Features article index

This section has longer articles on various aspects of the piano and synth, including playing technique, improvisation, composition, theory, practice, and preparing for performances.

Christmas carol concert: ten tips for preparing pianists

So, you’ve been asked to accompany the carol singing at your local school, church, social club, in the community, or even on the streets?

Here are ten tips to ensure you’re prepared and confident for the big day.

1. Be prepared

Most people like to know well in advance exactly what’s expected of them, so find out as soon as you can what you’re being asked to do, what format the carol concert will take, what rehearsals are planned, and how the whole thing will run.

Your stress levels will be lower if you have enough time to prepare for the event.

2. Know your skill and commitment levels

Be honest about your level of proficiency. Presumably, you’ve been asked because someone thinks you’re good enough to play, but don’t be afraid to keep things simple if you’re not confident playing more complicated pieces / arrangements, or if you don’t have a lot of preparation time.

If you’re provided with sheet music, and you know it’s too complicated, ask if there are simpler arrangements available.

Conversely, if you’re provided with chord sheets and lyrics, but you work better from manuscript, ask if you can have that instead.

3. Become friends with the organiser

You need to develop a good working relationship with the organiser of the event so that you can discuss how the event will run, flag any problems, and be kept “in the loop” if there are any new developments.

Particularly for more formal services, such as in a high church where there may be readings, liturgy, etc., the service organiser should be able to offer strong leadership so you’re not worried about when and how you should be performing.

4. Playing, singing, leading?

Are you going to accompany a choir or congregation by simply playing piano/keyboard, or are you expected to sing and play at the same time?

Are you “leading” others through your singing and playing, or is someone else directing from the front, or simply leaving it to the group’s knowledge of the music to carry it through?

Don’t be afraid to say if you’re not comfortable / able to play and sing at the same time. You may be able to work with a vocalist who can lead the rest of the group, leaving you to concentrate on playing the right notes.

5. Solo or group?

Are you going to be playing on your own, or with other instrumentalists? This will affect how and when you practice, what arrangements you use, and may require some diplomacy and group-building skills.

If you’re asked to play in a group and are prepared to either lead, or participate in that, be ready to work at honing musical arrangements and performance, dealing with possible creative conflicts, helping less confident musicians, and ensuring everyone knows what they’re doing on the day.

From my experience, many guitarists find all but the simplest carols (and hymns, too) quite difficult to play and make sound good, not because they’re poor musicians, but because many were composed on and for keyboard instruments. Don’t be surprised if guitarists wish to take more of a back seat when it comes to providing volume/body to carols. Solo instruments (cellos, violins, bass guitar) are often easier to work in, and can sound very good.

6. Singing from the same song sheet

Find out from the organiser exactly which carols are to be sung, obtain all the words, and ensure the same tune is being used (some carols have more than one version, particularly British and American variations).

If you have sourced your own music and/or words, ensure that it fits with what’s printed on the programme/hymnbook. Find out if certain verses are to be missed out, or repeated.

7. Practice! Practice! Practice!

If playing/singing solo, find enough time so you’re confident to accompany/lead the singers.

If working with other musicians, schedule in at least two rehearsals, or as many as required so everyone is confident, plus your own solo practices.

Find out whether you will be able to practice in the venue before the event — this can help to familiarise yourself with how you and/or a group of musicians will sound, particularly if you’ve never played there before.

8. Practicalities

Find out whether you will need to provide your own keyboard/digital piano, or whether an acoustic/digital piano will be provided for you.

If playing and singing outside, ensure there’s protection from the elements for you and your equipment, and a safe way to provide electricity for any amplification.

Ensure you’re able to get yourself and any equipment to the venue in plenty of time to set up, particularly if you’re working with a group, and if you will be using a PA system.

If using PA, find out who is setting it up and ask if there will be time to “sound check” everything, even if briefly.

Ensure that you can hear yourself playing and singing in the venue. See if the volume levels of any audio monitors (speakers) can be set at a slightly higher volume than is necessary, when practising, particularly when a large number of choir/congregation is expected — their singing will drown out or soak up your own sound and you may find it hard to hear what you’re playing.

Ensure you have enough light to be able to read the music/words comfortably.

9. Confidence

Be confident! You’ve been asked to do this, so someone believes in you.

Now you’ve accepted, trust in your abilities. If you’re nervous, don’t over-stretch yourself — play within your comfort zone.

With the right amount of preparation and practice, there’s no reason why the carol concert won’t be a great success.

10. Learn and Grow

After the event (maybe not right away) assess how you thought it went as a musician.

Did everything work as it should have? Were you happy with how you performed? What went well? What could have been better?

Make some notes so that, if you do another event, you’ll be even better prepared.

Have fun!

What tips would you add? Share in the comments below.

Playing piano or keyboard without a sustain pedal

Have you ever been stuck in a situation where the piano, keyboard, or synth you’ve been playing either has no sustain pedal, or the one that is attached works intermittently, or not at all?

I have, a number of times, and let me tell you it’s not much fun at the time.

Without wanting to sound condescending (apologies if I do), if you’re just starting out on the piano or keyboard, or you’re primarily involved with sequencing or computer-based composition, then you may not realise just how vital the sustain pedal is to many pianists and keyboard players.

When it’s missing, it’s very obvious — at least, to you, if not to your audience.

Here are some ideas for how to get around the problem of a missing or malfunctioning sustain pedal. Feel free to add your own hints and tips in the comments section below.

[Read more]

My First Keyboard: Buying a child’s first electronic keyboard instrument

I believe that the buyers’ guide I wrote a couple of years ago still stands as a good introduction to buying a keyboard instrument

However, in this feature I want to look specifically at buying a child their first “serious” electronic keyboard.

My Story

Every child is different, but let me tell you a little of my musical upbringing as it will give you a better idea of where I’m coming from, and hopefully give you some ideas on the way forward for your child / potential musical genius.

I was lucky enough to grow up in a home with an acoustic upright piano, which I started playing and picking out tunes on from a very young age (say 3 or 4). I think from this my parents realised that I had musical aptitude/talent, and I began taking classical-based piano lessons from around age 5.

I enjoyed this, and was incredibly blessed to have access to the piano (it’s probably why I love the acoustic piano, or as near as I can get to it, to this day). However, from the age of about 12, after seeing someone on stage playing some amazing synth lines and creating sound textures, I wanted to get into electronic music.

My parents agreed, and bought a fairly entry-level keyboard. However, it was enough to get me started in trying out new sounds, rhythms, and even doing some basic sequencing work on my computer.

The point to this is that, whether or not your child shows some interest and aptitude for music, and in particular a keyboard, it’s worth starting with a basic set up and building on that, rather than splashing out on an all-singing, all-dancing keyboard, digital piano, or even an acoustic piano, only for it to be a costly mistake.

Don’t force them - see the interest

I fell in love with keyboard instruments because that’s what was around, but I wasn’t forced to play.

Fashions come and go. Guitars are cool, and many kids want to play them. Don’t force them to play one type of instrument they’re really not interested in. Having said that, if they show interest in a piano (I’ve seen a great many children who love to try to play things on the keyboard, and it’s (arguably) an easier instrument to begin learning/experimenting on than the guitar, especially for small fingers) then go for it.

Make it fun

Though you may pay a bit extra, or sacrifice a bit of sound quality, by getting a keyboard with plenty of functions on, it will make it fun for your child to play, experiment, and learn about music.

If they really get a taste for playing seriously, and when they’re a bit older, they’ll probably find out what kind of things they want their keyboard to do. In fact, if they’re anything like me, they’ll be down at the local music shop every Saturday eyeing up the next model, getting the specifications and the price, and working out how to introduce the concept of a new keyboard to you.

In reality, even today’s relatively inexpensive keyboards do absolutely amazing things, and sound fantastic.

[Read more]

“A keyboard is not just for Christmas” buyer’s guide

I just wanted to let you know that a couple of years ago I wrote a five-part series called “A keyboard is not just for Christmas”, a buyer’s guide to pianos and keyboards.

Many of the principles still hold true, so I’d encourage you to take a look if you’re out shopping for a keyboard in the next couple of weeks:

• A keyboard is not just for Christmas: A Buyers Guide (Intro)
• A keyboard is not just for Christmas: Part One: Type
• A keyboard is not just for Christmas: Part Two: Budget
• A keyboard is not just for Christmas: Part Three: Features
• A keyboard is not just for Christmas: Part Four: Extras
• A keyboard is not just for Christmas: Part Five: Manufacturers

Rant: How hypocrisy and shallow mindedness is destroying positive web culture (and music)

I rarely rant on Piano & Synth, but a couple of articles have really riled me, and since they mention music (possibly in an attempt to gain a bit of popularity as I can’t see much specific reference to music) I felt compelled to mention it here.

The first “article” which made me mad was about Reason 4 shipping. Reason is a fine piece of software, so I am irritated (as I am sure the developers are — probably an understatement) when I read statements like “It is noted that some people still wish it had VSTs and Linux support, and of course audio recording.” after “Propellerhead Reason 4 Now Shipping (and available on bittorrent sites with a serial keygen).”

People, there’s usually a reason (ahem) why requested features don’t make it into a product, and illegal software downloads is one very big reason. Propellerhead Software are NOT Microsoft, and they don’t have the margins to absorb the impact of the illegal used of their software.

That wasn’t even the rant.

This is…

In an artlcle entitled Avoid the Destruction of Positive Web Culture (and your music) we’re “treated” to a tirade of abuse against a number of web sites and “corrupt people using the net starting as recently as 3-4 years ago”.

Apparently, the social bookmarking site DIGG has articles which are always “posted to make you fear or hate something even if its benign”. Apparently, Slashdot is a better alternative. The writer has obviously never read the tons of vitriolic abuse that the owners of websites featured on Slashdot have to put up with, or indeed the in-fighting in the comments section.

Google is apparently “barf inducing”, though I doubt the writer minds getting listed in the search engine.

Weblogs Inc is apparently “shit”, and apparently only focused on technology, even though when I looked at their home page I found a number of non-tech sites…

And so on.

All this “positivity” (ha ha ha) is supposed to encourage you to “Make music you really care about please. Don’t fall into the cultural contamination in the same way. Companies will come at you with corrupt tactics, marketing, and hype. They will make shitty electronics & software for you to buy. Information affects your brain forever. Pretty soon you could be thinking like them and make shitty music about it. To avoid all the BS in the world you just have to make your own path and don’t look back. Just express yourself, and don’t get hooked onto someone else’s crap.

Take your culture back and start making positive music again!!”

Yes, that indeed is the only part of the article supposedly about music. I wasn’t aware that I had begun to make negative music, though after reading that tirade I think I might just have to.

After all that, the author’s idea of “positive web culture” includes The Pirate Bay. Yes, folks, apparently it’s just A OK to go grabbing whatever content you like, for free, without caring one iota for the content owners. Woo. Yeah, that’s so positive, man.

Having ranted about all of that, I’ve noticed that a lot of the content of “The Chip Collection” is bordering on being a splog, lifted verbatim from other sites. Hypocritical? Yep.

Apologies that this article wasn’t really about music, but that really irritated me.

Musical listening test study - testing musical perception ability

I’ve just found an interesting online research project being run by the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne and UCL.

Here’s what the Musical Listening Test is about:

We are interested in studying musical perception ability in the general population. The following 2 tests, developed by Isabelle Peretz (University of Montreal), take less than 8 minutes each. They involve listening to pairs of tunes and deciding whether they are the same or different. Once you have completed both tests you will receive your scores.

The test involves listening to two sets of thirty pairs of short musical phrases, each of which may vary slightly in either pitch or timing of the notes. After listening once to each pair, you simply click a button as to whether you think the two phrases are identical or different.

I scored 26/30 and 27/30 on the two tests, which I’m pretty pleased about (and I know that I clicked the wrong button on one, so perhaps it should be 27/30 all round)

If you want to take part, simply go to www.delosis.com/listening/

Britain’s Top 10 Favourite Classical works revealed

A poll by UK classical music radio station Classic FM has revealed the nation’s favourite ten pieces of classical music:

1) The Lark Ascending Vaughan Williams
2) Cello Concerto Elgar
3) Piano Concerto No 2 Rachmaninov
4) Clarinet Concerto Mozart
5) Piano Concerto No 5 Beethoven (”Emperor”)
6) Enigma Variations Elgar
7) Violin Concerto No 1 Bruch
Symphony No 6 Beethoven (”Pastoral”)
9) Symphony No 9 Beethoven (”Choral”)
10) Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis Vaughan Williams

All About Jazz interviews French pianist Giullaume de Chassy

All About Jazz has interviewed Guillaume de Chassy.

February 2007, Paris: Pianist Guillaume de Chassy has just recorded his first solo piano album and he is performing an entirely solo set at the Archipel theater to celebrate its release. If he’s nervous, it doesn’t show; he jokes easily with the appreciative crowd, leading them through the by-ways of the musical journey that led him to this stage. The easy-going affability is deceptive; when he begins to play, de Chassy is all concentration.

I met with de Chassy a couple of weeks before the Archipel date at his home in a quiet suburb south of Paris. The French pianist and composer, in addition to talking about the new record, waxed eloquently and enthusiastically on subjects ranging from the genius of the composers of the Great American—and the Great French—Songbooks, to the enduring influence of Ravel in jazz, to the struggle between the harmony and dissonance in the arts generally, a kind of dialectical battle Thelonious Monk resolved in his “Ugly Beauty.”

Top 7 Don’ts for Successful Improvisation

1. Don’t try and make something happen. Trying blocks the creative flow and will result in blocks.

2. Don’t expect to create something good. Expectations will always come with judgements and, consequently, you’ll end up feeling let down.

3. Don’t worry about what is “coming out.” Improvisation is about play and freedom to explore. Abandon unrealistic expectations and experience the joy of improvisation.

[Read more]

How to Create an Original Melody

Here’s a method I use that works. First, sit down at your piano or keyboard and just improvise. I suggest improvising first because music that is created in this way is at its freshest. It’s not adulterated or thought up. It is pure inspiration. Now, there will come times during improvisation where you may say to yourself, “this is nice and I’d like to develop it.” You see, now you have an original melody to develop.The trick is you don’t need a lot of material to begin with. JUST TWO BARS IS ENOUGH to start you on your way. I usually work within 8-bar phrases so I know that the melody will usually end or repeat itself after 8-bars. I say usually because sometimes, the melody does not want to fit nice and neat into a predefined 8-bar phrase. But more times than not, the 8-bar phrase will serve you well

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