Nicolette's Music Notes

It's been almost a year since I wrote here....

2011-12-26T12:09:00.000-08:00

And a very interesting and challenging year for me. I am surprised to realize that the last post I made on this page was just after last New Year. I was living in Seattle at the time, hanging out a lot at a little local music venue and pub called the Blue Moon. I was working on a bunch of stuff with guitar and keys whenever I could, and getting to know some cool musicians up there. I had moved from Detroit to New Orleans, and then from New Orleans to Seattle. I found myself liking Seattle a lot, but missing New Orleans in a deep personal way.

One of the last things I posted about here was a tragic fire that happened about this time last year, which killed a bunch of young people in New Orleans, most of whom had also been busking street musicians or performers. To me it seemed tragically sad that whatever potential they had for the world musically and otherwise was irrevocably gone. I didn't realize it at the time, but it became one of many things that made me just put some backpack's and camping gear in the trunk, and make my way back to New Orleans.

Musicianship is Learned in Many Different Settings.

Like an artist with a paint palate of colors, the more experiences you have the wider your range of creative possibilities.

I like having traveled a bit and lived in different cities. I believe that it has given me a lit of inspiration, to see both how people with different perspectives and surroundings may live differently, and also how similar most of us are in many ways inside. I am also very greatful to have met, befriended, worked with, and learned from so many great musical people in different places and settings. What I learned from Dr. Mitchell, Phyllis White, and Karl Boelter when I studied Music at Oakland University in Michigan has given me a great foundation. What I experienced when watching rehearsals groups of friends of mine belonged to, I got entirely different experiences that were also instructive. "Wytch" in Toronto, "Dragon Tears Descending" and "Rogue Angel 7" , showed me a lot of things about what works and doesn't when putting together a band project. When I moved to New Orleans the first time I met and got to know local old school blues cats, and am glad to have spent some real time with Coco Robicheaux; Billy Outlaw, Jon Williams, John Patten, Blue Max, Willow, Lisa Lynn, and many others. Each of them have had individual perspectives on songwriting and performing that have given me new ideas to play with and explore.

Music education and theory is important to growing musicianship, as well as direct experiences with other performer's and performance techniques. It is a personal evolution of self-development within a musical sphere that expands as the musician's range of experience increases.

In other words, join a choir. Pick up a guitar and learn to play chords. Fool around with a keyboard and learn the same thing in a different way. Join the school band and learn a classical instrument. Take voice classes. Study theater, too. Learn about entertainment venues and the music industry. Find out where local musicians play. Investigate the history of music in your community over the last several decades. Be in somebody else's rock band. Start your own band. painfully try to write a song about your feelings when you've had a bad day. Joyfully try the opposite on a good day. Become friends with people that have done this thing you're trying to do. Work more and more on your particular talents and skills in different ways. Over time, who you are in a unique way will develop more amazingly by virtue of having many different experiences that synthesize within you and harmonize with what's around you.

:D

Updates about the New Orleans Warehouse fire that Killed 8 Young People Musicians, Artists and Travelers

2011-01-06T14:23:00.000-08:00

It's painful to rehash the story, but I think its one that should be told. 8 Young people, musicians and artists among them, lost their lives in a fire in New Orleans last week. If you would like to know more about what happened, or have information you think I should add, please see this page:

http://www.squidoo.com/tragic-warehouse-fire-in-new-orleans

.

A Sad Time for Musicians and Artists, Fire in New Orleans Warehouse kills 8

2011-01-04T14:01:00.000-08:00

Last week a horrible warehouse fire claimed the lives of eight young people, ranging in age from 17 to 30. They died of carbon monoxide poisoning in one of the worst fires New Orleans has seen in some time. Among them were buskers, artists and street performers. The warehouse was sometimes used as a squat for traveling people and youths affected by Katrina. Some of those using the building for shelter had been involved in the NOLA Art house, which was shut down last year for code violations which caused a group of young local artists to loose their lodgings. Information about the fire and the victims is still coming together. If you have information to add, please let me know. A page with all the information I have come across can be found here:

http://www.squidoo.com/tragic-warehouse-fire-in-new-orleans

.

I stumbled across some great Tori Amos stuff today! :-)

2010-11-25T00:27:00.000-08:00

Today I found some really cool interviews, pictures, and other stuff about Tori Amos. I decided to play around and put together a tribute page. You can see it here if you like :-) :

http://www.squidoo.com/tori-amos

I found some great Videos of Coco Robicheaux, the awsome New Orleans Blues Legend

2010-11-23T19:41:00.000-08:00

I'm working on putting together a number of pages about artists I think are amazing, and found some great video to add to the one I'm making about a local New Orleans musician I love- Coco Robicheaux. Take a look at how it's coming here:

http://www.squidoo.com/new-orleans-blues-legend-coco-robicheaux

Wow.

2010-10-18T00:13:00.000-07:00

I love when a musical moment just happens, like now, when I walked in and my room mate was playing this on You Tube. :)

Journeys as Inspiration for Music

2010-09-09T10:46:00.000-07:00

I.

Different everyday things can sometimes have interesting metaphorical meanings that feel somehow natural as inspiring for songwriting. One thing that has always evoked interesting creative thought for me is the experience of traveling.

You set out towards a destination, and move towards various goals or plans. What happens along the way may be unexpected, and may leave you with food for thought. I found this to be true for me again, while taking several plane and bus trips across the country to handle some business. Of course there are all kinds of ways to look for and find what inspires you, the next time you travel be sure to take a journal and a camera to give yourself a record of how the journey effects what you're thinking and feeling.

In composing music, one thing that proves helpful for most musicians is to have a way to record whatever comes to mind that seems to want to encourage you towards long and deep thinking. Recording a thought by jotting it down, or the visual impression of a moment that caught your attention may be a key in composing music.

Check back soon for examples of how to use this that may be helpful to your work.

Always the song I hear before I travel....

2010-08-17T01:23:00.001-07:00

Swipe Files for Songwriters

2010-06-26T08:12:00.000-07:00

What's a Swipe File? A Swipe file is a file, folder or box that you store good ideas in. It can be a physical thing, or something you keep on your computer or on line. Writers commonly keep files like this, to look back over ideas that peaked their curiosity, were interesting, or had useful information.

You can keep anything you want in your swipe file. Pictures that made you look, titles that made you think, ideas that grabbed you. When you're feeling like you want to compose but don't know where to start, all you have to do is look through the file you saved. It will help you get some inspiration for your own original work.

Using Google Notebooks to keep a swipe file can be useful, because you can access it from any computer that is connected to the Internet. You can also easily share it with other folks you might be working with.

Every day there are articles, videos, songs, and phrases that catch your attention. By recording some of the best ones, you'll have a lot of food for thought when you need it. It will also help you to analyze what about a title, opening line, or idea made it interesting. Studying what fascinates you, and try to figure out why. Then you have a shot at understanding what catches peoples attention, and how to make your own work more catchy and appealing.

If you'd like to hear more about the idea of creating a swipe file, read this post in my freelance writing blog:

http://freelancewritingfun.blogspot.com/2010/06/whats-swipe-file.html

Blogger has some new features, and I'm playing with them....

2010-06-25T20:49:00.000-07:00

Give a cat a ball of string and see what happens.

Excuse the virtual dust of my renovations here. Blogger has some new features that I' having fun playing with. The page may take an extra second to load, but I think the new design templates make it prettier and sleeker.

There is also the option of adding extra pages now, which was the one feature I liked better about word press. Now I'll be able to take some of the theory notes in this page and make them easier to find, and put some of the video's and tutorials together in a more organized way.

I see that a lot of people do stumble through here from the numbers, but only once in a while do things get interactive. I'd like to see more of that, and may integrate this into a webbs site so I can add a forum for discussions on music related topics. I'd love to hear from some of you readers- what would be helpful to you to see more of?

Peace,
Nicolette

Having nothing to do wih music...

2010-06-23T07:51:00.000-07:00

This is fun.

I do a lot of research on line, which frequently involves lot's of searches. Last month I joined Swagbucks and started doing my searches through their toolbar. They get their results from Google and ask.com, and the results seem virtually the same. The difference is that you randomly win points that can be exchanged for fun prizes; including amazon gift certificates, camera's, t-shirts, and a lot of other things. I've been playing with it just long enough to say it's legit, and I haven't gotten any spam as a result. If you're blogging, or doing lot's of work and research on line, why not? If you want to play with it too, :-) click here:

It was fun to play piano the other day...

2010-06-16T23:22:00.000-07:00

I had a really fun musical moment a few days ago. You know, it's really great to just sit down and play, especially if you have a few minutes to play all by yourself with no one listening. It's usually during those moments that you find some little inspiration and dare to explore it.

I haven't gotten to play piano in a while, even though I technically own several. By "awhile" I mean a couple of years, at least on any regular basis. Although I do occasionally steal a piano whenever I see one. If you enjoy playing with piano or guitar, you may understand the deep need to grab an instrument and play it.

Wow. It just occurred to me that I almost never post about myself in this blog. In fact, I'm not sure I've even ever actually introduced myself in this little missive about music that I've been keeping. I post informative notes on some very rudimentary music theory; links to video tutorials, interviews with composers, and random bits of things that interest me.

Most of it has been about what I think might be useful or entertaining for other musicians, especially people just learning to write songs or play an instrument. Then again we're all 'just learning', every day, I hope. I enjoy writing a lot, and write in a few places about different things. Some of it is related. For instance, I wrote an article about the New Orleans Blues Musician, Coco Robicheaux on Associated Content. After I started writing there, I added a few of the basic music theory tutorials I posted here.

Why Scales Are Important if You Want To Learn Music is something I wrote to answer a question. Many people don't play an instrument, but want to. Many others actually do play something with no formal music training, and some of them quite well. They usually wonder why scales are important, and this is a simple explanation of how it's useful.

The other article I got out of a post that was written here was How a Musical Scale if Built . None of this is rocket science, it's really very simple. It is however useful to the random person who stumbles into a piano and wants to figure out how to play it. Or perhaps someone trying to understand how chords might work together in a song they're writing with a guitar.

But back to making music. I was sitting at my piano for the first time in years. It's been stored at my Grandmother's house, and I happened to stop by while she was out. I couldn't resist siting down and playing it for awhile. It's an antique, a very tall upright, and has a very rich and full sound. I was just playing around with what I remember of a song I wrote a long time ago. Almost by accident I discovered that my camera has a record button, and got myself playing around on tape. Err... recorded in digital, from a fifty dollar camera. heheh! I'm out of practice, but it's really not too bad considering I was just playing around with sound.

Anyway, Peace to whoever stumbles through here, more soon....

"Something Chewy" is a great MP3 Blog!

2010-06-09T15:20:00.000-07:00

I was looking for a few good songs to listen to this afternoon while I was cleaning houe. "Cells" by the Servant had been in my head, along with "Gamemaster" by Lost Tribe, and some other electronic and trance club music. I managed to find a great EP with good versions of Game Master on Amazon, which was worth six bucks for me to just download.

Then I hunted for Cells, and found here for download, on a blog called "Something Chewie". Not only did our web host Steve 'Chewbacca' have the song I wanted to hear, he also has collection of great music in different styles with interesting commentary about the artists and their music. It's definitely worth checking out.

Download Cells by the Servant

Check out Something Chewy here:
http://somethingchewie.co.uk/

Moulin Rogue

2010-06-02T23:32:00.000-07:00

I really love the whole soundtrack from this movie, which you can get here: Moulin Rouge

Download "Like I Said, Yeah, U Rite" by Coco Robicheaux

2010-06-02T20:29:00.000-07:00

I was excited tonight, when I realized that I could get Coco on Amazon. Coco Robicheaux is a genuine New Orleans Legend. His music embodies the spirit of the blues that is so rich there, you can taste the sound almost as much as listen to it. I was missing New Orleans, and remembering a performance of him singing a song called 'Home'.

What was super awesome is that even though I don't buy stuff online much, I managed to find it on Amazon and download an MP3 of the album with "Home" on it. You can get the actual album, or download it for instant musical gratification at $8.99. Coco Robicheaux is one of my favorite musicians from NOLA , and sometimes when I get homesick I remember him performing Leonard Cohen's 'Suzanne' and going into this hurricane inspired song of Home. I downloaded it, and I almost feel like I'm sitting in that bar again on a funky Saturday night.

If you haven't heard his music, or you want to find a touch of the real New Orleans flavor, I'd strongly recommend this. Add a mixed drink, dancing, and some good chicken gumbo for maximum effect. ;-)

New Music Articles

2010-06-02T11:56:00.000-07:00

It's time to start adding to this blog again, although if you're just stumbling in I'm sure you'll find some interesting things in the earlier posts. Recently I started to post some music related articles and other things on Associated Content- please check them out. If there are things you'd like to see me talk about more in these articles or this blog, feel free to leave me a message with questions and ideas. In the mean time, check out the new articles here:

How a Musical Scale is Built

Why Scales are Important if You Want to Learn Music

:-)

Leonard Cohen, hero of songwriters and poets, beloved of the Muses

2009-12-12T03:09:00.000-08:00

This interview is amazing. Leonard speaks at length about music and about philosophies on life. It was moving, and only made me feel even more that I'd love to have a long conversation and cups of coffee with this amazing songwriter I share a birthday with. He handles difficult questions with grace, sincerity and a humbleness rarely seen; and has a lot to say that may be inspiring and insightful to others. :-)

Fred's Christmas Video: Christmas is Creepy!

2009-12-08T14:22:00.000-08:00

This made me laugh, so hard. It's a perfect example of "using your songwriting powers for evil" ;-)~ Not only is it a really cute and funny music video, but some of the lines were just brilliant.

"If Snowmen came to life, that would be creepy.
If Santa really snuck in my house, that would be creepy...."

People International Incorperated

2009-11-17T19:44:00.000-08:00

I was going through some things online today and found this picture. This People International rehearsal had to be six or seven years ago. I'm the girl sitting on the ground in front with a black leather vest and a red thing in my hair. I remember, that was part of my show costume in the year I first got to play keys with the band.

People international is a really cool charity oriented musical performing group. It's members range in age from 14 to old enough that it would be impolite to ask. ;-)~ The group does songs that have positive messages that express ideas such as concerned love for one's community, the value of openness and honesty, the importance of self discipline and dedication, and the joy which comes from deep connection to others.

Each year a different song list is chosen by the music committie with many suggestions from the general membership, and the group learns covers of many modern songs with positive things to say. It is not unlike a show choir with a band and dancers, and it can be a truely theatrical event when this group performs. Once a year, members from all over the country get together to put on a show to benifit a different charity each year that the group deems worthy. The members come together for a week, spend most of the time rehearsing, and put on a great show in a different city each year. It is a great experience, and the group is very welcoming to new members.

If you're interested in further information, leave me a comment here with your email, and I will forward you more information and contacts.

See, Nora likes to Practice....

2009-11-10T19:31:00.000-08:00

Love Your Lurkers Week

2009-11-08T13:14:00.000-08:00

I've been looking through my music theory notes from back at OU* and found a lot of stuff I think would be useful to some of the folks stumbling through here. I'll be posting a lot of that this week and some more great rock tutorials I found on the net.

I noticed that there are actually a lot of people starting to check this page out, and I thought I'd be social and smile and wave through the Internet. I've been getting some nice notes, and I'm glad that some of what I'm posting is useful or entertaining to others with a lot of musical interests. My experiences are varied, and I like a lot of different styles of music, so I'm trying to reflect that in the different things I'm posting about. Making music, in whatever fashion you do, is a journey. Many different things influence it. An intelligent interview with a songwriter you respect will influence you in one way, the funny you tube video you watched 12 times will influence you in another, and discovering a chord progression you like will move you in other ways too. This page is a reflection of the idea that all those different experiences are useful, and may lead to enjoying or making great music.

If you happen to be reading this, I'm curious about the people checking out this blog- I'd like to know what kinds of things you'd like to see more of in a page like this. If you have a moment, please stop by in the comments here and say Hello.

Peace!
~ Nicolette

(* for musicians in Michigan, Oakland University in Rochester has an excellent program that I have a lot of good things to say about. It was the professor's there that really helped me learn how to translate the music I could imagine in my mind into actual notes on a piano or guitar. :-) )

Here's a Great Funny Music Video Parody :-)

2009-11-07T19:26:00.000-08:00

Measure for Measure from N.Y. Times

2009-11-05T16:23:00.000-08:00

I was looking around for some other great blogs and websites to talk about here, and found Measure for Measure. It's a N.Y. Times blog which is apparently on vacation momentarily; but holds a lot of interesting thoughts for visitors who like to make music. There are multiple contributors, including Suzanne Vega, who I've always thought of as very talented and creative in the wold of making music. Check it out:

MEASURE FOR MEASURE

Induction of Leanord Cohen

2009-10-08T15:27:00.000-07:00

Occasionally the right people get Honnored...

Sometimes you just need some Muppets!

2009-10-08T15:08:00.000-07:00

Groan This is going to hurt!

2009-10-04T13:15:00.000-07:00

Having watched that spoken word bit of Rumi that Madonna did about 100 times now, I had to get on to something else. As was inevitable, I did a search on Tori Amos.

What I was hoping to find was "little Eartquakes". What I did find was "Crucify", another great song. I've never really played or written anything I can remember in D-Flat major, which nis apparently the key she wrote it in. This would be a good exercise for me. Besides, I like the way she writes, learning "Crucify" may let me see more of how she tends to structure things as a composer. Having found this tutorial I feel obligated to set my laptop on my keyboard and turn the amplifier on. I may find myself soaking my fingers later, if I really try to get the first piano lick down.

If you like Tori Amos and are working with a piano or keyboard, or want to see why I'm wincing a little, click here:

I'm Going to Watch this about 100 times...

2009-10-03T02:42:00.000-07:00

Here's a Deep Dark Secret. Madonna was one of my first musical hero's. When I was not even a teenager yet, she was my example of how a young woman from a small town in Michigan could take charge of her life and become a rock star if she wanted to. There was more to it than that, I felt that beyond the outward showy displays there was something inside her as that made her both an artist, and a philosopher poet that could use her art to speak deeply to others. Most of my young friends just laughed at me, and I'm sure my Mom laughed even harder.

Today it surprises me, but I'm quite sure I was right. Here's why I'm breathless for her again, amazed to see her do such a beautiful expression of the poetry of Rumi:

Music to Laugh to: The Mean Kitty Song

2009-10-03T01:00:00.000-07:00

Sometimes you just need a laugh. I give you the mean kitty rap song, which is awfully cute. :-)

Seattle Music Sceene: Blue Moon Open Mic Night

2009-10-01T11:12:00.001-07:00

If you happen to be up in the seattle area and want a fun evening, the Blue Moon hosts an open mic on Wednesday nights. It starts around 8pm and is run by Angry Joey and co-hosted by his talented daughter Leanne. With any luck I may get to film and post her awsome rendition of "Mad World" by Tears for Fears in the near future. Last nights open mic was amazing from start to finish. There were some noteworthy blues tunes sung by Daddy Treetops, a musician of local folk fame, and also an amazing set of Rastafarian fun lead by Abdulla and his friends.

The crowd on Wensdays is warm and friendly, so if you live in the area or are visiting bring yourself out. If you play, show up with your guitar or a song and sign up with Joey. The crowd is weloming to beginners as well as seasoned ( bad-ass) performers. ;-)~ The Blue Moon is located on 45th street in the U district.

Must be 21 and over to attend, with ID.

Too Easy: Using the circle of fifths to determine chords

2009-09-30T17:38:00.000-07:00

Wooooooh! I -real- music lesson- and this music teacher has a sense of humor! Useful information!!!! ( Ummm..yeah, if you're in the "beginner class" and haven't heard of the circle of fifths yet, we'll get there. Watch this anyway. )

Back to Basics: Reading Music

2009-09-30T17:29:00.000-07:00

For the beginners, here's a very quick little video that talks a little bit about finding pitches in written music and how the length of a note is expressed.

Songwriting Rituals

2009-09-30T01:15:00.000-07:00

If you want to compose your own music, it can be very helpful to create a few "personal songwriting rituals" for yourself.

Anything that gets you into the mood and the right frame of mind can be useful. Knowing what works for you is the key. Some people like to write music free of distraction, in a quiet room with noone else around. Others enjoy sitting in a park with their guitar, and may enjoy being around friends while working on things.

It can be a good idea to develope a set of things you do almost every time you sit down to make music. This can be formal or informal, spiritual or silly, profound, profane, or all of the above. (Yes, that's possible.)

Jane sits down at her piano, pulls out some manuscript paper and a pencil, lights a candle on top of it to represent inspiration, and plays through her scales and exercizes before letting them take her someplace. Soon she's lost in new sounds, and writing something down in a hurry.

Billy stumbles out of bed, cracks a beer, and lovingly rubs the neck of his guitar. His notebook and pen are already on the floor in his usual spot.

Whatever little elements you can add to your routine of practice, playing, and creation that can happen in the same way most of the time can help create a "mental trigger" Jane's subconscious mind, where the creativity really resides, understands that it's showtime when she lights the candle. Billy knows that when he tastes the beer and starts idylly playing with his guitar, something will happen.

It's a process of creating a mental landscape that is open to the creative process. Try lot's of things, and feel free to comment here and let me know some of your favorite tricks to get into the mood. :-)

The Homework Blues:

2009-09-28T14:30:00.000-07:00

I woke up this morning,
Knew I had homework to do....
Yes I woke up this morning,
and I knew I had homework to do,
But the sun it wasn't shinin'
and I could only think in Blue.

Here's a great article that talks a little about the history of the blues, and links for some more things to read. :-) This is fun- I kind of like torturing the audience with homework. *giggle*

What is the blues?
http://www.pbs.org/theblues/classroom/essaysblues.html

Who is important to know about in the history of the blues?
( These guys, and me and you. The blues is for the people, got it? )

http://www.pbs.org/theblues/songsartists/songsbioalpha.html

And wow, that list is comprehensive. Scattered throught the descriptions of musicians who have been important to the blues as a musical movement, there are also suggestions of essential songs to listen to. I could probably look through this stuff all day. :-)

Happy reading. I expect a 12 page report on my desk Monday morning---- oh, what, it's already Monday? Well, I guess you're just going to have to write a blues song about it, then. :-)

Peace,
Nicolette

12 Bar Blues

2009-09-28T13:54:00.000-07:00

The 12 bar blues is one of the most common and well loved chord progressions. Knowing how it works lets you really work on playing the blues and making up your own songs very quickley.

The phrase 12 bar refers to the number of bars, or measures, that the repeatable pattern takes up. The twelve measures can be broken down into three four-bar segments.

The lyrics typically follow an AAB pattern, where the first two 4 bar stanza's are "A" and the third is "B". The first and second lines are usually repeated, and the third is a response to them, often with a twist.

Not all blues songs follow this pattern, but it is the most well known and easy to understand format, which will help the listener to understand the musical framework used in the blues better.

Before we get into more about how to sit down with your piano or guitar and do it, listen to an example of a 12-bar blues song:

( And would also be a fabulous example of how you're allowed to go completely insane while playing the 12 bar blues. Sometimes insanity is fun ;-)~)

Playing the Blues

2009-09-28T04:01:00.000-07:00

Here's a neat little tutorial I found that shows how to make 4 simple chords that will work for composing a blues song. Definately some great ideas you can experiment with.:-)

How Cool!

2009-09-28T03:14:00.000-07:00

My blog has already made Three Dollars and Fourty Three Cents from google adsense. Neato, spiffy, keen!

Although I'm not writing this blog primarily to make money, I could -really- use some. I'm also kind of pleased, they're putting adds up that are totally relevant and interesting, like the one to Berkley Music Online.

I know it's a shameless plug- but please, check out my sponsor links, and help a sister out. :-)

Peace,
Nicolette

The Blues Scale- C Minor Pentatonic – Blues Scale in C

2009-09-28T02:55:00.000-07:00

Before we can play the blues, we have to understand how the blues are built. The scale is a little different, including “bent” or “blue” notes.

On a piano you can hear the C minor pentatonic or C Blues scale by playing these six notes:

C – E flat- F- F sharp- G- B flat.

Like the other scales we’ve discussed, it has a particular pattern that can be moved to any root note by using the same structure of half steps and whole steps.

Respectively, the scale is built one, flat three, four, flat five, five, flat seven- but try just learning it in C first. I recommend playing up and down the scale until you are very comfortable with it, and then just noodling around with those notes. See what melodic phrases occur to you naturally and have fun.

Here's a video tutorial so you can see the scale being played.

Let’s Learn “House the Rising Sun”

2009-09-23T21:39:00.000-07:00

Undoubtedly, The Animals version is the most well loved, although many other musicians have also covered this song.

Here’s several you tube videos that teach a version of this song being played on piano :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iL8Z13swnM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaekMhDPRS4&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kjeo_h1sXA

and a guitar version:

I love this song, and it has an interesting and somewhat mysterious roots. Here’s also a little bit about the history of this song from Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_House_of_the_Rising_Sun

Rock Legends: The White Strips "Seven Nation army" and How to Play it!!!

2009-09-19T22:23:00.000-07:00

Gods of Guitar: Jimi Hendrix "All Aong The Watchtower" Original Music Video

2009-09-19T22:19:00.000-07:00

Bow Down Before Gods- "Carlos Santana" Put Your Lights On

2009-09-19T21:32:00.000-07:00

Fun with Chords on the Piano

2009-09-19T12:41:00.000-07:00

(This can also be played on guitar, you just have to look up where the notes are and finger pick them. )

Soon we’ll have to talk more about notation and reading music, but here’s an exercise with those arpeggiated chords that sounds pretty and is easy to do.

Going up the keyboard, play the first set of notes with your left hand, the second with your right, then cross your left hand over your right and play the first set again with your left and then your right. Like this:

Left Right Left Right
C-E-G C-E-G C-E-G C-E-G

It’s the same chord, played one note at a time, in four different octaves on the piano.

Try it slowly, as though you’re playing something from a beautifully lilting song. Once you get the hang of it, also try to see how fast you can do it. Then try it with all the chords you just learned in the C scale.

Now try it using the chords C major ( C-E-G) and when you finish the ascending pattern, go below whre you started and do the same things with the A minor chord ( A C-E). Follow that with the same pattern for F major, and then G major. Specifically:

C-E-G C-E-G C-E-G C-E-G
A-C-E A-C-E A-C-E A-C-E
F-A-C F-A-C F-A-C F-A-C
G-B-D G-B-D G-B-D G-B-D

You may think that sounds kind of neat as a pattern when you do it. The reason for that is that we’re moving from one chord to another which either shares tones in common or have other powerful relationships to one another. That will take a lot of explaining over time, but some of it is very simple to understand. This could be described as a “chord progression”. If the chords were numbered the way we talked about C-E-G would be called “ I “ , and A-C-E would be called “ vi “ , F-A-C would become “IV” and G-B-D would become “ V”.

If that sounds confusing, take a deep breath, and just play through it a few times. It’s easy to play and your ears understand already that there is a relationship within the chords.

When you move from the C major pattern down to the A minor pattern, you are moving from the first degree of the C major scale to the sixth degree of the scale. When you move from the A minor chord to the F major chord, you are moving from the sixth degree of the scale to the fourth. When you move from the F major Chord to the G major chord, you are moving from the fourth degree of the c scale to the fifth.

1- 6- 4 - 5
I –vi- IV- IV

One of the reasons knowing that is useful is that if you understand the pattern you can take it into any other key, which is “transposing”. For instance you know that the first chord In G major is the G major chord, G-B-D. To create the same pattern of arpeggios using the G major scale, you’d start with the “ I” chord (which would be G-B-D ) move to the “ vi” chord ( E- G- B ), then the “IV” chord ( C-E-G ) and the “V” (D-F-A)

Chord Theory I

2009-09-19T12:36:00.000-07:00

Okay, go back to the C major scale, which you’ll remember is the white keys from C to C, and includes the notes C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C.

Your first triad, or three note chord, is the C major chord. It involves the first, third and fifth note of the C major scale- C-E-G. Play them at once, and you have a C major chord. In the c=scale f C it’s also called the Major First, and sometimes indicated with an upper case Roman numeral “ I “

Now, if you move each finger one note to the right in that scale, you’ll get a D minor chord. ( D-F-A). In the scale of C it’s also called the minor second (we’ll get to why later ) and sometimes indicated by a lower case roman numeral “ ii “.

By continuing up the scale moving each finger to the right by one key, you get seven chords based on the C Major Scale:

C-E-G = C Major= Major I
D-F-A = D minor= minor ii
E-G-B= E minor = minor iii
F-A-C= F Major = Major IV
G-B-D = G Major = Major V
A-C-E = A minor = minor vi
B-D-F= B diminished = minor vii diminished

The numbers represent the scale degrees within a scale, 1-7.

The Roman numeral is capitalized when the resulting chord is Major, and lower case when the resulting chord is minor.

It is possible that some of the same chords may exist in other scales, but they will be numbered differently based upon the key they are in. For instance, the same G Major Chord used in the C scale is used in the G major scale, but it’s the first chord in that key, so it would then be called a Major I.

If you are new to playing with chords on a piano, try playing each of the chords in a C major scale in succession, with each hand, and then with both hands together. Getting into chords is fun, it’s where the music starts to sound like music.

Also try playing each of the notes in a chord in succession, which is called and arpeggio. You can play the notes individually, or hold each note as you play the next for variations in sound. Try playing up and down the keyboard with variations on this theme. For instance, play each note of the C chord in your left hand holding each note as the next is played, and then in the right hand, making the six distinct notes come in at different times and end at the same time. Do the same thing for D-G-G, and so on. Try it, it sounds pretty! Come up with some of your own exercises to play around with involving the seven chords based in the key of C Major.

The notes for these chords are the same for a guitar, although I think the relation between the notes is visualized a little easier with the layout of a piano or keyboard. The basic theory however is the same, and can be applied to multiple instruments.

Instruments which can play more than one note at a time frequently make use of chords. Other instruments which sound one note at a time may use similar concepts such as the arpeggiated notes of a triad. They may also represent one note of a larger chord made by multiple instruments playing at once in a band, orchestra, or chorus.

COCO ROBICHEAUX- New Orleans Blues

2009-09-18T20:47:00.000-07:00

Now how bad-ass would you have to be to win an award called "Best Blues Album by a Louisana Artist"

Seriously. Babies cut their teeth on harmonica's in Louisana. The spices in the food make 'em wail that way. There ain't nobody that can sing the blues like someone who'se stumbled home through the french quarter in New Orleans. The rhythmn is in the sound of steps on the pavement, the rocking of the train, the ebb and flow of the tide.

Here's a site where you can find out more about his music, and a link to his myspace page and other articles. :-)

( I miss you Coco. Thanks for letting me play with You, and telling such fabulous stories! )

http://www.spiritland.com/index.html

http://www.myspace.com/cocorobicheaux

http://oriolepoet.blogspot.com/2008/04/resiliency-and-rebirth-in-big-easy-coco.html

The pattern for a natural minor scale

2009-09-18T20:02:00.000-07:00

Much like you can find out what a major scale sounds like from playing the white keys from C to C on a piano, you can easily hear the sound of a minor scale by playing the white keys from A to A on a piano.

The pattern of half steps and whole steps in a minor scale is not the same as it is for a major scale, which is what gives it a different kind of sound.

A (whole step ) B (half step) C (Whole step) D (Whole Step) E (half step ) F (whole step ) G ( whole step ) A

In any natural minor scale the pattern will be whole, half, whole, whole, half, whole, whole.

Try E minor, for instance. The notes in E natural minor are E-F#-G-A-B-C-D-E. The fingering for both A and d minor is the same as the scales previously worked with.

Take note that the notes in A minor are the same as the notes in C major, they just start on A instead of C. Likewise, the Notes in E minor are the same as the notes in G major. Thusly E is called the relative minor of G major, and A is called the relative minor of C major. Every major scale has a relative minor, and every minor scale has a relative major.

To find the relative minor of any major scale, count down 1 and 1/2 steps.

To find the relative major of any minor key, count up one and 1/2 steps.

If you've been following along, we've now gone through the major scales starting on the keys of C, D, G, and A as well as the Minor scales A and D. If you are working on a poano, we have also discussed which fingers to use on which keys and how to progress from playing with each hand individually and then putting them together. More importantly, we've talked about how the patterns of half steps and whole steps work in each of these scales. If you understand that, you'll be able to figure out both major and minor scales starting on any key.

It should also be noted that there are several alternative forms of the minor scale; natural minor, melodic minor, and harmonic minor. I'll be explaining how to do that later after we have gotten through the primary basic scales.

Fun with your Printer

2009-09-18T15:09:00.000-07:00

As you continue, it would be useful to have these things in front of you if you don't already know them.

Here is a printable pdf that shows the notes in the treble clef as written on staff paper, and how they correspond to the notes on a piano or keyboard.

http://www.musictechteacher.com/worksheets/worksheet_0001_treble_clef_notes.pdf

Here is another pdf for the notes in the bass clef.

http://www.musictechteacher.com/worksheets/worksheet_0002_bass_clef_notes.pdf

Here’s a simple worksheet to help you with identifying the notes:

http://www.musictechteacher.com/worksheets/worksheet_0004_identify_the_notes.pdf

Can you find the notes quiz

2009-09-18T15:00:00.000-07:00

Here's another quiz, if you want to see if you understand the placements of notes and what half steps and whole steps are.

http://www.musictechteacher.com/aq_find_the_note001/quizmaker.html

Keyboard Features Quiz

2009-09-18T14:55:00.000-07:00

Heh. Keyboard features for dummies.

This simple little quiz will tell you how much you know about using a very simple electronic piano keyboard. It uses a few terms I haven't gotten into, but could be useful to someone just atarting out. Most of the awnsers are fairly obvious, and it amused me.

http://www.musictechteacher.com/aq_keyboard_features/quizmaker.html

Scales for Piano, D Major, A Major, A minor.

2009-09-18T14:23:00.001-07:00

D major and A Major are played with identical fingering to C and G major, which I talked about earlier.

The Key of D major starts on the note "D", which is the white note in between any pairing of two plack keys on the piano. The notes in D major are: D- E- F #-G- A- B- C # -D. The right hand plays up the keys with the fingering 1-2-3, 1-2-3-4-5, and descends in reverse; 5-4-3-2-1,3-2-1. The Left hand ascends 5-4-3-2-1-, 3-2-1 and decends 1-2-3, 1-2-3-4-5.

( If you're just checking in now, a detailed explanation of how a major scale is built and what the fingering numbers mean is in the earlier posts. )

The key of A Major has three sharps, and they are F #, C # and G #. The A major scale starts on A and it's notes are A-B-C #-D-E-F #-G #-A. The fingering pattern for the left and the right hand are the same as above.

Try both of those, and then try A minor to hear how the sound of a major scale and a minor scale are different. If you can play a C scale, you can automatically play and A minor scale- you just might not have known it. Play only the white keys from A to the next A. ( A-B-C-D-E-F-G-A) The fingering for this scale is the same as the other scales we've gone through, so it should seem very natural. You'll notice that the A minor scale has a different kind of feeling than the other scales. The reason for that is that the pattern of half steps and whole steps in the scale is different than the pattern used for a major scale. I'll be getting into that more later.

If you're following along with a piano or keyboard and don't already know these scales, play around with them with your hands seperately, and then try playing them with both hands together.

Music~ The Art of Listening

2009-09-17T22:44:00.000-07:00

Now, assuming you’re smart, you started at the bottom of the blog. If you ddn’t know already, you now know how to find middle c, what half-steps and whole steps are, what flats and sharps are, what pattern is used from any key note to create a major scale, and how to play that with your left and right hand on the piano in C major and G Major.

Now on to talking about music, and styles of music for a moment. Classical Music is often used as a part of traditional learning in music. Traditional teachers often feel that the classics best give a student an understanding of music theory, playing technique, and the forms of composition.

There’s a lot of BEAUTIFUL classical music out there, the techniques and theory behind which all kinds of more modern music has its roots in.

The common music of today is also highly influenced by Jazz and Blues, Classic Rock, Folk and Country music. You don’t have to immediately like all of the different styles of music to understand that they have had interesting influences on one another. Much of this can be mapped both culturally and mathematically.

In trying to develop a well rounded perception of music, I think it’s a good idea to develop a kind of recognition and appreciation of all the available styles.

Follow along with one of my piano students as I give her lot’s of interesting things to listen to. Here’s this week’s list, and a link to a playlist I created on project playlist where you can hear all of them for free.

Classical
Beehtoven- Fur Elise
Beehtoven-Moonlight Sonata
Samuel Barber- Adaggio for Strings

Jazz and Blues
Etta James- At Last
Ottis Redding- Sittin on the Dock of the Bay
The Animals- The House of the Rising Sun

Lyrical Folk
Leonard Cohen-Famous Blue Raincoat
Leonard Cohen- Suzanne
Suzanne Vega- The Queen and the Soldier
Suzanne Vega- Gypsy

Check back for the Project playlist link

Fingering for the keys of C, G, single octave.

2009-09-17T15:28:00.000-07:00

Look at your left and right hand and imagine the fingers numbered like this:

Left hand: pinkey= 5, ring finger= 4, middle finger= 3, index finger= 2, thumb= 1.

Right Hand: Thumb= 1, index finger= 2, middle finger= 3, ring finger = 4, pinkey = 5.

To play a c scale properly with the right hand hit C with your thumb (1) D with your index finger (2), and E with your middle finger. Then cross your thumb (1) under and use it to play F, your index (2) for G, your middle finger (3) for a, your ring finger (4) for B, and your pinkey for the C an octave up from where you began.

Right Hand:

1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5
C D E F G A B C

For your left hand begin with the pinkey (5) on the C, then play D (4) E (3) F (2) G (1). Cross over your thumb with your middle finger and play A (3) B (2) C (1).

Left Hand:

5 4 3 2 1 3 2 1
C D E F G A B C

The G Scale uses the same fingering and is

Right Hand:

1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5
G A B C D E F G

The decending pattern for each hand is the same in reverse.

If you are new to this, it's easiest to learn by trying in first with each hand seperately, and then playing it with both hands together at once. The only tricky part is that when you play it with both hands, your fingers cross over at different times. After about five minutes of frustration it will probably feel quite natural, so just play with it until you get a knack for it.

The pattern for a Major Scale

2009-09-17T14:17:00.000-07:00

The pattern for a major scale can easily be seen on any piano, by finding a “c” note, and playing all the white keys up to the next “c”. The pattern is of course the same for other instruments, it’s just very easy to understand visually when looking at a piano keyboard.

Even if you know relatively little about music, finding “c” is easy. Look at any keyboard and you will notice that there are groupings of two and three black keys. The white key too the left of any of the pairings of two black keys is a “c”. The one commonly referred to as “middle c” is roughly in the middle of the piano.

From one “C” to the next higher or lower “C” is a musical octave. It is called an octave because it is comprised of 8 notes. The eighth note is the last note of one octave and the first note of the next, which is why only 7 letter names are used. A "C major scale" uses the notes C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C, in order. Sometimes the referring to the notes in a scale like this is called the spelling of the scale.

You will notice that when you hit “D”, the second note in a c major scale, that there is a black note in between the white keys. That note is sometimes called “C sharp” and other times called “D flat”. It is one half step up from "C", and from that black not in between it is another half step to "D". Skipping a tone like that is called a whole step. From "D" to "E" is also a whole step.

The first three notes in any major scale are all one whole step from each other.

----- "C" (whole step) "D" (Whole Step) "E"-----

There is no black key in between "E" and "F", which makes the interval there a half step.

----- "C" (whole step) "D" (Whole Step) "E" (half step ) "F" -----

Then we have a whole step between "F" and "G", another one between "G" and "A", and another one between "A" and "B". Finally from "B" to "C" we have another half step.

The pattern for a major scale, which can be built from any key, is:

1. (whole step)
2. (whole step)
3. (half step)
4. (whole step)
5. (whole step)
6. (whole step)
7. (half step)
8.

You just repeat the pattern to continue up to the next octave, or play back down in reverse.

The same pattern is used from different starting points to create other major keys, which will have flats or sharps in them to preserve the same pattern of intervals between the notes.

For instance, the key of "G major" starts on "G", and is played from "G" to another "G" an octave above or below, with one sharp. The sharped note is "F", it is the first black key in the grouping of three black keys. If you were to spell the scale it would be "G-A-B-C-D-E- F sharp – G". If you were to look at the patterns of half steps and whole steps involved you would see that it is also built the same way. (whole step, whole step, half step, whole step, whole step, whole step, half step)

Likewise, "F major" has one flat, which is "B flat". It is the last of the three black notes. It would be played "F-G-A- B flat – C- D- E- F".

If you have access to a piano or keyboard and are just learning, try to plunk out these different scales now. I will discuss the easiest fingering for those scales in my next post. If you are new to music, please don't be intimidated by the idea of playing scales- it's really all based on a pattern that is so simple a child that knows their alphabet and how to count could easily understand it and can be very useful to understanding how music can be written and played. If you have a more studied background, keep reading, we will continue to discuss more and more in depth material about playing, writing, and performing music.

Every Journey begins with a Single Step.....

2009-09-17T13:30:00.000-07:00

( chineese proverb )

Scales

There are reasons that learning scales has traditionally been a part of learning to make music. With any instrument, practicing them regularly will increase fluidity of motion and connection with the instrument. Being able to move through different scales with little effort makes it much easier to pick up musical material in any key and play it. Understanding the idea of keys and how they are built makes it easier to transpose music, and allows an artist a sense of useful structure when trying to compose music.

There are different types of scales. Many of them our ears naturally recognize because most of us have been listening to music all of our lives. It’s around us in not only what we like to play when we’re flipping around on the radio, as well as in all of the other music we have experienced—because our parent played it, because we heard it in church, head banged to it with teenaged friends, danced to it in clubs. By the time we’re old enough to play with the radio ourselves I think most of us are aware that some songs sound “happy” and others sound “sad”. Each of those songs is based in a particular key and type of modality, even though we may not be aware of that or that it has a name when we are listening. Songs that scan as “happy” are usually major, others that sound “sad” or “wistful” are often one of the types of minor scales, and songs that seem to sound “kind of medieval” are usually written in one of the church modes.

Each type of scale is based on a particular pattern of half steps and whole steps.

This can be easily visualized or shown with a piano. From each piano key to the next black –or- white key is one half step. From any key skipping a tone to the next is one whole step.
When you can find “middle C ( which is a white key to the left of two black keys, roughly in the middle of a piano ) and know how to count in half and whole steps, you can learn a great deal about music in a short period of time. What at first may seem complex is actually elegantly simple.

Before we get into understanding scales and exactly how their patterns are built, we should know something about spelling and the musical alphabet. The only letter names used to name notes are A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. There are certainly more individual tones than that which range in pitch from “lower” tones to “higher” ones, but they are all referenced with the above seven letters and are sometimes raised or lowered by one half step and called a “sharp” or a “flat”.

If you are on a piano, the tones will all run in patterns that follow this alphabet circularly. For instance, if you play a c major scale it starts on “C” and the next higher tone is “D”. If you play from one “C” to the next, you will “spell” the pattern C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C. Depending on what note you start on, and what type of patter you are playing, the spelling will start and end with different letters, but will always use those seven letters.

A minor, for instance is spelled:
A-B-C-D-E-F-G-A.

A major, based on a different pattern, is spelled:
A-B-C sharp-D-E-F sharp-G sharp-A.

Without considering the sharps and flats that may be used to create a particular type of sound, it can easily be noted that the alphabet is used in this way in every different key. For a beginner, it may be very useful to learn to say the alphabet in this new way.

A-B-C-D-E-F-G-A
B-C-D-E-F-G-A-B
C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C
E-F-G-A-B-C-D-E
F-G-A-B-C-D-E-F
G-A-B-C-D-E-F-G

Words and Concepts to remember:

Middle C, Musical Alphabet, Pitch, Note, Scale, Major Scale, Minor Scale, musical alphabet, sharp, flat.