Category Archives: Musicianship

Professional pianist teaching piano skills and ear training at the piano

Piano Skills and Ear Training #4

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This is video #4 in my Piano Skills and Ear Training series!  This week we will maneuver through the I-IV-V7-I chord progression in all 12 keys using smooth voice leading.  Once we’ve mastered that, we’ll start to SING the bass notes (in Moveable Do Solfege, naturally).  This is amazing ear training and a great way to build up some piano chops.

Want to learn Solfege and build your ears and musicianship skills?  Crash Course in Solfege: The Bundle is an all-in-one online course that teaches musicianship skills that you can actually USE. Learn Moveable Do Solfege in Major, Minor (Natural, Harmonic and Melodic) and the Chromatic Scale, PLUS get bonus material like voice lessons, warmups and dive into how Solfege can be used in creative ways to improve your musicianship quickly.  CHECK IT OUT!

Piano Skills and Ear Training #3

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This is video #3 in my Piano Skills and Ear Training series.  This week we will work through the I-IV-I-V7-I chord progression in all 12 keys using smooth voice leading.  Not only will we play it, but we will also SING the bass notes in Moveable Do Solfege.  This is a great exercise to get yourself in shape on the keyboard but also a great challenge to sing through the progression!

Want to learn Solfege and build your ears and musicianship skills?  Crash Course in Solfege: The Bundle is an all-in-one online course that teaches musicianship skills that you can actually USE. Learn Moveable Do Solfege in Major, Minor (Natural, Harmonic and Melodic) and the Chromatic Scale, PLUS get bonus material like voice lessons, warmups and dive into how Solfege can be used in creative ways to improve your musicianship quickly.  CHECK IT OUT!

Piano Skills and Ear Training #2

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This is video #2 in my Piano Skills and Ear Training series.  This week I will show you how to play the I-V7-I chord progression (Perfect cadence) in all 12 keys using smooth voice leading.  THEN – we will play and SING the bass notes in Moveable Do Solfege.  The perfect cadence is in pretty much EVERY song from classical to rock, so this lesson will be great for you to train your ears to hear it and your hands to play it!

Want to learn Solfege and build your ears and musicianship skills?  Crash Course in Solfege: The Bundle is an all-in-one online course that teaches musicianship skills that you can actually USE. Learn Moveable Do Solfege in Major, Minor (Natural, Harmonic and Melodic) and the Chromatic Scale, PLUS get bonus material like voice lessons, warmups and dive into how Solfege can be used in creative ways to improve your musicianship quickly.  CHECK IT OUT!

Piano Skills and Ear Training #1

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Today’s tutorial combines piano skills with ear training – a powerful combination.  I show you how to play the I-IV-I chord progression (Plagal cadence) in all 12 keys using smooth voice leading.  THEN – we will play and SING the bass notes in Moveable Do Solfege .  The I-IV-I progression in tons of songs  – singing and playing this progression on the piano will help train your ears to hear it!

Want to learn Solfege and build your ears and musicianship skills?  Crash Course in Solfege: The Bundle is an all-in-one online course that teaches musicianship skills that you can actually USE. Learn Moveable Do Solfege in Major, Minor (Natural, Harmonic and Melodic) and the Chromatic Scale, PLUS get bonus material like voice lessons, warmups and dive into how Solfege can be used in creative ways to improve your musicianship quickly.  CHECK IT OUT!

5 Steps to Sight Singing Success

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Is sight singing a thorn in your side?  In this video, I am going to show you my 5 steps to sight singing success.  How to approach mastering this in an easy-to-use protocol.  Super useful!


Want to learn Solfege and build your ears and musicianship skills?  Crash Course in Solfege: The Bundle is an all-in-one online course that teaches musicianship skills that you can actually USE. Learn Moveable Do Solfege in Major, Minor (Natural, Harmonic and Melodic) and the Chromatic Scale, PLUS get bonus material like voice lessons, warmups and dive into how Solfege can be used in creative ways to improve your musicianship quickly.  CHECK IT OUT!

Who Needs Solfege?

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Solfege is a powerful tool that helps to develop your musical ear.  In this video, I show you WHO can use Solfege to better themselves as musicians.  PS –   Solfege is NOT just for classical musicians – it is incredibly useful for everyone!


Want to learn Solfege and build your ears and musicianship skills?  Crash Course in Solfege: The Bundle is an all-in-one online course that teaches musicianship skills that you can actually USE. Learn Moveable Do Solfege in Major, Minor (Natural, Harmonic and Melodic) and the Chromatic Scale, PLUS get bonus material like voice lessons, warmups and dive into how Solfege can be used in creative ways to improve your musicianship quickly.  CHECK IT OUT!

You Can Learn to Play By Ear…using SOLFEGE

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As a follow up to my recent video “You can learn to play by ear”, I created this video to show you how to play by ear using SOLFEGE.  I tell my own story of learning 600+ songs during an 11-week cruise ship gig.  My ears grew so much and I want to share with you how I did it!


Want to learn Solfege and build your ears and musicianship skills?  Crash Course in Solfege: The Bundle is an all-in-one online course that teaches musicianship skills that you can actually USE. Learn Moveable Do Solfege in Major, Minor (Natural, Harmonic and Melodic) and the Chromatic Scale, PLUS get bonus material like voice lessons, warmups and dive into how Solfege can be used in creative ways to improve your musicianship quickly.  CHECK IT OUT!

Introduction to Solfege

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Solfege is a powerful tool that helps to develop your musical ear.  In this video, I show you how it works, what it’s for and how to practice it to grow your musicianship.  Solfege is NOT just for classical musicians – it is incredibly useful for everyone!


Want to learn Solfege and build your ears and musicianship skills?  Crash Course in Solfege: The Bundle is an all-in-one online course that teaches musicianship skills that you can actually USE. Learn Moveable Do Solfege in Major, Minor (Natural, Harmonic and Melodic) and the Chromatic Scale, PLUS get bonus material like voice lessons, warmups and dive into how Solfege can be used in creative ways to improve your musicianship quickly.  CHECK IT OUT!

Motivation Monday – The Case for Musicianship

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For today’s video, I talk about all things #musicianship and why they hold the key to true musical success. Many students are focused on the more sexy topics in music, like technique (who doesn’t want to sing high notes or play flashy piano runs?) or repertoire (song selection is an obsessive topic among educators), but for many, working on their foundational understanding of pitch and rhythm is much more important.
Which brings me to the EXCITING ANNOUNCEMENT! The new course is called…Crash Course in Solfege: The Bundle!
I have bundled my bestselling courses Crash Course in Solfege: Major Edition and Crash Course in Solfege: Minor Edition and added a ton of BONUS material. There is a new section on The Chromatic Scale, two complete voice lessons (one sung by me and one sung by jazz wunderkind Dylan Pramuk) plus a deep dive into a bunch of creative ways to use Solfege in your life. Want to learn how to play by ear? Get your sight singing in tip top shape?
This is a great course for students, and also amazing for music teachers, who have been wanting to teach this to their students but haven’t known exactly how.
Stay tuned for news on the presale. Coming soon….

You can LEARN to play by ear!

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Have you ever met one of those people who can sit down and play a song by ear? The can just do it without even looking at the music – and they were just BORN THAT WAY. (Infuriating, right?). What if I told you that you can LEARN to PLAY BY EAR? Not only CAN you, but I am going to show you exactly what steps you need to take to be able to do it. It doesn’t take any special tools or skills – it’s just a matter of sitting down and following my easy steps.

This is how I learned to play by ear, how I taught my 9 year old son to play by ear and how I have taught hundreds of other people to do it too. It’s super fun and will make your whole life more musical!

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