Profound musical epiphany this weekend - has this happened to anyone else?

[Tintini]

I've had a weird but wonderful weekend with my piano. It’s amazing but it’s actually freaking me out a bit…and making me question my years of classical training. Has this happened to anyone else?

Here's my background: At school (about 25 years ago) I did grade 8 flute, grade 4 piano, grade 5 theory and GCSE music. I had lots of piano sheet music with easy arrangements of popular songs. If I practiced them a lot sometimes they ended up sounding ok. Not played much since school.

On Friday I stumbled across a book about piano playing in terms of harmony and chords - ie 'pop' piano style. All about chord progressions and improvisation. So many things suddenly clicked into place – things I had half-known about the 'circle of fifths' and diatonic chords and all that - but I realize now I had never really understood how that actually related to making music.

So, urged on by this book, I went over to the piano and had a go at playing a tune, ignoring the written arrangement. I just played the melody in the right hand and then instead of playing the left hand I just played chords printed above (like a guitar song book)...and then improvised around those chords with the left hand.

And gosh, it sounded...amazing!

I'd always assumed improvisation was hard and it just never occurred to me to do it. Don't get me wrong, I am no-where near expert, but what I mean is that it sounded SO much better than stumbling through an arrangement and it was much easier. It sounds like someone playing a piece, naturally, rather than practising and getting sections wrong all the time.

So it’s been wonderful but I’m feeling very very foolish that I’ve never tried this before - it simply never occurred to me. It seems so obvious now. But also – how could I have been taught so much music and failed to grasp these fundamental concepts of harmony, chord progressions and keys?

Has this happened to anyone else, or am I the only dumb one?

Sounds fascinating - what is the title of the book?

Wow , I I've always wanted to do this ! I had similar musical background to you but never really felt like I played music properly . What's the name of the book?

What is the book? It sounds great

Have you heard of basso continuo and its figured bass notation? It's pretty much what you are talking about and it's brilliant for accompanying singers, for example.

I'm a musician and piano teacher and I encourage any friends of mine who want to play the piano but don't have the time to commit to learning/practice to do exactly what you have discovered as you get a very satisfying result with less work! I buy my brother books of pop songs with chord symbols as he likes to play occasionally. Even though my sight-reading is pretty good I still choose to play pop songs using the chord symbols as it gives you more freedom with it and it's fun improvising your own left hand. So glad you've had this epiphany OP!

The book is "How to really play the piano" By Bill Hilton. He also has a youtube channel with loads of videos, but I haven't had time yet to watch many yet (because I'm spending all my time playing).

Thanks CoteDAzur - I will definitely look at basso continuo. Have never heard of that.

I'd really encourage you to have a go anascrecca - I had no idea I was able to do this!

Last night I had a new idea - I tried playing with my eyes closed! I could do it! (This made me cry actually.)

It all feels so sudden that it's one of the most amazing things to happen to me. I feel like a real musician at last.

It also feels a bit like that part in the Matrix when Keanu Reeves gets 'programmed' to do kung-fu in 5 minutes and then he says "I know kung fu!"

That sounds like the way DS plays the piano. Can’t read music but sounds great and can play many things

Yes yes yes! I’m a piano teacher and teach chords and chord progression to anyone who asks to play a particular song. The “easy to play” books’ left hand accompaniments are usually utter crap. It also means you can work out how to play well known songs by ear, or look up guitar chord progressions online for anything you fancy playing.

Everyone should be taught this!

Piano By Ear by Lucinda Mackworth-young is a super place to start.

This is so interesting. I play the piano as you describe and I'm not sure it ever occurred to me that others do it differently.

I had piano lessons for years and got as far as Grade 5, but didn't want to take the theory test as I just couldn't get my head around a lot of the key signature stuff etc.

In the Grade exams, I got satisfactory/mediocre marks for my prepared pieces and usually quite low marks for sight reading. The part I always did best at was the aural tests, where I often got close to full marks.

When I played at home, I didn't enjoy practising pieces from a book, instead, I used my Dad's guitar music books (Hollies, Beatles, Elton John....) I would play the melody and use the guitar chords to dictate where my left hand was.

I don't have a piano now, sadly, but on the odd occasion I get to play one, I will always play by ear, or look up guitar chords online for whatever I feel like playing/singing.

Re others doing it differently- I mean, I've always been aware that some people are excellent at reading music, and also very dextrous and quick and are able to play Rachmaninoff etc.... But I always assumed those people also did some playing by ear when they were on their own at a piano!

Yes - I feel very stupid! But no matter, I'm happy about it...and it has meant I've had an amazing epiphany!

Now I see that chord progressions are fundamental to how music is put together - how could I have missed it??? And with all that musical training....!

But Frogscotch - why are there so many of those easy to play books then? If just one of those books had said at the front "play the arrangement or just play the chords printed at the top"...I might have worked this out 25 years ago!

ABRSM theory is very poorly structured in my opinion (having learnt theory in another country). If you get to grade 6 theory then you have to be able to construct chord progressions - having essentially done none of that earlier. The system I went through started with identifying and writing cadences in grade 3, short harmonisation in grade 4, and by grade 6 had similar requirements to grade 6 ABRSM but you'd worked up to it by step.

My daughter is not a natural pianist but we've kept her on lessons to give her an adequate grounding; in the last couple of terms her teacher has been doing some of the stuff you describe with her and I'm really pleased. Amongst other things she has been encouraged her to learn how to accompany herself singing, which is a skill I never got anywhere near despite being a good pianist and very comfortable with sightreading.

My son is one of those natural musicians who has worked out all the chord progression and improvising stuff for himself ... it has been fascinating to watch over the years! Not many do it that way. (he has been given the theory grounding as well though)

You are definitely not stupid! This needs to be taught! The vast majority of players will not just “pick up” this info. As for why these books are still published, especially when all the chord sequences are online, I have absolutely no idea!

I do love seeing kids go ohhhhh when they suddenly get it though. I’ve also had adults return who have done grade 5 or six as a teenager and need to be taught what a C major chord is or the cycle of fifths. Not their fault!

Also, the people who play completely by ear won’t necessarily realise they are playing chord I IV V. When I taught myself guitar as a child I used to sit for hours listening to tapes and winding them back and forth to try and figure out the chords. It would have been soooo much easier if I knew the theory behind it. (Not to mention if Youtube existed...god I feel old...)

Thanks Frog - I wish you'd been my teacher!

There's loads on youtube on this I now realize - so hopefully more and more people will understand it.

And I'm now realizing that the theory itself is very beautiful.

This is really interesting. I have added this book to my Amazon wishlist!

I am finding this enlightening for the opposite reasons to you Tintini!

I thought everyone who could play the piano could accompany themselves singing! I feel better now about the fact that I was so very average (and in some areas, poor) at learning piano in the traditional sense. Reading music was always a struggle. Playing to sing to is easy for me, as is harmonising vocally, which comes easily to me and sometimes even automatically if the key signature is a simple one (I know 'simple' isn't the right word. I lack the correct terminology to explain it).

This thread is making me REALLY want a piano! We got rid of ours as our house was too small and we needed to free up space for our kids' stuff. We live in a bigger house now and definitely have space for one!

Great!

Just to be clear for anyone interested in the book by Bill Hilton - it's definitely aimed at people who can read music and have a little understanding of theory. I think the reason it made such a massive difference to me is that I was exactly its target audience - classically trained, about grade 3 or 4 piano, always assumed improvisation / playing by ear was too hard or for the 'naturally very musical' only (how wrong I was...).

For complete beginners it might be a bit too overwhelming (it covers a lot quite concisely), but there must be other books - perhaps the 'Piano by ear' one that Frogscotch recommended would be suitable for a beginner?

Yes Waterlego! On the one hand we have some classically trained people like me feeling bad about not feeling very 'musical' and on the other some people who play more by ear feel bad about not doing it the 'proper' way / maybe not being able to read music. I've definitely heard of people feeling ashamed of that. Such a shame either way!

Oooh I'll look into that book. I remember having a similar epiphany about chords when doing gcse music and we had a really good trainee teacher for a while - much better than the regular teacher!

I play a lot of hymns at church, and it's interesting to see how their accompaniment follows chord patterns. I also learnt that for the vast majority of simple songs, you can get away with knowing chords I IV and V to get a reasonable accompaniment - fantastic for my toddler's nursery rhymes! I get frustrated though when I know there should be a more complex/interesting chord but I can't work it out - sounds like that book is just what I need to improve!

I teach music in a secondary school, which in Year 9 involves encouraging anyone who wants to play the piano as part of their group to play in this style.

I concentrate a lot on 'figuration' - how many different ways can you present the chords?

It's fab once you figure it out! Have a listen to Axis of Awesome's Four Chord song and you can see exactly how far you can go!