Also i think many people want to learn to actually write there own music. So if you, yourself, were writing a song. And explaining how you come up with the melody and chord progressions etc. And we have a finished song at the end we can hear to kind of see how all the ideas worked together. I think is also a good idea. And this doesn't have to be done in every video. But if you are making a 8 video series on Modes then a Series on Time Signatures then another in Key Changing. You could be maybe be writing 1 song throughout all the videos and the last one is the finished song. Or you could have a normal course for 7/8 and the last one be you now using everything you learned in a song. (8 videos is just a random number for example purposes of course)
+Michael New I second that! great idea I'm really enjoying all of the information, and the way you pass your knowledge. It's great to look back and understand the theory to a deeper level. and it could be great to see you work on song writing and piano playing
I think personally that the most difficult thing and the most difficult thing to find on the internet is a summary of how all the elements of theory work together and expand on that and how people use it in different ways. because is not easy to get all together right,even understanding how specific things work like the circle of fifhts.
Btw...missed mentioning that I have gone through many other videos but none is as engaging, elaborate and easy to understand as yours. You are a great teacher! Hats off.
Spent my whole career as a school teacher. Have never come across anyone who explains things as clearly as you Michael. Thanks. (Ron in Perth, Australia)
i know ur not uploading 4a long time but let me tell uur videos will be here forever and many musicians will learn from them coz the content is awesome and such amazing expaination god bless u
i think you are right michael, learning theory in my experience is harder than just learning how to play. Learning to play is just practice to get dexterity (scales, arpeggios, finger exercises, pieces...) but theory is really though to understand for begginers. That's what i like about your videos bruh
So far I have not found anyone on UA-cam who actually goes deep into teaching people how to craft their music probably. Many people are interested in creating, composing music, and writing songs. In my view, you should explore this almost unexplored territory rather than offering beginner piano lessons, which are all over the place. However, I do enjoy your music theory lessons so far and have learned a lot from them and is going to contribute to your campaign. Please keep quality lessons coming.
Idea for the piano learning series: A practical walkthrough of learning to play some song? If you have just the harmony, what would be some simple but effective ways to play it? A few alternatives, variations? This would probably have to be a series of videos, but what I find missing in most lessons / videos is rounding it all up, connecting all the lessons and details. The internet is rich, but overwhelming. Same thing with composing, it's even worse. I think many of us would get a much better grasp on everything if someone actually demonstrated the whole process from day 1 to a finished project. Especially by someone like you. You are an amazing, pragmatic, practical and learned teacher. Thank you for everything so far, your lessons are exactly what I needed.
The best thing you taught me was the early theory videos you made- Constructing the major and minor scales, chords, and then finding the chords that fit within the scales. This sort of stuff, connecting different bits of music theory I had already learnt and connecting them in new ways, really solidified my grasp of music theory and then you added new concepts and continued explaining them and linking back to your earlier stuff. Also your way of working with the whiteboard and keyboard is really helpful and makes most of the concepts really clear. Generally, topics that relate to how music is constructed harmonically and melodically and so on, with a view to composing or at least understanding how music is composed, is the most useful rather than the more technical stuff you could get through classical training.
As for fifths, I find it really easy to actually visualize a violin (or other string instrument). Since their strings are divided by fifths, all you have to do is find a note and a fifth up or down is the same fingering up or down a string.
You should teach how to actually play the piano whith constant references to the theory behind the piece of music you're teaching. For example pick one of your favorite songs and teach it while explaining what scale is it in, how it builds tension etc. After all you should not be so worried about weather it will be successful or not. Most people are here for your way of teaching and that already will make it special. Keep up the amazing work.
+Thomas Laggas That's a great idea. After playing guitar for years, I'm only just now starting to see HOW songs are made. It would be brilliant if he would dissect songs for those who are just learning. Hell, this gives me a cool idea for a UA-cam channel in general.
+Thomas Laggas Love this idea! There are so many videos about how to play songs, but they rarely dive in a little deeper and dissect what you're actually playing. This type of piano lesson would fit in perfectly with the current theme of music theory and would also be interesting to non-piano players (such as a guitar player like myself).
I've watched most of your videos on music theory in the last two days and this one, my dear sir, is the one that earned you a new subscriber! You make some valid and intelligent points that almost every other YT channel of this kind seems to miss. I agree with comments below on a particular way of teaching piano, if you ever decide to go in that direction.
That was a very nice succinct description of 3/4 vs. 6/8. 3/4 is 3 beats per measure as 1-2-3 and 6/8 is 2 beats per measure as tri-ple-et tri-ple-et. I don't think I've ever heard somebody describe it that way. Thanks!
No video in several years! Your videos are so awesome and have helped me more than any others. What have you been up to lately? How can I learn more from you?
this piece of theory music are gold for musicians, the people who still asking what is the difference between Aminor and Cmajor are the reason why your theory lessons are important. As you said there is a lot of practical videos of"how to play x instrument" around here. So please still making this videos as usual and i hope someday someone will pay you for this great work! excuse my poor english by the way
Hi Michael, thank you for the videos. They are just wonderful! I've been learning piano for a couple of years, and UA-cam has been a great tool in this effort as I don't have the time to take formal classes because of work, taking care of kids, etc. As far as your question about what we "viewers" would like to see in piano teaching tutorials, I agree with Thomas Laggas. In addition to his suggestion, I think it would be good if you teach us how to think in terms of fingering. I've found this makes a huge difference in how quickly one can learn to play a piece, because even if some passages are straightforward; others aren't. Also, to not create bad finger habits, and then, having to relearn the piece again.
Regarding 6/8 vs 3/4. One should always remember that every timesignature boils down to sets of two or sets of three, and that helps you tell where the accents are. So 3/4 would have three sets of eightnotes (2+2+2). and 6/8 has two sets of eightnotes (3+3). With that we can also see that 6/8 actually is a lot more similar to 2/4 or 4/4 then 3/4. Thinking that every timesignature get boiled down to sets of two or three gets really important when you get to odd timesignatures. 7/4 can be (2+2+3), (2+3+2) or (3+2+2) if you dont know whitch one you are playing or writing for things start to sound really confusing.
I think it'd be really interesting if you made a video about different temperaments and intonations, but regardless the piano series would be good too. Hope your hand gets better!
Re: Practical Piano lessons. There are some comments below which suggest picking a song. I think this is a great way to learn because it is like a 'real world' example as opposed to something like scales (which after a few years trying to force them in, are still boring AND useless in actual playing). But this could easily turn into yet another paint by numbers piano video for just one song. I think a better approach would be to break it into sections, I think you should pick a simple song, Do a proper musical analysis of it. In the same great teaching style as your previous videos. Your current formula works brilliantly, It would be a shame not to make the best use of it. Discuss the songs structure, the key/time signature, what scales are used over what part, and why you might assume that these choices were made, or why it sounds good. Then with this, give some examples of fingering, the mechanical choices for different sectons and chord changes, and the mindset behind how you would approach playing the piece from the sheet music. All without simply playing the song and saying "do it like this". Keep up the great work. Best Music series I have seen on youtube.
Hello Michael, I discovered your videos last week and find them extremely useful. Your way of explaining is so simple and makes wishing to play the piano well one day not such an unreasonabIe dream. I am english married to a frenchman with four children and having started the piano at 40 for a couple of years (with a classic method from a french teacher) I lost the enthusiasm and then re-started last september (10 years later) and have so far managed to learn to play Bach's BMV934. BUT what I really want to do is understand the keyboard completely and use it to have fun and be able to play some nice pieces easily rather than spending hours going over sheet music and not getting very far. Having watched your videos I understand the keyboard much better but my greatest aim is to improvise so I was thrilled to see your last n°25 on How to Improvise. Please do another because I feel this is where it really begins for me. Obviously I must practice technique and do exercises for finger strength and I suppose the best way is to play around with the chords and scales for this. Do you think this is a good idea? I am trying to play a couple of hours a day (at my age it simply isn't worth it if I do less because I am so slow!). I look forward to hopefully learning more from you on improvisation and plenty more. With many thanks from Paris Sophie
Hey, very sorry about the late response. Sometimes I don't quite catch every comment I get. I'm trying to head towards more and more "applied theory" kind of lessons, especially since I've covered a good chunk of the basics in general music theory. So a bit more like that lesson on improv. As far as a practice routine, my recommendation is to be very goal oriented. There's a lot more to music than moving fingers; it's more about seeing patterns, learning how to memorize, learning how to listen and make adjustments, and just in general getting in tune with how your mind absorbs information and what you need to do to start getting things "in your fingers" so to speak. I would choose pieces of music you'd like to learn, and if you find yourself having trouble with a particular part, let's say a scale run, then start practicing that particular thing. You can even find or or invent some exercises to work on that, but I don't recommend just doing exercises blindly. It makes all the difference if you have a particular problem you're trying to solve. Also, by the way, gaining finger strength in a literal sense isn't actually relevant. For example this kid is 4 and plays really well, and you can bet his actual muscle strength is only a tiny fraction of yours or mine: ua-cam.com/video/omuYi2Vhgjo/v-deo.html. It's more similar to typing on a computer keyboard. You don't need strength, you just need to start connecting certain movements to your brain. Anyway, best of luck. And hopefully I'll have some new content for you soon that's more focused on playing.
Thanks Michael for your reply. Yes I am trying to work on pieces I like as well as warm up exercises and learning chords and inversions. I am currently working on Adèle's Someone like you. I am having real problems with memorising the melody which is often my problem. I try to take little chunks at a time but it is slow. Can you suggest anything for this piece? At the same time I keep going with Bach's preludes to keep up with my music reading. Many thanks again and I am recommending your videos to my 20 year old son and his musical friends. They really are very well done. I can't wait to see another of your videos on improvising.
Hi Michael, thank you for your videos. For a lesson idea I like the idea of taking simple single note melody lines to chorded lines. And understanding how the circle of fifths can help in both creating chords and creating a chorded melody lines that retains the character and even enhances the single note progression. So putting the theory of the CoF into action
I'll put in some input for the piano thing. I have personally been wanting to learn to play but have not had the time or patience (I have messed around on a piano though and know the very basics) but I particularly like the way you teach. It clicks with me more than any other videos I've found. I think it would be good for you to do a piano series, and just keep your same teaching style, but with the piano instead of theory
Hey Michael, I have only been watching your video's since today, so I'm far from up to date with what you do, but I am loving it, so that is my first comment, big thanks !! Secondly, you ask for ideas/wishes on piano lessons in this video. Not sure if I am too late, maybe you have already made your plans, but for me, being a "semi self taught" piano player (I had electric organ lessons way back and just started to play the piano years later) my main questions/interests are in what to do with the right hand and left hand in different scenario's. More specifically, the left hand can play only root notes, or a root and a fifth, say, or a full chord, or melodies, or some combination of these I guess (and maybe I am missing possibilities). Same for right hand. Now so much for the rational/theory on what hands can do on a piano ;-), here is my wish/interest: I would love to see/hear such different scenario's in action and learn from that. Finally, I was wondering whether you would also be interested in expanding your piano lessons into "keyboard" lessons. I have an interest in all sorts of (vintage) key instruments such as the (B3) Hammond, Rhodes, Clavinet, Moog, etc. Now one might say, well they are just another keyboard, so nothing new, but I would disagree and find it very interesting to learn about the specific aspects of playing such key instruments, might this inspire you too. Either way, best of luck, and again, thanks , I am inspired by your video's !!
Hi +Michael New, First and foremost thanks a ton for creating these videos. I have been learning keyboard for around a year now but whatever understanding I have about western music theory it's only because of your videos. You asked suggestions for creating lessons on playing Piano. Can you share some exercises on how to improve improve muscle memory, playing speed, easy ways to memorize chord progression and both hands independence & co-ordination?
+Shyam Sridhar Definitely. It seems like a lot of what's out there is pretty light on the higher level concepts, like what you mentioned, and focuses more on the "here's where your fingers go" kind of stuff.
I actually explain the 3/4 and 6/8 discussion with a drum beat. A simple 3/4 goes like boom ba ba, boom ba ba (1 2 3) and the 6/8 has a snare on the 4th 1/8 note: boom ds ds ba ds ds. You can hear that the 3/4 has a quarter feel and the 6/8 an 1/8 note feeling to it.
Piano lessons: The basics melody triads, inversions, counterpoints Learning pieces (classical or modern) with your description of them like how to compose and create theme variations. I really dig your first improv video! Random idea: how about do exercise submissions to see what people come up with like the improv video where there are set rules. Would be interesting to see what people come up with the same rules
Very easy to understand music theory. Understand a little bit now about chords and their relationships but need practicalities - how to accompany a song on piano - rhythms, using both hands, finger placement, little practice activities to help. I am playing violin but have a piano should be able to transfer learning between both? Congrats on great videos nurse those sore fingers. Best of luck in your endeavours! ( Also your voice works well on u tube videos some others are hard to listen to!)
hey Michael, just finished watching all the theory lessons and from a person who had zero musical knowledge before watching your videos, i now feel like im comfortable enough to dive into the world of music production. As a thank you i'd like to give you a singular donation rather than a monthly fee on patreon, do you have a paypal where i could do this? Guaranteed viewer for life!
+Wobblecraft also, are you monetizing your views on your UA-cam? This could be also a huge help and another source of income for you since you get some views :)
+Wobblecraft Hey, thank you so much! Paypal is tied to my email, mikenew12@gmail.com. Really nice of you to do that. And I do actually monetize the UA-cam videos. Ad revenue goes up and down but it does definitely help.
Great stuff..I'd like to see piano vids on the "All about Grooves"..For example: This song's groove is hands together, left, right, right, left, hands together then it repeats..Or Mnemonically the groove sounds like the word "Wash-ing-ton". I haven't been able to find many teachers fully detailing this topic.
So many people want to make music without knowing how it works. Whats' up with that?!! Personally, I tried that at first, then I realized I had to know the rules of music theory before I coulld actually start to play and understand how it all relates to the fretboard. When I make a new discovery it's thrilling! For example, I just this week realized that standard tuning on a guitar is based on C major and the open strings (starting on the 6th string "E", are tuned Phrygian (3rd degree), Aeolian (6th degree), Dorian (2nd degree), Mixolydian (5th degree), and Locrian (7th degree), with Phrygian repeating on the first string, all part of the Diatonic chord series! I want to be able to play modally in all keys without having to consult anything. As you said here, you have to learn to think in the language, you can't constantly be trying to translate the language! I'm a guitarist leaning seriuosly toward Jazz, Blues and a taste of Flamenco for electric guitar.
+downhill240 I think one reason why I'm excited about a piano series is because it's a good way to look at theory in a more applied sense. Like what you're seeing on the guitar strings; it just really helps the theory solidify when you're looking at some actual music or real world examples.
Hi Michael, Congratulations for your channel, I'm a big fan. About your future piano course I suggest maybe starting with some recommendations on what pieces people can start studying according to their level. I'm a beginner and for me is very difficult to choose songs for practicing. Some are too hard to learn because technically they are tricky. So if you could recommend a few songs according to different levels, maybe separate them into 5 or more levels that would help a lot. Thank you for your videos and let me know if you ever come to Brazil, would be a pleasure to meet you.
+Wlady Pimentel That's a very tough problem for anyone trying to learn. It's very hard to find things that are the right level but also something you'll actually want to spend your time learning. I've been thinking about that for a while and I'm hoping to eventually figure out a good way to list and share different pieces to work on. And I'll definitely look you up if I ever make it down to Brazil :)
micheal can you do a video about memorize intervals ? And talk about how do you feel about each intervals also . Like the fifth interval give me the feeling of strong, brave .
Your videos are always top notch! It would be awesome to see a video on pentatonic (and other types) of scales. All of the piano pentatonic scale videos on youtube are not very good.
I'd continue with the music theory and not concentrate too much on actual piano playing. Piano is a useful instrument to explain theory, but as you said, there already are like a zillion of learn piano videos - and not so many on music theory. Well, there's the serie of user Lypur on UA-cam, but it's more academic, thou really well done anyway. You on the other hand, seem to have more pragmatic way of teaching, which I find refreshing. So, please do continue! :) Some topics to consider: Continue with the modes and how they relate to certain chords, different chord progressions, counterpoint and/or other harmony studies, harmonizing a melody, maybe some tricks and methods to train the ear (with intervals ect) Oh, and in some point once we'd gone thru a little more theory, to try and analyze a standard song would be cool way to show how it all applies. Great videos, cheers!
+Lance Pinya I think that's a fair point, and I wouldn't want the theory videos to suffer because of the piano series. I do think there's a lot that isn't covered terribly well in some of the existing resources on playing though. Certainly there's plenty of "here's where to put your fingers" or "this is what the notes are called" kind of stuff, but I'd like to look at practice techniques, how to memorize things quickly, how to be efficient with your practice time, and just how to progress quickly in general. But don't worry, I won't drop the theory videos. I'd like to add to them, not take away.
Hey Michael, I've been really enjoying your theory lessons while learning guitar; one youtuber named Just Nick does something I haven't seen anyone else do online yet. He has "Play Along" videos (not enough) where to work on playing fluently on guitar while improvising or jamming, you play along with him in the video and he gives you tips along the way from the prior lesson video. (So alternate one lesson, one play along) I also just finished reading The Music Lesson by Victor Wooten and I've been trying to think about what the most efficient and fun way to learn guitar is. (P.S., some philosophy videos about music would be pretty cool too). But one thing they say is that people focus so much on "practicing guitar" that they don't get the chance to see how everything is connected and that you can really start to use music as a language instead of imitating and repeating what someone else does. It would be pretty neat if you could do something similar with piano, and you could make it applicable to any instrument that wants to play along with the video. So an example lesson could be, you explain how to improvise over chord changes (something I'm working on at the moment), why one thing sounds better than doing the other, how it works, how it maybe relates to why you did something in another lesson, and then the next video is a half hour or so of you playing over a beat, looping tracks, get a good groovy environment set up for the student, and then just being there for them to play and practice applying what you have been teaching. Lol, this is something I've thought about myself. Sorry for the long ass comment haha. But anyways, keep up the good work and looking forward to what's coming soon. 👍👍👍 ~Stephy
+Stephy Moore Hey, thanks for the very thoughtful writeup. I'll look into the play along videos you mentioned, and I'll definitely take a look at that book. I'm a big fan of Victor Wooten anyway, so I'd love to read it even just for myself. I think you're spot on with your basic point; imitating someone else's practice routine doesn't necessarily bring you closer to your musical goals. In fact I think many people don't even have a good sense of what they're trying to accomplish. I think a key element in learning to play is being able to identify a weakness in yourself and then being able to address it with your practice. Anyway, I appreciate the input and the resources you mentioned. I'll definitely check them out.
I think most method books, and subsequently many teachers, teach a concept like a scale or chord progression or a new time signature. And then teach a song that utilizes that concept. Which is good; but where it goes wrong is that the songs are usually very VERY outdated [i.e. Greensleeves, Ode to Joy, Amazing Grace.] Using contemporary popular music/ artists [i.e Uptown Funk, Taylor Swift, Whichever newest disney movie just came out (disney songs will forever be popular with kids) Even popular rap/hip hop tunes.] i think will help new players from this generation actually using the tools you're teaching.
+Monochrome Gold Well I would only want to teach songs that I enjoy, so Taylor Swift is out. But I definitely agree with your point. Just because a piece of music was exciting 300 years ago doesn't mean everyone is dying to learn it now. The one tricky part is the copyright issues though. UA-cam can be pretty tricky that way.
Hello again Michael, I have just read the comment before mine and agree, it would be really helpful if you actually taught a specific piece explaining all the theory related as you teach the progression of how to learn it. Or if you could build up a complete short improvisation, again showing each step of your creative and technical process. Maybe this sounds like too much to ask for but I would be interested by your reply. Many congratulations again for your brilliant teaching, from here in Paris. Sophie
It sounds like a lot of people are really interested in the applied theory sort of stuff. Like creating a piece of music or learning a song from a theory perspective. I do still want to talk about the learning process, performance issues, technique, and all that, so I might end up doing two separate series. Not sure yet, but I really appreciate the thoughts.
I think the best option for you if you don't want to take away from your theory videos but also teach piano is apply what you teach in your theory videos to your piano teaching videos, that way if someone doesn't quite understand what something is or how to do it, they can go watch your theory video on that thing they don't understand and then watch your teaching video and learn how to apply it
I would love to see piano teaching video's with a focus on songwriting incorporating music theory. I still find your way of teaching the most comprehensive and easy to understand. I'm sure that will be no different for the piano.
We have found you to be an excellent theory teacher. Integrate this with your piano lessons, with real examples, known songs and you will get something special. Most teachers ignore, or just tuches theory. I think it should be integrated, with real music examples so that you learn the language completely, not theory, "words" or technique separately . Until that, continue your Modes to Music lessons.
In a piano course I'd like to see learning methods. Like, for sight reading, I had a mental block for years that disappeared when someone said read notes from the bottom to the top and don't worry about rhythm right away. (I progressed more in one week than in 2 years of piano.) What are good practice methods that can help a person keep motivated?
I need to know what to practice! If learning from youtube, often tutorials are "Just do this" which I can do. Once. Or twice. Unless it's like a technical exercise. So a good lesson plan or whatever would have a clear progression of homework assignments. I come here for the theory though! :)
+mtszyk That would definitely be one of the main things I focus on. I'm not so interested in the "just do this" kind of tutorials, rather I'd be talking about how to improve quickly, what to work on, how to memorize, and so on.
+Michael New I've still been thinking about this a fair bit. This comment has a lot of personal experience, but I think I'm a decent target for these potential videos. I understand the theory quite well, but don't have very much technical experience. I know my scales and the circle of fifths, still internalizing all the major and minor triads, but I know one piece. One! I do firmly believe that there's no way to progress as fast as having a personal teacher, but that should be obvious, and it consequently a helpful comment. BUT it does give a little guidance on to what we can accomplish via online videos. So I think maximizing the value of a video online needs to deal with that somehow. Identifying things that you can't work on with a student online are important, such as being unable to correct technique or the ability to count along with the student's play to help correct rhythm. If you identify those things, the student can find another way to work on those things while coming to your videos for... what? Well, not those things. As a beginner, I don't know what I don't know, but I'll tell you what I do know I don't know! ... Sorry. For me, I need motivation to practice pieces. I need motivation to practice my chords... consequently I think I need to have a structured practice session so that I can sit down and check off on a list what I've done, keeping track of practice is important for everything, so emphasizing that is probably good. Right now, I sit at the piano every evening, practice a little bit of chords and scales (which are great and important!) but fizzle out. I don't know what to practice next. So I stop. Rinse and repeat. With some exceptions. So, detailed practice sessions with exercises and pieces to me seems the best. It's also what I haven't been able to find online. If you found some pieces that are freely available and linked them in the description of the videos, that could be phenomenally helpful. At the end of the day I imagine your goal would be to make the student practice regularly in a constructive manner, which seems to me to maximize what you're capable of via online lessons. I guess that also means you should make an assumption about the ability of your students, or offer different pieces and exercises... but offering different pieces rather than going through a progression could be problematic. Unless you did different difficulties in parallel. At this point, I'm starting to delve into things that change the amount of work for you so I'll shut up :P. Though I think it would be best to assume a base level of experience and make a series of videos, which could count as a weekly or monthly set of instructions. Also I love your idea for D12/D6/D4 for practice. I just started using it with my dice, it's great! You could recommend purchasing a few on amazon and setting up a table that links the numbers to the different practice bits, and then advertise your patreon. Uh, sorry for the wall of text.
Another point to make. Not everything in 3/4 time is a waltz. Mazurkas and 3 time bourrees are frequently written in 3/4 yet they have completely different note emphasis to a waltz. A bourree should emphasize both 1 and 3 for example.
In 6/8 jigs, the first note is often played slightly longer and the second two played closer together. It's more subtle than can be easily noted using standard notation.
Maybe you should break down a song (or make your own song), and tell/show us what methods were used to give that song that particular feel, or perhaps use that song as an example to tell use what we should keep in mind when creating the actual song. Idk it might be asking for a bit much but that's my suggestion.
hey Michael, my humble request is, please don't stop doing music theory if you pick up how to play piano topic..coz u r music theory videos are awesome and amazing and so easy to understand, which we won't get in google or in any others tutorial except from your channel. keep rocking :)
+arun hs Hey well thank you very much. I definitely don't plan to stop doing theory lessons. I want to add new things to the channel and be careful not to take anything away.
I figured out how to play piano chords/scales just from your music theory videos. I just don't know how to apply that to melodies... that's my next hurtle anyways
When writing sheet music in G lydian, for example, should I use the Dmaj key signature, I mean, F and C sharp, or use the Gmaj signature and represent C sharp whenever I need it?
"How to play the piano"? How about tackling the hard bits? For me (3 months into learning), it's the hands together inadequate translation from clef to finger movement?
I like the Vanilla Book tonal centers pages. I would love for someone to make videos actually demonstrating the sound of those changes and a little theory on why these changes work within contexts of the songs they may appear in. www.ralphpatt.com/Tonal.html I'm sure Ralph would love for someone to reference and link back to him and explore the material on video, on piano and maybe also guitar jazz chord voicings. Speaking of that, jazz guitar voicings, in the style of say Ted Greene, is one of the biggest lacks, blank areas I have found to exist (if a blank space exists that is) on UA-cam.
You talkedabout finding the 5ths and interalizing it but how do you so quickly find the 5th of any given note without actually visualising or count up seven semitones..How do you do that? What i mean is i often see people talking about a scale and its like they instantly know what note is in every major scale for example. For me i would have think about the formula wwhwwwh then count along, either in my head or on paper. Now i know every note of the C major scale but how do you memorize all that for every key without thinking /counting the formula for said scale.
For the fifths, just memorize them. There's only 12 notes after all, so it really doesn't take much. Once you've memorized the 5ths everything else gets a lot easier. Finding the 4th is easy since it's just a whole step down from the 5th, the 2nd is easy since it's a whole step up from the root, the major 7th is a half step below the octave, and so on. Pretty quickly you'll be able to find everything in the key without having to think much, and you won't have to count your way up.
Put little bits of paper with notes written on them around your house (on the bathroom mirror, by the kitchen sink, next to a light switch etc) and everytime you see one, say what a fifth above it is. At first you'll have to think about it, but soon you will have memorised it. The next week do the same thing for a minor thrird, or whatever.
How about making videos explaining how famous songs have been made, like this song is in this key is modal,use these chords and these intervals to achieve this efect,whatever.This way you can put the name of a famous song on the title and get more views wile teaching to play piano and teaching how theory work together. Maby is a bad idea I don't know. im spanish ^^ is hard for me to write this, i hope is wright. Love your videos,cheers.
when i am in a lets say C major key, i am "allowed" To play all the white notes, right so just the princip of fifths. but whats about the chords? Can I just use fitting chords (fitting like ct and nct As you explained already) To harmonize with the notes? Or should i More focus on playing fitting chords in the key (like C and D in C major) and harmonize with normal notes? chrods do built up the foundation while notes are the melody, right?
+vivien okorie Generally you'd use chords that fit with the key (C major, A minor, G major, etc.). There's ways of using other chords, like by borrowing them from different modes, but that's a bit more advanced.
+Jimtik zeus I use Logic. I've thought about doing tutorials for that kind of thing, but I'm really not much of an expert. I may try to put something together though.
So if the difference between 3/4 and 6/8 is that 3/4 has three beats per measure and 6/8 has two beats per measure, what is the difference between 6/8 and 2/4 played with triplet-eighth notes? As far as I comprehend, 2/4 has two beats per measure, both of which are quarter notes and each can be divided into three triplet-eighth notes. Where's the difference?
By using 6/8 time, you immediately tell the player there are two beats per measure, each beat divided into three eighth notes. 2/4 time has a different rhythm than 6/8 time: just two beats, not subdivided into three notes. You could use triplets in 2/4 time, but it should be limited to when the pieces diverges from the 2/4 rhythm. If you have to use triplets throughout the entire piece, you should use 6/8 time instead because it more accurately reflects the rhythm.
+ragerpez Anywhere on my channel is fine, whether it's as a video comment or a channel comment. I definitely prefer public messages rather than private so other people can benefit.
It's hard, if not impossible, to come up with a course that covers everything for people at all levels. IMHO, the basics can be left out since there are a lot of sources for that as you mentioned. It's the more advanced stuff that's lacking. Here are a few areas that I would personally find beneficial (in no particular order): - How to approach and break down a piece for practicing - How to systematically develop technique - How to exercise / what to exercise - How to use scales, chords, progressions, ... to come up with simple piano pieces The following channel has good, albeit too advanced, content on the subjects of "Technique" and "Practicing": ua-cam.com/users/cedarvillemusicplaylists
+Michael New I forgot the link in the first post, but included it in a reply to the initial post shortly after. In case that's cut off or filtered out, you can just look for the user "cedarvillemusic", and check out his playlists. ("Piano Technique" and "How to Practice")
Micheal why do ALOT of songs use for example: Am - F - G - Am If the song is in Am, then why F and G, why not IV V of the minor scale which are the relative minor Dm and Em.
+MrHossen1223 You can substitute C for Am and it will sound quite similar, since they both share some notes. (look into relative minor substitutions). then you can convert: C - F - G - C (typical tonic, subdominant, dominant I - IV - V - I) to Am - F - G - Am (VI - IV - V - VI) meaning the song is in C, and not in Am. That's how I see it. hope it was helpful.
Also i think many people want to learn to actually write there own music. So if you, yourself, were writing a song. And explaining how you come up with the melody and chord progressions etc. And we have a finished song at the end we can hear to kind of see how all the ideas worked together. I think is also a good idea. And this doesn't have to be done in every video. But if you are making a 8 video series on Modes then a Series on Time Signatures then another in Key Changing. You could be maybe be writing 1 song throughout all the videos and the last one is the finished song. Or you could have a normal course for 7/8 and the last one be you now using everything you learned in a song. (8 videos is just a random number for example purposes of course)
+Monochrome Gold I think that's an excellent idea.
+Michael New I second that! great idea
I'm really enjoying all of the information, and the way you pass your knowledge. It's great to look back and understand the theory to a deeper level. and it could be great to see you work on song writing and piano playing
I think personally that the most difficult thing and the most difficult thing to find on the internet is a summary of how all the elements of theory work together and expand on that and how people use it in different ways.
because is not easy to get all together right,even understanding how specific things work like the circle of fifhts.
Btw...missed mentioning that I have gone through many other videos but none is as engaging, elaborate and easy to understand as yours. You are a great teacher! Hats off.
Spent my whole career as a school teacher.
Have never come across anyone who explains things as clearly as you Michael.
Thanks.
(Ron in Perth, Australia)
+jacquelineandron Ron that is some really high praise. Thank you.
i know ur not uploading 4a long time but let me tell uur videos will be here forever and many musicians will learn from them
coz the content is awesome and such amazing expaination
god bless u
I would love to see some basic techniques, like how you should hold your hands on the piano, how to see and play inversions easier and so on.
i think you are right michael, learning theory in my experience is harder than just learning how to play. Learning to play is just practice to get dexterity (scales, arpeggios, finger exercises, pieces...) but theory is really though to understand for begginers. That's what i like about your videos bruh
So far I have not found anyone on UA-cam who actually goes deep into teaching people how to craft their music probably. Many people are interested in creating, composing music, and writing songs. In my view, you should explore this almost unexplored territory rather than offering beginner piano lessons, which are all over the place.
However, I do enjoy your music theory lessons so far and have learned a lot from them and is going to contribute to your campaign. Please keep quality lessons coming.
Idea for the piano learning series:
A practical walkthrough of learning to play some song? If you have just the harmony, what would be some simple but effective ways to play it? A few alternatives, variations?
This would probably have to be a series of videos, but what I find missing in most lessons / videos is rounding it all up, connecting all the lessons and details. The internet is rich, but overwhelming.
Same thing with composing, it's even worse. I think many of us would get a much better grasp on everything if someone actually demonstrated the whole process from day 1 to a finished project. Especially by someone like you. You are an amazing, pragmatic, practical and learned teacher.
Thank you for everything so far, your lessons are exactly what I needed.
The best thing you taught me was the early theory videos you made- Constructing the major and minor scales, chords, and then finding the chords that fit within the scales. This sort of stuff, connecting different bits of music theory I had already learnt and connecting them in new ways, really solidified my grasp of music theory and then you added new concepts and continued explaining them and linking back to your earlier stuff. Also your way of working with the whiteboard and keyboard is really helpful and makes most of the concepts really clear. Generally, topics that relate to how music is constructed harmonically and melodically and so on, with a view to composing or at least understanding how music is composed, is the most useful rather than the more technical stuff you could get through classical training.
excercises for playing with 2 hands at once will be helpful
love your work !
As for fifths, I find it really easy to actually visualize a violin (or other string instrument). Since their strings are divided by fifths, all you have to do is find a note and a fifth up or down is the same fingering up or down a string.
I really like your videos Mike, thanks for doing this. You have really helped clarify a lot of music theory concepts for me. Kudos to you!
You should teach how to actually play the piano whith constant references to the theory behind the piece of music you're teaching. For example pick one of your favorite songs and teach it while explaining what scale is it in, how it builds tension etc. After all you should not be so worried about weather it will be successful or not. Most people are here for your way of teaching and that already will make it special. Keep up the amazing work.
Sorry for my bad english and grammar :P i can't edit the comment to correct it :P
+Thomas Laggas Don't worry it's very easy to understand what you are saying.
+Thomas Laggas That's a great idea. After playing guitar for years, I'm only just now starting to see HOW songs are made. It would be brilliant if he would dissect songs for those who are just learning.
Hell, this gives me a cool idea for a UA-cam channel in general.
+Thomas Laggas Love this idea! There are so many videos about how to play songs, but they rarely dive in a little deeper and dissect what you're actually playing.
This type of piano lesson would fit in perfectly with the current theme of music theory and would also be interesting to non-piano players (such as a guitar player like myself).
+OMGKennyKilledThem exactly! :) lets see
How about a series of composition tuts? Something like you give a lesson and homework and we compose along with the series over time.
+cherdrol I am down. :D
I've watched most of your videos on music theory in the last two days and this one, my dear sir, is the one that earned you a new subscriber! You make some valid and intelligent points that almost every other YT channel of this kind seems to miss. I agree with comments below on a particular way of teaching piano, if you ever decide to go in that direction.
+rnrdesigner Hey thanks! Maybe I should burn my hand more often so I can do these kind of videos.
Hahahaha, noooo!
That was a very nice succinct description of 3/4 vs. 6/8. 3/4 is 3 beats per measure as 1-2-3 and 6/8 is 2 beats per measure as tri-ple-et tri-ple-et. I don't think I've ever heard somebody describe it that way. Thanks!
No video in several years! Your videos are so awesome and have helped me more than any others. What have you been up to lately? How can I learn more from you?
this piece of theory music are gold for musicians, the people who still asking what is the difference between Aminor and Cmajor are the reason why your theory lessons are important. As you said there is a lot of practical videos of"how to play x instrument" around here. So please still making this videos as usual and i hope someday someone will pay you for this great work! excuse my poor english by the way
Hi Michael, thank you for the videos. They are just wonderful! I've been learning piano for a couple of years, and UA-cam has been a great tool in this effort as I don't have the time to take formal classes because of work, taking care of kids, etc. As far as your question about what we "viewers" would like to see in piano teaching tutorials, I agree with Thomas Laggas. In addition to his suggestion, I think it would be good if you teach us how to think in terms of fingering. I've found this makes a huge difference in how quickly one can learn to play a piece, because even if some passages are straightforward; others aren't. Also, to not create bad finger habits, and then, having to relearn the piece again.
I think the theory specialization is what makes you so good though, I play the guitar but of all the people on u tube you've taught me the most.
Regarding 6/8 vs 3/4. One should always remember that every timesignature boils down to sets of two or sets of three, and that helps you tell where the accents are. So 3/4 would have three sets of eightnotes (2+2+2). and 6/8 has two sets of eightnotes (3+3). With that we can also see that 6/8 actually is a lot more similar to 2/4 or 4/4 then 3/4.
Thinking that every timesignature get boiled down to sets of two or three gets really important when you get to odd timesignatures. 7/4 can be (2+2+3), (2+3+2) or (3+2+2) if you dont know whitch one you are playing or writing for things start to sound really confusing.
Don't let anyone tell you differently; you do a great job on your videos!
I think it'd be really interesting if you made a video about different temperaments and intonations, but regardless the piano series would be good too. Hope your hand gets better!
+Rachel Krueger I've actually thought about doing something like that. I'll need to learn more about it first though.
Re: Practical Piano lessons.
There are some comments below which suggest picking a song.
I think this is a great way to learn because it is like a 'real world' example as opposed to something like scales
(which after a few years trying to force them in, are still boring AND useless in actual playing). But this could easily turn into yet another paint by numbers piano video for just one song.
I think a better approach would be to break it into sections,
I think you should pick a simple song, Do a proper musical analysis of it.
In the same great teaching style as your previous videos. Your current formula works brilliantly, It would be a shame not to make the best use of it.
Discuss the songs structure, the key/time signature, what scales are used over what part, and why you might assume that these choices were made, or why it sounds good.
Then with this, give some examples of fingering, the mechanical choices for different sectons and chord changes, and the mindset behind how you would approach playing the piece from the sheet music.
All without simply playing the song and saying "do it like this".
Keep up the great work. Best Music series I have seen on youtube.
Hello Michael,
I discovered your videos last week and find them extremely useful. Your way of explaining is so simple and makes wishing to play the piano well one day not such an unreasonabIe dream. I am english married to a frenchman with four children and having started the piano at 40 for a couple of years (with a classic method from a french teacher) I lost the enthusiasm and then re-started last september (10 years later) and have so far managed to learn to play Bach's BMV934. BUT what I really want to do is understand the keyboard completely and use it to have fun and be able to play some nice pieces easily rather than spending hours going over sheet music and not getting very far. Having watched your videos I understand the keyboard much better but my greatest aim is to improvise so I was thrilled to see your last n°25 on How to Improvise. Please do another because I feel this is where it really begins for me. Obviously I must practice technique and do exercises for finger strength and I suppose the best way is to play around with the chords and scales for this. Do you think this is a good idea? I am trying to play a couple of hours a day (at my age it simply isn't worth it if I do less because I am so slow!).
I look forward to hopefully learning more from you on improvisation and plenty more.
With many thanks from Paris
Sophie
Hey, very sorry about the late response. Sometimes I don't quite catch every comment I get.
I'm trying to head towards more and more "applied theory" kind of lessons, especially since I've covered a good chunk of the basics in general music theory. So a bit more like that lesson on improv.
As far as a practice routine, my recommendation is to be very goal oriented. There's a lot more to music than moving fingers; it's more about seeing patterns, learning how to memorize, learning how to listen and make adjustments, and just in general getting in tune with how your mind absorbs information and what you need to do to start getting things "in your fingers" so to speak. I would choose pieces of music you'd like to learn, and if you find yourself having trouble with a particular part, let's say a scale run, then start practicing that particular thing. You can even find or or invent some exercises to work on that, but I don't recommend just doing exercises blindly. It makes all the difference if you have a particular problem you're trying to solve.
Also, by the way, gaining finger strength in a literal sense isn't actually relevant. For example this kid is 4 and plays really well, and you can bet his actual muscle strength is only a tiny fraction of yours or mine: ua-cam.com/video/omuYi2Vhgjo/v-deo.html. It's more similar to typing on a computer keyboard. You don't need strength, you just need to start connecting certain movements to your brain.
Anyway, best of luck. And hopefully I'll have some new content for you soon that's more focused on playing.
Thanks Michael for your reply. Yes I am trying to work on pieces I like as well as warm up exercises and learning chords and inversions. I am currently working on Adèle's Someone like you. I am having real problems with memorising the melody which is often my problem. I try to take little chunks at a time but it is slow. Can you suggest anything for this piece?
At the same time I keep going with Bach's preludes to keep up with my music reading.
Many thanks again and I am recommending your videos to my 20 year old son and his musical friends. They really are very well done.
I can't wait to see another of your videos on improvising.
Hi Michael, thank you for your videos. For a lesson idea I like the idea of taking simple single note melody lines to chorded lines. And understanding how the circle of fifths can help in both creating chords and creating a chorded melody lines that retains the character and even enhances the single note progression. So putting the theory of the CoF into action
I'll put in some input for the piano thing. I have personally been wanting to learn to play but have not had the time or patience (I have messed around on a piano though and know the very basics) but I particularly like the way you teach. It clicks with me more than any other videos I've found. I think it would be good for you to do a piano series, and just keep your same teaching style, but with the piano instead of theory
Hey Michael, I have only been watching your video's since today, so I'm far from up to date with what you do, but I am loving it, so that is my first comment, big thanks !!
Secondly, you ask for ideas/wishes on piano lessons in this video. Not sure if I am too late, maybe you have already made your plans, but for me, being a "semi self taught" piano player (I had electric organ lessons way back and just started to play the piano years later) my main questions/interests are in what to do with the right hand and left hand in different scenario's. More specifically, the left hand can play only root notes, or a root and a fifth, say, or a full chord, or melodies, or some combination of these I guess (and maybe I am missing possibilities). Same for right hand. Now so much for the rational/theory on what hands can do on a piano ;-), here is my wish/interest: I would love to see/hear such different scenario's in action and learn from that.
Finally, I was wondering whether you would also be interested in expanding your piano lessons into "keyboard" lessons. I have an interest in all sorts of (vintage) key instruments such as the (B3) Hammond, Rhodes, Clavinet, Moog, etc. Now one might say, well they are just another keyboard, so nothing new, but I would disagree and find it very interesting to learn about the specific aspects of playing such key instruments, might this inspire you too.
Either way, best of luck, and again, thanks , I am inspired by your video's !!
Hi +Michael New, First and foremost thanks a ton for creating these videos. I have been learning keyboard for around a year now but whatever understanding I have about western music theory it's only because of your videos. You asked suggestions for creating lessons on playing Piano. Can you share some exercises on how to improve improve muscle memory, playing speed, easy ways to memorize chord progression and both hands independence & co-ordination?
+Shyam Sridhar Definitely. It seems like a lot of what's out there is pretty light on the higher level concepts, like what you mentioned, and focuses more on the "here's where your fingers go" kind of stuff.
I actually explain the 3/4 and 6/8 discussion with a drum beat. A simple 3/4 goes like boom ba ba, boom ba ba (1 2 3)
and the 6/8 has a snare on the 4th 1/8 note: boom ds ds ba ds ds. You can hear that the 3/4 has a quarter feel and the 6/8 an 1/8 note feeling to it.
Piano lessons: The basics melody triads, inversions, counterpoints
Learning pieces (classical or modern) with your description of them like how to compose and create theme variations. I really dig your first improv video!
Random idea: how about do exercise submissions to see what people come up with like the improv video where there are set rules. Would be interesting to see what people come up with the same rules
Very easy to understand music theory. Understand a little bit now about chords and their relationships but need practicalities - how to accompany a song on piano - rhythms, using both hands, finger placement, little practice activities to help. I am playing violin but have a piano should be able to transfer learning between both? Congrats on great videos nurse those sore fingers. Best of luck in your endeavours! ( Also your voice works well on u tube videos some others are hard to listen to!)
The hardest part to me is playing with two hands. I can't seem to think with two hands on piano, but I can finger pick with relative ease on guitar.
I can never find a piano tutorial as good as the tutorials that teach how to play the guitar.
hey Michael, just finished watching all the theory lessons and from a person who had zero musical knowledge before watching your videos, i now feel like im comfortable enough to dive into the world of music production. As a thank you i'd like to give you a singular donation rather than a monthly fee on patreon, do you have a paypal where i could do this? Guaranteed viewer for life!
+Wobblecraft also, are you monetizing your views on your UA-cam? This could be also a huge help and another source of income for you since you get some views :)
+Wobblecraft Hey, thank you so much! Paypal is tied to my email, mikenew12@gmail.com. Really nice of you to do that. And I do actually monetize the UA-cam videos. Ad revenue goes up and down but it does definitely help.
Great stuff..I'd like to see piano vids on the "All about Grooves"..For example: This song's groove is hands together, left, right, right, left, hands together then it repeats..Or Mnemonically the groove sounds like the word "Wash-ing-ton". I haven't been able to find many teachers fully detailing this topic.
I'd be interested in a series about learning piano from the improvisation route. Most piano series I find are about playing songs.
+LudicrousTachyon That would be an interesting angle and something I hadn't thought about.
This channel is about music, not just the piano.
So many people want to make music without knowing how it works. Whats' up with that?!!
Personally, I tried that at first, then I realized I had to know the rules of music theory before I coulld actually start to play and understand how it all relates to the fretboard.
When I make a new discovery it's thrilling! For example, I just this week realized that standard tuning on a guitar is based on C major and the open strings (starting on the 6th string "E", are tuned Phrygian (3rd degree), Aeolian (6th degree), Dorian (2nd degree), Mixolydian (5th degree), and Locrian (7th degree), with Phrygian repeating on the first string, all part of the Diatonic chord series!
I want to be able to play modally in all keys without having to consult anything. As you said here, you have to learn to think in the language, you can't constantly be trying to translate the language!
I'm a guitarist leaning seriuosly toward Jazz, Blues and a taste of Flamenco for electric guitar.
+downhill240 I think one reason why I'm excited about a piano series is because it's a good way to look at theory in a more applied sense. Like what you're seeing on the guitar strings; it just really helps the theory solidify when you're looking at some actual music or real world examples.
Hi Michael,
Congratulations for your channel, I'm a big fan. About your future piano course I suggest maybe starting with some recommendations on what pieces people can start studying according to their level.
I'm a beginner and for me is very difficult to choose songs for practicing. Some are too hard to learn because technically they are tricky.
So if you could recommend a few songs according to different levels, maybe separate them into 5 or more levels that would help a lot.
Thank you for your videos and let me know if you ever come to Brazil, would be a pleasure to meet you.
+Wlady Pimentel That's a very tough problem for anyone trying to learn. It's very hard to find things that are the right level but also something you'll actually want to spend your time learning. I've been thinking about that for a while and I'm hoping to eventually figure out a good way to list and share different pieces to work on.
And I'll definitely look you up if I ever make it down to Brazil :)
micheal can you do a video about memorize intervals ? And talk about how do you feel about each intervals also . Like the fifth interval give me the feeling of strong, brave .
Your videos are always top notch! It would be awesome to see a video on pentatonic (and other types) of scales. All of the piano pentatonic scale videos on youtube are not very good.
I'd continue with the music theory and not concentrate too much on actual piano playing. Piano is a useful instrument to explain theory, but as you said, there already are like a zillion of learn piano videos - and not so many on music theory. Well, there's the serie of user Lypur on UA-cam, but it's more academic, thou really well done anyway. You on the other hand, seem to have more pragmatic way of teaching, which I find refreshing. So, please do continue! :)
Some topics to consider: Continue with the modes and how they relate to certain chords, different chord progressions, counterpoint and/or other harmony studies, harmonizing a melody, maybe some tricks and methods to train the ear (with intervals ect)
Oh, and in some point once we'd gone thru a little more theory, to try and analyze a standard song would be cool way to show how it all applies.
Great videos, cheers!
+Lance Pinya I think that's a fair point, and I wouldn't want the theory videos to suffer because of the piano series. I do think there's a lot that isn't covered terribly well in some of the existing resources on playing though. Certainly there's plenty of "here's where to put your fingers" or "this is what the notes are called" kind of stuff, but I'd like to look at practice techniques, how to memorize things quickly, how to be efficient with your practice time, and just how to progress quickly in general. But don't worry, I won't drop the theory videos. I'd like to add to them, not take away.
Thanks much for what you do. You have been a big help.
Hey Michael,
I've been really enjoying your theory lessons while learning guitar; one youtuber named Just Nick does something I haven't seen anyone else do online yet. He has "Play Along" videos (not enough) where to work on playing fluently on guitar while improvising or jamming, you play along with him in the video and he gives you tips along the way from the prior lesson video. (So alternate one lesson, one play along)
I also just finished reading The Music Lesson by Victor Wooten and I've been trying to think about what the most efficient and fun way to learn guitar is. (P.S., some philosophy videos about music would be pretty cool too). But one thing they say is that people focus so much on "practicing guitar" that they don't get the chance to see how everything is connected and that you can really start to use music as a language instead of imitating and repeating what someone else does.
It would be pretty neat if you could do something similar with piano, and you could make it applicable to any instrument that wants to play along with the video.
So an example lesson could be, you explain how to improvise over chord changes (something I'm working on at the moment), why one thing sounds better than doing the other, how it works, how it maybe relates to why you did something in another lesson, and then the next video is a half hour or so of you playing over a beat, looping tracks, get a good groovy environment set up for the student, and then just being there for them to play and practice applying what you have been teaching.
Lol, this is something I've thought about myself. Sorry for the long ass comment haha. But anyways, keep up the good work and looking forward to what's coming soon. 👍👍👍
~Stephy
+Stephy Moore Hey, thanks for the very thoughtful writeup. I'll look into the play along videos you mentioned, and I'll definitely take a look at that book. I'm a big fan of Victor Wooten anyway, so I'd love to read it even just for myself.
I think you're spot on with your basic point; imitating someone else's practice routine doesn't necessarily bring you closer to your musical goals. In fact I think many people don't even have a good sense of what they're trying to accomplish. I think a key element in learning to play is being able to identify a weakness in yourself and then being able to address it with your practice.
Anyway, I appreciate the input and the resources you mentioned. I'll definitely check them out.
I think most method books, and subsequently many teachers, teach a concept like a scale or chord progression or a new time signature. And then teach a song that utilizes that concept. Which is good; but where it goes wrong is that the songs are usually very VERY outdated [i.e. Greensleeves, Ode to Joy, Amazing Grace.] Using contemporary popular music/ artists [i.e Uptown Funk, Taylor Swift, Whichever newest disney movie just came out (disney songs will forever be popular with kids) Even popular rap/hip hop tunes.] i think will help new players from this generation actually using the tools you're teaching.
+Monochrome Gold Well I would only want to teach songs that I enjoy, so Taylor Swift is out. But I definitely agree with your point. Just because a piece of music was exciting 300 years ago doesn't mean everyone is dying to learn it now. The one tricky part is the copyright issues though. UA-cam can be pretty tricky that way.
Hello again Michael,
I have just read the comment before mine and agree, it would be really helpful if you actually taught a specific piece explaining all the theory related as you teach the progression of how to learn it. Or if you could build up a complete short improvisation, again showing each step of your creative and technical process. Maybe this sounds like too much to ask for but I would be interested by your reply.
Many congratulations again for your brilliant teaching, from here in Paris.
Sophie
It sounds like a lot of people are really interested in the applied theory sort of stuff. Like creating a piece of music or learning a song from a theory perspective. I do still want to talk about the learning process, performance issues, technique, and all that, so I might end up doing two separate series. Not sure yet, but I really appreciate the thoughts.
I think the best option for you if you don't want to take away from your theory videos but also teach piano is apply what you teach in your theory videos to your piano teaching videos, that way if someone doesn't quite understand what something is or how to do it, they can go watch your theory video on that thing they don't understand and then watch your teaching video and learn how to apply it
I would love to see piano teaching video's with a focus on songwriting incorporating music theory. I still find your way of teaching the most comprehensive and easy to understand. I'm sure that will be no different for the piano.
One helpful video on a "how to play piano" might be on ways to practice coordinating both hands during a song.
We have found you to be an excellent theory teacher. Integrate this with your piano lessons, with real examples, known songs and you will get something special. Most teachers ignore, or just tuches theory. I think it should be integrated, with real music examples so that you learn the language completely, not theory, "words" or technique separately . Until that, continue your Modes to Music lessons.
In a piano course I'd like to see learning methods. Like, for sight reading, I had a mental block for years that disappeared when someone said read notes from the bottom to the top and don't worry about rhythm right away. (I progressed more in one week than in 2 years of piano.) What are good practice methods that can help a person keep motivated?
I need to know what to practice! If learning from youtube, often tutorials are "Just do this" which I can do. Once. Or twice. Unless it's like a technical exercise. So a good lesson plan or whatever would have a clear progression of homework assignments.
I come here for the theory though! :)
+mtszyk That would definitely be one of the main things I focus on. I'm not so interested in the "just do this" kind of tutorials, rather I'd be talking about how to improve quickly, what to work on, how to memorize, and so on.
+Michael New I've still been thinking about this a fair bit. This comment has a lot of personal experience, but I think I'm a decent target for these potential videos. I understand the theory quite well, but don't have very much technical experience. I know my scales and the circle of fifths, still internalizing all the major and minor triads, but I know one piece. One!
I do firmly believe that there's no way to progress as fast as having a personal teacher, but that should be obvious, and it consequently a helpful comment. BUT it does give a little guidance on to what we can accomplish via online videos.
So I think maximizing the value of a video online needs to deal with that somehow. Identifying things that you can't work on with a student online are important, such as being unable to correct technique or the ability to count along with the student's play to help correct rhythm. If you identify those things, the student can find another way to work on those things while coming to your videos for... what? Well, not those things. As a beginner, I don't know what I don't know, but I'll tell you what I do know I don't know! ... Sorry.
For me, I need motivation to practice pieces. I need motivation to practice my chords... consequently I think I need to have a structured practice session so that I can sit down and check off on a list what I've done, keeping track of practice is important for everything, so emphasizing that is probably good. Right now, I sit at the piano every evening, practice a little bit of chords and scales (which are great and important!) but fizzle out. I don't know what to practice next. So I stop. Rinse and repeat. With some exceptions.
So, detailed practice sessions with exercises and pieces to me seems the best. It's also what I haven't been able to find online. If you found some pieces that are freely available and linked them in the description of the videos, that could be phenomenally helpful.
At the end of the day I imagine your goal would be to make the student practice regularly in a constructive manner, which seems to me to maximize what you're capable of via online lessons.
I guess that also means you should make an assumption about the ability of your students, or offer different pieces and exercises... but offering different pieces rather than going through a progression could be problematic. Unless you did different difficulties in parallel. At this point, I'm starting to delve into things that change the amount of work for you so I'll shut up :P. Though I think it would be best to assume a base level of experience and make a series of videos, which could count as a weekly or monthly set of instructions.
Also I love your idea for D12/D6/D4 for practice. I just started using it with my dice, it's great! You could recommend purchasing a few on amazon and setting up a table that links the numbers to the different practice bits, and then advertise your patreon.
Uh, sorry for the wall of text.
Another point to make. Not everything in 3/4 time is a waltz. Mazurkas and 3 time bourrees are frequently written in 3/4 yet they have completely different note emphasis to a waltz. A bourree should emphasize both 1 and 3 for example.
In 6/8 jigs, the first note is often played slightly longer and the second two played closer together. It's more subtle than can be easily noted using standard notation.
i really wish you could teach more about rythms.
These videos are great thank you so much! Theory is fun!
TWO beats with THREE eighth notes!!!... NOWWWWW I get it... Thank you!
I also think it would be kinda cool if you did a live stream where we, the viewers & supporters, created a song together, and see how it turns out.
+Rockit381 Ha, that sounds like chaos. If I can think of a reasonable way to do that it would be really fun.
Maybe you should break down a song (or make your own song), and tell/show us what methods were used to give that song that particular feel, or perhaps use that song as an example to tell use what we should keep in mind when creating the actual song. Idk it might be asking for a bit much but that's my suggestion.
+Rockit381 No I like that suggestion, and that's something that may fit in well with some of the "how to write music" videos I've done before.
I would love to learn how to play the same song but in different keys/scales
Teaching piano together with theoretical elements. So, playing and understanding what are we playing
Love the theory!!
hey Michael, my humble request is, please don't stop doing music theory if you pick up how to play piano topic..coz u r music theory videos are awesome and amazing and so easy to understand, which we won't get in google or in any others tutorial except from your channel. keep rocking :)
+arun hs Hey well thank you very much. I definitely don't plan to stop doing theory lessons. I want to add new things to the channel and be careful not to take anything away.
+Michael New thanks very much :)
Listen to Thomas comment from below, he's right! Your the best teacher out there explaining this stuff in my opinion.
Hey Michael, I was wondering (if possible) if you could do a tutorial on how to find the key signature of any song by ear.
Thanks
+Randy Orton There's been quite a few people asking about that, so I'll definitely start thinking about it.
I figured out how to play piano chords/scales just from your music theory videos. I just don't know how to apply that to melodies... that's my next hurtle anyways
Thank you, I hope your hands get better!! ps I go to college and you do a way better job!
Show us how to apply chord substitutions using 9th and 11 chord playing chords in both hands
merci beaucoup
When writing sheet music in G lydian, for example, should I use the Dmaj key signature, I mean, F and C sharp, or use the Gmaj signature and represent C sharp whenever I need it?
"How to play the piano"? How about tackling the hard bits? For me (3 months into learning), it's the hands together inadequate translation from clef to finger movement?
Talk about music theory relative to physics.
+Robert Hickman I will, at some point.
Hey! I see you have a real keyboard in there now!
+Daniel Jesús Valencia Sánchez Finally.
Could you do a video where you talk about cadences and counterpoint ? Two notions that are'n t clear to me
I like the Vanilla Book tonal centers pages. I would love for someone to make videos actually demonstrating the sound of those changes and a little theory on why these changes work within contexts of the songs they may appear in.
www.ralphpatt.com/Tonal.html
I'm sure Ralph would love for someone to reference and link back to him and explore the material on video, on piano and maybe also guitar jazz chord voicings.
Speaking of that, jazz guitar voicings, in the style of say Ted Greene, is one of the biggest lacks, blank areas I have found to exist (if a blank space exists that is) on UA-cam.
how do you go about finger placement on the keys? is there a general rule?
I want to learn how to play piano making my own chords and melody.
You talkedabout finding the 5ths and interalizing it but how do you so quickly find the 5th of any given note without actually visualising or count up seven semitones..How do you do that? What i mean is i often see people talking about a scale and its like they instantly know what note is in every major scale for example. For me i would have think about the formula wwhwwwh then count along, either in my head or on paper. Now i know every note of the C major scale but how do you memorize all that for every key without thinking /counting the formula for said scale.
For the fifths, just memorize them. There's only 12 notes after all, so it really doesn't take much.
Once you've memorized the 5ths everything else gets a lot easier. Finding the 4th is easy since it's just a whole step down from the 5th, the 2nd is easy since it's a whole step up from the root, the major 7th is a half step below the octave, and so on. Pretty quickly you'll be able to find everything in the key without having to think much, and you won't have to count your way up.
Thanks for the response, i know this is a delayed reaction but what would be a good way to memorize the 5ths?
Put little bits of paper with notes written on them around your house (on the bathroom mirror, by the kitchen sink, next to a light switch etc) and everytime you see one, say what a fifth above it is. At first you'll have to think about it, but soon you will have memorised it.
The next week do the same thing for a minor thrird, or whatever.
How about making videos explaining how famous songs have been made,
like this song is in this key is modal,use these chords and these intervals to achieve this efect,whatever.This way you can put the name of a famous song on the title and get more views wile teaching to play piano and teaching how theory work together.
Maby is a bad idea I don't know.
im spanish ^^ is hard for me to write this, i hope is wright.
Love your videos,cheers.
+Javi chino Hey, I think that's a great suggestion. I'll have to think about how to do that though. Copyright is tricky on UA-cam.
when i am in a lets say C major key, i am "allowed" To play all the white notes, right so just the princip of fifths. but whats about the chords? Can I just use fitting chords (fitting like ct and nct As you explained already) To harmonize with the notes? Or should i More focus on playing fitting chords in the key (like C and D in C major) and harmonize with normal notes?
chrods do built up the foundation while notes are the melody, right?
+vivien okorie Generally you'd use chords that fit with the key (C major, A minor, G major, etc.). There's ways of using other chords, like by borrowing them from different modes, but that's a bit more advanced.
bro do you have a daw? can you make tutorials on how to come up with nice chords progressions
+Jimtik zeus I use Logic. I've thought about doing tutorials for that kind of thing, but I'm really not much of an expert. I may try to put something together though.
i would appreciate it bro
Teach piano from a theory perspective. Alot of piano courses tell you to do this without saying why
So if the difference between 3/4 and 6/8 is that 3/4 has three beats per measure and 6/8 has two beats per measure, what is the difference between 6/8 and 2/4 played with triplet-eighth notes? As far as I comprehend, 2/4 has two beats per measure, both of which are quarter notes and each can be divided into three triplet-eighth notes. Where's the difference?
By using 6/8 time, you immediately tell the player there are two beats per measure, each beat divided into three eighth notes. 2/4 time has a different rhythm than 6/8 time: just two beats, not subdivided into three notes. You could use triplets in 2/4 time, but it should be limited to when the pieces diverges from the 2/4 rhythm. If you have to use triplets throughout the entire piece, you should use 6/8 time instead because it more accurately reflects the rhythm.
Thank you, that makes sense! So it's basically just for the sake of clean transcription.
Chord inversions in improvising? :33
Melody?
Teaching piano actually using notation would be fabulous.
Where should I direct my questions to mate?
+ragerpez Anywhere on my channel is fine, whether it's as a video comment or a channel comment. I definitely prefer public messages rather than private so other people can benefit.
It's hard, if not impossible, to come up with a course that covers everything for people at all levels. IMHO, the basics can be left out since there are a lot of sources for that as you mentioned. It's the more advanced stuff that's lacking. Here are a few areas that I would personally find beneficial (in no particular order):
- How to approach and break down a piece for practicing
- How to systematically develop technique
- How to exercise / what to exercise
- How to use scales, chords, progressions, ... to come up with simple piano pieces
The following channel has good, albeit too advanced, content on the subjects of "Technique" and "Practicing":
ua-cam.com/users/cedarvillemusicplaylists
+Ali Shojaeddini Did you post a link? It may have gotten cut off.
+Michael New I forgot the link in the first post, but included it in a reply to the initial post shortly after. In case that's cut off or filtered out, you can just look for the user "cedarvillemusic", and check out his playlists. ("Piano Technique" and "How to Practice")
+Ali Shojaeddini Hmm, not sure why it didn't come through, but either way I'll check it out. Thanks for the feedback too.
Micheal why do ALOT of songs use for example: Am - F - G - Am
If the song is in Am, then why F and G, why not IV V of the minor scale which are the relative minor Dm and Em.
+MrHossen1223 You can substitute C for Am and it will sound quite similar, since they both share some notes. (look into relative minor substitutions).
then you can convert:
C - F - G - C (typical tonic, subdominant, dominant I - IV - V - I)
to
Am - F - G - Am (VI - IV - V - VI)
meaning the song is in C, and not in Am.
That's how I see it. hope it was helpful.
Okay Thanks but why do composers substitute, is it because they wan't the song to have a sadder feel to it?
6/8 is compund duple while 3/4 is simple triple. The first has 2 beats while the other has 3 beats
This video had a 145: 1 like-dislike ratio and I liked it to mess that up.
Sorry for your fingers, Michael.
There's a human being I like.... Wait... That sounds weird...
I think you've been doing about the job possible lacking actually in person hands on experience.
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