Piano Lessons: Learn Piano Online

October 28th, 2008 by Lisa | 3 Comments »

Visit Me On Your Favorite Social Media

October 27th, 2008 by Lisa | No Comments »

Piano Lessons: Your Teachability Index

First answer these assessment questions:

1. Name at least 1 song you would love to learn how to play on the piano.

2. On a scale from 1-5, where is your desire to play the piano?

3. Do you need motivation to help you achieve your goals?

4. Do you have a 10 minute activity that you can replace with a
more productive 10 minute activity?

5. What is your expectation of learning how to play piano

Before we talk about your responses to these assessment questions, let’s
determine your teachability score and then use your 5 responses to bring
your score higher.

What is a Teachability Index?

Everyone has a teachability index.
A teachability index measures how easily you will learn a new skill.
There is are two key factors that determine how high your
teachability index is.

Answer these two questions:

On a scale from 1-10, 1 being the lowest and 10 being the highest,
where is your willingness to learn?

On a scale from 1-10, 1 being the lowest and 10 being the highest,
where is your willingness to accept change?

Multiply each answer to get your Teachability Index score.

If you answered 10 on both, (10X10) and your index is 100! You
are a very teachable person and will be successful with the piano.

If your willingness to learn is 10 and your willingness to accept
change is 0, then 10X0=0. That would mean your teachability index
is non-existent and so I need to help you bring your score up a
bit. Keep reading…

How to Raise your Teachability Score for Piano Lessons

I asked you to respond to 5 very important learning factors
specific to piano. They were very simple questions, but each has a
powerful message behind it.

1. Name at least one song you would love to be able to play on the
piano.

It is not enough to just want to be willing to learn how to play
the piano. In your mind, you should be able to imagine yourself
playing your favorite song and even more powerful is that you can
see who you are performing for. You could be playing for
yourself, or it could be for your family, friends, or a group of
people.
Having a specific visual is important to achieving a goal. Adding
color,
a familiar place, sounds and even what it smells like can create a
powerful visual for you to use as a tool…. keep reading to find
out how visualization can be a powerful learning tool.

2. What is your level of desire?

Everyone knows that you have to want to learn to be able to learn,
but more than that, you need to have a high level of desire for the
best possible success rate. This desire is triggered by your
response to #1. Your desire will deepen when you can imagine
yourself playing a favorite song for a person or audience of your
choice.

3. Do you need motivation to help you achieve your goals?

Motivation is huge! If you don’t have it, you don’t have
assessment #1 or #2.
Do you see where we are going with this? Each assessment builds
upon another. If you need motivation, then you need to
re-evaluate #1 and #2.
For example, let’s say you started piano lessons and your
motivation is high, but after awhile, you lost interest. How do
you trigger the motivation? Go back to #1 and #2.

4. Do you have a 10 minute activity that you can replace with a
more productive 10 minute activity?

Now that you have the above 3 assessments, finding 10 minutes a day
is the next hurdle to cross. Everyone is busy…. even those with
dreams, desire and motivation still have to find time. Make a list
of things you do during the day when you are at home. Evaluate
your list and cross off the things that are non-productive, taking
too long to accomplish or wasting your time. After doing that, I
bet you can find at least 10 minutes to practice piano! ~smile~

5. Last but not least, is the most important question of all:
What is your expectation of learning how to play piano?

Your expectation will determine your experience and outcome.

Repeat this out loud:
“I already know how to play the piano, I know this because I can
easily see myself playing my favorite songs. However, I want to
and am willing to continue to learn how to play the piano and I am
willing to make some changes so I can find 10 minutes to practice
every day to become more and more accomplished at what I already
know how to do.”

Now, ask yourself the first two questions again and see if your
teachability index has improved!

Hope this helps you not only with piano, but with anything you do
and learn in your life.

For more information about learning how to play the piano with a
teacher who has the tender loving care to bring out the best in
you, please visit:

Piano Lessons with Lisa

October 20th, 2008 by Lisa | 1 Comment »

Learning Piano Helps Us Reach other Goals in Life

How many goals have you set and never reached? From making better food choices, to completing an ever-ending project, to learning a new skill, many times we fall short of achieving our well meaning goals.

When playing the piano, every new song is literally a new goal. When we can see (or hear) the end result it’s easy to be clear about what you want to accomplish. Every time you complete a song, whether it be a beginner’s song, intermediate or advanced, the goal reaching process is being internalized. Your brain does not know how small or big the goal was, it just knows that the goal was r reached, therefore, the habit of setting and reaching goals becomes a natural part of who you become in all other areas of your life.

As you are learning piano, make sure you are completing each song that you start to ensure that you are not only learning piano, but learning to reach your goals, and to finish something that you started.

Enjoy your lessons!

Lisa

http://www.LearnPianoOnline.com

September 29th, 2008 by Lisa | 3 Comments »

Piano Lessons: Tips on Note Recognition

This is a quick way to learn how to read and recognize notes written on the staff and on the piano. However, there is no replacement for learning how to sound smooth and pretty on the piano than with step by step instruction and with songs that allows gradual progress.

Recognizing the names of the bass and treble clef notes can be fun and rather simple. All you have to do is memorize a word for each note, like this.

Bass clef space notes: A C E G (All Cows Eat Grass)

Bass clef line notes: G B D F A (Good Boys Do Fine Always)

Treble clef space notes: F A C E (This spells “face”)

Treble clef line notes: E G B D F (Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge)

Now the fun begins. Here are some simple and fun ways to memorize these notes.

1) Speed Run: See how fast you can say the names of the notes. Try doing it first with the words, and then with the letter names only.

2) Reverse Speed Run: Now see how fast you can practice saying the letter names in reverse. This is a great way to see just how well you know the letter names.

3) Say-n-Play: While sitting at your piano, say the letter name out loud and then play it on the keyboard. If you are using flashcards, mix them up so that you can select a card at random and do the same activity. This is a very good memorization activity.

4) Play Them All: Now comes a fun way to test your knowledge. Say out loud the note then play all of those notes on the entire keyboard. For example, you have selected the note “A.” Play all the “A” keys on the entire keyboard.

The sooner one can memorize the names of the notes and recognize where they are found on the keyboard, the more enjoyment that can be found playing the keyboard. Just like you learned the ABC’s for reading you’ll be a great success at learning your ABCDEFG’s for the keyboard. Enjoy!

For more information and some video tips on how to learn piano properly, visit:
http://www.LearnPianoOnline.com

September 29th, 2008 by Lisa | 2 Comments »

Piano Video: It Never Too Late To Learn!

My 88 year old grandma is starting piano lessons and agreed to let me share our experience with you.
I hope you enjoy watching this as much as I enjoyed filming it!

My Grandma’s First Lesson

September 19th, 2008 by Lisa | 2 Comments »

Piano Lessons Increases Brain Power

Have you ever considered playing piano to be an incredible source of stimuli for your brain?

Are you part of the millions who believe that age affects your brain performance?

Research shows that the very things that you believe are not possible due to mental decay, are actually the very things you should be doing to defy mental decay!

Learning piano is a perfect stimuli to prevent “brain sluggishness” due to it’s unique gradually progressive, and intensely concentrated communication between your brain, your eyes, both hands, all 10 fingers, your feet, calculation of rhythm, isolated muscle pressure, vocalizing and all this with precise execution, simultaneously at exact timed intervals, only split seconds apart.  This high intensity lasts throughout an entire song, not to mention all the previous hours of practice!

Give your brain a boost by trying this simple exercise in concentration and memory development.  Grab 2 sheets of paper, and enjoy these 5 easy steps:

1.    Trace both hands on a sheet of paper making sure your fingers and thumb are pointing straight up.   Number the fingers on each hand, starting with the thumb: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. In addition, on the left hand, draw a triangle around the numbers 5, 3, and 1.

2.    On another sheet, write 1 2 3 4 5 across the top.   Make them large and about an inch apart. Draw a triangle underneath the numbers 1, 3, and 5,

3.    Place your right hand over your traced right hand, without touching the paper.  While looking at the large numbers 1 2 3 4 5, touch the matching fingers, one at a time, as if you are playing the piano. Try very hard not to look at your fingers.

4.    With your left hand, touch the three triangles with the fingers – 5, 3 and 1, simultaneously.  Do not let fingers 2 and 4 touch the paper. (Touch close to the triangles, don’t worry if it’s not exact)        Touch and release several times for practice.  These are called triads.

5.    Finally, play this exercise with both hands by playing the 1 2 3 4 5 with your right hand, and with your left hand play the triad at the exact time you see a triangle underneath a right hand number.

Did this exercise keep your concentration level at its peak?
Did your coordination skills feel challenged?
Was your memory forced into action trying to remember which fingers go where and when?

Researchers have concluded that learning to play the piano
develops the part of the brain dedicated to concentration, coordination and memory.   The very things we are afraid of losing with age, can be
maintained by simply playing the piano!

Consider giving your brain the stimiuli it needs to maintain it’s optimal performance throughout your life by simply playing the piano.

For more exciting news and easy lessons, visit:
http://www.learnpianoonline.com/welcome.html

September 19th, 2008 by Lisa | 2 Comments »

How do I know if my fingering is correct?

I received an email from a student who asked a very good question,
and thought I would post the question here, so everyone can benefit from the answer:

Dear Lisa,

I like your method of teaching. It’s all coming back to me from years ago when I took lessons for a couple of years. My only question is if it’s possible with online lessons to learn the correct fingering as you get into more complex pieces? I wouldn’t want to pick up bad habits that would be difficult to unlearn later on.

ANSWERED BY LISA:

I am so glad you asked that. One of my pet peeves is fingering. If you follow my instructions, and not ignore the fingering I teach, you will be just fine. You are responsible when you are teaching yourself to make sure you follow instructions carefully since there is no teacher to actually “see” you and correct you. However, the instructions are thorough, and there are videos as well for you to compare what you are doing with what is supposed to happen.

To find out more about learning piano online, visit:
http://www.learnpianoonline.com/welcome.html

September 19th, 2008 by Lisa | 1 Comment »

Learn Piano on a Keyboard

Can you learn piano on a keyboard? Absolutely!
Oops, I might get some teachers and students who will disagree with me, but I am going to take a stand and I’ll tell you why.

First, you should know that the piano and the keyboard have the same exact pattern of keys and reading music for both instruments are exactly the same!

Second, you should also know that even though you can learn on a keyboard, there is a recommended minimum requirement that will work the best. You should have a keyboard (any brand or model) that has at least 61 keys, and have the touch sensitivity feature. The touch sensitivity feature is what allows you to play a key and produce a loud or quiet sound, according to how hard or softly you play it. The 61 keys provides enough keys to learn how to play the piano with both hands, and to progress through more advanced music.

Now, let’s take a look at the benefits of learning on a keyboard:

1. I have three favorite benefits. The first one is the ability to use headphones. What this means for me, is that I can practice anytime I choose. Whether it be while everyone is watching TV, sleeping, or studying! No one can hear me! While I am learning a new song, I don’t want anyone to hear my mistakes and so I feel “safe” inside my headphones!

2. My second favorite benefit is the ability to use the different sounds and rhythms that a keyboard has to offer. I can make my music sound entirely different by just changing the keyboard from sounding like a piano, to sounding like a flute, or trumpet, or even a full string section of an orchestra! This benefit gives me a reason to practice even more because as I try different instruments, I am repeating my songs, over and over! Great for teaching kids! When I turn on a rhythm, such as a waltz, it forces me to play the song with correct timing – it’s like having a built in teacher!
3. The third benefit of keyboards is they are portable! You can take them anywhere! Well, maybe not to the bathroom, but almost anywhere else! ~smile~ I take my keyboard with me to events such as birthday parties, and holiday gatherings for sing-a-longs. I have even taken it to the beach and used it around a bonfire. (The beauty of using batteries!) Get the picture?

Well, there it is. My personal thoughts about keyboards, as a user, and as a teacher. ~smile~
With all that said, I must admit, I do love my piano. When no one is around, I love to sit for hours and just play!
Most of the time, however, you will find me hiding in my headphones.. ~smile~

Lisa
For more information about learning to play the piano or keyboard, visit:
http://www.learnpianoonline.com/welcome.html

September 19th, 2008 by Lisa | No Comments »

Piano Lessons: 88 Keys, Oh My! Where do I begin?

Whether you have a small keyboard with 61 keys, or a full size piano with 88 keys, it’s still seems endless, with no beginning or end. The only way to tell the keys apart are whether they are black or white! Argh,… how are you going to learn the names and locations of so many keys! I have very good news for you.. the piano is a repeat of 7 keys, over and over!

How the Piano is Organized

Learning how the piano keys are organized will give you a strong feeling of confidence and a head start before you start reading music. I am going to teach you in just a few easy steps, how to look at your piano and not feel overwhelmed.

Let’s start by looking at the black keys. You may or may not have noticed, but the black keys are grouped in two’s and three’s. If you are at a piano, locate all the groups of two and all the groups of three. Notice that the groups alternate with each other. These alternating groups of two and three black keys is how the piano is organized, and how you will be able to locate specific white keys very quickly.

Locating Specific Keys in Turbo Mode!

With your right hand, point to the white key in between any group of two black keys. That key is D. Every group of two black keys has a D positioned between them. Now you can locate all the D’s on the piano very quickly by locating the groups of two black keys!

From here it is very easy to learn the 7 keys of the music alphabet. The music alphabet is A, B, C, D, E, F, G.
They are all white keys and are located in that same order on the piano. If you know where D is, then it will be easy to find the others! A-B-C are the three keys before D, and E-F-G are the three keys after D.
Wait! Why did I ask you to use your right hand?

If you used your right hand to point to the D with your pointer finger, then your thumb will naturally be placed on C. Placing your thumb on C is a common starting point for learning the piano.
If you can find C on the piano very quickly, by first finding D, then you have already had your first piano lesson! ~smile~

Happy Practicing!

http://www.learnpianoonline.com

September 16th, 2008 by Lisa | No Comments »

Welcome to Lisa’s Piano Blog!

I have to thank my friend Kidino, once again for a beautiful job designing my new blog page!  Wow…

I am hoping to see all of you here, visiting and making comments on my blog posts!  This will be a fun place to visit full of information and answers to all your questions about learning piano!  ~smile~

Your Online Piano Teacher,

Lisa

http://www.LearnPianoOnline.com