock' revolution as of late. The rise of instrumental bands such as Explosions in the sky, Godspeed you! black emperor, Maserati, and The Mercury Program has raised questions about the direction that music is traveling. More and more people are looking for something different, something fresh. We are sick of the same pop songs being shoveled down our throats, we are sick of mindless rap, we are sick of mindless rock. We are sick of mindless music. So what happens when you remove the vocal aspect of music? It becomes exceedingly difficult to fall into the 'mindless' category; the instrumental soundscapes allow your mind to apply its own story to the music. It's remarkable what happens when you let the listener dictate the theme of the music. If Setting The Gain Correctly is So Important, Why Dont Mic Preamplifiers Have Meters? When you first learn how to use a mixing console, you will be shown how to set the gain. Your instructor - either in audio school or in the workplace - will emphasize the importance of this and kick your ass every time you get it wrong, until you can't do anything other than get it right. How to Create Hip, Mature and Lush Harmonies Rarely is a chord played with its tones contained in a single octave, the root on the bottom, the third in the middle, and the fifth on the top. Is Your Child Struggling in School? Get Him (Or Her) Music Lessons This is counterintuitive, I know. Our natural response to seeing our child struggle is to find a way to help, not to add to the burden. If a child is struggling, why should we risk setting them up for failure in music lessons? Art of the Recording Engineer: From Michael Jackson to Mutant Radio, Matt Forger Speaks Out Interviewed by Scott G (The G-Man) Copyright Basics for Songwriters Should you copyright your song? If you're a songwriter, sooner or later you will probably have some questions about getting your material copyrighted. Since I've already been down this road before, you might be able to benefit from my experience. Though I am not an expert in the field, I do believe that I have some valuable information to share with you. Health and Beauty Tips for Your Brass: Keep It Shiny! Did you know that the health and beauty of your brass instruments require extra special attention? It's true-their wellbeing and happiness depend upon it. While we're not talking about putting your tuba on a weight-loss program or taking your trumpet to the spa for a makeover, you do need to treat your brass instruments with care or they'll refuse to come out and play. So, grab that brass and get ready for a workout-it's time to clean! A Guitar Lesson To Help You Test Your Note Knowledge In this guitar lesson we look at a great way to test your note knowledge of the guitar fretboard. But before we look at that, why even bother learning the notes? A Guitar Lesson to Help You Develop Your Vision Have you ever done any of the following? Reasons to Ditch Your Guitar Pick Lately, I haven't been using my guitar pick all that much. I got this tab book of some good ol' Gatemouth Brown finger picking blues. I've been enjoying myself so much trying to get this fingerpick thang goin'." Establishing Your Mix Now that you've spent hours and days and weeks and months recording your musical masterpieces (and you've also read my article "Tips for a Great Recording Session"), you have arrived at my favorite time in the studio; The Mixdown. Learn to Fiddle the Orange Blossom Special, the Most Popular Fiddle Tune in the World Learning to fiddle the Orange Blossom Special is not easy, but it's truly worth the effort. The Orange Blossom Special is unequaled in popularity. To learn it you must master three distinct parts. Each of these parts has its own character and style. They are: 1. Bells, whistles, chugga-chugga's, 2. the Shuffle, 3. the Hoedown. Music Licensing: The Cold Cash Facts About Money for your Music Where music meets licensing, there's money to be made. How much money? "I have synched quite a few thousand songs into productions over the years," states Peter Jansson of Janssongs, Inc., "and have charged anywhere between US$1.00 and US$250,000 for each one."
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