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Practice Tips from Mark

Almond #3

BY MARK ALMOND

In this section I have some encouraging news. It is within your


reach to set some short term goals that not only will lay a solid
foundation, but also be extremely satisfying musically. Within
days, or a few weeks, depending on your practice schedule, you
can make giant progress if you focus on a few strategically
designed short term goals.

Chord Charts, Lead Sheets, Fake Books

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All of these titles are really describing the same thing. All kinds of
music, even classical music, can be purchased with a single note
melody, written for the right hand, and the chord symbols written
right above this melodic line.

Most piano teachers are scared to death to recommend this kind


of practicing. It can, in many cases, lead to practicing that is
horribly out of balance. There are, however, other ways to make
sure our note reading skills develop in proper proportion, which
we will be discussing later. The first thing I do with students that
“only play by chords” is design something that forces them to
improve their note reading. I have had students that will not read
notes when they are practicing on their own. I was one of them –
until I discovered it was a dead end. You are doomed to stunted
growth and automatically limited to a few repetitious patterns,
especially in terms of left hand accompaniment. You will become
sick of the sound of your own playing no matter how many songs
you play. Since you too have the option of making sure your
practicing in the future is balanced, you don’t have to feel guilty
about the exhilaration you will experience when you develop your
ability to use chord charts.

This session will be limited to some very practical


pointers:
1.
• Finding the right songs, in order to start this process, is
extremely important. Fake books, for example, sometimes
have over 1000 songs in a single book. The reason they
have so many is that most of them are “public domain.” This
means, to be blunt, the vast majority of these songs are very
old and practically worthless. Even so, a fake book can be a
real bargain if you end up with 50 or 60 good songs for thirty
or forty dollars. Here is the important point when getting
started. When you skim through the index of a fake book
you are looking initially for only two or three songs. Find just

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a few songs that are very familiar and also have a slow
moving melody. In other words, do not start with the
“Entertainer” or anything where the melody is fast or difficult
to play.

• Survey the chords used in the song. You can always use
just the root triad of any chord to get started. In other words,
for C7 just play C (the major chord). For Cm9 just play Cm
(the minor chord). The additional coloring tones, for all of the
complex chords, are frosting on the cake and can be added
later as the song gets easier to play. If you have a hard time
reading the notes for the right hand melody, make a study of
the notes before you start playing the song. You will see, in
all cases, the same notes will repeat over and over again
throughout the song. There aren’t as many new notes to
learn as you think. If you have Piano for Life, review lesson
19 for an overview.

A VERY IMPORTANT POINT


1.
• The musical quality you are after is not related to
complexity. It does not require “lots of notes” to create a
musical feeling. It also does not require playing the more
complex chords with the additional tones added to the
basic triad. Musicality is first and foremost created by
playing the melody itself with confident flowing rhythmic
control. Adding the natural volume variations and subtle
accents to the melody could be considered second in
importance. Just make the comparison in your mind of an
experienced skillful actor delivering his or her lines,
compared to the robotic mechanical sound of a child trying
to read a poem – without understanding the meaning of the
words. Which of the two do you want to sound like when
you play a melody? Once you capture this flow in the
melodic line DO NOT interrupt this feeling when you add the
chords as accompaniment. Keep the left-hand chord
playing simple and subordinate to the melody, especially in

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the early stages. If necessary, play the chord with the left
hand only once and hold it down until the next chord
change. Even when you can play more complex chord
accompaniment in the future, it still must always support
and never dominate or interfere with the magic of a well
phrased melodic line. In case you are somehow missing the
main point in all of the above, I would like you to think about
an imaginary competition. Let’s say there is a small
audience of say 20 people. Someone plays a song that has
a beautiful melody, but it is played with all the fancy
flourishes and common devices that most pianists often
force into the music. Then you play the same song with an
ideal, natural, flowing melody – with the simplest possible
left hand accompaniment. (I have intentionally played this
kind of simple arrangement with real audiences by the way)
Guess what people respond to the most? Musicality is not
tied to complexity. This is the most encouraging single
insight there is for everyone who wants to improve their
playing in general, or their playing of chord charts in
particular. Keep in mind also, the main reason we choose
very familiar songs, in the beginning, is that it completely
frees us from having to sight read the timing while playing
the melody. We are reading notes only to get the correct
melody, not trying to decipher the timing of a tune that we
already know. The skill of reading the timing, like all other
note reading skills, can be learned in other contexts and
with even more efficiency. Incorporating the priorities,
outlined above, will transform your practicing and give you
the option of reaching a very exciting plateau in the short
term.

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