Here is Silvan Zingg playing his composition “Silvan’s Night Train Trip” with his trio.
Beyond basic piano lessons, I get a lot of requests for Blues piano. It’s lots of fun to play and very relaxing. Anyone with moderate piano skills can learn to play Blues. The key to learning Blues is to get to the very foundation of how Blues is constructed and learn the essential rhythmic components that make it sound so great. At my studio, here in Portland, we also work a lot on ear training. A good improvisation depends on the keyboard player being able to hear what they are going to play before they play it. This is a learned skill, and one which develops over time.
Silvan Zingg plays “Honky Tonk Train Blues” at The Hamburg Boogie Woogie Connection in the Hamburger Fabrik on the 8 and 9 August 2013. Zingg is truly a Blues master, with well developed melodies and steady left hand with a nice variety of rhythmic variations. This is a terrific example of a well constructed and polished Blues style.
Lots of my piano lesson students enjoy learning Blues improvisation at my student here in Portland. We start at the very beginning and progress through various styles of playing. Everything we do is playing by ear. There is no music involved in Blues. For students who already read music, learning the Blues is a new experience. It takes a bit of time to get used to relying on one’s ear to guide the direction of a 12 Bar Blues. Once a student realizes that there is no limit to what they can do, they get a lot more comfortable with the overall concept.
A Stop Motion Animation called Flower. I created this video to show my piano students how to combine a video with music. Creating Stop Motion Animations and Time Lapse Videos are great fun, and an excellent way to give students a practical avenue for their creativity. I like to do projects with students, so they can learn to think for themselves and enjoy the satisfaction of completing something they have personally made. A music keyboard and a camera can inspire a world of adventure.
