Friday, February 26, 2010

Copying Beethoven and our Soundtrack

Several months ago I had the opportunity to see a movie called Copying Beethoven. It tells the story of Beethoven and his female assistant/music copyist that worked with him during the latter part of his life. It was very interesting to see how he was portrayed in the film, especially as he lost his hearing.

There were several parts of the movie that had a profound impact on me and made me think of music in a new way.

In one scene as he was talking to his assistant, he tells her that as he lost his hearing he was able to hear the music around him with more clarity. It alluded to the fact that the music is always there, but most people never take time to listen and hear the music that surrounds us. He went on to say that God is whispering in his ear and playing the music that he writes.

What a profound statement! I’ve always felt like the music we write comes from a divine source, and at moments I’ve had the opportunity to have a magical moment when the entire song just “comes together” with practically no effort because I’ve been able to hear with amazing clarity the song the way it should be written.

I firmly believe that each one of us has a divine music soundtrack to our life that most of the time we are not able to hear. Some of us our fortunate enough to hear and capture that soundtrack at times throughout our lives. If you haven’t experienced it yet, I hope you have the opportunity at some time in your life.

Some may call this a 6th sense. Others may call it God whispering to us. Yet others may call it the Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit. No matter what you call it, from experience, I can tell it is very real. If we can learn to relax, focus and listen, you can hear promptings, whisperings and sometimes even music.

Whether you hear your soundtrack, or just receive promptings of what to do, the key is to listen… and listen often.

I am certain this world would be a much better place if we could all learn to and remember to listen frequently to these promptings that can guide and give us direction in our lives!

Finishing the 5th Book

Who would have thought that within a week and a half I'd be putting together a final draft for my newest book. As always, the hardest part is putting together artwork and doing all of the "non music" parts.

I'm still struggling with a title for the book but have been encouraged by several music stores to keep it simple so that it is easy to remember. Hopefully I'll have all of this figured out by the time the weekend is finished.

I'm really excited to share the new songs with everyone!

I still have the goal of having books in hand by March 15th.

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Standard Examiner Photo

I had the opportunity to perform at the annual Ogden chamber of commerce dinner this past week. It's always fun to perform for people. The photo on the left was taken at the event and published in the Ogden Standard Examiner Newspaper.


Monday, February 8, 2010

Fake Books and Lead Sheets

One of the things I think many people never learn to do is play from a fake book or lead sheet. I often see people playing by ear and trying to "figure out" songs on their own. While this is a good skill to learn, I've found that you can speed up the learning curve by teaching yourself to play from a fake book and then a lead sheet. Lead sheets are typically used by Jazz musicians, but for some reason the classical piano students never learn or hear about this type of written music.

What's a Fake Book?
A fake book typically gives you a one line melody of a song along with lyrics. It's basically like going back to your first 1-2 years of piano because all you have is one note to play in the right hand. Along with the melody line, you will find chord names above the measure. These chord names tell you what you need to be doing in the left hand. When you start to play from this type of book, you start out basic and then get more and more creative.

There are several good "How to" books on the market that can be purchased online or at a local music store. I would recommend starting with this type of book and also purchasing a fake book that includes several songs you would like to learn to play. One of my favorites has over 1,000 songs in it and is the size of a phone book.

If you are an intermediate/advanced piano player, invest the time and money into learning to play from a fake book and a whole new world will be opened up to you.

Lead Sheets
After I had played from fake books for a few months and felt comfortable improvising with them, I started to try playing from lead sheets. This typically includes lyrics and chords above the lyrics. There is usually no melody line to help you along. One of my favorite sites for looking up songs is: www.ultimate-guitar.com. It has thousands of guitar chord tabs posted by musicians along with the lyrics. The only drawback from this site is that it is pretty heavy on the advertising, but the database is great. You can find several versions of almost any song, searchable by band name or song name.

Some of my favorite lead sheets that are fairly easy are:

Home - Michael Buble

When September Ends - Green Day

Love Story - Taylor Swift

If you're looking for a way to have more fun with the piano, this is one of the best ways that I know of to do it. Give it a try! What do you have to lose?