Category Archives: Teaching

Pandemic Practice Tips: A guest blog post

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My friend and fellow singer/voice guru Valerie Day invited me to contribute to a recent blog post she published all about practicing in the midst of a pandemic (topical, eh?).  I chimed in with a few tips that have really helped my students make more progress during this weird time.

BRENDA EARLE STOKES, creator of Piano Skills for Singers
1. Treat daily music practice as self-care. Spending time every day singing and making music is a great way to invite structure and creativity into every day and will help to feed your mind, body and soul. Make your practice space comfortable and cozy. Make sure that it has nice lighting, get a decent chair or stool, and fill your space with candles and inspirational quotes. While you’re at it, make sure you give yourself some private and distraction free time. Continue reading here..

Article published in Classical Singer Magazine’s blog!

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I was super excited to be published in Classical Singer Magazine‘s blog this week!  They reached out to me to see if I would share how my work for Piano Skills for Singers would translate to the classical world.  YES – faking is for EVERYONE!!

In my experience as a professional pianist, vocalist and educator, I have found that one of the weakest links in the vocalist community is a lack of functional keyboard skills.  This deficiency creates a huge handicap for singers and educators, keeping them from positions as section leaders, music directors and teachers.  In the post-pandemic world, singers are going to need as many tools as possible in their toolkit to carve out a livelihood. Continue reading here

The Handy-Dandy Transposition Chart

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Does the prospect of transposing a melody or chords fill you with panic and dread?  I keep wishing someone would build a capo that would work on the piano, but my piano tuner says that wouldn’t quite work.  Sigh.

In the meantime, I have created The Handy-Dandy Transposition Chart™ designed to make transposing your melodies and chords less painful and riddled with errors.

DOWNLOAD The Handy-Dandy Transposition Chart TM

How to Walk a Bass Line

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Calling all jazzers (or aspiring jazzers)!  This awesome video is going to teach you how to walk a bass line on any jazz standard.  It is super easy and straight ahead and I will take you step-by-step into how to walk and authentic jazz bass line.

**Make sure to subscribe to my YouTube Channel and leave a Like!**

 

Want to learn jazz piano?  Check out my online course Jazz Piano Accompaniment, which teaches you everything I list in this blog post.

There’s More Than One Way to Split the Octave

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If you are working on scales, chords, technical drills or chord progressions, you should be practicing them in 12 keys! This video will give you some great ideas on how to practice in different ways, to achieve mastery quicker and without relying only on muscle memory!

**Make sure to subscribe to my YouTube Channel and leave a Like!**

 

Want to learn jazz piano?  Check out my online course Jazz Piano Accompaniment, which teaches you everything I list in this blog post.

Vocal Jazz Introductions

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Every singer and instrumentalist should have an arsenal of great introductions at the ready. In this video, I will show you how to play 9 of the best introductions, which are perfect for instrumental or vocal jazz!

**Make sure to subscribe to my YouTube Channel and leave a Like!**

 

Want to learn jazz piano?  Check out my online course Jazz Piano Accompaniment, which teaches you everything I list in this blog post.

Downbeats and Upbeats Workout

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Every singer and instrumentalist should have an arsenal of great introductions at the ready. In this video, I will show you how to play 9 of the best introductions, which are perfect for instrumental or vocal jazz!

**Make sure to subscribe to my YouTube Channel and leave a Like!**

 

Want to learn jazz piano?  Check out my online course Jazz Piano Accompaniment, which teaches you everything I list in this blog post.

3 Cool Bossa Nova Vamps

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This video is designed to teach you how to play 3 cool vamps that sound great on Bossa Novas. Taught by performer/educator Brenda Earle Stokes, the video shows chord progressions, gorgeous piano voicings and even the scales that you need to sound great improvising on the vamps. You will also get a great close up look at the piano keyboard.

Free Download:  Three Cool Vamps for Bossa Novas

**Make sure to subscribe to my YouTube Channel and leave a Like!**

ADD THIS LINK: https://youtu.be/Ln6mVr7S8mg

 

Want to learn jazz piano?  Check out my online course Jazz Piano Accompaniment, which teaches you everything I list in this blog post.