This is a special lesson
because it is in my opinion the
lesson where you start
improvising. There is a
fine line between playing by ear
and improvisation and we are
going to cross that line today.
Let me tell you a bit of my
history before we start. I
understand that most pianists
don't believe they can play by
ear. Others don't think
they have the time or energy to
learn. That reminds me of
me.
I started playing the
piano when I was eight, and I
played through high school.
I was never a great pianist--I
was the guy that always came in
second or third in the
competitions. After high
school, I went to college and
got a degree in computer science
and minored in music. I
was at best an average classical
pianist. Certainly, when
people talked about the best
musicians in the college, they
did not talk about me.
After
college, I started a job in
computer science and essentially
quit piano. I played
occasionally in church but
rarely practiced. I have
been out of college thirteen
years, and gradually over that
time, I started practicing
again. I rarely played
classical music and was too lazy
to learn published arrangements
so I began trying to arrange my
own pieces. During that
time, I learned to play by ear
and basically everything else I
know about playing church music.
So the moral of the story is
this. If an average
pianist without a degree in
music like me can learn to play
by ear and improvise, so can
you. And I don't care how
old you are either. You
will not learn overnight and it
will take discipline and hard
work but you can learn.
So, let's get to work.
First remember the steps we
covered in the last lesson.
Learn to pick out a
melody of any simple hymn.
Learn to play the melody
in several different keys
(preferably all of them).
Pick a key (C is a good
choice) and start playing
the melody in the right
hand. As you play,
experiment with simple
triads in the left hand in
the octave just below middle
C. In almost every
case, either the I, IV, or V
chord will work. In
the rare cases where none of
those chords work, either
skip the chord or cheat by
looking in the hymnal.
Once you know the melody
and the supporting chords,
you can start improvising a
bit. Play the chord in
simple arpeggios in the left
hand or move the melody to
the left hand and play
chords in the right hand.
Or try some inversions in
the chords.
Your practice assignment
was to apply the first three
steps to "Jesus Loves Me" in
the key of C. You
probably came up with
something like this for the
first two lines.
Granted, this music does not sound
very exciting, but if you have
gotten this far (without
looking in the hymnal), I am
proud of you.
Now, I want
to quickly demonstrate some
ideas that you can play with
as you practice step 4.
Don't worry, I will go into
much more detail at a later
time, but just want to get
you thinking in a certain
way. Note that I am
not altering any chords in any
way in any of these examples--I
am simply playing the notes of
the basic triads in different
ways.
Big Caveat: I
know that none of this sounds
very good. Trust me when I
say that I can barely force
myself to play unaltered I, IV,
and V chords. But you have
to start somewhere, and if you
stick with me, we will get to
the rich sounds that you are
looking for.
The example above demonstrates
using different inversions of
the I, IV, and V triads.
The inversions are labeled as
slash chords. For example,
C/E means a C chord in first
inversion. C/G would be a
C chord in second inversion. If
you need to refresh your memory
on inversions, please do so and
then revisit this example.
Here, I am playing the notes of
the triad, but broken up into a
simple arpeggio. For
example, in measure 1, notice I
am playing the C chord (C, E, G)
in a sequence.
Technically, the first three
notes form the root position of
the C chord and the second three
notes form the first inversion
of the C chord. Throughout
this example, I did not label
the inversions (as slash chords)
just to keep things simple.
Here, the left hand has the
melody and the RH is just
playing simple arpeggios
containing the notes in the I,
IV, and V triads.
For a bit of variety, you can
often modify the rhythm.
Here is an example of doubling
the melody in the RH and filling
in other notes from the chord.
In the first chord, the melody
note is a G and a C and E are
added in between the two Gs
being played in the RH.
The LH plays triads in various
inversions. Note that in
the first line, the hands move
in parallel motion and in the
second line, the hands move in
contrary motion. Regardless of
what they teach you in theory
class, neither technique is
right or wrong.
As you can see from these five examples, there are numerous things you can do just with a simple melody and I, IV, and V chords. As we move into studying improvisation, you will have to learn how to creatively work with the melody and harmony to bring beauty and variety to your music. The choices
are infinite, but the only way to add them to your tool chest is through experimentation and practice.
Practice strategy:
Pick a hymn and practice
steps 1-4 on it. When
you get to step 4, try find
at least four different ways
to improvise while sticking
with the melody note and
major chord.
