PIANO FOR EVERYONE

Whether it is “Stormy Weather,” “Earth Angel,” “Mean to Me,” or “Heart and Soul,” these chords go with (at least) he beginning of many songs. If you listen to a lot of 1950s rock and roll, you will find more songs that fit. So get used to moving from one chord to another, repeating, without losing a beat. You can hold them for a couple of beats each.

The chords are: I, VI, IV (or II), V. In the key of C, that translates as C major, A minor, F major (or D minor), G major.

Both hands are in a good playing position, with tall pinky, slanted thumb, strong palm (a good “dome”).
Take this opportunity to name the notes in the chord, up and down.
Play the chord broken, one hand at a time, from the bottom up, then from the top down. Follow this with a blocked chord.

Practice playing each chord in both hands. The hands don’t have to play at the same time. Set up a slow rhythmic beat and play the chords, left, right, left right. Experiment playing the IV or F major chord in the pattern; then play the D minor or II chord in the pattern. Which do you like the best? After you decide, practice the chord progression slowly; the first time, hang on to each chord two long beats (or four short beats). When this feels comfortable and easy, halve the time, one long beat per chord (or two short beats). Now play it one short beat per chord. Add a little rhythm by repeating each chord with a long-short rhythm. Any two-syllable word will help you along—ma-jor, ma-jor, mi-nor, mi-nor. “Humpty Dumpty” is a good reminder.

As before, name the notes of the chord (or sing!) up and down.
Each hand needs to practice the chord broken, from the bottom up, from the top down. Follow this with the blocked chord.
Practice the move from the C chord to the A minor chord, back and forth slowly so you can get your hands in position on time.

The next step is to play the bass note (or name of the chord) in the left hand, the chord in the right hand. Keep your humpty-dumpty rhythm!

Practice this chord (or the D minor chord) like you did the others.
Now practice the move from C down to A, down to F (or up to D).

You can use the 2nd finger of the left hand for all its notes, or you can figure out a logical fingering in which your left hand will not have to move. Then you can concentrate on the right hand jumping to each chord.

Practice this chord like the others.
Practice one hand playing all four chords; then repeat the progression without stopping.
Give the other hand a chance to practice those chords; repeat without stopping.

Track 68

A TWO-HAND ACCOMPANIMENT

Practice playing the chord progression in both hands, either separately or together. Then have the left hand play just the bass notes—C, A, F, G, with fingers 1-3-5-4 (or C, A, D, G with fingers 2-4-1-5). This fingering can be adjusted to 1-2-4-3, if it is easier for you. Be sure to try both ways. Also, you can play the bass notes with one finger, preferably finger 2. But when you begin hands together, I think you might be glad to have the left hand stay in one place.

Now combine the left hand bass notes with the chords in the right hand. Don’t play them simultaneously; play bass, chord, bass, chord, left, right, left right. Keep a steady, slow beat. Invite a friend or family member to play along with you, on either the upper part of the piano, or on a melody instrument like flute, saxophone, trumpet, or violin. This could get to be serious fun! You are playing duets!

This tune is in my head, swimming around as I hear these chords. I don’t know what it is or where I heard it; perhaps I learned it at Girl Scout camp!
The tune fits the chords you have just learned; hold each bass note and each right hand chord one long beat, to coordinate tune and accompaniment.

When you are playing with another person, your ability to “keep playing no matter what” will come in very handy. This is the time to forgive yourself the mistakes and keep the rhythm. No one cares if you make mistakes as long as you keep your part up. In fact, no one knows you make mistakes if you don’t stop and just keep going. If no one is playing with you, record yourself playing the melody below; then play it back and accompany yourself It’s great practice!

If you don’t have the ability to record yourself on your keyboard, or you don’t have one of those cute little modern recording devices, what do you do? The cheapest answer is to sing the melody and accompany yourself.

These are the chords to accompany the melody I wrote out. I encourage you to find other tunes to fit the chords; I have mentioned a few of them already.
Use the rhythm that you already set up—bass, chord, bass, chord.
Of course, you can make up tunes, too!

Track 68

TRANSPOSE!

Just when you thought you had conquered the mountain, I am asking you to climb another one

Doesn’t the song say, “Climb ev’ry mountain”? So get ready to play your chord accompaniment in the key of G (the second mountain). First play the scale of G major up and down, in each hand. Then play the scale in double 3rds. Each hand gets a chance! Next play the primary chords in the key of G major: I=G, IV=C, V=D. Play them in each hand, until you feel comfortable moving to each chord. Now name the bass notes and practice those in the left hand. Then, put it together! You can combine the left hand bass and the right hand chord to fit any time signature, or any beat. Left-right-left-right is 2/4 time (the equivalent of bass-strum-bass-strum in guitar accompaniment). Left-right-right becomes 3/4 time.

The model is playing the G major chord in the right hand, the bass note in the left hand.
In this picture, the lower part of the piano is being used (in case someone can play the melody in the treble), and the left hand thumb is on low G.
The right hand chord is just below and just above middle C.

Now the pianist has moved down to the E minor chord.
The right hand has to move, so the left hand is using a fingering in which he will not have to move.
Practice the progression from G major to E minor, one hand at a time, hands together, until if feel easy.

Practice hands alone as you work out this new key. Left hand plays the keys G-E-C(or A)-D. The right hand plays the chords G major, E minor, C major (or A minor), and D major. Don’t forget the F^♯in the D chord!

When this becomes comfortable and sounds even (no stopping!), add a little rhythmic interest. Use the rocking rhythm you used before, or play bass note in the left hand, broken chord in the right hand, from the bottom up.

The piano player’s left hand, finger 5, is on low C. His right hand plays the C chord an octave below middle C.
Practice moving among the three chords in the right hand. Practice left hand playing fingers 1-3-5.

RED●LIGHT

The art of transposition is the art of practicing. Playing an instrument well is 99.9% work, and .1% talent. When you see and hear pianists perform, it looks and sounds so easy! But to get to that point, the performer had to put in years and years of practice. If you want to be able to play the piano so that you enjoy it, you have to put in the practice time.

Now comes the really different part: the D major chord has F^♯, but the left hand just plays D.
Now that you have the whole sequence, practice it over and over; don’t stop, but keep repeating.

Track 69

SAME TUNE IN F MAJOR

The key of F major has a different aspect with the B-flat as one of the bass notes. You need to practice the left hand playing F, D, B-flat, C, with fingers 1, 2, 4, and 3. Play it slowly about seven times to really get the feel of the pattern.

Try using the G minor chord instead of the B-flat major chord. The left hand will have it easier, playing F-D-G-C, with fingers 2-4-1-5.

Play the scale of F major with both hands. In the right hand the 4th finger will play B_♭.
Play the F major chord, one note at a time, saying or singing the names of the notes. Let both hands play the chord.
Now play the chord blocked, both hands; then blocked in the right hand, bass note F in the left hand.

The right hand will be affected also. When you move from the D minor to the B_♭ major chord, you go forward toward the fallboard, to get the thumbon B_♭. You can move to the G minor chord with less effort. Practice both ways several times to learn which set of chords feels the best.Try them in conjunction with the other chords; where you are coming from and where you are going to make a difference in your fingering.

Practice the chord like the F major chord. End with the chord in the right hand, the bass note, D, in the left hand, finger 2.
Play back and forth between the F major and D minor chords in right hand, the F and D notes in the left hand.

These practice tips are good for learning any piece of music in which there are shifts for either hand or for both hands.

If you are getting tired of the same old exercise, same old sound, try a different one. Play the A minor (harmonic or melodic—your choice) scale, then play a triad on every note of the minor scale. This is certainly different! There are interesting possibilities if you change the form of the minor scale—from natural, to harmonic, to melodic. When you get used to this sound and this feel in A minor, try D minor (the relative minor of F major).

Practice the B_♭ major chord as you did F major and D minor. End with the chord in the right hand, bass note B_♭ played in the left hand with finger 4.
In left hand, repeat the note sequence, F,D,B_♭, several times.
Right hand practice moving from F major chord, to D minor chord, to B_♭ chord several times.

Choose the I,IV, and V chords: D minor, G minor, A major (or minor). Again, these are interesting sounds. You can play with these chords in this minor key by doing other five-finger exercises, and accompanying the chords with their bass notes.

The C major chord should be well practiced! Make sure it is easy to play the chord in the right hand, the bass note in the left hand with finger 3.
Now practice the whole progression of chords—F major down to D minor, down to B_♭ major, up to C major.
Because of the black key in the left hand, play the bass notes F,D,B_♭,C, with fingers 1,2,4,3.

SAME TUNE IN D MAJOR

After making you transpose the chords into different keys without any music, I have written out the chords in D major, using both chord progressions: I, vi, ii, V and I, vi, IV, V. You can practice them as you did the other keys. Be sure to plan which fingering you will use in the left hand.

I also wrote another melody that can go with these chords. Analyze it, plan the fingering, and away you go!

This is a good time to review key signatures. In the key of D major, two sharps are needed to make the scale sound like a major one—F^♯ and C^♯. These two sharps go into the key signature at the beginning of each line of music. You won’t need to put a sharp sign in front of every F and C.

The hands do not play together in this accompaniment.
Practice each hand separately, especially the right hand.
I wrote a key signature instead of placing a sharp sign in front of each F and C when it appears.

The order of the sharps (or flats) in the key signature follows the order of sharp (or flat) additions around the circle of 5ths, clockwise for the sharps, counter-clockwise for the flats. The sharps’ placement on the staff is orderly: F♯, down a 4th C♯, up a 5th G♯, down a 4th D♯, up a 5th A♯, down a 4th E♯, up a 5th B♯. Because of the confusion in the ledger lines, A♯ and B♯ are written an octave lower.

The flats’ placement on the staff is B_♭, up a 4th, E_♭, down a 5th, A_♭, up a 4th, D_♭, down a 5th, G_♭, up a 4th, C_♭, down a 5th, F_♭.

Music in the traditional genres have these key signatures, always in the same order. If there are two sharps, the key signature has F♯ and C♯. If there are three sharps, they are F♯, C♯, and G♯, etc.

There is a key signature instead of placing a sharp sign in front of each F and C as it appears.
To remind you that certain notes are sharp, circle them with a pencil.

Track 70

RHYTHMS FOR ACCOMPANIMENTS

As you get more comfortable with these chords, in these keys, make your playing a little jazzier, or swingier (is that a word?). Use the following rhythm: quarter, eighth, quarter, eighth (the quarter note is held twice as long as the eighth note) in each hand, first the left hand bass note, then the right hand chord (“Humpty Dumpty”).

Next, using the same rhythm pattern, play broken chords in the right hand, after the bass plays on beat one.

For more ideas on accompanying, or “comping” as jazz musicians say, listen. In jazz listen to how many different ways chords are played. Listen to rock music, or to some traditional folk music. Hear what the guitarist, or mandolin player, or accordion player, or pianist is doing with the chords you just learned. Don’t forget folk dance music. The folk dancers need the steady accompaniment of rhythmic music; there are plenty of recordings of traditional dance music for all kinds of folk dancing, from American square dancing to Cajun, to Balkan, to Irish reels and jigs, to English country, to Northeast contra dancing.

The basic accompaniment in the key of C major.
Notice the rests in each hand, which indicate that the hands do not play simultaneously.

Another kind of music to listen to is choral music. When they are not singing a cappella (unaccompanied) they are usually being accompanied by a pianist or organist. What the accompanist plays to keep the singing moving and provide a good bass should be of interest to you.