"When You Wish Upon a Star"

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there! This song has some sentimental value for me: I think my mom took me to see this movie many years ago. My mom now has Alzymers. So Happy Mother's Day, mom! Here's "When You Wish Upon a Star" using mostly a combination of Moody's and some of Sudnow's ideas. You may need to copy and paste the following link: https://www.box.com/shared/54ba36d1ab468a5efa3a

All The Things You Are, 2012

Ok, here's how "All the Things You Are" is sounding today....used my combination of Sudnow and Moody systems and I think some regular chords.... May need to copy and paste the following link. http://www.box.com/shared/4f20f5b9ed95c2b12588

May 1, 2012

Happy May, everyone! Some complications are coming up that ultimately might be helpful in my piano learning, but they will be helpful, I think, only to the extent I keep my ultimate goal(s) in mind which include: amassing a large repertoire of songs that are not easily forgotten, as well as having them sound sophisticated with some dissonance, with possibly playing songs on the fly from Fakebooks an ultimate goal. Herein lies the complication: I think in order to sound a bit less dissonant (which might be a desirable thing at times), I might use some Sudnow ideas for some dominant chords, whereas my original plan was to use Moody clusters for dominants. I realized that dominants are simply majors with a b7. So for some dominants, I just might add a 9th along with the regular chord. It's all going to depend in the sound I want as well as ease of play. Trying it today with "All the Things You Are," and it's not really as easy as it sounds. I might find myself using mostly Sudnow ideas, but using Moody's when I want an extra dash of sweet dissonance [or when I can't utilize a Sudnowish cluster quick enough :)]. What might be helpful is making notations on lead sheets when I am to use what as reminders.

Hello to the UK !

One of my piano buddies lives in the UK and gave me some very good feedback about my Over the Rainbow. In essence, the feedback consisted of the opinion that sometimes it was too dissonant. So I played around with the song today. I concluded that sometimes I can use the dissonance when I'm in the mood or when there's a big chord out there; on the other hand, I don't always have to cluster every note. Thanks to my UK Piano Buddy!

Enjoyment!

Well. It works. Combining the Sudnow and Moody strategies has been working nicely. I'm on to something here. "Over the Rainbow" is sounding quite nice! Been listening a lot to the Rolling Stones lately... Friday night my band is playing at a local bookstore. Songwriting has been suffering lately since I've gotten back into the piano, but I won't give that up. Thanks go out to David Sudnow and Gregory Moody for making the piano accessible to adult amateurs. And thanks to my piano buddy out there who has been encouraging. It looks like I am actually playing piano.... Beauty!

Feedback and Reflections.....

Got generally good feedback from the folks who listened to my "Over the Rainbow."I think I am really onto something good combining the two approaches. The secret for me might be to keep practicing playing different clusters for notes in quick time. Interesting mixing dissonance with less dissonance. Want to not add new Moody clusters yet. Want to get used to quicklyusing the ones I know now by learning how to change between them quickly. And want to get really as familiar with them as I am with the first position "C" chord before moving on too quickly to tackle other clusters.

April 24, 2012

Working on "Over the Rainbow" using my combined approach. Sounds ok!

April 23, 2012

Managed to have a productive yet frustrating piano day. Finished learning my Moody clusters (for now, anyway, as more can be added), and played part of one song using my combined system, and it sounded quite good. But then I played part of a different song, and, well, the dissonance got on my nerves. If I keep using this system, I'm thinking I'll sound really the same with all the dissonance. Wonder if it's dissonant depending on key of song. Made a recording of the second song and sent it to five friends asking them if the dissonance was too much...

Not bad!!!!

Worked on "Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire" tonight, and I must admit that it didn't sound too bad at all. It looks like I'm on to something here with this strategy of mine. My playing isn't as smooth as I would like (an ongoing problem), but hey, I was able to get through the whole song.

Learning that in order for me to use this strategy to its full advantage that I will have to incorporate a certain degree of flexibility. For example, not being too rigid about playing all the notes that I specified in my major and minor rules.

The "Chestnuts" song is a great opportunity to get used to the Eb chord.

Satisfied with where this is going.

Two side notes:

Our band will be playing about an hour set tomorrow night. May get some video for an eventual Facebook page. This gig tomorrow will be out of the ordinary for us in that it will be the debut gig for our new singer who just happens to be a great addition.

Lastly, April 1 will be an interesting musical day for me. I'm getting together with an old high school guitar playing friend to talk about possibly collaborating on song writing. The last time I would have seen him was 32 years ago!! Here's a great tasteful player, and he's the guy who got me into the Rolling Stones.

Practice Strategy

Ok, I think I came up with a possible solution to my problem noted in the post below. While I do think that practicing songs is important, I think to get a better handle on the Moody system I'll try something somewhat new.

What I'll try to do is play those Moody note clusters in random order as part of practicing in order to get them in hand better. For example, trying to play a B cluster, then a Bb cluster, then an Ab cluster, than a different B cluster, etc., etc., etc.

It's really important, I think, to get those Moody clusters in hand because they are really handy to go to in clutch moments.

This is hard !

Trying to use my Sudnow/Moody system isn't as easy as originally thought! I'm trying to run through some tunes, and it is difficult going!

My fear is that I will end up resorting to what got me in trouble with the Sudnow Method, namely, learning songs but then forgetting them if I don't play them enough. My thought, though, is that by learning a bunch of songs utilizing my hybrid method, the clusters will naturally become engrained (sooner or later) since I am limiting the note choices in each chord.

Difficult stuff trying to integrate (what I thought was) memorized stuff within the context of a song.... A lot easier in theory and in my head than it is in practical application in song playing.

Tempting to toss out the Sudnow part of the equation and focus on just using Moody stuff because I find it's easier to play by ear utilizing the Moody style. However, using just the Moody style sacrifices the less dissonant sounds of the Sudnow Method style.

March 14, 2012

Looks like I know two Moody clusters for each note. It will be a matter of Quickly being able to make the cluster changes from note to note (whether using a Sudnowish cluster or a Moody cluster) especially within the context of a song.

March 13, 2012

Looks like I have only one more note to learn two Moody clusters for: B.

March 12, 2012

Forgot how cool the Moody system can be. Looks like I have two more notes (four clusters) to memorize before working seriously on a song using my combination of the Sudnow and Moody systems.

March 11, 2012

Still working on memorizing clusters, etc.

March 10, 2012

Slow down, Mr. Billy Shears. Beautiful piano sounds take time to develop.
Here's where I stand today:

1) Learning the major chords for C, D, E, F, G, A, B, Ab, Eb, Bb.
But for them, utilizibg the Left Hand Sudnow formula while for the Right hand only using the 3rd and the 6th for most of them.

2) For minors, using the Sudnow formula, but ditching the mnemonics and just counting steps.

3) For every other chord, learning two Moody clusters associated with each note.

Trying to keep it simple; but the Moody clusters as well as some Sudnow configurations should add some color.

Band Rehearsal

Interesting rehearsal tonight; added a female singer who just might add the right touch. Was enjoyable playing guitar tonight given that I've been so piano focused recently. Enjoyed playing my acoustic and singing "Norwegian Wood" while other members sang harmony and the keyboard player adds a nice accordion touch to it. Also enjoyed playing what comes natural: electric guitar to "Memphis" and "That's All Right Mama."I also love playing and singing the old song covered by Bruce Springsteen, "Oh Mary Don't You Weep." We'll be playing a benefit show a week from today.

So.....Back to piano land, I wonder if I should eliminate one note of the major chords....can't be the third...can't be the 9th..... would have to be the 6th or 7th....will have to experiment.

In playing piano today, it is becoming clear that I might have to add one more Moody cluster to each note.

March 9, 2012

Ok, so I'm individualizing this plan, how about making it a little more individualized? Heres what I'm thinking....instead of having four possible notes plus a melody note, how about three?

Sudnow/Moody

Making progress with my Sudnow/Moody combination method. Learning a quicker way of playing the minors, and continuing to work on my Moody clusters.

Pretty soon, pretty soon, I'll be working on an actual song.

One upcoming barrier I can see in the distance is that I'll probably have to learn two clusters for each Moody note. But eventually.

March 8, 2012

Almost done making the summary sheet that is similar to the one shown in yesterday's post. Things going well. I do think that I am on to something in integrating the Sudnow and Moody systems in a way personalized for me. I realize it's going to take some time, but again, I like where this seems to be going.