One sure way to guarantee that you will never get any better or improve is to not practice! On the other hand… One sure way to guarantee that you will definitely get better and improve is to practice! Daily! It’s that simple!
If you need some ideas about things on which you might work in your “practice room”, bookmark this post so you can easily return to “The Virtual Lecture Hall” from time to time to jot down a couple of suggested practice items you’ll see me “write” on the chalkboard.
Now without knowing your current level of musical development or your specific needs, I won’t be able to coach you as effectively as if you were one of my online or in-office students. Nonetheless, I think it’s a good idea to focus and practice on one or a few items at a time.
The “talking points” I brought with me in this version are appropriate for beginner to advanced students. So, each time you click my picture, I’ll go over to the chalkboard and write something that may or may not be appropriate for you. I’ll trust you to know which points speak to you. Have fun!
The Virtual Lecture Hall
If you need some assistance with any of the suggested VLH practice items, contact me anytime. I’m always glad to hear from you.
Are lightning-fast, speedy fingers in your future or will your fingers be marching to the beat of a different drummer? It all depends on you and what you bring to the piano.
Technique, the process of physically moving your hands and fingers around on the piano keyboard, can be a subject that may be approached, examined, and practiced in a very superficial manner, or it can be an area of discipline which requires lots of in-depth study and devotion. Which path is right for you depends on your goals and how far you want to go with piano.
Short Story Several years ago, a gentleman came into my office out of the blue and asked if I would teach him to play “Happy Birthday” in one month with the stipulation that I not teach him anything about “reading music or any of that other formal piano lesson stuff”. He stated that he was not interested in becoming a pianist. He only wanted to play the song at his young daughter’s upcoming birthday party.
I said “yes”; I honored his stipulation by teaching it to him note for note by rote; Week three he had it down; Week four he was party-bound; He left happy, I was happy; I never saw him again! End of Story
There have been great literary writers who were “two-finger typists” or didn’t type and all. Their so-called poor typing technique or complete lack thereof did not prevent their creative output from coming through to the world. (By the way, are you a two-finger or touch typist? Test your typing speed here.)
Similarly, there have been great composers and musicians who could not read music or play piano very well at all like Irving Berlin. His so-called poor piano technique did stop him from finding a way to share the 1,250-song output of his compositional genius with the world. It was his choice to dedicate his time and talent to being a specialist in music composition in the manner which he chose.
Like Irving Berlin, you too might become an excellent composer, a “monster” arranger, an “out of this world” orchestrator or an “expoobident” combination of all of those things.
However, if being a “player” is on your “bucket list”, then technique is a subject matter that you will be required to face as you pursue that goal. To emphasize, I’ll say that no matter how much you may know about music in your head, if you are going to be a “player”, your hands and fingers will need to be trained to obtain some level of proficiency in the discipline of piano technique.
If possible, its a good idea to learn the very basic fundamentals of technique because it provides a traditional foundation. But after a while, I feel it is a good thing for you to explore, experiment and try things that may help you develop your own relationship with the piano. Possible points of departure from traditional technique teaching are determined by your own needs and/or the needs of each student.
I don’t subscribe to or believe in the “one-size-fits-all-or-else-you’re-wrong” view that is sometimes set forth because it doesn’t take in to account the fact that the physical size and even the digital composition of peoples hands around the world vary drastically.
For me, technique is a vast area of concentration that needs more than one post to explore it in any real depth so I’ll be visiting this subject matter frequently in Art’s Corner. In working to develop your technique, you and all students are going to be presented with many difficulties and obstacles. If you really have the desire to play this instrument and keep it in your life, then even physical, mental, and emotional challenges don’t stand a chance of getting in your way or preventing you from succeeding.
Check out these videos of some people who, for their own reasons, have developed their own technique and their own relationship with the instrument they so obviously love.
I saw Will Smith quote Henry Ford on an Oprah Winfrey telecast when he said, “Those who think they can and those who think they can’t are both right”. I couldn’t agree more! Think it! Believe it! See it! Work at it! Achieve it!
Full disclosure! I already had a decades-old opinion on this subject before writing this op-ed, but in the interest of being fair, open-minded, and objective, I set my opinion aside and went to work on this post with a mindset of being willing to change my opinion if convinced.
The first thing I did when I started thinking about this question was to itemize the parts of a song and put them on a list. I put a question mark beside each item so I’d be sure to consider each song part individually.
Looking over my list, my first thought was that all of the items are important but the question asks me to decide which item I feel is “most” important. So in the process of carefully considering each item, I systematically narrowed my list down to two items–lyrics and melody. From there, I very quickly came right back to my original answer. However, I wanted to see what other people thought so I did a little Google research.
After reading differing opinions on the question, I came away with a good understanding of the arguments that many people presented to support views, but nevertheless, I was not convinced to change my original opinion. l still feel that a song’s most important part is its melody.
Lyrics, when they’re present, are unquestionably a very important part of a song because lyrics express in words what a song is all about. A song’s lyrics are poetry that has been coupled with melody to tell the song’s story in a musical environment. A song’s lyrics when coupled with melody can make you feel very happy in a real way. The combination of lyrics coupled with melody can also make you feel very sad and have you crying real tears! Sometimes melodies are written first, then lyrics are added later. Conversely, lyrics may be written first and melodies added later. In either case, melody and lyrics are both very powerful entities that are very closely related and very important parts of a song. However, I feel that most song lyrics are melody-dependent in that, if you strip the melody away from the lyric, you no longer have a song; you have poetry with some type of beat perhaps. The melodies of most songs can stand on their own without lyrics. But again, lyrics performed with out any melodic coupling will result in poetry being recited–not a song being sung.
Here is a song with lyrics that first existed as a very well-known poem by Joyce Kilmer. The melody was composed years later by Oscar Rasbach. To demonstrate the effect and power of melody, please follow this 3-step process:
First: Read the through 12-line, 8-syllable, iambic tetrameter poem. Sans melody, you are reciting some beautiful poetry! Second: Mouseover the tree to hear a vocal version. Avec melody, the poetry has been transformed into a beautiful song! Third: Mouseover or click the grand piano to hear me play an instrumental version. Does the song stand alone sans lyrics? Do you recogni,e the song without its lyrics? I do! What say you?
I think that I shall never see A poem lovely as a tree. A tree whose hungry mouth is prest Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast; A tree that looks at God all day; And lifts her leafy arms to pray; A tree that may in summer wear A nest of robins in her hair. Upon whose bosom snow has lain, Who intimately lives with rain; Poems are made by fools like me, But only God can make a tree. –Joyce Kilmer
Summary / Synopsis
By definition, the word “song” implies singing. One music dictionary defines “song” as a piece for voice. Whenever voice and singing are involved, chances are, lyrics are going to be somewhere in the mix playing a very important role. But as I considered the overall question further, I asked my self some key questions. Can a song be performed without its lyrics as an instrumental? Obviously the answer is yes! What allows you to easily and instantaneously recognize a song when it is played sans lyrics? The answer is the song’s M-E-L-O-D-Y! Can a song be sung without its melody? No, because singing lyrics without a melody is reciting poetry. To transform poetry into song, a melody needs to be added to the mix. So, song lyrics are melody-dependent because without melody, you’re reciting poetry. Now as beautiful as reciting poetry may be, it is not song singing. Therefore I submit that melody is the most important part of a song.
Here is an example of a singer who completely forgot the lyrics to a significant part of a song during her performance. However, because she was able to stay with the melody, she rode her “melodic ship” out of those troubled waters and straight into a rousing round of applause for her spontaneous and successful song performance and eventually on to a couple of Grammy awards.
Last Word
Lyrics are very important but lyrics need melody. So for me, melody sits alone at the top of the song part pyramid. Learn and memorize as many melodies as you can! Melodies rule!
