How "Good" Do I Have to Be?

Every pianist and piano student wants to "get good" or "play well." But how good is "good" and how well is "well?" Seems like everyone has an opinion about this and students often bounce from book to website, from one authority figure to another in search of an answer. Of course, they also search for the HOW to achieve whatever standard that particular authority is preaching. This is great - if you are said authority figure. It's not so hot if you are the poor pianist/piano student who dreams of making the grade.

The really sad part of this activity is that it is so unnecessary and so destructive of the enjoyment of making music. The aspiring pianist is placed in a mindset where they are constantly striving and never really reaping any reward for their effort. Sometimes I ask my own students, "Do you play the piano?" Many shake their heads sadly, often students who play quite well. "Still learning," they lament. "So...what will have to happen before you can say that you play the piano?" I ask. That's when their eyes glaze over and they find themselves without an answer. Seems that they have picked up some standard somewhere, used it to beat themselves up with, and can't even clearly articulate what that standard is. All they know is that they don't have it yet, whatever "it" might be.

Enough, friends. Let me tell you what I've learned from over 4 decades of playing piano professionally. It's a simple truth but I urge you not to ignore it just because it is so simple.

How good you have to be depends on whom you are trying to please.

There actually is NO definition of the word "good" which is accepted by one and all. Are you serious? We are talking about human beings here - famous for divergent opinions about the nature and quality of an artwork. Yet students work like crazy to please...well, they often are not really sure - somebody.

You learn very quickly when you actually work for people that their tastes and desires differ greatly. As they say, one man's food is another man's poison. This is VERY true in the world of music. Just ask 20 random folks what they consider good music. Make sure you ask them who they will pay good money to go see live. Some will buy season tickets to the symphony. Some wouldn't be caught dead there, but will pay high prices to go see some rapper or heavy metal band. Some girl's country heart throb is a goth chick's main dork. And what person over 20 listens to Hannah Montana over and over and over and....?

Decide on who you are looking to please. Then investigate and find out what will please them. This gets sticky since, the usual answer is "I want to please myself" and that gets us back in soup again if you have one of these "standards" and will only be pleased once that standard is met. Hey, try to free your mind from that for a moment by considering a 3 year old at the piano. Their form of musical enjoyment is called by adults "pounding." Yet the 3 year old loves this and considers it terrific fun and musical enjoyment.

So...are you more or less uptight than a 3 year old? Can you figure out what YOU will enjoy and to hell with the rest of the world? The ONLY time you have to play music which you don't like or play in a way you don't like is when you are getting paid for it. Lots. But then it's still a matter of pleasing yourself, isn't it?

Now I'm not saying you should pound on the piano. You aren't a 3 year old. I AM saying that you should try to come up with your own standards as to what pleases you and drop these "add-ons" which get promoted by self-serving jerks - either professional performers or music "instructors" or whomever, whose sole purpose is to build THEIR ego at the expense of YOURS.

And now some secrets.

Obviously, there must be some common likes and dislikes regarding music. Here they are, again, observed for 40 years of professional musicianship WORKING for a living.

1. Choose music which the listener loves, usually songs and pieces they already know. If you screw up the music choice, then don't bother going further because a great rendition of a tune you dislike is not going to make you like it more.

2. Get good enough to play this tune with a steady beat. The steadiness of the underlying pulse is the foundation of music all over the world. Only crazy artsy types go for anything else and that does NOT include the great composers. Getting good enough to keep the beat will mean not choosing musical arrangements which are too difficult.

3. Play a clean and clear melody, so you can easily hear the tune you already love so well.

All else: fancy harmony, little fills, subtleties of touch, are just icing on the cake, decorations of the tree. The above IS the cake and IS the tree. Pretty silly trying to ice a non-existent cake, isn't it. As a performer, I have learned to focus on the above and it has made me in demand. I know lots of pianists who are technically superior to me but folks don't find their music all that pleasing. These pianists are too busy with fancy frills and unimportant additions to keep a beat and play a clear melody. Thus, they miss the cake and spend all their time on the icing. Bad idea, for a professional AND an amateur.

You, as a human being, almost certainly subscribe to the three points above. The problem lies in various authorities trying to elevate fine points ("icing" if you will) to the status of significant points. These are the things that are quite hard to do and usually result in a sense of failure by the aspiring pianist. I leave it to you to wonder why some "piano teacher" would insist that you fail.

Well, that's it. I hope this produces some email and commentary. I know there are lots of you unhappy piano students and pianists out there. Let's hear from you.

So why am I progressing so slowly even though I practice so much?

It's a VERY common question. Many students and pianists come up with a couple of erroneous conclusions:

1. I don't have much talent, and/or
2. I need to spend even more time practicing to make up for this lack of talent.

Do I need to tell you that this almost always fails and fails miserably? The reason is simple - the conclusions are false and are based on fear and falsehoods. The truth in almost every case is that the student or pianist is not practicing properly. Without proper practice - good, efficient practice - you really can't expect to improve rapidly, if at all.

"So," you ask, "What's the secret to practicing successfully?"

Well, folks, that's a big subject. I'm going to give you a huge piece of it in the rest of this essay, a vital concept that is mentioned in my book but not fully addressed. The other thing I'm going to do is be self-interested and tell you that you will have to purchase my book to get the full info. Yeah, all surfers want to know everything for free. I get that. Not this time. This time, you're gonna have to pay for my twenty years of observations and successful techniques. $25 - not a lot, considering all the frustration you have been experiencing. Of course, there's a lot of garbage out there on the Internet which is free. I actually recommend you try the garbage first, and then, when the frustration remains, come back to this site (0r go to danstarr.com) and get my book. Turn to the chapter entitled "How to Practice Joyfully and Successfully" read the techniques there, apply them for a reasonable amount of time, and you will be a brand new pianist. And to prove to you I know what I say, here is that FREE info to improve your progress.

It's a simple idea, and as you likely know, the simple ideas are the most powerful.

Merely spending time at the piano doesn't count as practice.

Playing the songs you already know for fun is NOT practice. Playing through what you teacher assigned you and never stopping to correct mistakes is NOT practice. Hitting a wrong note, stopping, hitting the right note and then continuing on is very definitely NOT practice. A good portion of the time you spend at the piano is NOT practice. This doesn't mean it isn't very enjoyable. It just isn't practice, and since practice is necessary to improve in your basic ability to play the piano, you aren't going to see that longterm improvement you seek.

The reason many students and pianists do not advance is that they do NOT practice. They merely spend time at the piano making themselves feel better. Unfortunately, they think that this is practicing and are dismayed when they don't see longterm improvements. Playing for pleasure is putting a bandaid on the wound, a short term fix. The longterm fix is to practice and practice properly. Recognize also that time is just one factor and not even the major one. Two hours of improper practice doesn't solve one hour of improper practice.

Let that be your goal, to learn how to practice so it means something.

Scales, Part 3 (Final): HOW to Practice Scales

First we defined them, then we isolated the most critical of them. In this final essay we will discuss what to DO with them - "them" being scales, natch!

There are three possible benefits from "learning the scales":

1. Training the hands to make the scales so that scalar passages in actual music come easily,
2. Improvement in general dexterity and technique, and
3. Assimilating, both mentally and manually, which notes go together in Western music.

Number One is a skill for those who expect to play music that contains scalar passages within it. This is mainly jazz and classical music, piano styles which are fundamentally different from piano adaptations of popular songs. Many pianists never get the distinction. A piece of music written solely for the piano, an instrumental piece, is almost always more difficult than a piece of music originally written as a song, that is, with lyrics. The vast majority of pieces played on the piano are actually NOT piano pieces in the truest sense, but piano "adaptations" of vocal music. As such, the role of the RH melody must reflect the limitations of the voice. This simplifies the RH (and usually the LH as well) and makes the piece much, much less likely to contain any scalar material.

The take home message is that if your goals at the piano feature playing only Broadway, standards, or pop hits, then you will not be doing scalar runs and reason Number One above does not apply to you. You don't need to practice scales, at least for this reason . If you do expect to play classical music, jazz music, etc, then I would suggest that you do, at some early point in study, learn those scales I've suggested in the last essay.

Number Two reason holds true for all pianists BUT (a big "but" it is) there are many better ways to improve hand dexterity and technique, methods that not only create general improvement but improvement in the specific skills you will apply. I personally have found great success with my students by using John Schaum's
Fingerpower exercises. There's a lot of skill to using these exercises effectively, and I am very willing to discuss details of application with anyone who wishes to email me.

Number Three reason is, to my mind, the best reason to do scales. If you can drill into your brain and imprint into the muscles of your hands to ALWAYS sharp your F's when playing something written using the G Major Scale, you will, naturally, sharp your F's and never make that particular mistake. However, I must note that doing scales in not the only way to burn this stuff into yourself. If you are willing to accept the initial mistakes, then simply playing lots of pieces in G Major can teach you the same thing.

Also, some students will learn the G Major Scale and then turn right around and fail to sharp their F's when playing G Major pieces. Just something about their brains - the scale drilling didn't take. The little additional "memo" provided by that Key Signature which says "Sharp all the F's" just doesn't seem to imprint. They see an F on the staff and their finger hits F Natural before their brain can add "Make sure you sharp it" to the instruction. For such students, I've had great success with highlighting all the "altered notes." Is this cheating? If it is, then music notation itself is cheating. Dumb question anyway, since this isn't a test.

So you have a decision to make. Some of you absolutely hate anything that smacks of being an exercise and simply won't drill scales in order to imprint "what goes with what." Fine, but be advised that you will now have to tolerate a period of making mistakes in your music. For those that are okay with exercises, allow me to recommend David Hirschberg's Scales and Chords are Fun as a superior way to drill these. Again, there is much knowledge in the "how" of using this book which I will be happy to discuss - via email.

So we've shown that scales are useful in various ways but in no way mandatory. Sorry you old style music teachers, but your staples of scales (and recitals - I dissed their value in an early essay on this blog) are not actually staples but rather options. Looks like you might actually have to do some of that painful thinking stuff and actually develop lesson plans based around the students' needs and interests, rather than just going through the motions with the same crap for each student.

Scale, Part Two: Which Scales are Important?

Last time we explored a practical definition of the musical term "scale." In this essay we will examine how to determine which of the absolutely huge number of musical scales actually deserve our attention. The simple way to answer this question is to apply the process of elimination. Here we go!

1. I explained last week that the number of possible scales in all the world is just huge. Decide at this point whether you are concerned with Western music or some more exotic musical system, such as the Japanese, Indonesian, Indian, etc. If you ARE focused on these, then you need information far beyond the scope of this blog, for, after all, pianos are tailored to western musical systems.

2. Since your previous answer was "western musical systems," this means that your foucs will be Major Scales and Minor Scales. (Some of you are right now protesting that modes, blues scales, whole tone scales, are all "critical and important" and must be dealt with, understood, practiced. I agree - for YOU! You have chosen to focus on some of the more esoteric aspects of western music and you will end up doing the work that other, more basic pianists can very safely ignore. Hey, there's no free lunch, folks, and remember that your musical inclinations are no more basic or critical than anybody else's. So sorry. However, as a consolation prize, let me tell you that understanding Major and Minor Scales will totally help you understand and work with all the previously mentioned "unusual" scales so you might as well come along for the ride.)

3. We previously defined Major Scales as being...well...MAJOR, which means they are The Chief, The Big Kahuna, the ONE, of musical scales! Really, they are. Minor Scales are, as the name states, minor, and even though there are three "forms" of these scales, only one is used commonly. This variation is termed "The Harmonic Minor Scale" and it's common enough to be included in the study of most pianists.

So far, I've made points most books and "authority figures" make. From this point, I'm gonna pop some bubbles of misunderstanding.

4. One point that you absolutely must comprehend is that all major scales are equal, in every way. Give up the idea that some major scales have some sort of inherent quality that makes them better or worse or others. I've heard every argument otherwise in 40 years of pro piano life. "Sharp scales sound better than flat scales." "Flat scales are better for jazz than sharp scales." "Major scales with more black keys sound better than those with fewer black keys." All crap. The authors of these falsehoods, no matter how "knowledgeable," are simply wrong. They do not understand a simple concept that every pianist MUST truly comprehend called "equal temperament." This term means that pianos have been tuned since the late 19th century so that every Major Scale sounds EXACTLY like every other Major Scale, just higher or lower in pitch. If you don't believe me, google the term and do your homework, but be warned it's a minefield of stupidity as well as sense. Honest, each Major Scale has NO personality, no inherent "quality" which makes it better or worse than any other. Study this until you see what I mean. And if you disagree, post a comment and let's have the debate. I'm ready for it.

5. Once you have accepted this truth, then you will see that studying ALL the Major Scales equally is a fool's errand, for the simple reason that you will NOT be using ALL the Major Scales in playing the piano.

...At this point, it should be noted that certain professional pianists WILL need to actually put ALL the Major Scales to use. Pianists who accompany vocalists will for sure, as well as those who are focusing on classical music. But this Blog is mostly read by hobbyists, so....

The critical factor in determining which Major Scales you will need to know and focus on is thus primarily a question of usage: Which will you use and which will you NOT. Also important to answer: do you feel like spending valuable skull and hand sweat on stuff you will never put to use in a piece of music?

Okay, finally. We have narrowed this down to basics, from the thousands of possible scales to those that are actually significant to the amateur pianist.

The basic Major Scales for the basic amateur pianist are C, G, F, D, and Bb. Doesn't take rocket science to figure out why, does it?

If you get more serious, you will be encountering A, Eb, E, and Ab.

Past that is la-la land where the academic idiots live. You know the folks I mean - the fools who are very willing for YOU to bust your butt studying things that THEY think are important. Builds THEIR egos no end while it builds YOUR frustration level and wastes the irreplaceable minutes of YOUR life. (As you probably get by now, I seriously do NOT like these people. They are usually none too fond of me, either.)

6. Some few of you will need to specialize. For example, those who play with horns will encounter Major Scales using flats more than those using sharps. You will become much more comfortable with "the flat keys." Just don't go thinking that your comfort level translates to some special musical quality which makes you musically superior to the guy who feels more comfortable with "sharp keys." It's just comfort level, folks, not anything objective at all.

7. Finally, what about that Harmonic Minor Scale thing I mentioned earlier? Well, for theory reasons I am not going to go into here but which should become evident very quickly once you going, you will need to know and focus on:

Basic Level: Am, Em, Dm, Bm, and Gm
Intermediate Level: F#m, Cm, C#m, and Fm.

Next week. The HOW to focus on these.

Scales, Part One: A Defintion That Helps Us

If there is a single topic that screams "MUSIC LESSON IN PROGRESS - BE VERY AFRAID!" it is "scales." Here is the first essay concerning these creatures and how they relate to you, the piano student.

First, I've discovered that few music students really know what a scale is. That's bad, because a full and proper definition is critical to deciding WHAT, WHY, and HOW scales relate to our ability to play the piano.

That word itself, "scale," is a fine and descriptive word - in Italian (Latin, actually) where the word "scala" means "ladder." I find this derivation of the word invaluable for it allows me to define a scale this way:

"A scale is a ladder of notes which a composer/songwriter chooses to use in a particular piece of music"

There are two reasons I find this definition so useful, the most obvious of which is the "ladder" idea - that whichever notes the composer has decided to use, putting them in a step-wise order proves invaluable. That's because knowing what scale is being used gets you started playing your piece knowing what notes you will be working with and how they will relate to each other. You can start knowing a lot about your music before you play a single key, obviously vital information. It also makes that music less intimidating!

This brings us to the next reason that my definition is so useful - the idea that the music writer CHOOSES what notes he uses. The composer is free to choose whatever notes he wants. Which ones will he or she choose? Likely, notes that make music their audiences will enjoy. Only a nut would do otherwise (and that's a topic for a completely different essay!)

For example, a composer of ethnic Japanese music will choose very different notes for his ethnic Japanese audience than a modern Japanese composer of video game music will choose. I say this because I know both sets of choices (both types of scale.) Video games are intended to reach across the planet and the scales the vast majority of the world's people know and enjoy are those developed for our Western musical culture. However, those scale choices would be neither appropriate nor enjoyable for the fan of ETHNIC Japanese music. A composer hoping to please this audience must make different scale choices.

So, given that we are piano players in a Western musical culture, what scale choices are we likely to encounter? Human nature again comes to the rescue. People are much more comfortable and happy to hear the familiar. Thus, over the centuries, as music became more and more widespread, and people became more tied together and less isolated, there evolved a similarity in scale choice. This means that there is a common language, common choices of what notes to use so that audiences worldwide can understand and appreciate and enjoy the music which uses these notes.

The scale most commonly chosen is termed "The Major Scale." Good name.

A group of scales less commonly chosen (but still pretty popular) are called "The Minor Scales." Again, good name.

As you can now imagine, there are a HUGE number of uncommon choices. Some of these scales are those typical to ethnic musics, such as in my earlier example. Some are specialized choices that define a musical genre like blues, jazz, and country. However, the largest number are choices that, even though technically scales, are never chosen at all, such a scale with only three notes (too boring for anyone!)

We have now set the stage for our next discussion: which scales are important to me, the pianist. Naturally, the simple answer is "scales that I will be involved in using." Discovering the identity of these scales is the topic of the next essay. This will involve discussing some WHY in order for you, the reader, to determine your personal WHAT. Then we will need to talk about HOW to approach scales. You'll see what I mean in the next essay.