Tag Archives: music

Saturday with the Spark

Choir Saved My Life

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This is not a melodramatic title. This is truth. I sincerely believe that if I had not joined choir in 7th grade, I would not be here today.

My (Pitiful) School Life Before Choir

Before I joined the middle school choir in 7th grade, I was a complete nobody in school. I was generally ignored or teased–treated with either indifference or malice–by the people I went to school with. I had no place in my grade’s social structure, not even the dubious grace of a “label” to slap on myself. If anybody called me anything, it was all based on negatives–there was nothing that I positively contributed to my grade level’s society, nothing I did that was particular to me.

As a result, I felt completely alienated from the rest of my classmates, and life was emotionally very stressful. When school mornings came, sometimes I would lay in bed worrying about the horrible school day I was going to face, and end up making myself sick, ending up in the bathroom all day. (Now, I know I was likely having anxiety attacks, but back then I thought I was just sick with stomach flu all the time.)

This behavior, both on my part and the part of my classmates, peaked in 6th grade, and by the time I turned 12 I had had it with my life; I thought about death every day, because death seemed like a blissful nothing in comparison to the shouted insults and often physically painful teasing. Not only that, I didn’t think I was DOING anything good with my life–it seemed like I didn’t mean anything to anybody anymore, not even myself. Depression had me fast in its grip, and in that dimness I saw nothing of the people who indeed did love me during that time.

A (Supposedly) Throwaway Decision

When it came time to sign up for 7th grade classes, I didn’t much care what I did–I was gunning more for the end of the year and a well-deserved summer away from all the mean kids I went to school with. But the musical category of classes caught my eye, and in particular 7th-grade Chorus. Both my older cousins had been in Band most of their school years and had enjoyed it, but I wanted to try out Chorus–“just for a year,” I explained to my parents. “Then, if I don’t like it, I can always switch to Band.”

My other motivation for choosing Chorus was that I had been in my elementary school’s choir for a year, and I had enjoyed singing, though I didn’t think I had much of an instrument to work with. My voice always came out kind of breathy and soft, though everyone who listened to me said the pitch was true. I figured I had nothing to lose by joining Chorus, and if it turned out I didn’t have anything to work with after all, I could switch to something else musical instead. I already played the piano, and thought that if my voice wasn’t enough, I could potentially learn another instrument.

So, after discussing it with my parents, both of whom encouraged me to join the chorus, I signed up to start in the fall of my 7th-grade year.

The Turnaround

This one decision changed my entire life within months of joining the chorus. As I’ve noted in my blog post Joining My Voice with Others, I discovered the strength of my voice, and began to thoroughly enjoy singing in choirs. Not only that, it is a creative outlet I have continued even into the present.

But WHY did it affect me this way, at 13?

Part of it lies in the psychological effect of being part of a big group doing something larger than any individual could do. I had a social place in my school, at last–I had a reason to go to school, a positive label to put on myself. I could point to the choir and say “I’m part of that;” I was no longer just “the ugly girl” or the “fat girl,” but “the girl who sings.” And my voice was no longer breathy and soft, but strong and powerful. I had a gift which was finally being recognized by the kids I went to school with. 7th grade was still stressful for me in places, but it was a watershed year; I could bloom, at last.

The other part of why choir saved my life was how it interacted with my personality. I like to be able to help other people, to do things that other people find valuable. (This blog is an example–I write six posts every week, hoping that someone else finds as much value in them as I do.) 7th-grade chorus allowed me, for the first time, to do something others considered valuable without them running away from me in horror. (When I’d tried to be nice to my classmates before, that was their typical reaction…I still have no idea why.) Now, the kindnesses I could do for others were appreciated and returned to me, not discarded, and I felt a lot more positive about my life as a result.

Death suddenly had very little attraction for me; I had something to go to school for, something to live for. Other people began to talk to me in more positive tones, about my music and my voice, and I could finally hear them, after years of having to shut them out because they were making fun of me. Chorus changed the social topography of my life, utterly, and most definitely for the better.

How Does This Link to Creativity?

This is a story not just of coming back from depression and suicidal thoughts, but of creativity, too. Not only did I feel more comfortable living my life, but I felt more comfortable doing creative things in my life, as well. My works were beginning to be valued, and at 13, it was exactly the kind of boost I needed for my self-esteem. Working with other singers, all striving for a great performance, gave me purpose, and gave me fuel for my own works–my writing and my music.

This is why I’m such a proponent of music education, and indeed all fine arts education, in schools. If fine arts had been taken out of my school before I had a chance to be in it, there is a very good chance I would not have seen my 14th birthday; my life would have had no hope in it, and I would have likely turned my thoughts of death into a reality. If fine arts and creativity can soothe the savage beast of depression and anxiety, which our modern schoolchildren are indeed suffering from in droves, then more of it, not less of it, should be incorporated.

I know, I know, we should be training our future workforce in “useful skills,” which is why fine arts education has been cut or eliminated in many schools. Many people who have never experienced the power of art on their lives may wonder, “Why waste money on teaching them skills that won’t help them in the real world?” But here is the flip side: we do want our future workforce to actually reach adulthood, don’t we?

As I well know from my teaching days, a life without creativity, without beauty and devoid of passion, is a life nearly not worth living. A life with creativity, on the other hand, with the capacity for beauty and passion, is a life that sings with our souls.

Saturday with the Spark

The Elusive “Catchy Fast Song”

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Though I love to write music, I admit it–I’m terrible at writing fast and catchy songs.

Most of my music is slow; I write lyrics that are heavy with meaning, couched in melodies that unwind across 20 seconds rather than 5 or 10. And, as I’ve observed during performances, not everybody enjoys slower-paced music. In fact, given my druthers, I’d like to write faster, more dance-like music, since that’s what I listen to the most. Slow music that isn’t mine bores me, unless I’m not actively listening to it and doing something else while it plays in the background.

But it is quite difficult to write a “fast song”, something that you can dance to, that doesn’t have vapid/meaningless lyrics. If it’s fast, according to today’s stylistics, then it nearly has to have very few words (because nobody can spit out hundreds of words at a fast pace, like a machine gun, unless they’re rappers). I don’t like the idea of a song having very little meaning just because it’s upbeat–that’s like trying to feed yourself on cotton candy alone. Yeah, sure, it tastes good, but it’s not very filling.

Some Ideas for Crafting a Faster but Meaningful Song

I’m not sure, at this point, how to get over this particular hurdle in my songwriting. But I have a couple of ideas:

  • Use a synthesizer or a beat generator to mix up a fast, dance beat that I like, instead of trying to generate one on my own
  • Come up with two short sentences that describes the idea I’m going after in my song

Why use an artificial generator for my beats? Simple–I ain’t good at rhythm. My pitch is great; rhythm…eh, not so much. Not sure why, but it’s hard for me to put together a rhythmic sound that doesn’t sound old. Giving me a playground of various beats can help me figure out what I like and don’t like, and what could be good as the background for my song. Sites like QWERTYBeats.com, and even a game like Sound Matrix can help out quite a bit!

The two-sentence idea makes me get to the point of my song, instead of winding up to it over the course of two verses and two choruses. I’m famous for writing long-winded stuff–if I’m forced to condense it into two coherent and meaningful (yet short) sentences, maybe I can craft that into a dancey tune that still means something.

Summary

I’m still working out the kinks on this idea, but you can be sure I’ll update you on my odyssey toward writing thoughtful songs that are catchy and dancey too. 🙂 After all, creativity IS a process!

Saturday with the Spark

Keyboard Musing

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keyboardmusing
Learning to play piano, for me, came entwined with the desire to create my own music, which I often began to write while just “playing around” (pardon the pun) on the keyboard. I call this “keyboard musing”…just playing a snatch of a song here, a few bars of a melody or bass line here, until BAM!–there’s a new melody or chord progression, and my brain is off to the musical races!

If you’re a beginner to piano, or if you’re a frustrated composer, I would highly suggest doing a bit of keyboard musing for yourself. There’s a whole lot of wonder and magic still left in music, and this process proves it!

Keyboard Musing, Step 0: Don’t Try to Be Perfect. SERIOUSLY.

I have heard fellow composers often say that they’re stuck on a piece of music, saying that all that they play sounds “trite,” “overused,” “not good enough,” and doesn’t “flow.” For that matter, I’ve thought those same things myself about my own music.

Keyboard musing fixes that. After all, there’s no “right or wrong” way to play around on a keyboard when you’re not going by any sheet music! Before you even get started musing on your keyboard, don’t constrain yourself to what sounds “good,” or what sounds “original.” Just play SOMETHING. Play a few measures of a favorite song for inspiration; poke around playing notes together until you run across something that sounds COOL. Then, allow yourself to go further, exploring deeper into the melody or chord progressions you’re enjoying.

Step 1: Play Along with Recorded Music to Get You Started

This is a trick I use when trying to learn new music, but this is a great way to help you recreate a favorite melody, too. Listen to a favorite song using a CD, MP3, Youtube/Spotify/Pandora, etc., and figure out what note the melody starts on…and your ear should be able to take you on from there. Get the notes right first, then match the rhythms and tempo till you can play it pretty close to the recorded song.

The reason behind doing this? Once you know how to pick out the melody of various songs, then you’ll be better equipped to pick out the melody that’s been bouncing around in your head!

Step 2: Try New Variations on an Old Familiar Melody

Now that you know how to play a favorite melody like it was originally written, try varying it up. Extend that short note out a little longer, or put in a little playful riff here and there–innovate and see what new creation you can make. Allow yourself the freedom to play in a musical sandbox.

I suggest this not to condone plagiarism, but to give your imagination a jumping-off point. Put that favorite melody through some permutations, find new chords to put with it, and eventually you will be inspired to create your own song!

Step 3: Keep Trying if You Come Up with Nothing the First Time

You may not come up with anything on your first keyboard-musing session–but then again, you might come up with something AWESOME! Allow yourself more chances to dig down into your imagination, even if nothing appeared the last time you tried.

Step 4: Listen for Inspiration in Weird Places

Especially if you’re stuck and feel like you have no “inner song,” allow your environment to inspire you. Keep your ears open for beautiful new melodies, neat chord progressions, etc., wherever you go. Sometimes even non-musical sounds like car engine roars, bird chirps, refrigerator hums, crowds of people talking, fan blades, etc. can inspire a new tune. (Don’t look at your screen like that, I’m not crazy! LOL)

When you hear inspiring sounds, try to record them if you can, or at least get to your keyboard as quick as you can. Then, try to replicate the sound you heard with the musical notes in front of you. It might feel a bit stupid at first, but don’t give up on it, even if you have to walk away from your keyboard and try again later!

Summary

Keyboard musing is a magical retreat for me, a way I can reconnect with the sheer joy of just playing music for music’s sake. If you’ve never tried music, or if you’ve found yourself stuck for a long time, just give this a shot. You might be surprised what you come up with!

Saturday with the Spark

C-Sharp (aka D-flat): A Key of Many Moods

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csharpakadflat
As I’ve related in earlier posts, C-sharp/D-flat is my favorite key to hear music played in. Since I am a sound-color synesthete with perfect pitch, I experience C-sharp as sparkling crystals on deep violet backgrounds, and the feeling of velvet. It feels like HOME. Strange word to describe a musical key, I know, but it just feels stable, strong, resonant…beautiful. F-sharp is a nice place to visit, a vacation home, perhaps, but C-sharp is truly home.

C-Sharp: Expressive and Flexible

I also find C-sharp to be a wonderful key for exploring and expressing all different types of moods, more so than any other key. I’m a composer (have been since sixth grade), and I’ve loved using C-sharp major and minor for many of my songs, because it just seemed to fit them. For me, the keys of F and B-flat seem stuck in celebratory modes, while G and E are for country songs, and C is so ubiquitous as to be too simple. (Of course, there are exceptions to every rule and every perception, but I’m speaking rather generally.) C-sharp, by contrast, seems to be endlessly flexible in every emotional direction, which delights me.

(This preference of one key over another may seem to many like a preference of spaghetti over linguine–isn’t it all still music, just as spaghetti and linguine are both still pasta? Well, like the kids who insist that the two types of pasta just TASTE different, I insist that a song played in a different key lends the song a whole new “vibe,” an entirely different feeling. When radio stations play songs a half-step higher to speed up the song slightly, it changes the song, however subtly.)

Examples of Musical Moods in C-Sharp

When I was considering all my favorite aspects of C-sharp for this blog post, I listened through my iTunes playlist of “C-sharp Major and Minor” songs (yep, I’ve set aside an entire playlist for it). As I listened, it occurred to me–it seems I’m not alone in perceiving C-sharp as a flexible and beautiful key, at least among composers and musical artists! Take the following list, compiled of several of my favorite songs in C-sharp major of minor, that describe vastly differing moods and sounds:


Anger: “Harder to Breathe” – Maroon 5


Joy: “Uptight (Everything’s Alright)” – Stevie Wonder


Drama: “Hindi Sad Diamonds” from the Moulin Rouge soundtrack


Love: “All I Ask of You” from Phantom of the Opera – Sarah Brightman & Steve Barton


Pleading: “Goin’ Crazy” – Natalie


Tranquility: “Rainsong (Fortune’s Lullaby)” – George Winston


Fear/Anxiety: “Somebody’s Watching Me” – Rockwell


Passion/Drive: “Fantaisie Impromptu” – Frederic Chopin


Desire: “Whine Up (feat. Elephant Man)” – Kat DeLuna

There’s a fairly wide range of genres and subject matters in that list, and that’s just taken from my personal song collection. Who knows how many other composers have found C-sharp to be as lovely a key as I do?

Saturday with the Spark

Making My Own Movie Soundtracks

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makingmoviesoundtracks
I’ve been doing movie soundtracks since I was about 10 years old–it was a natural outgrowth, for me, of watching movies. Sometimes I’d be sitting in the movie theater watching a movie, and think, “Wow, this scene would be AWESOME with [insert title of song] playing in the background.”

(Note: Before you are overly awed by my prowess, let me say that I haven’t actually dubbed any film over with my own choices of music. Rather, I have done personal movie soundtracks in an easier and much lower-tech way, detailed)

When I had long summer days to kill, I’d often spend them doing endless retakes of movie soundtracks, over and over again until I got just the right timing and just the right song. I’d lay across the bed, headphones on and CD player running, remote in hand, pausing either the music or the video to sync them together so that the climax of the song went perfectly with the action onscreen, or so the meaningful lyrics melded seamlessly with the characters’ faces and dialogue. (Several of my old VCR tapes are a little damaged from being paused in the same place over and over again…yeah, that’s how into this I got.) It was a great thrill to me to match music and visual together, to heighten the movie’s effect with cool music (that was also cool to listen to by itself). Here’s how I did it:

Tools:

  • TV
  • VCR/DVD player
  • CD Player/iPod
  • Remote control with pause button
  • Movie of your choice
  • Sense of what music goes with which scene the best

I don’t do this as often anymore due to time constraints, but over the years I’ve refined a couple of my music choices to be presentable enough to other people (LOL). Though this has been a largely solitary craft for me, people generally find my choices to be appropriate (if perhaps oddly fitting).

Some Examples from My Personal Soundtracks

  • Movie: Mary Poppins
    • Scene: Mr. Banks (David Tomlinson) walking the darkened street to the bank, where he knows he will be fired
    • Song: “Hello” – Evanescence
    • Why: The song is brooding and dark, beautiful in its sadness; the scene is lonely and just as darkly filmed. Mood and lyrics both match up well.
  • Movie: Super Mario Bros.
    • Scene: Mario (Bob Hoskins) and the missing Brooklyn girls escape King Koopa’s Goomba force by sliding down a frozen heating pipe on a mattress.
    • Song: “Wipeout” – The Surfaris
    • Why: A surfing song for a mattress-sled-ride? Why not? This is ABSOLUTELY HILARIOUS when matched up!!
  • Movie: Disney’s Cinderella
    • Scene: Cinderella is trapped in the attic room while her stepsisters try on the glass slipper, and all the mice and birds try to help her escape while her stepmother, stepsisters, and Lucifer the cat want to keep her trapped.
    • Song: “C*m On Feel The Noize” – Quiet Riot
    • Why: This is a rousing call-to-arms song (for partiers, anyway); this scene falls right before Cinderella is finally vindicated, and all her mouse and bird friends are trying to help her, so it works as a fist-pumping anthem. Not to mention that there’s a lot of noise going on as the mice and birds fight Lucifer the cat! The drum-and-voices climax of the song can match up beautifully with either Bruno (the dog) finally chasing Lucifer out, or with Cinderella finally being freed.

Summary

If you’ve never tried making your own movie soundtracks, I find it a lovely and fun pastime to try. All you need is a song you think would match up to a movie scene, a way to play both the song and the movie, and a few minutes to set it up!

Saturday with the Spark

Soul Notes

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soulnotes
Since I was a child, I’ve often “heard” musical pitches whenever I meet someone. It’s not a actual sound, but a tone resounding between my ears–a strange “mental hearing.”

This probably sounds pretty wacky to people who don’t experience this. I mean, how can somebody “hear” something that’s just in their heads? But for me, these pitches are not just random occurrences; they are clues to that person’s personality, and perhaps even their soul. I call them “soul notes.”

Detecting Soul Notes

My perfect pitch likely helps a lot in this, but it seems to be an automatic, possibly instinctive process to pick up on someone else’s soul note.

For instance, when I met my boyfriend for the first time, I heard, clearly and distinctly within my head, a high B, as if played controlled and soft on a stringed and bowed instrument. This matches his quiet mien, his way of carrying himself, but it also matches how he approaches life–with utmost self-control and logic. The key of B is gentle and subtle, but definitively “there.”

By contrast, when I hang out with one of our mutual friends, a very boisterous (and funny) person, the brassy trumpet-like sound of an F is in my ears, at a barely-conscious level, the whole time. F is a key of celebration to me, a key of joy–but also a key of solidity and strength. While our friend may be a little loud and wild at times, he is also a steadfast buddy and a family man at heart.

As for my own soul note? Well, it’s been quite a bit harder to hear than others’, but I believe my soul note to be C-sharp (aka D-flat). It is a very deep, “original”-sounding tone, almost foundational, and it can both fade into the background as well as sound itself loud.

Soul Notes as Predictors of How I Get Along With Others

It’s funny how the harmony or dissonance of these perceived notes seems to predict how another person and I will get along together. My boyfriend’s soul note and mine are a major-second interval apart (B and C-sharp)–they could strike against each other in disharmony, and yet when played together, they form a shimmering duet of each not overpowering the other.

Our boisterous mutual friend, on the other hand, reacts with my boyfriend differently than me. B and F pull against each other a bit more, creating the framework of a B-diminished chord; C-sharp and F are a major-third interval apart, more harmonic. It’s weird; I sometimes understand our mutual buddy better, understanding possibly why he gets mad or frustrated, while my boyfriend can be puzzled by his reactions to situations.

Usually, other people’s soul notes interact with mine on first meeting, and then get stronger as I continue to be around them. A person I met a few months ago had an indisputable A-flat (G-sharp) soul note, which sounded harmoniously but hollowly with my C-sharp. Being a fifth apart, it had the potential to either be a major chord or a minor chord, to either have a happy sound or a sad sound. This interaction mirrored how we got along–we were usually in accord, but there always was a little tension, as if we were both waiting for the other person to disagree.

How I Use These Notes

Initially, I use these notes as another clue to the person, doing my best to harmonize with them not only verbally, but subconsciously. As I get to know people, however, I’ve also been able to write and perform piano music that “represents” people in my life, writing how I “hear” their note (and eventually a melody) in my mind. (Most famously, I wrote a representative song for my boyfriend, about a month and a half before he became my boyfriend… 😉 )

I write and play these songs because they are great ways to honor friends and family. It’s not always a love song, but simply a “This is what you sound like to me” song.

Summary

Most people are either amused or weirded out when I tell them of this ability, because it is so unusual–I’ve never heard of anybody being able to do this, or of others even being aware of musical tones in their heads. It’s not like I’m hearing voices or anything, but it is a very cool phenomenon. I like to think of it as just one of the ways God is making my life unique and fun. 🙂

Saturday with the Spark

Glassics: Saturday with the Spark

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This is a complete topic review of all the posts in the category Saturday with the Spark. Looks like I need to do more drawing/art-related posts, as well as general creativity and crafting posts! But don’t worry, I’ll get to it all. 🙂

Music/Songwriting

Sight-Reading Fail
Seeing and Feeling Music
Perfect Pitch
Melodies from Dreams
Joining My Voice with Others
There’s a Reason the Piano is Called a Percussion Instrument
Phases of Songcraft
Confront the Giant in Song
Studying the Songcraft of Others

Poetry/Writing

Novel Therapy
Poems: Kernels of Art
Writing as a Pressure Valve
A Twist in the Web: Complex Subplots in Simple Storylines
Awake in the Middle of the Night? Write!
The Enemy of Creativity: Self-Censorship
Coming Up with “Novel” Ideas
Journals in Verse: My Personal Poetry
The Impromptu Writers’ Club
Connotation: The Search for the Right Synonym

Drawing/Art

Happy Little (Sketched) Tree
Little Doodles of Life

Crafts

Getting All Beaded Up

General Creativity

A Fickle Playmate: My Muse

Saturday with the Spark

Sight-Reading: An Acquired Taste

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sightreadingacquiredtaste
I may be able to pick up melodies quickly and compose my own piano/vocal music, but I sure don’t sight-read well. Even after many years of musical study, I still sometimes have to squint at the page and use the old sight-reading tricks, like “Every Good Boy Does Fine”, “F-A-C-E”, “All Cows Eat Grass”, etc., to remember which notes are which. And sight-reading a piano piece, trying to play both staffs together? Forget it. It’ll be a hot mess, especially if I’ve never heard the song before. Having to produce music based on something visual is definitely not natural for me.

But sight-reading doesn’t have to be a stumbling block forever, as I’ve found out! Scroll down to discover a few tricks I’ve picked up to help me play along a little faster (pun intended).

#1: Look at Sheet Music for Songs You Know Really Well

Don’t dismiss this as pointless before you try it! Since you already instinctively know how the melody “goes” and what the rhythm does, it’s much easier to read a known song’s sheet music. Sites like OnlinePianist and MusicNotes have sheet music for even very current popular music–find a song you know, and start putting the notes and rhythms in your head with the marks on the page.

#2: Memorize At Least One Note’s Position

quarternote If you can learn to at least recognize one note (like E, noted above), then you can build off that. Knowing that the first note on the bottom of the staff is E means that the next note, the one in the first space, is F; then the note on the second line is G, and so on. Use that one note as the key to the rest of the scale!

#3: Practice Notating The Chorus of Your Favorite Song

This works as both ear training and sight-reading training. First, sketch out a quick grand staff (you can use the one in the image above as a guideline), then listen to your favorite song, and mess around on an instrument of your choice until you find the starting note of the chorus. Mark the line or space where it belongs, and then move on to the next note and the next until you’ve noted the whole melody.

Once you have the pitches marked out, then you can go back and add in the correct rhythm value for the notes, such as quarter note, eighth note, etc. Here’s my example for a favorite song of mine:

notation_example
I did this in Photoshop, which has no rests or ties available, but at least the basic melody is there for the chorus of “Somebody’s Watching Me.” See video below for comparison:

Summary

Sight-reading can be a huge pain, but these 3 tips have helped me inject a little fun into practicing this skill. Try any or all of them out for yourself, and let me know what has helped you the most!

Saturday with the Spark

Piano Playing: Easy to Start, Hard to Master

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pianoplaying
Pianos can express such a wonderful range of emotions. Even before I started taking piano lessons at the age of 10, I had already heard for myself how a master pianist can make the simplest melody or chord progression absolutely gorgeous, just with the way he or she strikes the key–and I bemoaned my own inability to match this effortless grace in my early days of training. A pianist can glide across notes of joy, bang out a song of anger, sound soft sorrowful tones, strike quick, fearful notes, and even create the warm resonation of love–but it takes the knowledge of how intensely to strike the keys so that they give the right effect.

This makes the piano one of the most difficult instruments to master, in my opinion–and this comes from somebody who can’t wrap her head around the guitar or violin!  It takes a real “feel” of the music to make the piano express an emotion.

Bad Playing vs. Good Playing: It’s All a Matter of Feeling


The above video is an auditory example of “bad playing” (mechanical, passionless, choppy somehow too strict on timing) as contrasted with “good playing” (flowing, passionate, human, slightly improvised timing). While it is important to stay in tempo, especially when playing in concert with others, there’s a decided lack of feeling when you try to adhere so close to the tempo that you become almost robotic.


This video, one of my favorite video game music arrangements for piano, shows how passionate playing can still be in tempo but express emotion. Slight rubatos here and there, harder strikes on the keys sharply contrasted with softer, gliding strokes, and the ability to let the melody ring out above the chords is what grabs me about this video–but what do you think?

If You’re Just Starting Piano: Some Tips

  • Don’t be disheartened when you begin learning piano–you’re not going to sound like a master overnight.
  • Listen to many different experienced pianists play, determine what you like and don’t like about their playing style, and then develop your own taste from that. Just like all other forms of music, everyone’s got their own style!
  • Find sheet music for songs you absolutely love–that will make the “feeling music” part much, much easier to learn!
  • Practice your pieces so that you know the rhythms and pitches inside out…then, allow yourself to slow down and speed up the tempo, just a bit.
  • Listen to the melody of a song as it’s played. Which notes are louder? Which notes are barely there? Would you play it the same way, or would you stress different notes?

Summary

Piano can seem easy to learn at first and then startlingly difficult–but it can be mastered! Just be willing to feel the music rather than just play it, and you’re halfway there!

Saturday with the Spark

Perfect Pitch

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perfectpitch
For a good portion of the world’s population, perfect pitch is a strange novelty, or an unheard-of phenomenon. For me, it’s part of my everyday life, and has been possibly since birth.

What Is “Perfect Pitch?”

Perfect pitch is the generally-used term for the ability to recognize (and often reproduce) correct musical pitches without an external reference. (Actually, in musical terms, “perfect” pitch references the ability to recognize pitches; absolute pitch covers both recognizing and reproducing pitches.) People with perfect and/or absolute pitch don’t necessarily hear BETTER–we just hear DIFFERENTLY.

Who Has Perfect Pitch?

It’s estimated that possibly 1 in 10,000 people have perfect pitch, most never discovering it due to lack of musical training. (Far more people can recognize played pitches as opposed to producing the pitches themselves, however.) But this isn’t just a musical phenomenon–it’s actually something that many people all over the world possess. While perfect pitch-wielders are scattered worldwide, it’s decidedly more common in Southeastern Asian countries, where a word or phrase said in two different pitches can mean two very different things (so you have to recognize the audible difference between those two pitched words).

Is It Genetic?

This apparent region-specific concentration of perfect pitch has led me to wonder if the perfect pitch gene (if such a gene exists) is a dominant gene; for instance, my father has it and my mother doesn’t, for instance. (Mom does, however, seem to have relative pitch, so there may be just a gene combination there that resulted in me having perfect pitch.) There are still currently ongoing studies to figure out the actual spread of perfect pitch, however, so we may learn in time just how widespread it is and whether it’s genetic or not.

My Theory

Since sounds are processed first by the inner ear’s organ of Corti, and then analyzed by the brain’s temporal lobe, it has long been my theory that perfect pitch requires a finely-tuned organ of Corti and a set of temporal lobes that is ready to receive such higher-definition signals. (This article seems to back me up, saying that the temporal lobes or planum temporale are generally enlarged in perfect pitch holders.)

My Personal Experience of Perfect Pitch

Almost like having a better cable box, my ears hear pitches, and my brain automatically identifies them–in fact, if I start focusing heavily on identifying a pitch, I can get anxious about it and psych myself out of the correct pitch. Perfect pitch is an instinct that shouldn’t be second-guessed–when I don’t second-guess it and get all obsessive about it, it’s always right.

For instance, I can be at a Wendy’s and hear the fries alarm going off, and I’ll say “I wish they’d turn that E-major chord down a bit–it’s a bit piercing.” Or sometimes I’ll be outside and hear a truck motor rumbling down the road, and I’ll think “Wow, it’s making an exact low C-sharp.” (One hilarious experience: standing outside hearing a plane roar by, a truck rumbling along, and an air-conditioner humming atop a building. The three together made a low, growly B-flat minor chord :P)

When I First Knew I Had It

As I related last week in my synesthesia post, my experience hearing the piece “Musicbox Dancer” by Frank Mills was perhaps the first inkling anybody had that I might have perfect pitch. But it wasn’t until seventh grade that I really began to hone in on the gift and really try to see if I still had it.

Dad would often have the radio on in the car, and he’d play “Name That Note” with me, identifying the keys of the various songs we listened to. As I grew up, I started to hear that certain radio stations’ versions of songs differed slightly from the CD versions I had at home. For instance, when I was nearly twelve, I noticed that the Spice Girls’ “Wannabe” sounded “lower” on the CD player at home than it did on the radio. Dad listened to both versions, and confirmed that while my favorite radio station played the song in C major, it was actually recorded in B major–no fault in the CD player could have accounted for it, since we tested it in at least 3 different players. My perfect pitch had picked up on an industry “secret”–radio stations often play songs at 17 turns a second on the player instead of 16 turns a second on normal players. This speeds up the song just enough to help them fit in more songs per hour, but it does generate a half-step-up difference in key.

By seventh grade, as I neared my thirteenth birthday, I began to memorize certain parts of the choral music I sang during school hours, and compared them to notes on the piano. We had a piece we were doing that I knew was in F minor by the key signature; thus, I could mentally compare the notes with the chord of F minor on the piano, and so on. Memorization is not what perfect pitch is all about, but it does help define a musical ear to get to “know” where pitches are in relation to each other. At the end of seventh grade, I knew I had it, and I began to use it to help my fellow altos and me stay on our part.

Everyday Usage

Perfect pitch, for me, is something I try to use every day if possible. I listen for the keys of music playing on the radio (keeping in mind that it will usually be a half-step lower if I want to buy it on iTunes later); I hear the rumbling symphony of truck motors and car horns on the highway, isolating each note as I drive along. Sometimes, I’ll even listen to people who “sing-speak” (their speaking voices actually have some pitches associated with them), and at the risk of being horribly inattentive and rude, I’ll determine what pitches they’re using when they speak.

I definitely do use my perfect pitch musically as well as in everyday life, though. Sometimes, I use it to help me find harmonies to popular music; I’ll sing a soprano descant part along with Lady GaGa, or challenge myself to pick out a seamless alto part to Katy Perry’s soprano. In choirs, I’ll hum our starting note while the introductory music plays loud enough to disguise the sound, and in solo performances, I’ll sing a cappella parts with no trouble, knowing that I can trust my perfect pitch to tell me when I’m going out of key.

For me, perfect pitch is like a hidden facet of life that I am blessed enough to be privy to, and I know only God is responsible for this. I enjoy it, and try to take care of my hearing so that I can keep using it for a long time. And in the meantime, it’s fun to pull out as a party trick (or ten)…