Ron's blog on piano improv and the role of music in our lives
Like millions of other people who were recently media-blasted about the new Madonna video featuring Beyonce, Chris Rock and Miley Cyrus, I finally gave in and watched it. Historically, I’ve liked many of Madonna’s songs and feel there’s a real musician buried under all her “stuff.” The new song reminded me of one of her … Read More
Have you ever learned something on piano but found that you couldn’t play it the next day? Frustrating, right? That moment when we learn something new is so special, so wonderful, that it can be a real letdown when we can’t replicate it again right away. We work hard at practicing a new piece of … Read More
In music, each key (or tonal center) is like an ecosystem. It’s really amazing when you begin to understand music like this. What I mean is that each major and minor key has a set of components that are found “in nature,” as I like to think about it. Each one has a set of … Read More
The jazz composer Duke Ellington wrote over 1,000 pieces of music, including timeless classics like Mood Indigo, Satin Doll and Sophisticated Lady. An interviewer once asked him what his favorite song of his own was. Ellington’s answer: “The next one.” Great answer! What’s your next song? Have you started working on it yet? You may … Read More
If your piano practicing needs a little “boost,” try writing down your goals for the week. Nothing fancy, just a sentence or two about what you want to spend time doing each day. I sometimes do this during busy times. Looking at my list helps me get to the piano each day. Here’s my list … Read More
Have you heard Jamie Foxx play piano? A lot of people know him as an actor, and many have heard him sing. But have you listened to him play piano? I mean, really listened? He’s far beyond being a “singer who plays piano.” In fact, he probably could have succeeded in the music business on … Read More
Dear pianists and keyboardists: If you want to improvise in any style: Learn your chords! If you want sightreading to become easy for you: Learn your chords! If you want to understand the underlying structure of your favorite music: Learn your chords! If you want to see more relationships between pieces in different styles: Learn … Read More
I had a pleasant surprise this morning! One of my current projects is to go back and watch every piano improv video lesson I’ve made for my website, KeyboardImprov.com. Right now, this comes to over 290 videos, each between 5 and 30 minutes in length. As you might imagine, I wasn’t looking forward to this … Read More
I’ll never forget that cold winter night. I was driving my unheated Volkswagon bug home from a college jazz band rehearsal in the winter of 1987 when I turned on the radio and BAM! I immediately knew my life would never be the same. What I heard, between the static crackles of a distant radio … Read More
If you ask any jazz musician who the great jazz pianists are, you’ll get a list of the “usual suspects”: Art Tatum, Bud Powell, Thelonious Monk, Bill Evans, Herbie Hancock, etc. If you press a little deeper, someone might mention Jelly Roll Morton, Fats Waller, Wynton Kelly and a few others. But you’ll rarely hear … Read More