Americans love their country. They also love to sing about their country. American patriotic songs have a rich and colorful history. This history spans the centuries and ties the past to the present and citizen to citizen. No American has grown up without learning a few of these top American patriotic songs:

1) The Star Spangled Banner: No American patriotic song is dearer than this. Many Americans don’t realize that its author, Francis Scott Key, originally entitled his patriotic poem “Defence of Fort McHenry.” This is because it was based on his recollection of the bombing of Fort McHenry in Maryland during the War of 1812. Key saw in his mind’s eye the proud U.S. flag continuing to wave amidst the devastation in the wake of the bombing.

Key’s poem was eventually set to an already popular tune. The original poem has four stanzas, which are rarely sung today. The three additional stanzas are worth a reading though for the beautifully descriptive language which they contain.

2) My Country ‘Tis of Thee: This poem was first written by theological student Samuel Francis Smith in 1831. Smith had been asked by a friend to translate a German tune into English. This particular poem just happened to be set to the same tune as the British anthem “God Save the King/Queen.”

Smith got distracted from the task at hand, instead composing his own patriotic lyrics for the tune. The poem turned out to be “My Country ‘Tis of Thee,” also sometimes referred to as “America.” It was debuted on July 4, 1832, sung by a group of children at an Independence Day celebration.

3) Stars and Stripes Forever: This familiar march was written by John Philip Sousa in 1896. Sousa was a talented musician and United States Marine. He served in the Corps from 1868-1875, and then again from 1880-1892, a career man to be sure.

His early days in the Marine Corps were spent as an apprentice musician. He honed his musical skills during his five year absence from the corps. He became conductor of the Marine Corps band during his second stint. It was after his departure from the corps that Sousa composed “Stars and Stripes Forever.” It was later adopted as the U.S.A.’s national march by an act of Congress.

4) America The Beautiful: This American patriotic song is so loved that it has been periodically proposed as a replacement for “The Star Spangled Banner” as national anthem.  It hasn’t managed to knock it out of the running yet. Still, this beautifully descriptive poem, written by Katharine Lee Bates in 1895 remains almost as cherished.

The tune, composed by Samuel A. Ward, was originally written for another set of lyrics.  A few years after its publishing, it was discovered to be a perfect fit for Bates’ tribute. The two have been inseparable ever since.

5) God Bless America: Irving Berlin was one of best-known and well-loved singers, song-writers, actors and directors in American history. He managed to achieve this status despite the fact that he was not born in the United States. Born in Russia (now Belarus,) Berlin immigrated to the U.S. as a young child. He established himself in the entertainment industry likewise at a young age.

He was widely known as fiercely loyal to the United States and devotedly patriotic. It was no surprise to anyone that he should spin out such a beautiful tribute to his adopted country in 1918. The song became an instant American classic when it was sung by Kate Smith in 1938.

All of these great American patriotic songs were written over a century ago. Their continued popularity today remains a testament to their untimely sentiments.

Adults often come to the point in their lives when they want to explore new hobbies. One of the most common hobbies adults pursue is learning to play the piano. It may be the first time they play or a return to a childhood pleasure. Whether you’re an adult sitting down to learn the instrument for the first time or you want to brush up on your skills, keep in mind some basic rules of piano practice.

Posture is very important. Make sure that the piano bench is high enough. Your shoulders should hang freely, while your forearms are parallel to the floor. This allows the greatest freedom of movement and keeps your body from feeling constricted. While your hands are directly in front of you on the keyboard, your elbows should be just slightly forward of the center of your body. Sit forward on the bench so that your body is relaxed.

Create a regular piano practice schedule. Start with short sessions of 15 minutes. Increase the time as your skill progresses and your hands start to feel more limber. You may not have time for piano practices longer than half an hour, but that’s enough to increase your skill and flexibility. Just try not to miss too many days in a row. Time of day is important. Pick a time when you’ll be least distracted by the worries of life.

Practice books are extremely helpful for both beginners and experienced players. These contain exercises and tips that improve your technique. Many also teach musical theory, providing detailed explanations of scales, chords, modes and relative tonality. This is great for expanding your musical palette and understanding how melodies and harmonies work in the context of a piece.

Piano practice books also contain musical pieces adjusted to your skill level. At the end of each chapter you’ll often find a piece that demonstrates techniques that you learned in the preceding pages. It may take a while to coordinate both of your hands, so don’t expect to play at full speed right away. Practice each hand separately, at a moderate speed, before combining the two parts. You’ll be less discouraged and find that your playing is more accurate.

Remember, piano practice isn’t a competition. Even if you are a highly driven individual, take your time and be patient when learning the piano. You’ll avoid frustration and possible injury if you avoid pushing yourself too hard. It’s supposed to be enjoyable.

A metronome is an invaluable tool for piano practice. A metronome is a device that keeps perfect time, providing an audible beat set to an exacting tempo. Metronomes are adjustable from very slow to very fast, well within the limits of pieces you’ll be practicing. Even if you feel that you have a great sense of timing, invest in this handy little tool for your piano practice sessions. You’ll be amazed how often you change tempos slightly while running through exercises.

Whatever amount of time and dedication you are able to invest in the piano, it’s a great instrument for adults to learn. The piano is a few hundred years old, and people are still exploring its musical possibilities. Join their ranks and make music that you’ll love for the rest of your life.

Rock and roll piano springs from many different styles. On the surface the early styles just seemed to be blues playing at a high speed, but a closer look reveals a lot more under the surface. Rock and roll piano is an amalgam of many styles as is jazz or classical playing.

One of the pioneers of rock and roll piano is Little Richard. Little Richard was a fiery pianist, combining boogie-woogie, rhythm and blues and gospel music into his own unique blend. In fact, his introduction to music was in a highly energetic church environment. Combined with his highly suggestive singing, Little Richard formed the basics of rock and roll. He emphasize the back beat in his music to give it wild momentum, unlike many of his peers. James Brown once said that Little Richard “put the funk in the rock and roll beat.”

Jerry Lee Lewis is also a founder of rock and roll piano. His poor family mortgaged their farm in order to buy a piano, and he learned from playing with his cousins. His style combined similar elements as Little Richard’s, but with the inclusion of country piano. One of his early influences was country boogie player Moon Mullican, whose piano style was a precursor to rock and roll. Lewis developed his style at a young age,  but he transformed traditional gospel numbers into boogie songs.

Before these two performers, there was a man named Fats Domino. In 1949, he released a record entitled “The Fat Man,” which became the first rock and roll record to sell a million copies. During the most successful part of his career, he had many Top 40 hits until the tastes of the record buying public changed. Without his contribution to rock and roll piano, we may have never have heard Lady Madonna by the Beatles.

Both Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis treated the piano not only as an instrument, but as a prop as well. They would play standing up. They would kick the bench out from under them. They would dance on top of the piano while the band continued to play. Rock and roll piano was an untamed beast. Even today Elton John and Billy Joel, artists who are considered very mainstream, adopt some of these wild antics Rock and roll piano lives on in a different form today. There are revivalists, traditionalists and copycat artists all around the world. Popular artists from each subsequent musical generation have mined the style, updating it and adding to their own stew. There are always new avenues to explore in rock and roll.

Most popular songs fall itno one of thress categories:

ABA form — in other words, theme A, theme B, and theme A repeated

AABA form - theme A, theme A repeated, theme B, theme A

ABAC form - theme A, theme B, theme a, theme C

The largest percentage of popular songs fall into the AABA category, the usual length of the song being 32 bars:

A - 8 bars

A - 8 bars

B - 8 bars

A - 8 bars

Musicians improvise from the chord structure of the popular song, often making reference to the individual melody in their improvised creations.

There are other forms, of course, such as verse-chorus, and you find this form typically in folk songs and hymns, as well as in some pop songs.

Here is the structure of the 12-bar blues:

*4 bars of the I chord (the root chord of whatever key you’re playing in)
*2 bars of the IV chord (often with the 7th)
*2 bars of the I chord
*2 bars of the V chord (almost always with the 7th) or 1 bar of the V chord followed by 1 bar of the IV chord.
*2 bars of the I chord

Then repeat for as many times as desired.

Over this chord structure the musicians improvised a melody based on the given chords and scales of those chords. He or she is free to play whatever they want to play, consistent with his ability and taste. Typically the blues is performed by a small group, often made up of a piano, bass, drums, and 1 or 3 solo instruments such as a sax or trumpet.

1. The 12-bar blues.

2. The popular song.

There are other forms, particularly in contemporary improvisation, such as an agreement that improvisation will take place for 16 bars in the Dorian mode, 8 bars in the Lydian mode, then 8 bars in the Dorian Mode again. There is even a “free” form, where musicians just start playing and see what happens. But far and away the two main forms cover virtually all of improvised music today. Tomorrow we’ll take a look at the 12-bar blues form.

For example, if you play nothing but a major chord over and over, there is no tension at all. If a famous pianist just played the same chord over and over again at the same rate and the same volume, people whould soon get bored and leave, no matter how great the reputation of the pianist.

But why? What’s wrong with a major chord? It seems to be a perfectly legitimate chord to play.

The answer is, of course, that no tension has been created by his performance. It is all relaxation. And for music to interest us, there has to be some kind of a balance between tension and relaxation.

What if our pianist played a song that never repeated a single chord twice — and was just a conglomeration of dissonant sounds that went nowhere in no cohesive order? We might be interested for a while, but the tension would finally drive us to get up and leave — because there was no relaxtion at all in the piece.

To be enjoyable, any piece of music has to hit some happy medium between tension and relaxation. Next time you hear a song, think about that, and I know you’ll find it true.

One of the hardest things to learn when beginning to play the piano is hand independence.   At first it seems complicated just getting your fingers on one hand to flow up and down the keys the way you want them to, without worrying about what your other hand is doing, but it does get better!  There are two methods of improving your hand co-ordination that you can try to see if they help.

Firstly, practice each hand separately.  Practice the notes on the right hand first of all.  Get the melody straight in your mind.  Learn how to place your fingers so that the notes are comfortable to play and don’t have awkward reaches.  Start off slowly, use a metronome to learn the timing of the piece of music, and slowly build it up to where it’s supposed to be.  Do the same with your left hand.  The harmony on the left hand will be more chord related than the melody.  As with the right hand, practice will help you remember which keys are involved with which chords and this will become easier for you to remember.  Use the metronome to help you build to the correct timing so that you are playing both right and left hands at the same tempo.  Once you are comfortable with both hands, bring them together.  You should try to put them together at least once per practice session so that you get an idea for how you’re progressing. 

The second method is to play both hands together but very slowly.  Ignore all timing until you’re comfortable with your ability to move your hands in different directions at the same time.  Acknowledge that this isn’t an easy skill, and that your progress in achieving this is a great step forward in your skill as a pianist.  The more times you practice, the more proficient you will get at this skill.  You’ll find that by practicing measure by measure you start to move your hands almost without thinking about it, and that’s when you’ll know that your training is paying off!

The worst thing you can do is to focus on the fact that you need your hands to do completely different things at the same time.  When you are relaxed and not thinking intensely about it, you’ll find the skill comes a lot easier.  If you start to play and you find that your left hand is all over the keys because you can’t look at both hands at once, concentrate on playing the melody.  If you are reading music, look at the music not your hands, with practice your fingers will know where they’re going without you watching them.  Trust in your ability to play the music.  As you relax and hear the melody, the harmony line on the music will grab your attention and you’ll find your left hand starting to play.  It might not be perfect at first, but that doesn’t matter.  The aim is to get both hands moving in different directions at the same time. 

As with patting your head and rubbing your stomach, it’s when you are least focused on what you’re trying to achieve that you’ll succeed in playing the piano with both hands.   Once you’ve mastered this skill, you’ll find that it becomes such second nature that you don’t think about it anymore, you just put your fingers on the keys, and play!

For years people have enjoyed the beauty of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s music. Those inclined to classical compositions enjoy the intricacies and nuances that are part of his works. His varied music inspires, soothes and invigorates those who take the time to listen to it.

Some researchers believe Mozart’s music does more than this. They expound on the Mozart Effect, which research suggests that listening to Mozart’s music may cause short-term improvement of spatio-temporal reasoning. This spatio-temporal reasoning is the performance of certain kinds of mental tasks.

The term Mozart Effect also includes popular versions of this theory. These popular theories suggest that listening to the composer’s music can make you smarter. Further, these theories state that there are benefits to mental development in those who listen to classical music in early childhood.

Those who have trademark products related to the Mozart Effect suggest even more. They believe that music has powers that can affect one’s quality of life positively in many ways. They believe music is beneficial for overall well being. They sell trademark music and music-related products to achieve this.

What does all this mean for those interested in piano playing and music in general? It means that music is a tool that, while used for enjoyment, may offer benefits beyond simple pleasure. Learning music, listening to music and playing the piano can help one in other activities.

The Mozart Effect and the temporary improvement of the performance of certain kinds of mental tasks are intriguing. This suggests it may be beneficial to listen to Mozart before you sit down to practice the piano. It may be a good thing to listen to Mozart before you sit down to construct a product. Maybe your next game of chess will improve after listening to Mozart.

The Mozart Effect may be beneficial to your actual piano playing in a variety of ways. Combining classical music listening with structured piano study can give you a total music education. It can accomplish this in three ways:

o First, the Mozart Effect may improve immediate piano study. Before you sit down for your regular piano practice session, listen to some Mozart. The temporary improvement of your spatio-temporal reasoning may be just the boost you need to get the most out of that session.

Make sure you get to the piano though in short time. Research suggests that this performance improvement benefit is not something that endures. In fact, some research suggests that the Mozart Effect may only last 10 or 15 minutes. That’s an excuse to sit down and listen to more Mozart, then get back to the keyboard again and practice.

o Second, Mozart, or other classical music, may pack that emotional punch you need. The majesty of the music can inspire you to sit down and create music of your own. This is the transformative power of organized, rhythmic, harmonic and melodic sound. The beauty of the music you hear works on your mind and emotions and can encourage action.

o Third, research showing that early childhood exposure to classical music is beneficial means you can boost mental development early on. They may grasp music concepts and principles and recognize sound patterns better later in life. The Mozart Effect is something to consider when teaching children music.

This beneficial effect on mental development may also pay other dividends. In later years, it may help individuals striving to excel in academia and in their careers. This is a significant point that those who research the Mozart Effect espouse. They speak of the long-term benefit of sustained exposure to classical music and how it boosts mental function.

Consider the benefits of Mozart’s music beyond the immediate pleasure of listening. Research further to find out how the Mozart Effect may help you in your efforts to improve your performance of daily tasks. In addition, consider how the Mozart Effect may help your piano study. You may find there’s more to his music than meets the ear.