Keyboard lessons explore your musical talent


Try the keyboard we have placed here. You will find it so different from a piano. Very apparent difference is in the touch. Electronic keyboard keys are much lighter. They are capable of producing many types of sound. It is entirely up to you how you would like to arrange your song.

 

Learning keyboard lessons

plantThere are similarities as well as differences between learning the piano and the electronic keyboard. The layout of the keys are pretty much the same, except the keyboard being shorter - usually having 61 keys while the piano has 88 keys. The keyboard also has plenty of fun sounds and an advanced set of helpful tools built into the instrument, letting you play with ease. Features like chord recognition, auto block chords, fill-ins are just some of the useful musical features you can use to accompany your performance. On an acoustic piano though, your performance will solely be depended on your playing technique. The books you will be using are different too as on the keyboard the left hand generally plays chords. Therefore the arrangements done for keyboard books will have the chord symbol on top of the melody.

With the help of the auto chord, the main technique you will need to acquire during keyboard lesson would be to perfect your right hand melodic playing.  Once you have familiarized with that, you can move on to practice your chord progression.  Thereafter combining both hands, select your sounds/effects and ‘voila’, it should sound great!

Generally speaking, on the piano you will need to work on more techniques as both the left and right hands need separate practices to work independently before you can attempt to combine/coordinate them to achieve what is required of the piece you are performing. As mentioned, piano keys are much heavier. Therefore your ‘finger touch’ plays a very big part in the final result of your performance. Besides the touch, you will also need to work on piano pedaling during piano lesson  when the time is right. With that you can see that the electronic keyboard is a less complicated instrument to learn. Yes, you will still need to learn basic piano theory. A good teacher will be able to give you the necessary guidance to start this right.

Keyboard legend Howard Jones

According to the Guinness Book of British Hit Singles and Albums Howard Jones is an accomplished singer-songwriter who was a regular chart topper in the mid 1980s with his band Synthpop. His music merged technology intensive sound of new wave with cheery optimism of hippies and late 1960s pop. His electronic keyboard of choice is Roland.

Many of my students in Singapore have opted to take up keyboard as a second instrument for the sheer pleasure of playing with the options/features available in an electronic keyboard. Some opted to start with keyboard lessons even without any formal training in piano lesson. It is still possible.

From keyboard you can progress onto Electronic Organ. As they are both electronic, there will also be plenty of fun sounds/effects on the organ. With an additional left leg on the pedals to practice, most other keyboard techniques can be applied to the electronic organ.  Alternatively, the other natural progression would be into jazz piano lessons. Why? Jazz is a musical art form which encourages you to improvise. It is a combination of African and European music tradition, if you review the roots of jazz.

For your listening pleasure

 

The great Jazz legend trumpeter; Louis Armstrong

He was one of American’s great jazz trumpeter who hailed from New Orleans. His song 'What a wonderful world' has been re-recorded countless times by pop sensations like Rod Steward, Celine Dion ...the lists goes on. I am sure you can name a few more others.

Rod Steward with his rendition of ‘What a Wonderful World’ at the Royal Albert Hall in London. This song has really taken the world by storm. Young and old, everyone can hum along when they hear it being played.

To be able to play jazz is a great achievement. Personally, I love jazz myself - you will always find me adding jazz into my repertoire.

 

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