Musics

Solders march to the beat, athletes exercise with music, and people united in a
cause sing. Music, an integral part of human life, is often overlooked as a tool for
improving human performance. In this era of “better, faster, cheaper,” trainers,
educators and presenters are looking for new, innovative approaches that help
learning interventions succeed. Music is one such approach.

The connection between music and individuals is primitive and deep, providing a
level of communication that transcends language. (Music may in fact be the original
language.) Music, when systematically applied, calms frayed nerves, helps people
focus, encourages receptivity to new ideas, accelerates learning, and improves the
performance of individuals. Here are some music application ideas.

Music Helps Learners Focus
Background music during learning discussions and solo reflection activities can be
especially helpful. It creates a sense of privacy for small group discussion, making
conversations more satisfying and your learners more likely to say what they feel;
enters into memory and aids recall; and masks ambient noise from other groups.
The steady tones and tempos of Baroque music make it ideal for this purpose. Much
of it was in fact composed as background music for kings, emperors, and other
dignitaries.

Music Changes Energy Levels
Music can change the dynamic of your learning environment at appropriate
moments, encouraging people to move about, relax, calm down, or get excited,
depending on the needs of your session. After intense concentration, play faster
music in a major key to encourage better moods. After heated discussion, play slow,
minor-key music with low-rhythmic activity to calm your learners down. After a
depressing, worrisome discussion, play major-key music with high-rhythmic activity
and short, quick notes to create a happy mood.

Music Creates a Positive Learning Environment
Providing pleasant emotional content to your learners will establish a link between
you, your classroom, and the learners’ pleasure. Music reaches deep into the brain’s
limbic system, and creates pleasant emotions. Learners who walk into your
classroom and immediately feel comfortable because of the music you play will be
engaged to learn.

Music is not a replacement for effective content, nor is it the only resource available.
Rather, music is one more tool effective trainers should have at their disposal.
Music, by its very familiarity, does not draw attention to itself. Instead it works much
as coffee comforts the morning, popcorn anticipates the movie, and baking bread
remembers home; it awakens the recesses of your learners’ minds and calls the
emotion to attention. Trainers, educators and presenters who harness the teaching
power of music find that training does indeed have a beat!

Visit Lenn on line at www.offbeattraining.com.
Blog with Lenn at http://offbeat-online.blogspot.com.

Lenn Millbower, BM, MA, the Learnertainment

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Mood music has been popular for a very long time. Way, way before New Age music was established, we’ve had compositions like “The Planets” by Gustav Holst, “Water Music” by Handel, and “Snowflakes are Dancing” by Claude Debussy.

Of course, it wasn’t called “mood music’ back then, but people loved the idea of listening to something titled “Grand Canyon Suite” and being led by the music through what the composer experienced. Pieces like “On the Trail” and “Painted Desert” led the listener through the composer’s imagination and allowed for a journey into sound.

New Age piano continues this love of descriptive music and has made it’s own contributions. CDs like George Winston’s “December” are platinum-selling albums because they allow listeners to experience the feeling of walking in snow on a cold winter’s day or reminiscing about the upcoming holidays!

The CD “Yosemite” by Rick Erlien also celebrates nature’s beauty through music and has also been a best seller. It’s not surprising. After all, people have loved descriptive music for centuries now!

The great thing about New Age piano is that it’s quite easy to learn! Years of studying theory and harmony are not required. In fact, because of its improvisational approach, students can jump right in and begin creating their own unique music right away!

Edward Weiss is a pianist/composer and webmaster of Quiescence Music’s online piano lessons. He has been helping students learn how to play piano in the New Age style for over 14 years and works with students in private, in groups, and now over the internet. Stop by now at http://www.quiescencemusic.com/piano_lessons.html for a FREE piano lesson!

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As a piano player you have three choices available to you for learning; these are, note reading, piano tabs, and chord-based approach.

Most students who use piano tabs do so because they want to avoid the note reading approach altogether. They just want to be able to quickly play their favorite tunes without having to invest a substantial amount of time learning musical notation. These same students would be able to learn the piano even quicker if they learned a chord-based approach first. Here’s why.

It’s Quick. Guitar players know this. They don’t spend months learning note reading but dive into chord playing right away. In fact, guitarists may be the only musicians who do this on a regular basis - hence the popularity of this instrument. Within just a few minutes, they have learned their first chord and are off enjoying music. Pianists can also learn this approach but usually don’t because they either don’t know about it, or think it’s too difficult. They think they must learn sophisticated Jazz voicing or some other complicated harmony first. Nope. A piano player can quickly create music as fast as the guitarist and all it takes is just rudimentary knowledge of a few chords.

It’s Easy. How hard is it to place your fingers on a chord? It’s actually easier for the pianist to do this than the guitar player. There are no steel strings to hurt the fingers. No need to press down on the fretboard. Just place your fingers on a chord, depress the keys, and voila - a piano chord. In fact, you can be playing and creating modern sounding music much easier than the guitar player. Especially if you use the open position chord. Here we have a modern sound that uses both hands to full capacity. And it’s easy!

Don’t waste your time learning piano tablature. Learn chords instead. That way, you’ll be able to sound more professional in less time than practically any other method!

Edward Weiss is a pianist/composer and webmaster of Quiescence Music’s online piano lessons. He has been helping students learn how to play piano in the New Age style for over 14 years and works with students in private, in groups, and now over the internet. Stop by now at http://www.quiescencemusic.com/piano_lessons.html for a FREE piano lesson!

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