Piano & Keyboard All-in-One For Dummies
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Nothing teaches music better than playing music. After a while, you may feel in the mood for collaboration. Lucky for you, the concept of piano duets, ensembles, and bands came along. In any city, college, or university, and even most small towns, you can easily find other musicians who simply love to play together.

Piano duets

Find a friend, sibling, parent, or teacher to share the piano bench with you and play the lower or upper part of a duet. Many songs are available in duet form, where each player gets his or her own printed music showing which part of the piano to play. But playing a duet is not a race; you start, stop, and play the song together.

When you find somebody to play duets with, look into the wealth of music published for piano duets. The duet repertoire includes everything from Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Schubert, and Stravinsky to folk music and popular songs. There are arrangements of ballet scores and symphonies as well as music for piano players of all levels.

Chamber groups

Many ensembles require a pianist. In the world of classical music, a piano trio features a piano and two other instruments — typically a violin and a cello. In the world of jazz, a quartet may include a piano, drums, bass, and saxophone. Find friends who need a third or fourth wheel and climb onboard.

Virtually every major composer has written specifically for trios, quartets, and other size ensembles, so the repertoire of pieces you and your friends can play is endless.

Bands

With you on keyboard, all you need is a drummer, bassist, guitarist, and maybe a singer, and you've got yourself a band. Whether you're just having fun in the garage or actually pursuing gigs, playing in a band can be incredibly fun and rewarding. Craigslist is a great place to start looking for people who want a keyboard player. Or check out the bulletin board fliers often found at local music stores. Or heck, place your own ad!

Everyone in a band should be more or less on an equal playing field. Having band members with similar playing proficiency as you (not much better or much worse) helps to keep those intra-band rivalries to a minimum.

As you and your band or ensemble improve, invite friends to come hear you practice. Play songs that your audience wants to hear, or make up your own. When you're convinced that you're really good, solicit interest from local venues — bars, restaurants, hotels, bridge clubs, weddings — and play for a bigger crowd. Create a band website and get your music up online. Put your music on a music-hosting website like Soundcloud. A hobby can easily become a career if you work at it hard enough.

About This Article

This article is from the book:

About the book authors:

Michael Pilhofer, MM, holds a Master's in Music Education with a Jazz Emphasis from the Eastman School of Music, and a Bachelor of Music degree in Jazz Performance from the University of Miami.

Holly Day's work has appeared in Guitar One Magazine, Music Alive!, culturefront Magazine, and Brutarian Magazine.

Jerry Kovarsky is a regular columnist for Keyboard magazine and longtime product management guru with Casio, Korg, and other companies who have been instrumental in bringing keyboard technology into people's homes and onto stages and studios around the world.

Holly Day and Michael Pilhofer are co-authors of all editions of Music Theory For Dummies and Music Composition For Dummies. Blake Neely was a contributing author to the 2nd edition of Piano For Dummies. David Pearl is author of Piano Exercises For Dummies. Jerry Kovarksy is a contributing writer to Electronic Musician magazine.

Holly Day and Michael Pilhofer are co-authors of all editions of Music Theory For Dummies and Music Composition For Dummies. Blake Neely was a contributing author to the 2nd edition of Piano For Dummies. David Pearl is author of Piano Exercises For Dummies. Jerry Kovarksy is a contributing writer to Electronic Musician magazine.

Michael Pilhofer, MM, holds a Master's in Music Education with a Jazz Emphasis from the Eastman School of Music, and a Bachelor of Music degree in Jazz Performance from the University of Miami.

Holly Day's work has appeared in Guitar One Magazine, Music Alive!, culturefront Magazine, and Brutarian Magazine.

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