More Pop Hits For The Teen Player: Easy Piano Book Pdf
Montez Savoie
Overall, Billy Joel and Elton John are both great musicians. They are the top two leaders in the piano rock industry, and choosing between them is very difficult. However, I personally think that Elton John is the better musician. As much as I love Billy Joel, and would die to see him in concert again, Elton John is the king. He is playing at Citizens Bank Park in June, and I know that the $1000 I spent on tickets will be worth it.
Elton John is an amazing collaboration between two people, but that is exactly what it is. I would say it is impossible to compare the achievment between the two artists. Personally I regard Billy Joel as the top 3 most all-round talented pop/rock artist who have ever topped the lists. Just an amazing songwriter and performer. No shallow gimmicks ever needed ? Still I think he is underrated in a lot of places. For example in Europe where I am from. I did not hear anyone talk about him prior to becoming an adult in the early 2000s. Learded about Elton John by the same age I learned about Elvis or McCartney/Lennon. Or Jesus.
Of course Elton has more hits, he has more songs. Elton is the better pianist, but Billy is definitely the better talented musician. He plays the piano, synthesizers, harmonic, accordion and the guitar. Plus he moves around the stage being the better entertainer!
Billy Joel is the best to me by far ,plays various instruments,his lyrics in songs are amazing, apart from Elton having a longer productive period, Billy had personal setbacks that would have finished many off by destroying their confidence and trust in dealing with people that try to rip them off etc.
Is it better if I stick with really simple songs and try to play them perfectly and then play around with it a little bit, or should I also try to include something really hard (from beginners point of view)?
Should I stick with the more challenging songs, or try to move a little back to some simple ones and try to do some fancy improvisation stuff (sorry for the terminology, my music theory is really lacking).
You need to challenge yourself to improve. However, it's important that you don't overreach. Besides being frustrated, you'll pick up bad habits. It's impossible to play many complicated songs correctly without high levels of dexterity and strength, and attempting to do so will result in sloppy play (mostly with regards to timing) as you reduce accuracy in order to keep your speed up, and so on. It's much harder to unlearn these bad habits than to learn properly!
I would keep trying things that are harder than what you've mastered, but not greatly so. If you're playing graded songs, don't skip a grade! And don't forget the importance of practicing scales, arpeggios, et al for building that strength and accuracy you can later apply to songs.
As someone who has been playing piano for over 17 years as of now, I increasingly find that pieces I thought were "simple" in the beginning are actually much harder to play well, now that I actively know a lot more about the composers and more about the thought process they went through and how it should sound. So, I think there is a lot to be said about mastering a few simple pieces, but really understanding where they come from and how you interpret them because they set up really great building blocks for your future interpretation of other pieces.
Also, I would caution you from using or thinking phrases like "play them perfectly" because every performance is not without its errors or places where you think it should have gone differently. Master them to an acceptable level and move on.
So, to answer your question directly, I would stick with the simple pieces for now but not stress about playing them perfectly and gradually build up to the more challenging pieces you aspire to, rather than taking on a challenging piece right away. Especially when you're a beginner, learning a challenging piece takes much longer (in more crude terms: it wastes your time) than when you are an upper-intermediate or advanced player. Thus, often it's better to improve incrementally rather than try to take the big jump right away. Using the incremental approach, by the time you get to the challenging piece, odds are you are much better equipped technically and emotionally to deal with it.
For easier songs, they allow you to handle the basics and gradually improve. These help when you're a beginner and still learning fingering and getting used to the piano. For harder songs, they work out better when you already are familiar with the piano. They can improve you greatly and allow you to test out different things that are uncommon in other songs. The harder songs can also assist you in easier songs. For example, if you are at the level of Fur Elise, even though Fantasie-Impromptu is ridiculously difficult for you, playing the right hand at a slow speed might help you with fingerings or fluidity. [Although the left hand won't necessarily help you as much]. Depending on which easy/hard song you play, they could compliment each other. Don't try to go too hard though! F-I is just an example. Perhaps the Turkish March could be more applicable for your level as a "very difficult song".
My sister learned "Fantasie Impromptu" 10 years ago, and recently commented to me: "WOW, I can't believe I played [the polyrhythm] 4 over 3 (or whatever it is...)". So sometimes you're stretched without even knowing it :)
I would suggest the pieces that you know how it should be nailed down. For example that Fr Elise excerpt rhythmic pattern is not so complicated and in fact, as you have experienced, is doable in a short amount of time but requires a tremendous amount of touch and control over keyboard.
My two cents of advice is to select songs that are little bit easier to attain a certain level and slightly technical instead of easy but difficult to master type of pieces. The whole idea boils down to what would make you happy. Playing good and having fun with friends or possibly going towards a professional career? They require different types of attitudes for practice. Too much perfection will bring you rigor mortis for the local performances in the short run and similarly sloppy practice will be limiting you each time you attempt to play a demanding piece.
I do not play the piano, but I play the guitar. With music in general, I find difficulty rather subjective. To bring in perspective, the first thing I ever learned was "Smoke In the Water", as do most guitarists. It is to introduce the concepts of rhythms and cord progression. Whereas the second song I learned, but the first I taught myself, was "Enter Sandman" by Metallica. In comparison, it is a much more difficult song to play, but I learned it at a faster rate. The reason being is my personal taste and preference in music. I play as a hobby, and I enjoy playing hard rock, blues, classic rock, alternative, and some contemporary pieces. I listen to country music, but do not play it. It is not in my capability, and yet a lot of country is easier to play, subjectively speaking. To put in perspective of more classical music: if you really like to play Beethoven, you will pick much quicker than a composer you do not enjoy as much.
As a fellow beginner, my suggestion is definitely do work on simple songs, but most times have some "play time" where you attempt a more difficult song you want to play. Also when you're drilling your arpeggios sometimes you will notice "hey, that sounds like..." and this may even happen through hitting a "wrong" note. Then you can go exploring.
I often hear from parents who are concerned about their kid losing interest in music lessons, or whose kids are wanting to switch instruments for the third (or tenth) time. Truth be told, I hit a wall with piano myself halfway through seventh grade, and I took a year off.
My piano teacher, Ms. Meadows, taught in a traditional style. But she also had a fun side. At the recitals she cleverly disguised as holiday parties, she let me play pop songs I arranged myself. And I loved the opportunity to show my stuff.
Despite my rock-star heart, I enjoyed the discipline of my weekly lessons with Ms. Meadows. As a conscientious, structure-loving kid, I found that the method-book approach worked for me: I was progressing, and I could see the payoff every week.
My next piano teacher, John Bizianes, made a huge impact on my musical education and my life. An easy-going, basketball-playing twenty-something, John played keyboards with his twin brother in a band called Double Vision. They played out at clubs in Louisville, my hometown. It was so exciting for me to learn from someone who was actually doing what I wanted to do, out in the real world.
Abraham Levitan is the founder and head of Piano Power. He began offering at-home piano lessons in 2001, continuously refining an engaging teaching style. He was proud to see students thriving through his curriculum, which mixed fundamentals, collaborative original compositions, classical repertoire, and the latest hits from top-forty radio. In 2007 he founded Piano Power, building a talented and enthusiastic team of instructors with this curriculum at its core.
A while back we published Why Taking Music Lessons with Your Kid is Awesome. Our friend Brendan Bosworth, owner of Meter Music School in Seattle, countered with this assertion: Leaving your kids alone during lessons is awesome, too. This may be...
One of the biggest perks of picking up the piano as a hobby or new skill is how simple it can be to begin. Unlike other instruments that require a great deal of practice to manage various strings and elements, beginning songs for piano entail hitting the right keys that are visible right in front of you. And while many songs can be quite challenging to play, there are quite a few simple piano songs that allow beginners to gain their footing before diving into the more intricate sheet music.
Much of learning to play the piano comes from practice, and for beginners, this starts with the most simple of songs. We all must start somewhere, and these early-stage songs allow those new to the piano to learn to play with one hand and then two. As levels increase, pianists can learn about tone and rhythm, different notes and triads, and so much more. But first, we must begin with the basics.
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