What is Piano Magic?
This page will help you get 'the right perspective' for
quick results!
If there is one word to describe Piano Magic, the word is INSIGHT!
When you experience it, confusion is replaced with logical understanding.
As a result, you'll see the BIG picture of how most music works!
Piano Magic is a method of logical thinking. Once you understand how to think like the music you want to play, you'll begin to see through the so called 'Secrets' musicians use and depend on, to play piano by ear. Six of those 'Secrets' are discussed below.
Secret #1
The first big Secret in Piano Magic is to understand that SCALES
do NOT sound like music! The ability to play scales will help you
to play SCALES...NOT the music most of us live with from day to
day. In fact, the ability to play scales too soon may actually hamper
your progress at playing the music you can hum, whistle or sing.
Why? Because students erroneously tend to think the fingering required
for playing scales is also the fingering used to play music. Nothing
could be further from the truth!
I am often appalled at the number of instructors, home study courses and web sites that continue to proclaim music is based on SCALES! In my experience as a professional musician (since 1967), it just ain't so! Learn why by listening to the audio discussion below.
THE BIG SECRET ABOUT SCALES (1:46)
Secret #2
Chords sound like music to our ears because music is based
on chords. Chords usually occur as repetitive and predictable patterns
from one song to the next. Although the length of time a chord is
held may vary between songs, the chord structure and pattern continues
to be repetitive and predictable. Surprisingly, many well known
tunes are created using a completely identical, repetitive and predictable
chord pattern played by the left hand, combined with a unique (but
predictable) melody played by the right hand.
(Members Respond: How is PianoMagic uniquely different from other online piano courses?)
Secret #3
Hundreds of songs share the exact same left hand movement. If you
learn the left hand movements to play only ONE of them, you can
play the left hand to ALL of them. This means the only difference
between hundreds of songs is the melody...and even those are similar.
There's more...
Secret #4
Some chord patterns are actually self-correcting chord progressions,
which make it almost impossible for a wrong tone to exist in melody
or harmony. Let me say that again...some chord patterns NEGATE,
NULLIFY and DISPENSE with wrong tones! Whether you are a beginner
or advanced musician, this is very good to know!
When using these familiar chord patterns, most tones on the white keys are perfectly OK! When playing on the white keys (known as the Key of C) any white key is acceptable and can be used to play melody...except ONE. By applying that ONE RULE revealed in the audio file below, you don't have to know how to play in order to sound pretty good.
In the following audio example I coerced my partner, Rob, to be the test subject. Rob doesn't play, but even HE can sound quite good applying the secrets only found in Piano Magic. What you are about to hear is a spontaneous improvisation between Rob and me. I played the chordal accompaniment (based on a 'I vi ii V' chord progression: 'C Am Dm G7') and he played the higher pitched melody tones. The only rule I told him was to avoid playing ONE specific key...and to try to dance with me on the keyboard. At the end of this impromptu performance, I interviewed Rob. Although he was obviously shy in the interview, his sincerity can be heard and felt. Fun! Check it out, learn the 'rule'...then play along with us and try it for yourself!
GET THE 'F' OUT!(3:06)
Secret #5
Most tunes are similar - not different - and sometimes they are
identical! Piano Magic is understanding how music thinks in terms
of chords; NOT scales. Chords sound like music to our ears, because
music is based on chords. In addition, chords generally occur as
repetitive and predictable patterns from one song to the next. As
a result, the basic structure of most songs are very similar from
one song to the next. In fact, songs are much more similar to each
other...than different! Even the tunes of songs are similar...and
sometimes they are identical! And this is a Secret? Don't YOU need
to know this kind of info?
Secret #6
There are a total of 12 different Major Scales, but only ONE of
those scales is able to provide us with VISUAL GUIDANCE for thinking
and playing complex tunes; C scale. In Piano Magic, thanks
to this quirk in the geometry of a keyboard instrument, we focus
upon LEARNING how music thinks based on the scale of C Major. Once
you KNOW how the chords move, you can transfer this KNOWLEDGE to
any other 'Key' without guessing your way from one chord
to the next: This is EXTREMELY USEFUL information to know and use,
and Piano Magic is the only place you'll get it!
| "My God, THANK YOU. I took lessons
for 10 years hoping to learn what you showed me tonight.
What is WRONG with the teachers?" |
Let's review the Secrets discussed above:
- Scales do NOT sound like music. Playing scales too early (if ever) may actually hamper your progress at playing the music you can hum, whistle or sing.
- Music is based on chords...not scales. As a result, scales do not sound like the tunes we hum, whistle or sing...chords do!
- Hundreds of songs share the exact same chord pattern, and can be played with the exact same left hand movements from one song to the next. If you can play the left hand to just ONE of these songs, you can play the left hand to ALL of them.
- Some chord patterns make it nearly impossible to play a wrong tone. (The pattern demonstrated is known as the '1625 pattern' = I vi ii V = C Am Dm G7.)
- Even the tunes of many songs are similar...and sometimes they are identical.
- Although there are a total of 12 different Major Scales, only ONE of those scales is able to provide us with VISUAL GUIDANCE for knowing how to think and play Level THREE complex tunes; C scale.
When you understand how chords work, you'll be able to THINK like music. When you think like music, you can play most songs, with both hands, the first time you try - even if you have never played before!
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