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Articles & Books From Jerry Kovarsky
Article / Updated 11-10-2022
Layering or blending two sounds together creates a wonderful, rich sound on the keyboard. Think of the sound of acoustic piano blended with some warm strings; it’s the perfect sound for playing a sensitive pop ballad. Combining a pipe organ with some vocal choir sounds gives you just the right blend for praise and worship music.
Article / Updated 08-08-2022
A metronome is a device that clicks in steady rhythm to help you practice your rhythm and time-keeping. Older versions were a vertical wooden case with a metal wand that swung back and forth. You had to wind them up to go. How quaint!
Nowadays, you can buy electric/electronic metronomes, or even metronome apps, that have lots of advanced features.
Article / Updated 08-05-2022
You can play a lot of music on the keyboard by using whole, half, and quarter notes. But the rhythm gets even more interesting when you have some notes that play faster than the main beat and when they occur in between the beats.
Divide the beat
To get the hang of playing in between full-beat notes, you need to be able to count the beat in a divided fashion.
Cheat Sheet / Updated 02-24-2022
Playing keyboards takes you on a journey that goes far beyond just playing the music. You have to keep up on a lot of tech talk and sift through a wide variety of gear and manufacturers.Common keyboard terms and abbreviations Keyboard manuals use all sorts of abbreviations and terms you may not be familiar with.
The comprehensive go-to guide for building keyboard skillsBeing able to play a tune on the piano can bring you a lifetime of sheer aesthetic pleasure—and put you in serious demand at parties! Whatever your motivation for tinkling the ivories, the latest edition of Piano & Keyboard All-In-One For Dummies gives you the essentials you need both to build your playing skills and expand your knowledge of music theory, from deciding what keyboard suits you best to musing on the science of what makes music so emotionally compelling.
Article / Updated 03-26-2016
The acoustic piano is a highly evolved, complex mechanical thing that is beloved in every culture. As good as digital keyboard equivalents have become, a few aspects of the originals remain out of reach:
Multiple key strikes/restrikes: When you play a key repeatedly on an acoustic piano, the previous note doesn’t stop ringing, and the vibrating string doesn’t come to a complete halt between strikes.
Article / Updated 03-26-2016
Many of the keyboards have pretty advanced features — some that you would’ve thought you needed a computer to do. Keyboards now commonly include some form of recording so that you can play and then listen back to yourself. Two forms of recording are available today:
Step into the virtual recording studio
Each format has its own terms, capabilities, and benefits, and musicians at every level use each of them.
Article / Updated 03-26-2016
Long ago, the early music scholars came up with a system of lines and spaces called a staff or stave to represent notes or pitches. Each staff is a grouping of five lines and four spaces. The clef — either treble or bass — tells you what names to give those lines and spaces.
Start with the treble clef (your right hand)
Simplistically, you can think of the upper staff, called the treble clef, as the right hand part.
Article / Updated 03-26-2016
Many brands offer entertaining ways to allow the novice player to have fun with music. Learning to play doesn’t allow for shortcuts; that’s why a good teacher can make all the difference in whether students (of any age) stick with their lessons. Here are some of the ways that certain models add to the enjoyment of playing a keyboard.
Article / Updated 03-26-2016
Knowing a bit about the keyboard manufacturing landscape while keyboard shopping gives you an idea of all the instruments available. The following list of keyboard companies is a helpful introduction to major manufacturers; use the key to determine which type(s) of instrument each company produces.
Key: A = a