IT'S EASY TO GET STARTED! IN STUDIO & ONLINE PIANO INSTRUCTION FROM THE CURIOUS PIANIST!
Welcoming kids and adults of all ages for in studio, online, and hybrid piano lessons in the San Francisco Bay Area serving the local communities and school districts of Saratoga, Los Gatos, Monte Sereno, Cupertino, Westmont, Campbell, West San Jose, San Jose, Sunnyvale, Palo Alto, Los Altos, Cambrian Park, Santa Clara, Mountain View and for remote and online students everywhere! Traditional private instruction will be tailored to your student using with modern techniques and methods! For online or hybrid students, an immersive multi-camera approach provides engaging and fun remote lessons! Homeschoolers welcome!
Contact me for a "get acquainted" meeting/lesson! 🍎 🎹 🎶
Deborah's Piano Lessons
Private Piano Instruction with Deborah Savage
TAKE LESSONS IN PERSON, ONLINE, OR A COMBINATION OF BOTH! FOR THOSE WHO PREFER, LEARN VIRTUALLY FROM THE COMFORT AND CONVENIENCE OF YOUR OWN HOME
For non-local students in the domestic US or beyond, remote instruction is also available to accommodate your time zone!
April Showers bring May Flowers! Flowers and trees are awakening with promise of more to come! Do you hear the "Rustle of Spring?"
🐰 🎹 HAPPY APRIL! 🎹 🐰
Today we experiment with CHORD SHAPES and CHORD FAMILIES including the I (root) chord, the IV chord, and the V chord (made from the 4th note and 5th note of the root.
e.g. in the Key of C Major, C D E F G A B C, we see that the 1st note of the scale is C which forms the I chord
the 4th note of the scale is F which forms the IV chord
the 5th note of the scale is G which forms the V chord
We also learned that we can use finger shifts to play different versions of these chords rather than jump our hand to the skip-skip-skip root positions. To form the IV chord, raise the top two notes from the root. To form the V chord, lower the bottom two notes from the root.
I C-E-G with fingers 135 (RH), 531 (LH) - C Major
IV C-F-A 135 (RH), 521 (LH) - F Major
V B-D-G 125 (RH), 531 (LH) - G Major
We also talked about finding relative minors which share notes. The relative minor to C Major is A minor which can be found by moving down 3 half steps from the Major ROOT, C.
A minor uses the same notes as the C Major scale, plus 1 accidental G#
A minor = A C E
Good job connecting your melody notes and maintaining a good piano posture and elevated wrists. You can add your syncopated pedaling to your Pop Staff pieces.
Today we learned syncopated pedaling with our 3 note chords (TRIADS) progressing from C to C, remembering to flip the pedal from the ankle and making sure that you are pressing down the chord all the way before the pedal flips. We then used this as the basis for improvisation by progressing C->C in the Bass: C Major, D minor, E minor, F Major, G Major, A minor, B diminished to C Major again with the C pentascale C-G.
Try the same thing starting from A minor to A using the A pentascale in the R.H. Experiment with rhythms and notes and notice which notes sound well with which chords. We will build on this.
Remember the posture and relaxed hand position, pressing all the way down into the keys and the curve in the fingers so that the knuckles don't collapse. The thumb and 5th finger rest more on the side (but the 5th finger keeps the curve).
Spooky Chord - The Minor Major Seventh Chord (Hitchcock)
Spooky Chords for October and Halloween
1.0
Radically Joyful (Orchestration)
Way Cool Keyboarding 1
16
Footsteps
Wunderkeys Pop Staff Piano
36-37