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Imagine being able to sit down at your piano, place your hands on the keyboard, and just play! Many piano students think the ability to do this requires years of study. They couldn’t be more wrong!

Learning to play what you feel does not require extensive knowledge of harmony or theory. All that is required is the ability to do two things:

1. Believe that you know enough

2. Believe that you’re good enough

Thousands of classically trained pianists are able to play Rachmaninoff and Bach but are unable to express themselves poetically at the keyboard. Why? Because of the above 2 beliefs! It’s not enough to have mastered piano technique.

For example, many would be writers understand how to construct a compelling plot and know how a story should be written, but until they have freed their inner voice from criticism…until they believe that they are good enough to write that story, it simply won’t get done!

The same goes for music and any other art. I can’t tell you how many times I repeated the above 2 statements to myself because I really wanted to get past my fear of being able to create music at the piano. I wanted to play what I felt at any given time - to be able to improvise. But this was nearly impossible as long as there was some voice in me that said I just wasn’t good enough. And believe me, we ALL have these voices somewhere in our heads at one time or another.

Eventually, I got past the need to seek other’s approval and realized that I was more important than the music. I learned that I already knew more than enough to play the piano. I also came to believe I was good enough and that no one person will every know it all or be a “perfect” player.

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. Stop by now at http://www.quiescencemusic.com/piano_lessons.html for a FREE piano lesson!

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Most of you don’t want to go to college and learn theory, harmony, and composition techniques. Not only is it tedious and for the most part -boring, but it’s also unnecessary.

That is, if you want to compose atonal music or whatever the latest fad in academia is, go to college. If you want to capture your ideas and quickly put them down on paper, you only need to learn how to think in phrases!

This is what most improvisers/composers do anyway. For example, many of you have heard me speak of using 8-bar phrases as a cornerstone to both improv and composition. Why? Because it’s a very easy space to work in! You can very quickly complete 8-bars and have both your theme and the first section of music.

By working this way, you don’t have to worry about what the final form of the piece will be. Many composition books suggest you block out the entire structure of the piece first including harmony, climax, etc. This is one way of working with music. It’s not the only way.

Especially for beginners, it can be daunting to say the least to have no idea where you’re going and what to do next. But, and here’s the really good part, by working with 8-bar phrases, you learn how smaller sections are built into larger sections and so on. In other words, you learn how composers think.

Here’s how I do it. I start by improvising and see what comes up. If I feel like I’m on to something, I just write out 8-bars on a sheet of paper (any paper will do) notate what key I’m playing in and the time and write out the first 2-bars of the melodic idea. Next, I’ll play through and write out the chord changes. For example, if the piece is in the key of F Major, the first 2-bars may be an F Major chord, the next 2-bars, B flat Major and so on.

By working this way, you can quickly complete an 8-bar section of music and you’re ready to add more sections working the same way!

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. Stop by now at http://www.quiescencemusic.com/piano_lessons.html for a FREE piano lesson!

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The sound of New Age music can be divided into the 3 parts melody, harmony, and rhythm. The harmony aspect can be thought of simply as chords. Now New Age music does use certain piano chords more than others.

One chord I’m fond of is the 9th chord. All this means is that the ninth note of the scale is used to create the chord with. For example, a triad built from the C Major scale is spelled - c-e-g. If we add the seventh note in the scale (b) we get a seventh chord - C Major 7. It’s spelled - c-e-g-b. Simple enough.

Now if we continue up the scale we will hit the octave C. The next note after this is the 9th note (d). It’s also the 2nd note in the scale. This can get confusing but it’s just a system of counting. The C Major 9 chord is spelled c-e-g-b-d. This chord has a very rich sound and is used often in New Age music. It can be used as an ostinato, or as broken chord or arpeggio.

A typical New Age chord progression is simple and usually stays within the scale it came from. We can play C Maj. - F Maj. and G Maj. and by using just these 3 piano chords, improvise and create in the New Age style.

In fact, in the online lesson “Ocean Dreams,” this is exactly what is done. Except in this lesson, I eliminate the seventh tone from the chord and play an octave in the left hand.

By eliminating the seventh tone, I’m creating a more folksy or New Age sound. The seventh tone is used mainly in Jazz music but can be used in New Age music as well.

Once the left hand is “down” I add in tones from the C Major scale, especially the ninth tone (d) and the New Age sound is apparent. Other piano chords used in New Age music will be detailed in other articles later on.

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. Stop by now at http://www.quiescencemusic.com/piano_lessons.html for a FREE piano lesson!

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