Piano Improvisation - It's All About Letting Go

Empty and marvelous is a phrase from one of Zen practitioner and philosopher Allan Watts books. It represents a state of being where desire is gone and only acceptance of the present is known.

In a way, that's what improvisation is about too! We empty ourselves of ego and allow the music to take us away. And we are amazed by this process because it seems that the music has a life of its own - if we let it.

This requires a certain attitude. One that many find hard to attain because of the need to be in charge.

If we learn to empty ourselves of what kind of music we want to create, we come up with something that has a special quality that could never have been created by ego alone! This is the X factor that is missing from so much music today.

Here in the West, we are used to achieving something. We want a good music, a nice music, or something that is worthy of performance. We don't want music to change or transform us. This wouldn't be something we could use. We aren't used to attaching value to something unless it can do something for us. But it is exactly this kind of music that gives us so much and has much to offer!

If we play and enjoy the process, just for process sake, we begin to understand the true meaning of the phrase "empty and marvelous." We begin to feel the music and know that something special is taking place. It's like a musical meditation that heals and comforts, not just the player, but everyone around who is fortunate enough to be listening.

Edward Weiss is a pianist/composer and webmaster of Quiescence Music's online piano lessons. He has been helping students learn how to play piano in the New Age style for over 14 years and works with students in private, in groups, and now over the internet. Visit http://www.quiescencemusic.com/ now and get a FREE piano lesson!

Improvisation ... It's About Feeling

It really doesn't take much to improvise. A few chords, a scale to play in and that's that. But once these technical decisions are out of the way, we must allow our feeling to guide us.

Playing this way has many advantages. First, you don't have to worry about what you're going to play. You let your intuition guide you in this. The hands are placed on certain chords. The fingers move and the mind is in abeyance, waiting in surprise to see what the hands will discover.

You also don't have to think about what chords to use or how you're going to play them. When you take care of the technical aspects first, you free yourself to explore your materials. Of course, things can change and we must allow for this, but playing within a set of limitations will free the mind.

For example, in the improvisation exercise Monterey Beach, 2 chords are used. How they are played is determined and a Key is chosen. Now the improviser can relax and explore the possibilities available.

The other way of playing, the way where there are too many choices present, distracts the improviser from improvising. The mind must be free from these distractions so feeling can be expressed easily. Many students have a problem with doing things easily.

Edward Weiss is a pianist/composer and webmaster of Quiescence Music's online piano lessons. He has been helping students learn how to play piano in the New Age style for over 14 years and works with students in private, in groups, and now over the internet. Visit http://www.quiescencemusic.com/ now and get a FREE piano lesson!

Just Being at the Piano

There are so many areas in life where one must do things right. Thankfully, art is an area where great discoveries are made by making mistakes!

Take improvisation for example. We sit at our piano or keyboard without any thought of what is to come. Our fingers touch a certain chord that calls to us and we are gone. We are transported into a nonverbal world where anything is possible.

Surprises happily come our way as we let go and observe how the music is created before us. And we are always amazed that the "best" music happens when we do not care if it is good or bad.

We are not concerned with good or bad but with feeling and music alone. We allow ourselves to be wrapped up in this world of sound and it does transform us.

When the music has played itself out we rest and notice that the world seems a little lighter than it was before we sat down to play. Not because of anything we did or did not do. But because we let ourselves relax and become co-creators of the music. We improvise for the fun of it and for the enjoyment it brings to ourselves and to others.

Edward Weiss is a pianist/composer and webmaster of Quiescence Music's online piano lessons. He has been helping students learn how to play piano in the New Age style for over 14 years and works with students in private, in groups, and now over the internet. Visit http://www.quiescencemusic.com/ now and get a FREE piano lesson!

Successful Black Key Improvisation - Zen Gardens

What a great instrument the piano is - white keys, black keys, and 88 tones make it incredibly versatile!

Most students take it upon themselves to try and master this instrument. They begin to learn note reading and go through a series of books before they are ready to play the music of the masters.

If only they realized that a world of free improvisation was waiting for them on the black keys, they too could experience the joy of improvisation right away. They might even forget about note-reading for a while and actually enjoy themselves as actual music was being made.

For example, take the video "Zen Gardens" based on one of my lessons "Oriental Sunrise." This is a black key improvisation based on the E flat minor pentatonic scale. Now, when most people hear the term "black key improvisation" they think of children banging on the piano creating some kind of noise. And while this has its place, the adult can create quite a beautiful sound by using only the black keys.

The secret is in how the keys are played. Anyone can go to the piano, sit down and play. The keys are there and are readily accessible. However, one person may just plunk around while another is able to create music. It's all about sensitivity! The sensitive musician is able to create music using only a few notes. The non-musician can not. They have to learn to get in touch with themselves first.

If you can go to the piano, play a black key improvisation, and make it sound like music, you are way, way ahead of the game! You understand that it's not how many notes or chords you know, it's how they are played that makes the difference!

P.S. If you'd like to know how "Zen Gardens" aka "Oriental Sunrise" was created, sign up for my online piano course. I take you step-by-step through the lesson and show you exactly how it's done!

Do You Make These 3 Common Improvisation Mistakes?

A lot of people make piano improvisation a lot harder than it has to be. If you're one of them, this article should help!

Mistake #1 - Thinking about what you're going to play

A lot of students think there should be some kind of preparation before improvising on the piano. They are right! There should be some thought as to the sound, tonality, key - but once these choices are made the thinking should stop and the playing should begin.

Mistake #2 - Worrying about whether it's good or not

Are you concerned with how your music sounds? Many students are. This mistake is prevalent among newbies at improvisation. They play a key or two and then think it stinks. Nothing will stop the creative flow more than thinking that what's coming out of you is not good enough!

Good is in the ear of the beholder. That beholder is you so stop judging the product and focus on enjoying the process of being in the moment. This is why people learn to improvise in the first place. Let go and let the music tell you where it wants to go!

Mistake #3 - Thinking that you don't know enough to improvise

This mistake is really an oxymoron because the more you know, the more likely it is that you will experience blocks. If you do not have a lot of formal music knowledge don't let that stop you. All you need to know in order to improvise is chords and the scale the chords came from. That's it. And the good news is this is easily learned.

Some students create unnecessary problems for themselves because they beleive they need to know this or that before they can begin. This is just an excuse to avoid jumping in the water. It's also a way to avoid the act itself because once you begin to play you may tell yourself you really don't know what you're doing. Trust me. You know enough and you know enough to begin now.

An Amazing Piano Resource that's Free!

You're going to love this! When I first started out on this piano journey of mine, I scoured local bookstores, music stores, and libraries for information that would allow me to express myself freely at the piano.

Well, one of the first things I came across was something by Jamey Aebersold. Aebersold is a "jazz" man. But don't let that stop you from learning from him.

You see, Jamey brilliantly put down in one slim volume almost everything a modern piano player needs to get started in terms of theory. His scale syllabus is really something special and explains the modes, and scales in a way that you'll really appreciate.

And here's the best news of all. He's giving away his entire groundbreaking book for free! I couldn't believe it myself. But it's true nonetheless.

Click here to go to his download page where you'll see the book arranged by chapters. I highly suggest you take a look at ALL this material for it's extremely useful!

15 Tips on Learning How to Improvise

Just found this very cool article on how to improvise. Actually, these tips are written for the "worship" pianist but they're so good I thought it wise to share.

Some of the tips are for the more advanced player - but that shouldn't deter you from reading and discovering these improvisational gems.

Find the article at http://www.worshipinfo.com/quicktakes/tipsimprov.htm

Top 14 Tips for Successful Improvisation!

Some time ago, I wrote an article outlining what I believe to be the most important factors for learning how to improvise. And surprisingly, none of them have to do with technique. They are all attitudinal!

And there's a good reason for that.

You see, many students think that once they get a certain amount of technique under their belts, they'll be able to play piano like Keith Jarrett or George Winston. But that's just not true.

The real secret, and the one that will serve you best is to understand the main principles that will allow you to sit down at your piano with ease and allow the music to unfold. Sounds a little mystical I know. But it's true nonetheless.

Find this free report at http://www.quiescencemusic.com/tips.pdf

Great Discoveries Made by Making Mistakes at the Piano!

There are so many areas in life where one must do things right. Thankfully, art is an area where great discoveries are made by making mistakes!

Take improvisation for example. We sit at our piano or keyboard without any thought of what is to come. Our fingers touch a certain chord that calls to us and we are gone.

We are transported into a nonverbal world where anything is possible.

Surprises happily come our way as we let go and observe how the music is created before us. And we are always amazed that the "best" music happens when we do not care if it is good or bad.

We are not concerned with good or bad but with feeling and music alone. We allow ourselves to be wrapped up in this world of sound and it does transform us. When the music has played itself out we rest and notice that the world seems a little lighter than it was before we sat down to play.