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| Kind of a neat discovery...; Music reading | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: May 27 2008, 05:51 PM (175 Views) | |
| Frank_W | May 27 2008, 05:51 PM Post #1 |
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Resident Misanthrope
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I'm probably the worst music reader that ever lived, but I've been working on "Playing Love," from "The Legend Of 1900," and I noticed something, last night: There are a lot of octaves, with tones in between them, and lots of 7ths, too. For the longest time, I was reading chords like that from bottom to top, when I would find something like that in the right hand. Last night, I began finding the lowest and highest tone of each chord, and once I did that, the tones in the middle were a lot easier to put my fingers on. It's cumbersome to explain, and I'm sure for the more advanced, this seems like a very silly, elementary sort of thing, but... I don't know... Because it was my own discovery, and because it seemed to make my playing and reading so much easier and fluid, it really seemed like a revelation. Also, because I've been playing the drums a lot, I've noticed that when I'm just playing my own stuff, I'm keeping better time, arpeggiating things with a better sense of rhythm... I guess it makes sense, since the piano is a percussion instrument, after all, but it's easy to forget that it is. Just some interesting little things that I've been finding, lately. Often, it seems like my playing hits a plateau and stagnates, and then I'll have a practice session, and things just seem to really gel. ![]() Last night and this evening have been like this. It's encouraging. |
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Anatomy Prof: "The human body has about 20 sq. meters of skin." Me: "Man, that's a lot of lampshades!" | |
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| Frank_W | May 27 2008, 05:56 PM Post #2 |
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Resident Misanthrope
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Yeah... I know... It's stupid. Nevermind... |
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Anatomy Prof: "The human body has about 20 sq. meters of skin." Me: "Man, that's a lot of lampshades!" | |
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| George K | May 27 2008, 06:00 PM Post #3 |
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Finally
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It seems the more one does, the better one gets. I been spending time sight reading Joplin. As I've posted, a while ago, I "got it" one day. The rhythms, the octaves, the chromatic ascents etc just came to me, along with the chords. I can't play them anywhere near to tempo, but, they at least sound like Joplin. Gratz, Frank! I love those "AHA!" moments. |
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A guide to GKSR: Click "Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08 Nothing is as effective as homeopathy. I'd rather listen to an hour of Abba than an hour of The Beatles. - Klaus, 4/29/18 | |
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| Frank_W | May 27 2008, 06:07 PM Post #4 |
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Resident Misanthrope
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Awesome, George. Ragtime really seems like that, I've noticed. I'll labor away and plod through it measure by measure, day by day, and then one day, it's like... magic happens!! The hands take flight!!
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Anatomy Prof: "The human body has about 20 sq. meters of skin." Me: "Man, that's a lot of lampshades!" | |
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| pianojerome | May 27 2008, 06:41 PM Post #5 |
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HOLY CARP!!!
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| Sam | |
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| dolmansaxlil | May 27 2008, 06:46 PM Post #6 |
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HOLY CARP!!!
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This is one of the reasons I want to start a new instrument, Frank. I've played piano since I was 5, and I find that my old habits (bad ones) are so ingrained that I don't find these new things anymore, and it seems like a huge task to pick up a new piece. I'm hoping to have your kind of discovery when I move to a new instrument. Congratulations!
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"Your first 10,000 photographs are your worst." ~ Henri Cartier-Bresson My Flickr Photostream | |
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| Frank_W | May 27 2008, 07:13 PM Post #7 |
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Resident Misanthrope
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Thanks! When I first started plinking on the piano, I was taking everything I knew from guitar and trumpet, and doing it on the piano. Octaves in the left, chords in the right, and singing the melody. Then I got better at piano, and started trying to take that back to guitar. Then, with drums, as I sing the melody or hear it in my head, then I can lay down a drum track and go back and play the piano or guitar over it. It all feeds back into piano. It's all interconnected, and I'm really SEEING that!!
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Anatomy Prof: "The human body has about 20 sq. meters of skin." Me: "Man, that's a lot of lampshades!" | |
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Often, it seems like my playing hits a plateau and stagnates, and then I'll have a practice session, and things just seem to really gel.




11:24 AM Jul 11