Amazing Technique for New Age Piano Lets You Create Rich Harmonic Backgrounds

When I first heard the piece "Rain" by George Winston I was blown away. Here was a solo piano piece that sounded so rich and full, you could swear more than one person was playing it. Yet it's just one man on one piano.

When Winston released his video, I got to see how he did it. It all has to do with the left hand. He uses the left hand to create a beautiful ostinato pattern. But this is no ordinary pattern. The secret to how he gets his sound is in the thumb.

You see he moves the thumb back and forth past an octave to add in more notes. Not too complicated once you understand how it's done.

Click here for more!

The Simple Joy Of New Age Piano Playing

Ah … to sit down and play. So many want to be able to just go to the piano and play what they feel.

Traditionally, Jazz has been the champion of improvisational music. Students who want to express themselves creatively know that jazz is an art form that encourages improvisation.

But then there's New Age music. A genre that has not been around as long as Jazz, but one that embraces the improvisational approach as well. The great thing about New Age piano playing is that it's much easier to get into than jazz!

Click here to read the rest of this article.

Program Music and New Age Piano

Just found this interesting webpage on Wikipedia about Program Music. For those of you who don't know, program music is defined as music having an external reference to the outside world for its inspiration. Think Grofe's "Grand Canyon Suite" or George Winston's "December" as examples.

Anyway, here's the link to this interesting entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Program_music

New Piano Lesson Video Posted: "Coral Reef"

I just uploaded a new video to compliment your lesson "Coral Reef."

For those who want to see my hands actually play this lesson, visit http://youtube.com/watch?v=3P17Qvj92ZY and watch it on YouTube.

It's not exactly like the audio sample you have in your lesson but it's my humble attempt to recreate it from memory. Another first take as are all my improvisations.

Enjoy this video and please comment and rate it as well!

How To Create An Original Melody From Scratch

There are 2 ways to create an original melody. The first has to do with improvisation. Here you simply "come up" with material and either transfer it directly to sheet music or record it so it can be remembered later on.

The second way and the one I'm going to show you how to do is actually composing a melody from scratch. Some think this method (as opposed to free improvisation) is more difficult. Not if you use rhythmic patterns!

What are rhythmic patterns? They are simply note values, i.e. half notes, quarter notes, eight notes... etc.
Let me show you exactly what I mean...

Click here to read more!