Our population is aging. People are living longer lives, and they are constantly looking for brain food to keep their mental prowess in peak condition. One of the best ways to keep those hamsters running might be sitting in the corner of your living room gathering dust. That old piano of grandma\'s has more than its share of brain teasers.
If you\'re looking for a perfect way to keep your...
One of the most influential players of jazz that the world has known, Oscar Emmanuel Peterson was born on the 15th of August, 1925 in Little Burgundy, Montreal. His living environment was one imbibed with jazz music since lived in a locality where most of the people were African Americans. When just five years old, he was taught the piano and the trumpet. After being affected with tuberculosis...
A born child prodigy, Marian Portland started playing the piano at the age of three. She is formally trained in both the violin and the piano. Her real name is Margaret Marian Turner. A student of classical music, she got her music education at the Guildhall School of Music in London but her heart was not in studying classical music. She fell in love with the jazz masters including Fats Waller,...
Bill Clinton was neither the first musical president of the United States nor the only one. Both Harry S. Truman and Richard Nixon were excellent piano players.
People were surprised to learn that the former President, Bill Clinton, plays the saxophone. But, several other Presidents of the United States of American were musically gifted, as well.
There are many former presidents who knew...
There are gazillion adults who took piano lessons as a child but stopped playing for various reasons. Some aren't the least bit interested, but many wish to return to piano playing at some point in their lives.
I have never heard anyone express relief that they didn't learn how to play piano, but I have heard many people say they regret that they didn't make the most of their childhood...
When you think of piano lessons, the mental picture you get might be of child sitting at a keyboard. The instructor is probably sitting next to the child, tapping out rhythm with a baton or pencil.
While many do start as children taking piano instruction from a teacher, far more options are available today. Often this is good news for adults who never had the opportunity to take formal...
Gospel music is full of history and soul. It comes from a rich tradition of folk songs and church hymns. Gospel stays alive by remaining relevant, taking various aspects of the musical culture of the day and bringing those aspects into the spiritual fold. In modern gospel, jazz has been introduced into traditional songs. This has sparked the musical term "gospel chords."
Gospel chords are...
A music scale usually refers to a progression of single notes upwards or downwards in steps. The word scale comes from the Latin word la scala which means ladder, or stairway. A musical scale is a ladder of notes that runs from the root note to the octave note (octave means eight, as in octopus, octagon, etc., therefore eight notes in a scale.)
Most beginners in music are introduced to the...
New pianists learn notes first. An understanding of musical notes and their values is the foundation for learning any instrument. That includes the piano. The values of the notes are easy to remember because their names denote their values.
* Whole note: A whole note looks a bit like an egg on its side. It is round or oval-shaped and not shaded/solid. A whole note is held for four beats in...
Christian music has come a long way from the church-sanctioned melancholy chants of centuries gone by. It has rich history going back several hundred years. In fact, the earliest music manuscripts were of church origin.
When the separation of church and state began, secular music emerged in full force. Some people mistakenly believe that so-called "Christian" music died with this new era. In...
