First off, a bit about my background. Studied music as a B.A. in undergrad, but I’ve been playing piano and organ since High School; can play OK. Did RCM up to grade 7 or so, but my baroque repertoire is much higher than that, owing to my own love of Handel and dislike of big block chords. I was a TA in music theory for years at Uni and throughout grad school, so I know my way around a Bach Chorale, and can resolve my German sixth chords without a problem. In short, my knowledge of music far outstrips my actual ability to play it.
Here is my problem: I would like to be able to impress people at a cocktail party or out on the town wherever there is a piano. I can sing O-K thanks to my years in the church choir, and if I see a lead sheet, I understand the chords, and know what notes to plunk down. But there is something missing.
What is that something? Even if I plunk the chord in the right hand instead of the left, it still sounds very static and unmusical for my ears. Could be that I’m just a snob, but I think it’s more than that? What skills do I need to master to make my self-accompaniment sound (not necessarily amazing, but) passable in a social setting?
I’ve found a few websites in a google search, but they all seemed to be geared towards people who have ZERO musical background whatsoever, and so I’m thinking that I ought to be able to at least cut some corners!
What is the problem with the ones that assume you’re starting from zero? You could start there and assume you will advance faster.
For guitar there is the four-chord theory. Master the four chords and you can sing the melody line. This might work for piano as well, and it sure does cover a lot of songs.
(Although I will say, despite [del]lots of[/del] some practice, I have never been able to sing anything in opposition to what I’m playing, on either the piano or the guitar, and I’ve actually been a piano accompanist for other people. So obviously there is a trick to it that I have missed, completely.)
Your classical background is great to have, but maybe you could work on some relatively current music that you like, focusing on a few of your favorite artists. Listen to their albums then play a few songs until they’re memorized and go from there.
I can’t sing worth a damn, but I can accompany reasonably. Can you articulate a little better what problems you’re running into? When I accompany a singer, I generally keep my chords in the right hand, I use my left to keep the beat moving along, and I try to throw in some fills in vocal breaks to fill in the space when necessary. If I’m accompanying something more jazzy or down-tempo, I may split up the chords between the left and right hand a bit more. If the singer needs a little more help, I’ll throw in melody notes on top of the chords on the right hand (or even play the melody) to keep things in tune. You don’t want to do this with an experienced singer. Generally, you want to stay out of the singer’s way, melody-wise. It’s kind of hard to articulate what exactly to do–different songs dictate different approaches.
So true, man! I’m getting ready for a few things this holiday and I never really “got” before experiencing it just how upset some would-be “singers” (just regular people who want to sing a tune for their party) can be if you play just like everyone learned off so many great piano+vocals records. Then the insults start: “You’re playing all those Chinese chords!” when you give them the starting note after four bars intro and everything.
Back to OP, I don’t see what’s so wrong about “plunking down” some chords in the LH – if it’s just the root and the tenth or the seventh, it certainly served people like Bud Powell, Bill Evans, Sonny Clark, Barry Harris, and pretty much anyone well when they were playing solo (Evans) or anytime (every bop pianist).
Best to have something nice in RH, though :smack: to go with it.
It sounds like you know a lot already, but if you’ll humor me, if you listen to people like Allen Toussaint or Dr. John or Fats Waller or anyone 'comp while singing, they usually have a pretty full, textured sound. Tenths are great – walking tenths are great, and any combination of striding works great too. Check Dave McKenna for an alternate way to go – walking bass works fine on piano, and it’s what got me interested in Hammond in the first place. But if you think of your LH as making a bassline, like a bassist (I’m not talking single-note walking necessarily – walking tenths or even octaves), it will sound full and like you know what you’re doing.
But the RH is what everyone “just folks” hears – just toss off some little flourishes while you catch a breath and people will hear what they’ve been conditioned to. Even Liszt used tricks to astound.
You want to impress other people with degrees in music, or non-musicians? I have heard many people say that they have a terrible voice, and I think it is just fine for having a good time. Because I do not know what to listen for. You might be far to critical of your own abilities for what you are wanting to do. Ask a non-music expert, or post a Youtube and let’s see.
Yes, I’m looking to impress people who aren’t musicians. I shy away from playing among my more competent musician friends…
I agree, Jaledin, that it doesn’t sound terrible when the chords are in the LH. But I end up just doubling the melody in the right, and that sounds sucky. At least swapping for chords in the right hand and playing the bass line gets around this.
I guess the first question is, how to get around a real lack of motion that occurs, give my accompaniment a bit of rhythmic vitality. Asides from a little oom pah pah in 3/4 time, is there any way to make it sound more busy?
One thing I’d suggest is trying to “match” the emotion of the song with your touch on the piano. Like try to incorporate the dynamics and feel you want to give.
I’m a solo pianist though, and don’t sing with my pieces, so I don’t have a whole lot of experience from this angle. But adding emotion to your playing really gets a response from your audience. Maybe if you could unite your vocals and piano, it might help your crowd-pleasing skills
Check your PBS schedule and see if your station carries The Piano Guy. He starts with plunking down the chords, and then shows how to flesh it out and add variety. With a little time and practice you can develop an “arsenal” of patterns and riffs that you can put together on the fly, which is what is actually going on when someone appears to be just pulling a song out of the air.
I second the Piano Guy idea. I believe he sells DVDs of his shows, and I play all of them in rotation on our local public access TV station. Highly recommended, and since he invites a professional piano player on each show, they get to show off a little at the end, so it’s more than educational, it’s entertaining.
Yes, there are as many different ways of doing this as your imagination allows, but a few very basic ideas: Break up your chords (arpeggios),“rock” your chords back-and-forth (think of the feel of the right hand in “Don’t Stop Believing,” “Imagine,” and songs like that) throw in fills in vocal pauses where appropriate (learn a few pentatonic riffs), use the bass notes for rhythm and movement (once again, check out “Don’t Stop Believing” and what the bass notes of the piano do to create movement with a simple right hand piano part.) Etc. It all depends on the type of song and genre you’re playing.
That’s the answer. What the OP is missing is groove. Groove is what sells a song when you play your own accompaniment. Groove is what you need to establish internally so the gears of your vocals and playing mesh. What is suggested in this quote is a simple basic way to establish a great groove. Now - play the ever-lovin’ crap out it whenever you get the chance and burn the groove into your brain. When that starts to happen, then singing on top of it becomes easy and fun.
And here I was going to say, “You want some motion in the LH? Create some, that’s how.” And you all come out with this gourmet stuff!
Actually I was thinking about this this morning for some reason and a few tunes came to mind: “Yesterdays,” “My Funny Valentine,” “Blue Skies,” the list goes on. What defines these standards is really the motion of the bass, and I think most anybody playing something like that solo would try to incorporate that signature bass motion into their “arrangement” (in quotes because, as indicated by others, it might be just an arrangement made up on the spot). Doesn’t stop there, though – you can create an interesting bass line on anything, just by substituting (big topic, though) or inverting chords and so forth. That’s one place tenths come in handy, even if your hands aren’t big enough (mine aren’t) to hit all of them (like Db-F), cause it’s easy to make inversions, get a legitimate sound, and create motion in one go.
+1 to groove comment by WordMan – not to put too fine a point on it, but it doesn’t mean you have to become Sly Stone or a one-man band, but keep the tune going. In fact I think for a lot of tunes I like to play on slower tempi, it’s really the RH melody, just in single notes, that carry the tune – the LH just is there to punctuate and keep things grounded, very simply. Think “When I Fall In Love” or something – that’s how I’d play that one. Harmony and voicings for pop tunes you can roll your own, and it’s pretty easy once you know what you like to make up whatever you want on the fly, but rhythm is primary. There’s a joke in here somewhere, like “How do you know it’s rubato?” but I can’t come up with a good punchline.
I can sing well, I used to be able to play well (I haven’t touched it much since college) but I could NEVER sing and play at the same time. Just can’t do it. For that matter, I can’t play while other people sing, either - they throw me off, maybe because they aren’t quite on pitch or something.
Accompanying others can be tricky. You have to be a good listener, as well as player, and be able to follow the singer (as well as lead them when necessary), not just plow ahead with your piano part. So, it does take some getting used to.
Bolding mine. This was my concern as well when I first saw your post. I suppose I can just roll them with a sustain pedal a bit…
Thank you to everyone who’s been helping out. I’ve been figuring out the charts to some old Sigmund Romberg showtunes I had from a long time ago. Realizing I’m not Mario Lanza, though, and may want to start with something that doesn’t expect me to hit a high G and keep playing at the same time…
I like the idea of starting with slow sort of jazz standard songs. “Red Sails in the Sunset,” “Fly me to the Moon,” that sort of stuff at a slow enough tempo.
I remember in high school at a competition, my best friend Angie was going to sing “Think of Me” from Phantom as her competition piece. She chose this at the last minute when her duet partner for a different song bailed out of stage fright. She had like an hour to learn the song. I’m so proud of her for getting up there and doing it anyway–I certainly wouldn’t have–but then it was painful. She kept losing her place and repeating parts she’d already sung and kind of jumping from part to party. Again, not really her fault since she’d had like NO time to practice. Our friend Jeff was accompanying her on the piano and doing his damnedest to keep up with her jumping all over the song. In the end? The judges took off points and said she needed a better accompaniest, putting the blame for the mess on Jeff, poor guy.
I have nothing but respect for people who can play instruments and sing along with them and do the whole “creating music” thing. I used to know a couple of pieces on the piano that I learned by rote, but after all these years without a piano, they’re lost to me.
Threads like this are fascinating to me, partially because I’m in such awe of people who can do such things.
You mention the “OOM pa pa” of 3/4 time, so it sounds like what you are wanting is rhythm. Honestly, what helped me the most was to treat the piano like I was playing drums. It’s hard to spell out in a textual medium, but the basic idea is to play the bass and high hat in the left hand and the snare in the right. The easiest way to do it is with a 1-5-8 pattern in the left and a basic chord in the right, with whichever inversion is easiest to get to. Pick a beat with some syncopation in the snare. Then, so it doesn’t sound hokey, start filling in on the right hand, sometimes playing along with the left. Specifically, you’ll probably want to start with the right and left on the first note of the measure.
Now, obviously, this is just the beginning, and, even when done correctly it won’t cover all styles. But it does cover a lot–pretty much anything that is rhythmic and not too jazzy.
BTW, “Oom pa pa” is a rather boring 3/4 beat, in my opinion. I like one that’s like "1 2+ +|1 2 3 " And for 4/4, my favorite is “1 + 2 +A e4 + |”. (I hope you are aware of notation, where a 4/4 measure of sixteenth notes looks like “1e+a2e+a3e+a4e+a|”. The italics are an accent.)
I hope this is helpful without clips, as I currently lack the equipment to record what I mean for you. And, if not, maybe others can explain it better.
EDIT: Oops. I just realized I put the accent wrong on the 3/4 one. It’s “1 2*+* +|1 2 3”. I can almost hear my old band teacher yelling his rule number one: “Accent the syncopated notes!”
