Silent Night - How We Got One Of Our Greatest Christmas Carols</h1> <article> <h1>Silent Night - How We Got One Of Our Greatest Christmas Carols</h1> <p>admin — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:22:01 +0000</p> <p>The Story of “Silent Night”</p> <p>“And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night” Luke 2:8 </p> <p> In 1818, a group of actors were performing in many little towns throughout the Austrian Alps. On December 23 they came to the tiny village of Oberndorf, where they planned to perform the story of Christ’s birth.<br /> Sadly, the church’s organ wasn’t working and could not be repaired in time for the show. The actors ended up presenting their show in a private home. Their presentation touched the church’s assistant pastor, Josef Mohr. So, that night, instead of going straight home, Mohr instead went up to a hill overlooking the village.<br /> At the peak of the hill, he gazed down on beautiful snowy village below. His thoughts kept drifting back to the Christmas play he had just encountered. He remembered a poem he had written years earlier, it was a reflection back on the night when Christ was born.<br /> Mohr thought the lyrics could make a nice carol for his church to sing the following at the Christmas eve service, but he didn’t have a tune to sing it to. So, Mohr went to see the church organist, Franz Xaver Gruber. Using his guitar he composed a melody to attach the poem to.<br /> On Christmas Eve, Gruber and Mohr sang the song to their small congregation.<br /> Weeks later, a well-known organ builder Karl Mauracher came to repair the church’s organ. When he completed the task, Gruber tested the instrument by playing the song he had written for Mohr’s poem. Mauracher was very impressed and took “Silent Night” back to his own Alpine village, Kapfing. There, two well-known families of singers, the Rainers and the Strassers, heard the song. Enthralled by it, both groups added “Silent Night” to their Christmas season repertoire.</p> <p> The Strasser sisters exposed Northern Europe to the carol. In 1834, after their performance of “Silent Night” for King Frederick William IV of Prussia, he commanded his choir to sing it every Christmas eve.<br /> The Rainers brought the song to the United States in 1839 where they sang it (in German) at the Alexander Hamilton Monument located outside New York City’s Trinity Church.<br /> In 1863, almost fifty years after being writing in German, “Silent Night” was translated into English. Then in 1871 the English version was published in an American hymnal: Charles Hutchins’ Sunday School Hymnal.</p> <p>Silent night! holy night!<br /> All is calm, all is bright,<br /> ‘Round yon virgin mother and Child!<br /> Holy Infant, so tender and mild,<br /> Sleep in heavenly peace,<br /> Sleep in heavenly peace.</p> <p>Silent night, holy night<br /> Shepherds quake at the sight<br /> Glories stream from heaven afar<br /> Heav’nly hosts sing Alleluia<br /> Christ the savior is born<br /> Christ the savior is born</p> <p>Silent night, holy night<br /> Son of God, love’s pure light<br /> Radiant beams from thy holy face<br /> With the dawn of redeeming grace<br /> Jesus Lord, at thy birth<br /> Jesus Lord, at thy birth</p> <p><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="movie" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=7479963&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=0&show_portrait=0&color=ff0179&fullscreen=1" /></object></p> <p>For a complete course on arranging beautiful Chrismas carols, please go to <a href="http://www.playpiano.com/musical-courses/christmas/ChristmasCarolsAll4.html">Christmas Carols On The Piano</a></p> </article> <article> <h1>Improvising & Arranging: What’s The Difference?</h1> <p>admin — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 22:18:12 +0000</p> <p>Lots of students have asked me some variety of that question: “What’s the difference between arranging and improvising?”</p> <p>Remembering that language is fluid and not everyone means the same thing with the same term, still there are some basic understandings about the difference between the two. Basically improvising indicates the creation of a melody which is significantly different than the written tune, while arranging keeps the same melody, but uses different stylistic devices to create a new sound or a new feel to the song.</p> <p>Watch this short video and I think you’ll understand quickly.</p> <p><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="movie" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=7172398&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=0&show_portrait=0&color=ff0179&fullscreen=1" /></object></p> <p>For a course on arranging, look into <a href="http://www.pianoplaying.com">How To Dress Up Naked Music</a>. For a course on improvising, look into the <a href="http://www.pianoplayingwithchords.com/">Seven Month Course In Piano Improvising</a>.</p> </article> <article> <h1>What is Musical Form and Why Do I Need To Know It?</h1> <p>admin — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 19:35:35 +0000</p> <p>Musical form is simply how the musical composition is structured. As you can visually identify the structure of a building - for example the walls, the roof, the windows and so on - so you can also identify the different component themes that make up a piece of music. Think about any song you know, you will probably be able to quickly identify at least 2 themes, the verse and the chorus. In the music for the song the musical theme for the verse will differ from the chorus and the pattern is often repeated a number of times throughout the song.<br /> In musical theory the different parts or themes are given a letter to identify them. To take the simple example of a song comprising a verse and chorus again, the verse could be identified as A, and the chorus B. When playing the music to this song the musical form, the structure, could be A, A, B, A, B, A, B, B - which means you would play the music to the verse, and then repeat this, followed by the music for the chorus, another verse, chorus, verse, chorus and finally a repeat of the chorus.<br /> There are subtle variations that can be used such as if the music for subsequent verses are played with slight variations from the first time it’s played within the song, then these would be identified by the same letter plus an apostrophe symbol which represents the word “prime” - for example A’ means A prime. Should the final verse be slightly different from both the beginning and middle verses, then this part would be called A double prime and notated as A”. All theme variations in the music can be notated in this way so you could have an overall simple musical form of A, A, B, A’, B, A”, B, B’.<br /> In classical music, especially if orchestrated, it is often more difficult to hear where a section ends and a new section occurs. If the sections appears unbroken then it could be a simple A all the way through. If there is a section where the rhythm changes, then you could be listening to an A/B section, whereas if the key, rhythm and tune seems completely different to the A section then it will most definitely be a B section. Should the composition then return to the first theme again, then you return to all and the musical form of the piece of music will be ABA. In some music, such as jazz, the B section can also be a bridge between chord progressions so although often sections are of similar lengths, the new section doesn’t always mean a long segment of music equal to that in another section.<br /> As a pianist you should learn about musical form so that you can train your eyes and ears to pick out the musical references within a piece of music. Many themes are only 8 bars long, and this is repeated either as it is, or with a prime or double prime throughout most of the music. If your piece of classical music is 20 pages long, it seems like a lot of work to learn. But look closely at the manuscript, or listen closely to the music as it’s played. How many themes are there? 1, 2 maybe 3 - that’s only 3 lots of 8 bars you have to learn - doesn’t that seem more manageable than 20 pages? Of course some of the themes may be prime or double prime versions, but the basic theme will remain the same throughout all 20 pages. Identify and master that theme and you’ll soon be on your way to a great performance!<br /> (Note: This is a guest article by Katie-Anne from Elance)</p> </article> <article> <h1>All The 7th Chords For Piano</h1> <p>admin — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 21:43:59 +0000</p> <p>There are several different kinds of 7th chords. This video is a summary of previous videos where we examined each type in detail. </p> <p><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="movie" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=7088615&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=0&show_portrait=0&color=ff0179&fullscreen=1" /></object></p> </article> <article> <h1>Diminished 7th Chords & How To Form Them</h1> <p>admin — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 20:52:02 +0000</p> <p>Diminished 7th chords are formed by adding a double-flatted 7th to a diminished triad. There are only 3 “different” dim7th chords, because all the others are simply inversions or enharmonic inversions of 3 of them.<br /> For more information, check out <a href="playpiano.com/101-tips/15-diminished-7th-chords.htm">playpiano.com/101-tips/15-diminished-7th-chords.htm</a><br /> <param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="movie" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=6840353&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=0&show_portrait=0&color=ff0179&fullscreen=1" /></object></p> </article> <article> <h1>How to form a 7th Chord with flat 5th (such as C7-5)</h1> <p>admin — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 00:53:10 +0000</p> <p>A seventh chord with a flat 5th is simply what it says — a dominant 7th chord with the 5th scale note lowered 1/2 step. The symbol for a C7 with a flat 5th would be C7-5. The symbol for an F7 chord with a flat 5th would be F7-5. </p> <p><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="movie" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=6824070&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=0&show_portrait=0&color=ff0179&fullscreen=1" /></object></p> </article> <article> <h1>Augmented 7th Chords</h1> <p>admin — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 22:58:40 +0000</p> <p>Augmented 7th chords are formed by combining an augmented triad with a lowered 7th of the major scale of that particular key.<br /> <param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="movie" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=6805355&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=0&show_portrait=0&color=ff0179&fullscreen=1" /></object></p> </article> <article> <h1>Half-diminished 7th chords (Watch short video)</h1> <p>admin — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 22:48:34 +0000</p> <p>Half-diminished 7th chords are formed by combining a diminished triad with a lowered 7th of the major scale.</p> <p><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="movie" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=6759909&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=0&show_portrait=0&color=ff0179&fullscreen=1" /></object></p> <p>For more information, please go to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Half-diminished_seventh_chord">Half-diminished 7th chords</a>.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Minor Chords With a Major 7th (such as cm/maj7) - Watch Video</h1> <p>admin — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 21:06:57 +0000</p> <p>Minor chords with a major 7th added are not used a great deal, but musicians really need to know all possible chords and combinations. These are created using a minor triad with the 7th degree of the major scale added.<br /> <param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="movie" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=6743631&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=0&show_portrait=0&color=ff0179&fullscreen=1" /></object></p> </article> <article> <h1>Minor 7th Chords</h1> <p>admin — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 21:03:40 +0000</p> <p>Minor 7th chords are composed of a minor triad combined with the lowered 7th of the major scale of that particular key.<br /> <param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="movie" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=6727178&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=0&show_portrait=0&color=ff0179&fullscreen=1" /></object></p> <p>For more complete information about minor 7th chords, please go to <a href="http://www.playpiano.com/101-tips/19-minor-7th-chords.htm">minor 7th chords</a>.</p> </article> </main></body></html>