I wanted to share these fun and free worksheets available for you on www.pianimation.com I discovered some great songs for students to work on for understanding I-IV-V chords and to help them with some ear training. You'll find many useful songs for harmonization, like If You're Happy and All Through The Night.
Harmonizing the melody means playing a chord to accompany every note of the melody. Since the I, IV & V (V7) chords contain all the notes of the major scale, many melodies in a major key can be harmonized with just these three chords.
To determine the chords used, analyze the melody notes and know them. When more than one chord can be chosen, your ear should always be the final guide.
When harmonizing a melody, many prefer that the chord is in the inversion which places the melody tone as the highest note.
Here's another tip... In most cases, the I major chord will be used to accompany the I, III & V scale degrees because those are the tones that make up the I major chord.
I major (1st inversion): Accompanies the 1st scale degree because this inversion puts the I tone on top.
I major (2nd inversion): Accompanies the 3rd scale degree because this inversion puts the III tone on top and the tone in the middle).
I major (root position): Accompanies the 5th scale degree because this inversion puts the V tone on top and the I tone on the bottom.
Two Steps To Harmonize The Melody 1. Figure Out The Melody
Choose a key center (what major key your melody will be played in).
The notes of the melody should only use the notes of the major scale(for most situations).
Apply the appropriate rhythm to your melody.
2. Use the I, ii, IV & V Chords To Harmonize The Melody To The Highest Note
Determine which corresponding chords will be used in situations where there can be more than one choice.
Look for chord inversions which are the easiest to transition from the previous chord.
Apply the appropriate rhythm to your harmony.
Look for Passing and Neighboring tones as these tones don't always require an accompanying chord.
Glorious Ruins is an album by Hillside Live. The music and lyrics are by Joel Houston and Matt Crocker. It was released in 2013. It has 8 wonderful worship songs on the album.
Always Will
You Never Fail
Christ Is Enough
Where the Spirit of the Lord Is
Glorious Ruins
Closer
God Who Saves
To Be Like You
Man of Sorrows
One of my piano students figured out the chord progression, listening to the song by ear. Below you'll find charts to the song in several different keys. Hope you enjoy learning this song. If you're not familiar with it, here it is on YouTube. Oh, and I wanted to share with you that my cousin is one of the many talented young musicians on the Hillsong worship team. I am so proud of Alex.
Glorious Ruins
Verse 1
D A Bm G
When the mountains fall and the tempest roars You are with me
D A Bm G
When creation folds, still my soul will soar on Your mercy
Pre-chorus
Bm G
I'll walk through fire with my head lifted high
D A
and my spirit revived, in Your story
Bm G
And I'll look to the cross as my failure is lost
D A
in the light of Your glorious grace
Chorus
D
So let the ruins come to life
G
In the beauty of Your Name
D
Rising up from the ashes
A
God, forever You reign
Bm G
And my soul will find refuge in the shadow of Your wings
D A
I will love You forever, and forever I'll sing
Verse 2
D A Bm G
When the world caves in, still my hope will cling to Your promise
D A Bm G
When my courage ends, let my heart find strength in Your presence
Repeat Chorus 2X
Vamp on Chorus Progression
Repeat Chorus 2X
D - G - D - A - Bm - G - D - A
Glorious Ruins
Verse 1
G D Em C
When the mountains fall and the tempest roars You are with me
G D Em
When creation folds, still my soul will soar on Your mercy
Pre-chorus
C G
I'll walk through fire with my head lifted high
Em D
and my spirit revived, in Your story
C Em
And I'll look to the cross as my failure is lost
G D
in the light of Your glorious grace
Chorus
G
So let the ruins come to life
C
In the beauty of Your Name
G
Rising up from the ashes
D
God, forever You reign
Em C
And my soul will find refuge in the shadow of Your wings
G D
I will love You forever, and forever I'll sing
Verse 2
When the world caves in, still my hope will cling to Your promise
When my courage ends, let my heart find strength in Your presence
Repeat Chorus 2X
Vamp on Chorus Progression
Repeat Chorus 2X
G - C - G - D - Em - C - G - D
Glorious Ruins
Verse 1
E B C#m A
When the mountains fall and the tempest roars You are with me
E B C#m
When creation folds, still my soul will soar on Your mercy
Pre-chorus
A E
I'll walk through fire with my head lifted high
C#m B
and my spirit revived, in Your story
A C#m
And I'll look to the cross as my failure is lost
E B
in the light of Your glorious grace
Chorus
E
So let the ruins come to life
A
In the beauty of Your Name
E
Rising up from the ashes
B
God, forever You reign
C#m A
And my soul will find refuge in the shadow of Your wings
E B
I will love You forever, and forever I'll sing
Verse 2
E B
When the world caves in, still my hope will cling to Your promise
E B C#m
When my courage ends, let my heart find strength in Your presence
Repeat Chorus 2X
Vamp on Chorus Progression
Repeat Chorus 2X
E - A - E - B - C#m - A - E - B
Glorious Ruins
I think this is probably my favorite key to play in regarding this song. What about you?
Verse 1
F# C# D#m B
When the mountains fall and the tempest roars You are with me
F# C# D#m B
When creation folds, still my soul will soar on Your mercy
Pre-chorus
B F#
I'll walk through fire with my head lifted high
D#m C#
and my spirit revived, in Your story
B D#m
And I'll look to the cross as my failure is lost
F# C#
in the light of Your glorious grace
Chorus
F#
So let the ruins come to life
B
In the beauty of Your Name
F#
Rising up from the ashes
C#
God, forever You reign
D#m B
And my soul will find refuge in the shadow of Your wings
F# C#
I will love You forever, and forever I'll sing
Verse 2
F# C# D#m B
When the world caves in, still my hope will cling to Your promise
F# C# D#m B
When my courage ends, let my heart find strength in Your presence
Repeat Chorus 2X
Vamp on Chorus Progression
Repeat Chorus 2X
For more information on the album, visit wikipedia.org
You may be interested in playing another song in the Key of F#, We Crown You.
300 Page Course Book
4 Steps to Learning How to Play Any Song on the Piano
1. Determining the melody - Melodies determine what chords will be played. If you can use your ear to figure out what notes are being played in the melody, you are 1/4 on your way to learning a song! More resources on learning how to determine melodies
2.Harmonizing the melody - Once you have figured out the melody (using some of my techniques on the resource page), it is time to harmonize it. This is simply choosing various chords to accompany the melody. There are several techniques and tricks to doing this. More resources on learning how to harmonize melodies
3. Altering Chords - This is the best part! Now that you have strategically figured out the melody to a song and have harmonized it, altering your chords to produce certain sounds is the next step. If you were playing gospel music, you would alter your chords differently than if you were playing classical or country music. More resources on altering chords
4. Listening - After you have determined the melody, harmonized the melody, and altered some of your chords, there are various techniques you can use to make sure that your song sounds right. More resources on listening techniques
I personally recommend "The Secrets to Playing Piano By Ear" 300-pg Course and through my relationship with Jermaine (the author of this course), I've been able to get him to throw in a few bonus items (3 additional piano software programs). He has taught literally thousands of musicians how to play the piano by ear. If you understood just half of what he discussed above, you'll definitely benefit from his 300-pg course. Click here to learn the secrets to playing absolutely any song on the piano in virtually minutes! I highly recommend it.
Just in case you missed it, you can catch up on other WeWorship posts: Praise You In The Storm
Remember that a 3-toned chord is called a 'Triad.' Well, a 4-toned chord is called a 'Seventh.'
A seventh or dominant chord is built similar to a major triad. You see, a seventh chord is a major chord with an added 'minor third' interval on top. So, a major triad is a major third + perfect fifth.
A major third = 4 half steps or 2 whole steps.
A minor third = 3 half steps or 1 1/2 whole steps.
Seventh Chord = major third + perfect fifth + minor third
For example, a C major chord is C-E-G. To create a C Seventh Chord (C7), add a minor third on top of the G note. To find it, remember...
By adding a Bb to a C major chord, you now have created a C7 chord.
C7 = C + E + G + Bb
Try playing seventh chords in all 12 keys! (C7, D7, E7, etc.)
This chord is one of the most utilized chords in jazz music. The added minor third creates the 'blues' feeling used in gospel hymns, blues, r & b, soul and more.
In the theory book, seventh chords are covered in depth. The lessons teach you how to play this chord in all 12 keys. You will learn scale degree names, major seventh chords, minor seventh chords, altered seventh chords and more.
Awhile back I wrote a post about slash chords. I was reading an interesting article, Slash Chords - Part II Beyond Western Harmony by Chaim Burstein. Here's an excerpt:
20th Century and the Avant-Garde
Slash chords can be a great way to get away from your typical diatonic chord progressions. One of my favorite ways to use slash chords almost completely disregards Western harmonic concepts. In the prior article on slash chords, we were only concerned with slash chords that do not appear as some form of a chord inversion. Today we are going to discuss every possible combination of triads over bass notes...
Below you'll find a chart that contains every possible major triad and bass note combination. I've organized it from what I find to be the most consonant to the most dissonant. Each new chord is labeled in levels of dissonance, with Level 1 being the least dissonant and Level 12 containing the most dissonant harmonies. This chart was created using only a piano and my ears.
Slash Chords Levels: Consonant (1) to Dissonant (12)
Level 1
C/C played C/EGC
Level 2
F/C played C/FAC
Level 3
Ab/C = C/EbAbC
Level 4
G/C = C/DGB
Level 5
Eb/C = C/EbGBb
Level 6
Bb/C = C/DFBb
Level 7
A/C = C/EAC#
Level 8
D/C = C/F#AD
Level 9
E/C = C/G#BE
Level 10
B/C = C/F#BD#
Level 11
Db/C = C/FAbDb
Level 12 = C/F#A#C#
Another way to use this chart is to increase or decrease the level of dissonance perceived by the listener. This can be very effective at high points in an arrangement... increase the level of dissonance with each new melody note. Try playing these on a piano and notice how the dissonance increases each time a new chord voicing is played. The top voice can act as the root, third or fifth of a chord. This gives you three different ways to harmonize any melody note at any given level of dissonance.
Harmonizing the note E natural three different ways
You'll want to pick up a copy of The 300pg Piano by Ear Home Study Course to learn about chords, melodies, harmony and more music theory answers to your questions.
Hope you'll try these chords and see how they sound to your ears.
Wishing you all the best with your piano practice!
"The beautiful thing about learning is that no one can take it away from you." B.B.King
I was observing my three-year-old grandson playing with his
wooden blocks and watching him turn these blocks into some beautiful
buildings. I thought about how books are structured with letters, words
and punctuation marks that turn into stories.
When
I teach children how to read sheet music, they learn that music has its
own symbols. It is not all about music notes but there are signs and
symbols to learn as well.
The
Grand Staff has five lines and four spaces in the Treble Clef, which the notes written on the staff. The notes for the right hand are usually written on the top of
the staff and the notes for the left hand are on the bottom staff, with 5 lines and 4 spaces. When
you begin learning to read notes that are on the Grand staff, I call
this the right hand shaking hands with the left hand, you'll see that both staffs are connected with a bar line and bracket. We call this the Grand Staff. Now your sheet music will have 10 lines and 8 spaces.
Here's what the dictionary says:
The Clef is
the symbol at the beginning of each staff. It tells you what each note
is. In the G Clef or some call it Treble Clef, the second line from the
bottom is the G note. Sometimes I refer to it as a kitty sitting on the
fence and it's tail wraps around the G line.
The F or Bass Clef
looks like a backwards C with two dots on either side of the F line. The
F is the second line from the top. You can figure out all the other
notes from there. The notes written in the bass clef are played with
your left hand.
The Key Signature is always at the beginning of
each line of music and you will often see sharps or flats written on the
staff. They tell you which notes are always sharp or flat in the music.
Time
Signature has two numbers, one on the top and one on the bottom. It
looks like a fraction in mathematics without the line. It is one number
on top of the other. The top number tells you how many beats there will
be in each measure, and the bottom number shows you what kind of note is
the beat and gets one count.
Bar lines are thin pencil-like lines
that divide a measure from the next one. There is usually a double bar
line at the end of a piece. A double bar line, that has two dots before
it is called a repeat sign. This tells you to play part of the music
again. You can find a repeat sign at the end of the first line of music,
somewhere in the middle of the song or at the end. Look for it. You'll
want to play the verses of a song and repeat the chorus, too.
Now
the measures in music is the space between the bar lines. Each measure
has the same number of beats. Many times you will notice that measures
are numbered and this helps group player performing a duet or for a
conductor to regroup all the instruments to begin playing at measure
nine. Indeed, it is fun to learn the building blocks of music.
One of the best theory books I recommend and I mean it's a huge one in learning lots of music principles is 300pg Course Book. Be sure and use a pencil with this one because you'll be filling in lots of blanks for future reference and quick recall for some answers.
All the best and keep practicing!
"The beautiful thing about learning is that no one can take it away from you." B.B.King
Of all the common chords, thirteenths are the biggest - and the hardest to visualize on the keyboard. Any given type of thirteenth, for example, makes twelve different visual patterns of black and white keys, one for each root along the chromatic scale. Each pattern, of course, can be individually memorized. But such learning by rote is tedious. Here's an easier way to learn thirteenth chord patterns, a way that requires only the recognition of Major and minorthirds or the recognition of Major and minor triads.
* Major and Minor Third Recognition
White key Major thirds always enclose two black keys; white key minor thirds enclose only one. Example: Major 3rds F to A, C to E, G to B and Minor 3rds: B to D, A to C, E to G, D to F
Black key Major thirds always enclose another black key; black key minor thirds do not. M 3rd: Gb to Bb and mi 3rd: Eb to Gb and Bb to Gb
Black and white key Major thirds always enclose two white keys; black and white key minor thirds enclose only one. M 3rds (white over black): Db to F, Ab to C, Eb to G, Bb to D. Then we have M 3rds (black over white): D to F#, A to D#, E to G#, B to D#
mi 3rds (black over white) F to Ab, C to Eb, G to Bb and (white over black) Gb to A, Db to E, Ab to B
* Thirteenth Chord Structures
Alternate letters along the musical alphabet specify chord components above the root. As the next example shows, thirteenth chords contain all seven: 1 3 5 7 9 11 13 C E G B D F A
Here's an easier way to learn thirteenth chord patterns. Just spot the Major and minor triads.
* The Model Thirteenth Chord Types
Among all the types of thirteenth chords, three predominate. The first type, the Major thirteenth (#11), alternates Major and minor thirds upward: CM 13(11#) = C to E (M3), E to G (m3), G to B (M3), B to D (m3), D to F# (M3), F# to A (m3)
The second type, the minor thirteenth, alternates minor and Major thirds upward, just the reverse of the first, Cm13: C to Eb (m3), Eb to G (M3), G to Bb (m3), Bb to D (M3), D to F (m3) and F to A (M3)
The third type, the Dominant thirteenth(#11), groups its inner thirds in orderly pairs. It encloses two successive minors then two successive Majors between its bottom Major and its top minor: Major, minor-minor, Major-Major, minor. C13 (11#): C to e (M3), E to G (m3), G to BB (m3), Bb to D (M3), Gb to A (m3)
So the three types also look like stacked triads: Major-Major-Major, minor-minor-minor and Major-minor-Major. Altered notes produce additional types. and there's a way to find all the possible thirteenth chords types. Either position of the third (Major or minor) combines with any position of the fifth (Perfect, augmented, or diminished) to yield six types. Then, mixing in various positions of the seventh, ninth, eleventh, and thirteenth multiplies the number of possible types to more than two hundred! lol
I highly recommend the 300 page course book to you. Jermaine Griggs of HearandPlay.com has a great theory instructional book for you that you will want to have and refer to it often. Music Theory book
"I want to send my thanks wholeheartedly to Jermaine and the team that makes possible to all of us hearandplay. I wanted to point that I have found a great deal of satisfaction in using the 300pg course. The course takes an easy approach to concepts that otherwise seem unreachable for those of us that use the self teaching approach. Although many of the concepts I've read before in other methods, I find amazing that Jermaine seems to expose every idea with the simplicity that makes it so easy to understand."
LadyD says:
* The 300 page course is a theory book with bonus CD (sound library- audio examples). * I have found Jermaine's theory concepts simple to understand and apply. * I am able to recognize songs, melodies and chords by ear better because of this course.
Have you seen the new HearandPlay Video?
This course offers 60 free online piano lessons, resources, and even a 300-pg Piano Course for students who are serious about learning to play the piano by ear. This course covers beginning techniques, music theory, chords, progressions, improvisation, and more!
Dear Friend,
If you are interested in taking your piano playing to the next level, I think I may have struck the right chord for you. Just last week, I was contacted by my friends over at HearandPlay.com who specialize in teaching people how to play piano by ear.
Jermaine Griggs, the President of HearandPlay, just let me know that his site had recently been updated with a few new piano resources...
When I finally checked it out (because I was very busy last week), I noticed one particular article that discusses the differences between musicians who play piano from sheet music and others who play by ear --- some of the advantages and disadvantages of both.
The article focuses more on the advantages of playing by ear --- obviously because that's their specialty. Here are just a few of the many examples of what they said (you'll have to check out the article for yourself to get the full story):
Advantages of Playing Piano By Ear
1) "Being able to instantly recognize chords that are played in songs even without being at a piano."
************************* How does this help you? *************************
"You are able to learn songs faster and easier because you understand why chords are played at certain points in songs."
2) "Not required to memorize chord progressions (pattern of chords played one after the other) because understanding them will automatically incline you to know what chord to play next."
************************* How does this help you? *************************
"Allows you to improvise and add your own "flavor" to the song. This is especially advantageous when playing in a church as you can never predict how long a song will be sung or what key the singer might resolve to. In a band, this might be helpful if the leader simply instructs everyone to surprisingly repeat a part of the song or change the key in which the song is currently being played in."
3) "Will allow you to use the same methods to play virtually any song you want (most songs; don't quote me if you're referring to Mozart as this might take more practice than most other songs)."
************************* How does this help you? *************************
"Saves you the money and time of having to go out and buy the sheet music to a song that you've already learned how to play by using the ability of your ear to recognize melodies, chords, and progressions. However, buying the sheet music isn't a bad idea if you want to learn specific parts to songs that have high levels of complexity."
*************************
You know... I could really go on and on about this article,but due to the lack of space, I'm going to have to send you to the article so you can check it out for yourself:
(...and if you're really serious about taking your piano playing to the next level, you might want to consider taking them up on their 300-pg course, "The Secrets to Playing Piano by Ear").
Meanwhile, let me know if you have any questions and I'll answer or pass them to the right folks at HearandPlay.com.
I love teaching beginners, young children, and adults. I offer piano lessons for ages 3-103 and all levels from primer to advanced. We have a blast with piano games, playing duets, learning songs and theory.
I offer private and group lessons. I am a WunderKeys piano teacher for preschoolers, 3-years-old to Kindergarten. We have 2 recitals, Fall and Spring.
Thank You!
I've Been Mentioned!
Billie
“If I’m going to sing like someone else, then I don’t need to sing at all.” – Billie Holiday
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_t7CGWS2wxxIDX1qaamZU_PXFjl_mOO0q09migEdp4cdnCYzq-2CvVTBZ3vU1h7Fj-e_mr15rYRl37UGvCGVMlT91iWWaJvUEUtSnVAN0J4BJY_zeo4xRHtJF99ay-QXXJ6zIKEfDYnqO3QK2l0nFE=s0-d)
![[Valid Atom 1.0]](valid-atom.png "Validate my Atom 1.0 feed")
