Piano Playing Goals for the New Year

I'll be frank … I stopped setting goals for the New Year about 15 years ago. Why? I don't follow through.

Now some of you might. But I don't. It's good to know yourself in that regard. And in so knowing myself, I feel liberated. I don't need to set yearly goals.

Nope. I'm happy to just go to the piano and play. And if I had to have a goal for the New Year, it would be to be more present at the piano while playing.

To feel present with the music is a gift. A blessing really for it means we are complete within our art. No need to gain others approval or to get that nod from friends and family. We don't need this because we have something better. We have the feeling of pure joy that can only come when we let go and let chords and notes fall where they will.

We learn a little about how to improvise and compose and then jump in to this mystery allowing - always allowing for the unexpected. For it is the unexpected that will take us places the thinking rational mind never could.

We allow for intuition - that intangible reality which will never fail to lead us if we let it.

How Do You Compose Music?

Just ran across this very interesting site that shows you how a composer takes a melody and turns it into a composition.

First he uses piano - then other instrumentation. You'll hear the orignial melody, the harmonies underneath, and how "simple" can be quite sophisitcated by the end.

By the way, can anyone tell me the length of the melodic phrase? 4-bars? 8? More?

Find this very instructive post here.

Happy Holidays From Quiescence Music!

Happy Holidays everyone!

Just want to wish all my students a very happy and healthy holiday season.

2008 is fast approaching and I think it's going to be a very interesting year indeed.

New goals, new friends and music, and a whole new bright outlook on life.

So once again ... Happy Holiday Season!

My warmest wishes,
Edward Weiss
Quiescence Music

Sharing Your Music With Others

So you've got a few New Age piano pieces under your belt (or not) and you want to share your music with others. Can you do it? Yes! Here's a working plan for you.

Create 3 pieces of music - For those of you who are just beginning to improvise, don't worry about this. But for those who are beginning to compose, you'll need to have 3 complete pieces to play. Why? Because this will come to around 10-15 minutes of music - the perfect amount of time to have a mini-concert! If you're in the process of creating your 3 pieces and haven't finished yet set an end goal date. For example, it's a good idea to write something like this down:

By August 12, 2008, I will have 3 complete and polished pieces of music to play for others.

This is a time-based goal and will work wonders if you write it out and place it where you can read it everyday. Most likely, you will try and find excuses for why you can't finsih something on time. This goal with time and date on it will continually remind you to stay on track.

Practice your 3 pieces - Practice is the only way you will build up your confidence level. Practice each piece slowly at first. Never back up if you make a mistake. I repeat… NEVER back up if you make a mistake. Why? What are you going to do when you're playing for an audience and you mess up. You're not going to stop everything and go back. No! You go forward. Chances are very good that the audience won't even notice. I can testify to this from personal experience.

When you practice, be with the music. The audience isn't really concerned with you. They want an emotional experience through the music and the best way to give that to them is for you to be in the moment.

Overcome Performance Anxiety - To do this, you must first practice until you can play all 3 pieces straight through and you must first perform for a very small audience. Perhaps one or two people. You see you have to get used to the idea that eyes will be watching you. This makes most very self-conscious. By playing for very small groups of people, or even one person first, you get used to this and you can simply shrug it off. Playing for others should be a joyful experience. It can be if you follow these simple guidelines.

Silence of the Pianos

Is it me or is "live" music disappearing from the world?

The reason I ask is I remember hearing it once as a child growing up in Philadelphia. Sometimes I would walk down my street and hear actual piano music being made. Sure, it wasn't original music (like the kind I teach) but of course, that didn't matter.

I marvelled that someone could create something so beautiful and that I could hear it on my own street.

Today, I walk down my street in San Diego and often hear the blaring sounds of Rap, Rock, and other music screaming from car loudspeakers. What I don't hear are any "live" instruments being played by real people. It's as if the music has really died.

It doesn't even have to be piano music. Any music would do. Silver flute, violin, cello ... all innocently absent for any human being to hear. What a loss. And what does this say about our society as a whole? Your thoughts, of course, are welcome.

Hanon Exercises for New Age Piano?

For those of you who don't know, the Hanon book is widely used to teach upcoming classical students finger dexterity and control.

It's actually an interesting collection of exercises and I'm sure a lot of thought went into each one.

But what if you don't want to perform onstage at Carnegie Hall? What if you just want to play the piano for your own pleasure? Is Hanon still a good idea?

It is. What I do is just 2 exercises from the book to warm my fingers up. You see, I'm more interested in making music than limbering up to play others.

The exercises I do are on the white keys and really work the fingers. Boring? Absolutely. But it does the trick when you just want to move your hands around.

Improvisation and the Element of Time

When a painter puts paint to canvass, he is using the constraints of his medium. When a musician creates music spontaneously, he is using his instrument and the element of time to work with. These are his constraints. He can try to abandon the element of time altogether, but then we may not have what most of us have come to call music.

Now, how you use the element of time is important for it determines mood. For example, a lot of New Age music uses time elastically. That is, it's not that important to keep a strict tempo. This is what I like about this style. It's not too concerned with keeping it all together. On the contrary, playing rubato, or robbed time as it is called, is one of the endearing characteristics of this style.

In fact, we can use the element of time to our advantage. For instance, if we finger an Open Position chord, we have all that is needed to improvise with. Now, if we use the element of time, specifically, 4/4 time, we have something underneath - a pulse that gives life to the music.

It's like interplay between the steady underlying beat and what we do with the notes that fall within the meter. Time is our partner in improvisation. Meter is our friend. It helps give shape to melody and form to the music as a whole