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learn music symbols or notes for free

2005-03-29T22:16:00.000-08:00

Do you want to learn music symbols or notes? If so, I have
some interesting information for you. Plus I have a great
resource where you can learn music symbols or notes for free.

But before I talk about that resource, keep these things in
mind when you attempt to learn music.

1) Music symbols, especially rhythmic music symbols, are only an
approximation of what the composer/songwriter intended. This means
it's best to learn to both read music notes and learn to play by
ear to understand exactly what the composer/songwriter intended.

2) In certain types of music, there are nuances to how the music is
played that can't be completely captured with music symbols or notes.
Again, learning to read music and play by ear is key.

3) When learning music notes, get away from focusing on one note at a
time as quickly as possible. Just as you speak in phrases, you should
think of music in phrases, too. This includes when you are reading
music and when you are playing by ear.

4) Most of all have fun and get into a relaxed or even meditative
state before learning. You'll be able to learn much more quickly.

Now, to get free music lessons where you can learn music symbols or
notes, visit HearnAndPlay.com, a site that is currently offering 59 free music lessons.

Paul Schlegel
Former Graduate Student
New England Conservatory of Music

learning how to read music

2005-03-27T19:11:00.000-08:00

If you're interested in learning how to read music, i have
some tips and a good free resource for you.

Tip #1: Using memory-aids is ok up to a point, but try to
focus on seeing the "shape of a sequence of music notes"
so that you're not using your brain too much.

Tip #2: Learn music theory in addition to learning how to
read music. When you know music theory your brain automatically
filters out improbable note-choices and fills in the more likely
ones. This is just the same as your brain filling in the word
"a" or "the" in the following sentence. "I saw a dog that was chewing
on (fill-in-word) book.

Tip #3: In addition to learning how to read music, learn to play
by ear. Again, this will help your brain filter in/out the most
likely note choices.

For free lessons on learning how to read music, i generally refer
people to a well-done site called HearnAndPlay.com.

Good luck!

Paul Schlegel
Former Graduate Student
New England Conservatory of Music

piano music lessons warning

2005-03-26T22:17:00.000-08:00

As an accomplished pianist who took piano music lessons
at one of America's top music schools, it saddens me to
see people spending money on piano music lessons and then
failing to practice properly.

For most people I suggest they start out with free music
lessons which i'll show you how to get in just a minute.

But you may want to read my information on
how to practice piano efficiently first which you can read
by clicking here.

There are two other things to keep in mind as you decide which piano
music lessons are right for you:

1) Do the piano music lessons teach you to both read music and play by ear?
2) Are there free lessons you can take so that you can decide if the style of
the piano music lessons are right for you before you pay any money.

For example, HearnAndPlay.com offers 59 free piano music lessons (it may be more by now) and teaches both how to read and play by ear. This is very important as I'm sure
you realize.

The other thing to keep in mind when you are actually taking piano music
lessons is this: don't think in terms of "easy" and "hard". Because when
you tell your brain something is "hard" it creates anxiety and that anxiety
makes it harder for you to learn. Instead, think in terms of "already known"
and "different".

I'm sure you've learned many things that were "different" to you that others
might consider "hard". But very few things in piano music lessons are truly
"hard" if you have piano music lessons that take the right approach.

So, if you're looking for piano music lessons that can set you in the right
direction, i highly recommend you check out HearnAndPlay.com.

Paul Schlegel
Former Grad Student
New England Conservatory of Music

music books to learn how to read music

2005-03-25T22:43:00.000-08:00

If you're looking for music books to learn how to read music,
I have some good news. You can get most of this information
for free from a very good site.

But before I reveal where you can learn how to read music,
I would like to suggest that you also learn how to play
by ear. Playing by ear will help you to sound more natural
and will make your playing seem more effortless.

Many music books to learn how to read music don't do a good
job covering both learning how to read music and learning
how to play by ear. But there is a free website that does.

At HearnAndPlay.com you'll be able to take free piano lessons that in
many ways are much better than music books to learn how to
read music.

To visit HearnAndPlay.com right now, click here.

Paul Schlegel
Former Grad Student
New England Conservatory of Music

free online piano lessons by ear

2005-03-23T21:16:00.000-08:00

If you're looking for free online piano lessons by ear,
I have good news for you (and a site to visit).

But before I tell you about the free online piano lessons
by ear, make sure you understand one thing. Learning to
read music isn't bad, but it's true that if you learn
to play piano by ear you will sound much more musical.

Plus, it's much easier to learn rhythms by ear than it
is to try to read them off the page. For one thing,
music notation sometimes can only approximate the rhythm
that the composer intended. OK. Here are you're free lessons . . .

To get free online piano lessons by ear, visit HearnAndPlay.com

Paul Schlegel
Former Graduate Student
New England Conservatory of Music

music scales modes

2005-03-21T22:42:00.000-08:00

Some of the more popular music scales modes are as follows.
In each case, I've given an example starting on the note C.

Ionian a.k.a. major scale - C,D,E,F,G,A,B,C
Dorian a.k.a minor scale - C,D,Eb,F,G,A,Bb,C
Phrygian - C,Db,Eb,F,G,Ab,Bb,C
Lydian - C,D,E,F#,G,A,B,C
Mixolydian a.k.a dominant scale - C,D,E,F,G,A,Bb,c
Aolian a.k.a.Natural Minor scale - C,D,Eb,F,G,Ab,Bb,C
Locrian a.k.a. Half-diminished scale - C,Db,Eb,F,Gb,Ab,Bb,C

Various chords are derived from these various music scales modes.
In other words each of the music scales modes implies various
chords.

To understand more about this, visit HearnAndPlay.com

Paul Schlegel
Former Graduate Student
New England Conservatory of Music

how to practice piano efficiently

2005-03-19T22:24:00.000-08:00

The biggest secret to how to practice piano efficiently
is to practice difficult passages slowly. Your teacher
has probably already told you to practice difficult
passages slowly. But you may still wonder why this
is how to practice piano efficiently.

The reason is because of the way memory retrieval
works. When you retrieve something from memory you are
actually recreating the original experience. So, if you
create the original experience in a fast, but sloppy
way, that is how you will retrieve it as well.

This is why just a few slow, accurate practices will
always be more efficient than dozens of fast and sloppy
practices.

There are other tips that I'll discuss on later days, but
one of the bigger ones is to alternate real practice with
virtual practice. I.e., practice where you actually strike
the keys with practice where you imagine striking the keys.

The reason is that each type of practice uses a different
portion of the brain, but both help commit the accurate
portrayal of the passages to your brain. But doing each
type of practice alone is more efficient than trying to
work both those parts of the brain together.

That's all for now. More later.

Paul Schlegel
Former Graduate Student
New England Conservatory of Music

P.s., One Last Tip . . .

Make sure you learn to play by ear. This will enable you
to learn pieces much quicker than you otherwise could, even
if your learning by reading the music.

You can get free lessons on how to play by ear
at HearnAndPlay.com

transposing bass clef into treble clef

2005-03-17T23:02:00.000-08:00

Here's a little trick for transposing bass clef into treble clef I just
thought of to help you.

For each note in the bass clef, move it up 2 parts of the staff and that will
be it's corresponding note on the treble clef. Here's are some examples.

The note on the space below the bottom line of the bass clef is F. If you move
that note up a line and a space (i.e. "2 parts of the staff"), you'll see that
the resulting note is F in the treble clef.

Here's another example for transposing the bass clef into treble clef. The
second line from the bottom of the bass clef is B. If you move that up a space
and a line (i.e. "2 parts of the staff"), you'll see that the resulting note is
B in the treble clef.

Now you shouldn't have any trouble transposing bass clef into treble clef.
Good luck!

Paul Schlegel
Former Graduate Student
New England Conservatory of Music

Want some great free piano lessons? Check out HearnAndPlay.com

learn to play gospel music free online

2005-03-15T20:56:00.000-08:00

If you want to learn to play gospel music free online, I have good news.
Jermaine A. Griggs now offers a great way for you to learn to play gospel
music free online at his site HearnAndPlay.com.

Best of all, he teaches you not only how to read gospel music, but also
how to play gospel music by ear. I'm sure you know how important this
is.

For example, when you hear the left hand of gospel music, you know that
getting just the right kind of accent on those left hand notes makes all
the difference between great gospel music and average gospel music.

Only by learning to play by ear can you recreate the subtle
and beautiful differences between the left and right hand in gospel music.
Only by learning to play by ear can you feel the vibrations of the notes
all the way down into your bones and your soul.

Of course, when you learn to play gospel music free online at HearnAndPlay.com, you'll also learn to read music as well.
That's the beauty of Jermaine's method. He does a great job of
helping you to become a complete, well-rounded musician.

To learn more, visit HearnAndPlay.com here now.

Paul Schlegel
Former Graduate Student
New England Conservatory of Music

piano scales dorian

2005-03-11T21:00:00.000-08:00

I've listed piano scales in the dorian mode in all keys below:

C,D,Eb,F,G,A,Bb,C
F,G,Ab,Bb,C,D,Eb,F
Bb,C,Db,Eb,F,G,Ab,Bb
Eb,F,Gb,Ab,Bb,C,Db,Eb,F
Ab,Bb,Cb,Db,Eb,F,Gb,Ab
C#,D#,E,F#,G#,A#,B,C#
F#,G#,A,B,C#,D#,E,F#
B,C#,D,E,F#,G#,A,B
E,F#,G,A,B,C#,D,E
A,B,C,D,E,F#,G,A
D,E,F,G,A,B,C,D
G,A,Bb,C,D,E,F,G

These piano scales in dorian mode are typically played over the following chords:

Minor 6
Minor 7
Minor 69
Minor 9
Minor 11

In a way, it's more accurate to say that the above chords are derived from these dorian piano scales or more precisely - from the dorian mode.

To get additional free lessons on dorian piano scales and other piano scales, check out the free lessons at HearnAndPlay.com.

Paul Schlegel
Former Graduate Student
New England Conservatory of Music

free praise and worship tab

2005-03-08T21:45:00.000-08:00

OK, before I show you where to get a free praise and
worship tab for as many as 1,429 praise and worship
songs, let me ask you this: wouldn't you love to
be able to easily learn praise and worship songs without
having to hunt for free praise and worship tabs that
you may or may not find?

Personally, it would drive me crazy to hunt for
hours looking for a free praise and worship tab for
just one song, when I know that there's any easy way
to figure out the song on my own.

For example, HearnAndPlay offers a free lesson on worship
chords that will help you do just that (not to mention
59 other free lessons they have that will help you
play more musically).

However, if you want to check out a place where you
can find a free praise and worship tab, you can visit:
http://www.praise-worship.net/praise/

But I do encourage you to at least think about how much
nicer your life might be if you were able to easily pick
out the melody and chords to praise and worship tunes without
having to hunt down the free praise and worship tab. If that,
interests you, you can start for free at HearnAndPlay.

Either way. Good luck. Hope you find what you're looking
for.

Paul Schlegel
Former Student
New England Conservatory of Music

i need a piano key layout to show me the notes

2005-03-04T22:23:00.000-08:00

If you're thinking "i need a piano key layout to show me the
notes", i can do even better than that. I'll show you where
you can get that, learn to play by sight and ear easily and
all for free!

If you've seen some of my previous comments, you know that
i've suggested getting free piano lessons at HearnAndPlay
and once again i suggest you go there if you need a piano
key layout to show you the notes. You can visit them here.

I think you'll be happily surprised.

Paul Schlegel
Former Graduate Student
New England Conservatory Music

play piano by ear

2005-03-02T19:47:00.000-08:00

As I mentioned previously, it's very important that
you learn to play piano by ear. And I've even show
where you can start to learn to play piano by ear
for free at HearnAndPlay.

You see music is about sound. So when you learn to
play piano by ear you are automatically speaking
in the natural language of music.

I don't have any objections to people learning to
read notes, but too often i see people relying
on notes and not getting the real feeling of a piece
that can only be achieved when you learn to play
piano by ear.

There are ways you could learn this skill on your
own, but why not get a little help from a place
like HearnAndPlay.com? You have nothing to
lose and a terrific skill to gain!

Paul Schlegel
Former Graduate Student
New England Conservatory of Music

free piano chords whenever you want

2005-02-27T23:13:00.000-08:00

Something puzzles me about people who look online
for free piano chords. And that is that there are
some good piano instruction sites like HearnAndPlay that
have free piano lessons that teach them how
to easily play by ear.

And when you play by ear, you have all the
free piano chords you would ever want. Plus your
playing just sounds a whole lot better. After
all, music is about sound not what something
looks like on paper.

Sure, getting free piano chords can be a
good short-cut to learning a song sometimes.
But you'll find that if you take free piano
lessons at a place like HearnAndPlay that often
learning a song by ear will be incredibly
quick...often much faster than trying to
find free piano chords online.

Just my 2 cents.

Paul Schlegel
Former Student
New England Conservatory of Music

free beginning music theory

2005-02-25T22:11:00.000-08:00

If you're looking for free beginning music theory,
you'll probably want to know about various types of
chords and scales.

You might want to learn how chords function and why
certain chord sequences work well and others don't.
Or you might want to learn more basic things like
different types of scales or even how to read music.

A great place for free beginning music theory is
HearnAndPlayp. You can start learning by
clicking here.

Paul Schlegel
Former Graduate Student
New England Conservatory of Music

free lessons play gospel music by ear

2005-02-24T21:54:00.000-08:00

Great. So you want to play gospel music?
And you've made the smart decision to learn
how to play gospel music by ear.

As a semi-professional pianist, I congratulate
you and have some suggestions as to where you
should go to get free lessons to play gospel
music by ear.

First of all, you can only get the proper feel
for Gospel music when you learn it by ear.

Second, you will be able to learn black gospel
chords with ease when you take gospel piano
lessons that teach by ear.

To get free lessons to play gospel music by ear,
I suggest you check out HearnAndPlay which
you can visit by clicking here.

Paul Schlegel

make money with public domain books

2005-02-23T23:38:00.000-08:00

Why have public domain books become such a hot topic
recently? Is the cat really out of the bag on how to
make money with public domain books and public domain
content?

Actually . . . yes.

Smart marketers are realizing that people are basically
lazy and want to make money with as little effort
as possible. And oddly enough, using public domain
books and other works in the public domain goes a long
way to making this a reality.

One of the most popular books on how to cash in on
the public domain, is Yanik Silver's Public Domain
Riches course.

You can read a review at www.marketing-ideas.org/content-public-domain-riches.php

free on line piano lessons

2005-02-20T22:11:00.000-08:00

I once considered giving free on line piano lessons.
(Don't worry, i have a great place where you can
get free on line piano lessons that i mention below).

I really love the piano and since I'm a semi-professional
pianist I often have people who want me to teach them
to play piano.

One thing I do tell them that when they look into free
on line piano lessons, they should find a place that
teaches both how to play by ear and how to read. Too
many places skip playing by ear.

As promised above, the place I send people to who
are looking for free online piano lessons is
HearnAndPlay.com

Paul Schlegel

playing jazz solos

2005-02-19T21:15:00.000-08:00

Some people struggle with playing jazz solos. But playing
jazz solos doesn't have to be hard work. In fact, the more
you struggle, the more "unnatural" your solos will sound
and the more likely you'll be to hit "wrong notes".

So how do you learn to play jazz solos effortlessly.
First of all, you MUST learn to play by ear. And
if you don't play the piano, you really should learn
to play the piano as well.

Almost every great jazz musician has some ability on
the piano. Since playing jazz solos is you're goal,
understanding the theory of jazz is essential. And
having some ability on the piano will speed up
your ability to understand jazz theory tremendously.

You can build your ear and your piano skills with
free lessons online at such places as HearnAndPlay.com.
Or you can hire private teachers (more expensive and
sometimes slower for the beginning lessons).

One thing you should know about playing jazz solos is
that your solos should be driven by what you hear and
not by music theory. Music theory is important, but should
primarily be used as a way to analyze what went "right" or
"wrong" when playing jazz solos after the fact.

Paul Schlegel
Former Grad Student
New England Conservatory of Music

blues scales of all kinds

2005-02-18T21:42:00.000-08:00

Last time I talked about blues scales of all kinds.
I talked about the major blues scale, minor blues
scale, and extensions of those blues scales.

If you need to find those scales, refer to my
previous post where I describe blues scales of all
kinds.

I also mentioned in that post that you could continue
to receive free blues piano lessons at HearnAndPlay.com,
a fairly popular site with free piano lessons online.

If you're wondering what the chord progression for a typical
blues is, I'd have to say: "it depends". It depends on
the style of music you're playing.

If you're playing straight rock and roll, then the
chord progression for a tpyical blues is as follows:

C | C | C | C | F | F | C | C | G | F | C | C |

But the chord progression for a typical blues in jazz is
usually:

C7 | F7 | C7 | C7 | F7 | F7 | C7 | A7#9 | D7 | G7 | C7 A7#9 | D7 G7 |

You can learn more about the blues in the free lessons at
HearnAndPlay.comwhich you can find here.

Paul Schlegel
Former Grad Student
New England Conservatory Music

lessons for learning blues piano

2005-02-17T20:18:00.000-08:00

Here are some basic lessons for learning blues piano.
If these get you interested, you can visit HearnAndPlay.com
for more free blues piano lessons.

There are blues scales of all kinds. If you are
just learning to play piano online, you may want to
take the basic lessons for learning the notes of the
piano at HearnAndPlay first.

But, if you have already been learning piano keys and
want to learn the blues scale on piano, then read on
to learn blues scales of all kinds.

I'll use the basic key of C for these blues scales.

The most popular blues scale on piano is the minor
blues scale. The minor blues scale consists of:

C Eb F F# G Bb C

Another, less "bluesy" sounding scale is the major
blues scale. The major blues scale consists of:

C D D# E G A C

To expand the expand the major blues scale you can
add the flat-7 of the scale. In the key of C, this
would be:

C D D# E G A Bb C

You'll notice instantly, that this begins to sound a
bit more like the blues then the straight major
blues scale.

Ultimately as your ear becomes more sophisticated
you can begin to combine the two basic blues
scale (minor blues and major blues). I.e., you
would have:

C D D# E F F# G A Bb C

The reason why most people start with the minor
blues scale is that it's less "dangerous" in that
you're less likely to hit many wrong-sounding notes.

To understand more about the chord progressions to
use with blues scales of all kinds, I recommend
you check out the free blues piano lessons at
HearnAndPlay.com

Paul Schlegel
Former Graduate Student
New England Conservatory Of Music

free internet piano lessons

2005-02-16T22:13:00.000-08:00

As a semi-pro pianist I'm often asked about free internet
piano lessons. People want to know how much they can learn
this way. And of course they want to know what places i
recommend.

As i've mentioned elsewhere, a great resource for free
internet piano lessons is HearnAndPlay.com.
I especially like the fact that include playing by ear as an
important part of their lessons.

People looking for piano lessons in longmont, houston,
west seattle, houston, nyc, and just anywhere else have
discovered the free internet piano lessons at HearnAndPlay
as a valuable resource for free beginners piano lessons.

The other great thing about HearnAndPlay's free internet
piano lessons is the range of topics they cover. Whether
you're looking for blues piano lessons, beatles easy play
piano, gospel piano lessons, or jazz piano lessons, you're
likely to find it in the free piano lessons online at hearandplay.

If you'd like to learn more about HearnAndPlay, click here to visit
their site.

free lessons to play gospel music by ear

2005-02-08T23:23:00.000-08:00

A while back I was looking for free lessons to learn to play
gospel music by ear.

Since I'm actually a semi-professional pianist I had a pretty
easy time separating the good from the bad. So I went on
my search to find free lessons to play gospel music by ear.

Eventually I ran into a gentleman online by the name of
Jermaine Griggs at a site called HearAndPlay (I later found
out that this is a very popular site).

He teaches music in what I consider to be an extremely
smart way (and a really fast way to learn) - primarily
by ear.

If you're interested in free lessons to play gospel music
by ear you might consider visiting his site at HearAndPlay.com

Paul Schlegel
Former Graduate Student, New England Conservatory of Music

how to make money legally

2005-02-06T19:50:00.000-08:00

Most people who want to make money want to make
money legally.

Sure there are a few crooks and sheisters out there,
but the majority of people do want to know how
to make money legally.

There are several sites such as www.9buzz.com
that give suggestions on how to make money
legally

Or if you already have a business, a site like www.unique-marketing-ideas.org can help you make more
money in your business. The site offers little-known strategies for
multiplying your profits.

christian dating services

2005-02-02T19:06:00.000-08:00

The internet abounds with dating services these days.
But how about christian dating services?

If you've ever thought you could use those online
dating services you've heard about to find good single
christian partners then you're on the right track.

There are even some specifically christian dating
services.

It takes a bit of time to find them and a few important
facts to understand how to use them effectively, but they
really can make a difference in your dating life.

As Dave Moore, author of Online Christian Dating 101 says,
"If you want a relationship, as a single Christian there
are certain ways to go about it and there are certain ways
not to. Don't embarrass yourself, or even more importantly,
don't put yourself in a situation where your beliefs may
become compromised."

In other words, learn how to correctly use the christian
dating services available to you. It's easier than you think!