MusicBasics4Keyboard

MusicBasics4Keyboard

By Darlene DrandaMusicMusic Commentary
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MusicBasics4Keyboard episodes

  • TGIF! Four Movies for the Weekend

    No. 1 - The Godfather. No. 2 - Bonnie & Clyde. Nos. 3-4: Thelma & Louise and Les Miserables. All "remarkably entertaining and powerful." What is the plot of the movie Les Miserables?


    After 19 years as a prisoner, Jean Valjean (Hugh Jackman) is freed by Javert (Russell Crowe), the officer in charge of the prison workforce. Valjean promptly breaks parole but later uses money from stolen silver to reinvent himself as a mayor and factory owner. Javert vows to bring Valjean back to prison. Eight years later, Valjean becomes the guardian of a child named Cosette after her mother's (Anne Hathaway) death, but Javert's relentless pursuit means that peace will be a long time coming.


    Master of the House lyrics:


    Food beyond compare. Food beyond belief

    Mix it in a mincer and pretend it's beef
    Kidney of a horse, liver of a cat
    Filling up the sausages with this and that
    Residents are more than welcome
    Bridal suite is occupied
    Reasonable charges
    Plus some little extras on the side!
    (Oh Santa!)

    Charge 'em for the lice, extra for the mice

    Two percent for looking in the mirror twice (Hand it over!)
    Here a little slice, there a little cut
    Three percent for sleeping with the window shut
    When it comes to fixing prices
    There are a lot of tricks I knows


    Master of the house!

    Master and a half!
    Comforter, philosopher
    Don't make me laugh!
    Servant to the poor, butler to the great
    Hypocrite and toady and inebriate!

    Everybody bless the landlord!

    Everybody bless his spouse!

    Everybody raise a glass

    Raise it up the master's arse
    Everybody raise a glass to the Master of the House!

    Source: LyricFind


    Have a great weekend. Thanks for listening.

    4 min
  • Wednesday Night Music Event

    In this episode I describe a group of music lovers who meet during the week to listen to organ music and perform as vocalists or instrumentalists. My desire is to encourage piano students and vocalists to participate in such a group online or in person. The benefits of participating are exponential. Thanks for listening.

    4 min
  • Play these Guitar Chords

    In this video, Nat demonstrates finger positions for 20 chords on a six-string guitar. Each chord is illustrated as Nat plays the chord. You can hear the chord and read it like chords are illustrated in some music books. Guitareo is the name of Nat's YouTube channel. Here's more from the description in this video:


    “CHORD CHART” There are hundreds of guitar chords out there. However, to play your favorite songs, there are really only twenty or so that you need to have down. In this lesson, we’ll be covering the twenty guitar chords (plus a few extras) every real guitar player needs to know.  The chords you’ll learn are:  The C major chord, A major chord, G major chord, E major chord, D major chord, A minor chord, E minor chord, D minor chord, F major chord, F# major chord, F minor chord, F# minor chord, G minor chord, B major chord, Bb major chord, B minor chord, Bb minor chord, C minor chord, C7 chord, A7 chord, E7 chord, D7 chord, G7 chord, F7 chord, F#7 chord, B7 chord, Bb7 chord, F# diminished chord, and the F# augmented chord.  Make sure you download the chord cheat sheet so you can reference it later. If you master all twenty of these chords, you’ll be prepared to learn just about any song out there.


    Thank you for listening.

    3 min
  • Music from Stringed Instruments

    How did music originate? My guess is man's desire to codify sounds heard in nature, a tree and a stick had much to do with it. 

    Do trees make music?

    Far from just revealing a tree's age, they record natural events like volcano eruptions, the history of civilizations like the Roman and Aztec Empires and other moments in time. And, now, they make music. Yes, you read that right: music. [sic] for their strength, thickness and rate of growth.


    Remember sound designer and composer Diego Stocco? He made music at the dry cleaners! And now he’s made a Burt’s Bees commercial with the help of trees and other things in nature. From his project page:

    To celebrate Earth Day 2012 Burt’s Bees asked me to create a video performance in the style of my Music from a Tree. We thought to include as “instruments” also some of the ingredients used in their products, like honey, almonds, rice, and coconuts; also bees had a musical role in this piece. I performed the whole composition by playing these natural elements, no synthesizers, samplers or additional sounds have been used. Source: thekidshouldseethis.com


    TKSST is an unprecedented collection of 5,000+ kid-friendly videos, curated for teachers and parents who want to share smarter, more meaningful media in the classroom and at home. And it's free for everyone. Topics: instruments, music, nature, percussion, sound and trees. Curated by Rion Nakaya with her 10 & 13 year olds. Click play and start a conversation.


    Thanks for listening.

    3 min
  • I Love You, Man

    Successful real-estate man Peter Klaven has it all: a great job, a beautiful home and a loving wife-to-be. Unfortunately, due to his devotion to both his work and fiancée Zooey, Peter has failed to make any friends. With his wedding fast approaching, the pressure is on to find a best man and so Peter embarks on several desperate attempts to find a best buddy. 


    Are Paul Rudd and Jason Segel friends?

    For Paul Rudd and Jason Segel, friends whose acting careers have been entwined since they first worked together in Judd Apatow's Knocked Up, life professionally has rarely looked brighter. Thanks for listening.

    2 min
  • Help me if you can - Beatles

    I'm feeling down and I do appreciate you being round. Help me get my feet back on the ground. Won't you please help me? 


    When I was younger, so much younger than today

    I never needed anybody's help in any way
    But now these days are gone, I'm not so self assured (but now these days are gone)
    (And now I find) now I find I've changed my mind and opened up the doors

    Help me if you can, I'm feeling down

    And I do appreciate you being 'round
    Help me get my feet back on the ground
    Won't you please, please help me, help me, help me, ooh


    Source: LyricFind

    • John Lennon has described this time of his life as his "fat Elvis period." In a 1971 interview with Rolling Stone, Lennon said this is one of his favorite Beatles records, because, "I meant it - it's real." He added: "The lyric is as good now as it was then. It is no different, and it makes me feel secure to know that I was that aware of myself then. It was just me singing 'Help' and I meant it."

    • Paul McCartney helped Lennon write the song, but did not realize it was actually Lennon calling for help until years later. The hit song was released in 1965. John Lennon played rhythm guitar on this track using a 12-string acoustic.


      The song runs just 2:18, but packs in 267 words, making it one of the most lyrically dense hits of the era. It starts and ends on a vocal, and there are two vocal lines running throughout the song, as John Lennon sings lead while George Harrison and Paul McCartney do backgrounds, singing some of the same phrases either before or after Lennon. There are only a few seconds in the song where somebody isn't singing. Source: Song Facts


      In ensembles or bands playing within the acoustic, country, blues, rock or metal genres (among others), a guitarist playing the rhythm part of a composition plays the role of supporting the melodic lines and improvised solos played on the lead instrument or instruments, be they strings, wind, brass, keyboard or even percussion instruments, or simply the human voice, in the sense of playing steadily throughout the piece, whereas lead instruments and singers switch between carrying the main or countermelody and falling silent. In big band music, the guitarist is considered part of the rhythm section, alongside bass and drums. 


      In some musical situations, such as a solo singer-guitarist, the guitar accompaniment provides all the rhythmic drive; in large ensembles it may be only a small part (perhaps one element in a polyrhythm). Likewise, rhythm guitar can supply all of the harmonic input to a singer-guitarist or small band, but in ensembles that have other harmony instruments (such as keyboards) or vocal harmonists, its harmonic input will be less important. Source: Wikipedia

      5 min

    About MusicBasics4Keyboard

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    Greetings from North America. In 1990 I graduated from a small college in New Jersey with a music program where I majored in piano, attended concerts in NYC, and watched my first opera with Luciano…

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