Category Archives: Piano Lessons

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!

New Classical Singer Magazine Blog Post!!

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I’m super excited that Classical Singer Magazine asked me to write another guest blog post!  Here, you can get into the specific building blogs I use to teach singers how to play piano.  (Yes, I cover all of this in my wildly popular online courses Piano Skills for Singers!)

In my last article, I discussed my extensive experience teaching singers to play piano and how traditional methods have not proved effective at preparing them for professional work. I have created my own method teaching functional piano to singers, which firsts asks the question “What Piano Skills Do Singers Need?”   continue reading…

Which Online Course is Right for Me?

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Have you been wanting to improve your piano skills?  Have you been curious about the online offerings at Piano and Voice with Brenda?  This short video talks you through all of the course options and shares which course might be the best fit for you!  Whether you are looking to learn jazz, improvisation or you are a singer who wants to build your keyboard skills, there is a perfect course for YOU!  Check out this video to find out!

Sight Read Better…FAST!

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Sight reading is a thorn in everyone’s side and something that nearly every student I have come across has needed more help with.  In this video I tackle the #1 problem that keeps people from being able to sight read effectively.  Hint:  it’s all about intervals.

Make sure to take a quick minute and subscribe to my channel!  It helps get more eyeballs on my work!

Improvise Your Way to 2 Handed Independence

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Do your left and right hand have a hard time playing together?  Maybe you try to play a bass line in the left hand while your right hand plays chords and they just. won’t. work. together.  In this video, I show you an easy and fun way to explore coordination between the hands.  The exercise is fully customizable for your interested and needs.  PLUS it contains super bonus material on how to strengthen your left hand and I share my favorite classical books to help develop your two hand independence.

Make sure to “Like” this video and SUBSCRIBE to my channel!  It helps me to keep making awesome resources like this for you.

All Keyed up Podcast interview

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My friend and former NYSMF alum Ben Kapilow had me as a guest on his new podcast All Keyed Up.  The podcast is all about piano teachers and Ben has curated an amazing group of guests to chat all about creativity in the piano studio.  On our episode, we talked about my methods of Improvisation and my online course Piano Improvisation for Everyone! plus some tips on how to teach jazz to classical pianists.  LISTEN HERE!