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Duane Shinn's Articles

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  • "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" - Einstein would have loved it!
    Einstein would have loved the movie "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" because it is filled with not only imagination, but also time dilation and wormholes that tunnel into distant regions of space and time and black holes and string theory and spacetime curvature...all implicated in his General Theory of Relativity.
  • 10 Top Reasons You Should Learn to Play 'Chord' Piano
    There are roughly umpteen zillion reasons why you should learn enough chords to be able to "chord a song" at the piano. By "chord a song", I mean the ability to play 3 or 4 chords on the piano in some sort of rhythm while you or someone else sings the tune. To do this, you don't need to be a Van Cliburn; all you need to do is learn a few basic chords and be able to more back and forth between them in some organized rhythmic pattern.
  • 3 Quick & Easy Steps To Playing Music by Ear
    Playing by ear is the ability to play a piece of music (or, eventually, learn an instrument) by simply listening to it repeatedly. The majority of self-taught musicians began their education this way; they picked up their instrument and began playing an easy melody from a well-known song, slowly picking out the notes as they went along.
  • 3 Secrets To Understanding What Music Is Made Of
    It's no secret that virtually everyone loves music in some form or other. After all, it is the universal language, and we all participate in it to some degree from the cradle to the grave. It starts with our Mothers' lullaby, ends with our funeral song, with a zillion other stops along the way
  • 33 Tips to Becoming a Great Pianist
    "There are at least 33 elements that contribute to becoming a good pianist," says Duane Shinn, pianist and owner of Keyboard Workshop in Medford, Oregon. "There are probably more, but without these 33 principles a pianist cannot hope to rise to the level of his ability."
  • Can You Become a Boogie-Man or Boogie-Lady?
    Boogie music, also known as boogie woogie, is a genre of piano-heavy music particular to America in the 1940s and 50s.
  • Can YOU Play All The Major Chords in 3 Seconds or Less?
    Some people go through their entire lives not being sure about what such and such a major
    chord is -- and it's all so unnecessary, because you can memorize them in just a few
    minutes, and learn to play them in 12 seconds or less - one second per major chord.
  • Can You Really Learn To Play a Musical Instrument From an Online Course?
    Out of the 250 million people in the United States, about 25 million of them play an instrument of some kind, or at least used to when they were in school and would like to pick up where they left off. Another 30 million or so sing in a church choir, a barbershop quartet, or at the very least, in the shower.
  • Christmas Carols You Can Play This Christmas With Just 3 Chords!
    Did you know that there are literally thousands of songs you can play if you know just 3 chords? And some of them are Christmas Carols that you can learn to play this Christmas if you know, or are willing to learn, three simple chords.
  • Church Service Family Style: How a 3 Year Old Preacher & a Beagle Made Our Sunday Unforgettable
    One unforgettable Sunday our church had a three-year- old preacher, an organist who could play one song, an altercation involving the offering and a visiting beagle who knocked over the pulpit.
  • Did You Know That Music Is Based On Natural "Laws"?
    Did you know that music is based on natural "laws" -- like gravity -- and by learning to understand how those natural laws work we can actually understand what we are doing when we play -- we don't have to be at the mercy of what someone else has written on a piece of music?
  • Do you really need college to learn to play music?
    In the last few years a new dimension to learning music has appeared in the form of the internet - the world wide web. Now instead of being limited to classroom courses, students are free to create their own schedules and learn at their own pace.
  • Does Music Impact Epilepsy - For Bad Or For Good?
    At the present time music is not yet used as a formal treatment for epilepsy, but the sheer fact that music has shown a potential ability to be a treatment for epilepsy as well as its ability to induce epileptic seizures would seem to indicate that music just might play a more significant role in the human experience than we ever imagined.

  • Exciting Improvising: How to Make Up Music Out Of Your Head As You Play
    Improvisation (also known as improvising) is the act of making something up as you go along -- an act with which we all have a little experience.
  • Families That Hit Pine Cones Together Stay Together
    It is said that families that pray together stay together. I think it's almost equally true that families that play together stay together. If play time is the glue of family life, our family is a sticky crew!
  • Five Great Practice Ideas I Learned From My Piano Students
    Sometimes the teacher learns more from the student than the student does from the teacher. Hopefully, not too often, but today I would like to share with you some great practicing ideas that have come from my piano students over the years.
  • How Grandma's Lap Robe Saved My Legs
    As I was growing up, Grandma always made sure that I wouldn't catch cold by insisting I have a lap robe over my legs. Didn't matter if it was 32 degrees or 100 degrees; the lap robe was an absolute necessity.
  • How I Found Out That God Bowls On Monday Evenings at 7
    I grew up wondering what Jesus did on Monday evenings. My Uncle Verge went bowling on Monday evenings, and although a good Methodist child wouldn't be caught dead inside a bowling alley back in those days, I sometimes visualized Jesus bowling along side of Uncle Verge, since they both apparently had Monday evenings off.
  • How Many Chords Are There, Anyway?
    Since chords (the main component of harmony) are one of the three most vital elements of music - the others being melody and rhythm - it would be useful to know how many chords there are. And it doesn't matter whether you play piano or guitar or some other instrument - chords are chords.
  • How Many Guitar Chords Do I Need To Know?
    Most simple songs contain just 3 chords called "primary chords". So even a stark beginner can learn 3 simple note groups well enough to strum along and accompany himself as he sings. But after that, the sky is the limit; there are thousands of possible chords, so it is up to the individual guitarist as to how many he or she wants to master.
  • How to Become a World Class Expert in Just 20 Minutes a Day
    Is it really possible to become an expert in some field in 20 minutes a day? Here's some ideas that just might make it possible.
  • How To Color Without Crayons: Adding Color Tones To a Chord
    Adding color tones to a chord is like adding colors to a black and white drawing; it adds depth and dimension and well as bringing it to life.
  • How To Dress Up "Naked Music" On The Piano
    What in the world is "naked music?" You know it when you hear it, but the words that describe it sound strange, don't they? We've all heard of popular music and rock music and gospel music and jazz music, but naked music?
  • How To Get An Avalanche Of Free Publicity For Your Home Business!
    There are many ways you can get tons of free publicity in the form of write-ups in magazines, newspapers, and even radio and TV. And sometimes you can turn family events into human-interest stories that editors like and will publish in their magazine and newspapers.
  • How To Impress Girls - Or Maybe Not
    I suppose that all males at some time in their life attempt to impress girls. My efforts started in about the 5th grade, and left a great deal to be desired.
  • How To Make a Fortune Teaching Piano (or Guitar, or Drums, or Singing, or...) To Beginners
    Every year millions more kids get to the age where their parents start thinking about getting music lessons for them, so your prospect list is constantly getting bigger every day. There are plenty of beginners to go around, so competition is really not an issue at all for a person who loves both people and music.
  • How To Match The Melody Notes Of Any Song To A Chord In Your Left Hand!
    Is it really possible to know which chords go with which notes in a song without having to depend on the written sheet music? Can you pick out a song by ear and then harmonize that tune with chords that match it?
  • How To Play More Notes On The Piano Without Reading More Notes!
    Most people learn to play the piano by playing just the written music. Playing by written music is exactly what the phrase says it is -- playing the exact notation on a piece of sheet music.
  • How To Play Piano Using Chord Symbols
    Chord symbols (for example, Cmaj7 or G6) are a type of notation used frequently in jazz and other areas of modern music to notate chord progressions and changes.
  • How To Play The Piano Using "Shorthand" -- Chord Symbols -- Instead of Reading the Full Score
    Most people who took piano lessons as a kid, including me, grew up learning to read music exactly as it is written on the printed page. Being able to read music is a valuable skill, and I am delighted I learned that skill at an early age.
  • How To Predict Which Chord Comes Next In A Song
    It is quite possible to predict which chords will occur in a given song, once you know the key and understand the "guts" of music theory & chord progressions.
  • How To Tell What Major Key A Song Is In Quickly & Easily
    Key signatures are a type of musical notation that indicate which key the song is to be played in. But key signatures, despite the name, are not the same thing as key.
  • I Know a Man Who Can Take You To Narnia...
    I know a man who can take you to Narnia. Well, not really Narnia, but to the very spot in England where Narnia was born in the mind of C.S. Lewis, author of "The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe" which is now a major motion picture by Disney, and the entire Chronicles of Narnia series.
  • I Like It, But Is It Music?
    Are you frustrated when you try to explain your taste in music? Fortunately, one of the benefits of learning a musical instrument is a better understanding of your own musical taste. Learn to play an instrument, and soon you will be able to discuss what works or doesn't work for you, in music.
  • If Seals Can Sing, Why Can't You?
    Music moves us, often in ways that we don't understand. For example who hasn't been calmed by the sound of quiet singing such as a lullaby? But more than that, who can explain why cows produce more milk and chickens lay more eggs when listening to certain songs like The Blue Danube?
  • Improvising On The Piano: Jazz Musicians Do It -- Why Not Other Styles?
    Jazz pianists improvise all the time. So why not classical pianists, gospel pianists, and piano players of many other styles?

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