Piano Lessons by Quiescence Music Online Piano Lessons in the New Age Style

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How to Compose Your
Own New Age Piano Music!
 

by Edward Weiss


This New Age pianist has been playing piano for over 15 years now. And while I'm constantly learning new things, the one thing that's helped me out - as far as composing goes - is looking at music as sections.

I'm always telling my students to work within an 8-bar framework. Why? Because it's a nice, neat time space to work in. And, more importantly, it doesn't overwhelm beginning students who feel they must come up with 100 bars at their first attempt.

This is exactly how 'December Rain' was created. All I'm doing here is playing chord changes over an 8-bar phrase. When you master the 8-bar phrase, you learn how to complete a section of music. And you learn that the art of composition has everything to do with repetition and contrast.

There's only so many times you can repeat an 8-bar phrase before it gets stagnant. Here is where we introduce new material - a contrasting section. Perhaps another 8-bars or so.

Another thing I have students do is learn how to create a complete ABA form. This musical form is the most common one used and it's also quite easy to create. Once the first 8-bar phrase is complete (the A section) it's time for some contrast. Maybe 4-bars... perhaps 8 or more will do the trick here. Then it's back to (A) and voila ... a complete piano piece is born!

By the way ... a complete chord chart and comprehensive notes for December Rain is now available to course members. I go into complete detail and show you exactly how it's done - and more importantly, how you can do it yourself! Get started now by clicking here.

My warmest regards,

Edward Weiss

Edward Weiss
Quiescence Music