Have You Ever Used A Fake Book?

                                              Periscope #9   

                               What is fake about this book?
    
   A fake book is a collection of lead sheets intended to assist a performer learn new songs. Each piece contains the melody and chords above, so that the arrangement can be improvised and you can "fake" playing the real thing.  Fake books came about when musicians needed access to piles of music and these lead sheets were photocopied and past around among musicians. Copyrights were ignored and often poorly crafted chords were added above the melody. 

   Since the 70's, books have been copyrighted and cleaned up and are available for sale. Fake books have a place for musicians who accompany. I use them to accompany a group at our local care home where I do music with seniors who love those 40's and 50's songs. We scramble every week to find music and often the guitarists only have lead sheets.  
          Many lead sheets are sold on musicnotes.comand are less expensive.

   This week on periscope I reviewed the skills involved in playing from a lead sheet. I chose a song called "I'm Looking Over A Four Leaf Clover" and below you can see a few minutes of how a simple melody can become a full song. 

                           

Next week on Periscope is still undecided. I am there on Tuesdays at 10:30 PST and my screen name is GabriB. I hope you will visit me.

Also check out Elizabeth Gutierrez on Periscope. She does teachings tips in 10 minutes on Tuesday mornings at 8:00am CST and I really enjoy her insights. Her handle is @pianopro88 and she has a great blog. 

     Periscope is a free app by the Twitter company that allows you to broadcast all over the world. There is no time limit. Viewers can participate by typing messages and questions and by sending hearts for content they like. The recorded broadcast is viewable for 24 hours after airing.

                                                                 

Teaching From Lead Sheets

                                             Periscope #9   

                Just learn the melody and improvise the left hand

     Have you ever used just a lead sheet to learn music? As a musician I am called upon all the time to do just that. For example, yesterday I was playing the piano as a volunteer for a group called MusicMendsMinds. We do music with those suffering from Alzheimers, early dementia, and some residents from our local Care Center. When we arrive, the musicians scramble to come up with an agenda. The guitarists only use lead sheets so they hand me the music and expect I will be able to improvise. In periscope #9 I reviewed some steps to teach from a lead sheet.

1. Teach the right hand melody line
2. Review the chords written above the melody as block chords
3. For the easiest LH play only the bottom notes of the chord.
4. Play the melody and bottom notes of chords together
5. Try fifths in the LH
6. Harmonize the melody by dropping some notes from the chord under the melody
7. Play together
8. Try a different LH, such as, waltz broken chords or arpeggiated chords.

         Faber Piano Adventures uses a lead sheet in every level of their 2nd edition lesson books.

                          

Next week on Periscope is still undecided. I am there on Tuesdays at 10:30 PST and my screen name is GabriB. I hope you will visit me.

     Periscope is a free app by the Twitter company that allows you to broadcast all over the world. There is no time limit. Viewers can participate by typing messages and questions and by sending hearts for content they like. The recorded broadcast is viewable for 24 hours after airing.

                                                                 

Teaching Pop Songs- "Hello"

Periscope #8

My video is still available on Periscope until 02/17/16 10:30 PST  

"Hello, How Are You?"

What do you do if beginning students are itching to learn a pop song? You can meet their desire by giving a partial taste or the whole enchilada using a lead sheet. These are some things I covered on my last Periscope Video.

1. Some lead sheets are available at musicnotes.com
2. Start with teaching the scale of the piece
3. Teach chords and their inversions
4. Learn the melody line

                         This can take many weeks. I use this part of the lesson like dessert. 

5. Try melody line with chords leaving out the middle note, just fifths or just a single note. 

6. If they still want more sound, try hanging the chords under the melody. The melody note must be on top so find that inversion.The harmony doesn't have to be under every melody note.

7. This is not precision playing. Allowing exploration and improv.

   
   

 Next week on Periscope is still undecided. I am there on Tuesdays at 10:30 PST and my screen name is GabriB. I hope you will visit me.

     Periscope is a free app by the Twitter company that allows you to broadcast all over the world. There is no time limit. Viewers can participate by typing messages and questions and by sending hearts for content they like. The recorded broadcast is viewable for 24 hours after airing.