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HOME David J Ford: private lessons in, Newburgh, Fife Keyboards: A guitar gives up to 6 different notes at any one time allowing you to play the tune, the bass, the chord & add rhythm too – if you’re good enough…. The piano does all this too but with as many tones (notes) playing at once as you have fingers – so more than 6 then. |
| In using the sustain pedal you can voice even more by moving up the keyboard. The sustain pedal keeps the ones you’ve hit playing for as long as you press it. Get a pedal board (Church Organ like) & you can toe the bass-lines too! |  |
The Keyboard is an excellent tutor in musical theory. You don’t need to be able to play it perfectly to benefit from the perfect visual interpretation it will give you of Chords in particular. So if you take it up as a second instrument it will help you with your first instrument.
Hammond
Organ & Rhodes Piano are classic sounds you get on any reasonable
keyboard & though now as old as hat can still make your spine
tingle. String sounds and others can add depth & warmth to a
bands sound without too much fancy finger work. Paperless tuition – well almost: |
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| Please provide a recording of three or four pieces of your favourite music on CD or MP3. This music will be the focus of the lesson. It doesn't have to have piano in it. it simply has to be great music to you. Desert Island Discs - Help on choosing
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The whole ethos of the Newburgh Ear Academy is to develop the ear so that students can play directly what they hear, or hear in their head. However there are two main reasons why learning sheet music can be a good idea when learning the keyboard.
1. Those - especially children, whose ears are really not well developed musically tend to remember the patterns they are taught when taught without sheet music. As each pattern can only be use for that piece it is no long term use. Far better to get them to learn a useful skill instead until the ear is ready.
2. The keyboard is far more complicated than any other instruments as it plays up to 10 notes at the same time. Thus an understanding of sheet music allows the student to make a record as parts are worked out.
Once the ear is developed enough to be able to translate things to the keyboard directly, reading is not so important. Indeed the Academy will be keen to develop the direct ear route as soon as possible. Without the dots the player is free to make the numerous variations based on the simple formulas taught at the academy. At some point the student may have to tear themselves away from this safety net. For those who do the rewards are rich. Remember the Beatles & Stevie Wonder have done just fine without it.
He is though, an expert at reproducing what he hears on the keys or anything else. Dave was a founder member of Edinburgh’s Soul Inferno for whom he played keys for two years. |
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email: dave mobile: 07970 744986 landline: 01337 841004 |
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