Learn Piano #1 - Basic Harmony & 14 Piano Improvisation Tips

It is important that you 'think' in these 4 musical lines when you play the song.

Don't think in 'long' sentences.

I've used 2 different ways to highlight these 4 sentences for you in the video so that you can capture 'how' I think in my head when I play.

Knowing how to think is as important as knowing the concept.

Many people know the answers to concepts.

But the 'thinking' in the mind is completely different!

While the outcome is the same, the 'process' of arriving the outcome is just as IMPORTANT!

Have fun!:)

Music has Form & Patterns

Understand the Section Structure of a Song.

Away in a Manger - A B A C

A song can be harmonized with all these 7 diatonic chords in C Key:

C

Dm

Em

F

G

Am

B diminished

In the Next 5 Videos, I will show you the following parts:

1. C Scale Tones

2. Triads are Formed on the Scale Tones

3. Chords Have Names

4. 7 Diatonic Chords

5. Roman Numerals

Download the Music Notes for Away In A Manger

in the download tab.

Play these 3 Chords on the Piano.

If you are a total beginner, practice these 3 chords until you know them inside out.

C Chord: C E G

F Chord: F A C

G7 Chord: G B D F

Homework:

Go to the piano and find out which chord goes with the melody tones.

RH: Play just the melody tone

LH: Play Block Chord Tones

C Chord: C E G C

F Chord: F A C F

G7 Chord: G B D F

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Piano Tip:

1.Chords tend to change on the beat, so find out what chords are used at the beginning of the measure.

2.In the key of C, the song usually starts on Chord C and ends with Chord C.

You can check the answers in the video.

Match the melody tones to Basic Chords: I IV V7

C F G7

Watch the video in the next lecture!

LH: Play Chord Tones

RH: Play Melody Tones

Listen to the harmonizing sound of the Chords to the Melody tones!

RH: I just play the Chord Sounds.

LH: Chords

Even if you don't play the RH melody tones, you can hear the song Away In A Manger in the background.

This tells us that to recognize a song, the most important part is the Chord Progression of the Song rather than the melody tones.

For many of us, the melody tones identify the song.

**You need to know that it is the Chord Progression that identifies the song also**

Once you hear the Chord Progression, you will not have problem identifying the melody tones :)

This time, I just want you to use your ears to pay attention to the chord sounds as they move from one chord to the next.

Chord 1 to Chord IV

You feel that the sound wants to continue.... It is not a restful sound.

The sound wants to go somewhere.

Whereas in the next video, Chord IV to Chord 1 has a 'restful' sound.

Chord V7 to Chord 1

Chord G7 to Chord C

You hear a Perfect Cadence Sound.

It is an "Ending Sound!"

It is a restful sound.

This is where music stops!

**Almost all songs end with V7 to I **

Improvisation is the art of making music.

Most people are scared of improvisation.

As soon as there is no sheet music in front of them, they can't play.

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Some students have requested that I do an Improvisation Course.

This is in the pipeline.

In the meantime, I add this bonus video to give you a demo how you can play around with simple improvisation - train both hands to play chords.

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Easy Improvisation:

1. LH - play Chords

2. RH - play the same Chords

LH:

Notice that this time my LH did not just play block chords.

I added movement to the chords.

I play broken chords: The tones are all chord tones.

RH:

RH also plays chord tones.

Improvisation Tip:

You do not need to think ahead of time of what you want to play.

Just play chord tones.

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Piano Tip: Never be afraid to make mistakes.

Just play and ALLOW yourself to make mistakes! Yes.... you will love hearing your mistakes! :)

They are not mistakes after all....

When you want to play with 5 fingers in the FLOW:

Follow these Piano Tips:

1. When the melody moves down, start with R5.

2. When the melody moves up, start with R1 and let R1 guide you.

Blue Scale has these bluesy tones: b3 b5 b7

Slide down on blue note with R3

The 3rd Finger Trick - Slide Down from the Black Keys

Slide down on blue note with R3

RH: R3

LH: L5 L3 L2 L1

Broken Chord – Simple Arp

After you practice using the R3 to slide down from the Black keys, you can now apply to Away In A Manger.

Here is a demo video!

You can play along!

Notice I didn't just play the sounds together.

I roll them sometimes to make it more interesting.

I go up an octave to make some echo sounds.

Try experiment in this way!

This is fun.

You can vary the R1 + R3 fingers:

1. Roll from R1 to R3

2. Play R1 + R3 an octave higher to create an echo sound

Make your R3 Finger Playful.

Create a Triplet Sound by Adding in R4.

Fingering: R3 R4 R3

This time I will not say the names of the notes of Mordant Triplet.

You can just follow along and let your R3 & R4 create these fun triplets sounds.

RH: R3 R4 R3

Quick Triplet on the 3^rd beat

R3 plays melody note

LH: L5 L3 L2 L1

Broken Chord - Simple Arp

Take advantage of the R3 Finger:

R3 is a very strong finger when you play the melody tone.

Create more fun sounds by adding in 5 Note Turn:

RH: R3 R4 R3 R2 R3

5 note turn in the space of one beat

R3 plays melody note

LH: L5 L3 L2 L1

Broken Chord - Simple Arp

RH: R1 + R5

Melody in 6ths

Practice the RH first.

Melody in 6ths - Roll them

Rolling the sounds with the handshape give the audience the impression that you are playing a lot of notes. With the 2T6, the handshape already gives you harmonizing tones. So you might as well take advantage of it and roll out more sounds.

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RH: R1 + R5

Roll R1 + R5

LH: L5 L3 L2 L1

Broken Chord – Simple Arp

You can mix Melody in 3rds & 6ths into the song.

There are no fixed rules when to do 3rds and when to do 6ths.

For beginners: Let your R1 (Thumb) guide you along!

Melody in 3rds - can change the fingering that is comfortable for you.

If you can't, then just use R1 + R3.

Melody in 6ths - for now, always use R1 + R5

What is a 2T6 Handshape?

RH: R1 R2 R5

R5 plays melody tones

1. Play all the tones together.

2. You can Roll the Tones for Variation

RH: R1 R2 R5

R5 plays melody tones

LH: L5 L3 L2 L1

Broken Chord – Simple Arp

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You don't always use the same handshape throughout the whole song.

Since we are practising this handshape, you can train your hand by using 3T6 throughout the song for practice!

Chord Inversions:

C Chord:

Root position: C E G

1^st Inversion: E G C

2^nd Inversion: G C E

F Chord:

Root position: F A C

1^st Inversion: A C F

2^nd Inversion: C F A

G7 Chord:

Root position: G B D F

1^st Inversion: B D F G

2^nd Inversion: D F G B

3^rd Inversion: F G B D

RH: Play 3 tones with R1, R2, R3, R4, R5

Closed Voicing: Chord Inversion

LH: L5 L2 L1

Keep Left Hand Simple

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As you can see it is more difficult to play Chord Inversions because you need to think about which notes to hit on the Right Hand.

This is where 3T6 Handshape comes in handy for beginners.

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I have always played Chord Inversions from Traidtional Piano Lessons.

It takes about 2 to 3 years for you to get good at it.

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When I saw the frustration students had with practising chord inversion, I came up with the 3T6 Handshape for them to play easily.

Once they learn the 3T6 Handshape, they make use of the tricks that I show them to embellish the RH with good melody tones w/o ever practising chord inversion, and yet people think they are playing chord inversion.

Isn't that neat?

Piano Tip To Add a tag to the ending of a song:

• Put in IV – I Plagal Cadences (Amen Sound)
• At the end of the song, put in an extra ending tag:
• IV – I

I show you 2 variations:

a. Use Root Bass for the Ending: F C

b. Use C Bass for the Ending: F/C C

This song is actually written in the Key of F.

Key of F is in a good range for people to sing.

Key of C is either too low or too high.

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Download the Music Score of Away In A Manger.

Try playing Away in a manger in F Key and apply the 14 Piano Tips you learned about improvising with the Right Hand.

Follow the demo and watch how I apply the RH different techniques into Away in A Manger to Key of F.

You can actually apply all the 14 Piano Tips of Right Hand improvisation to any of your favorite songs!

Have fun,

Rosa