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Oliver Pontbriand
Past Notes
January 5th, 2016
January 5th, 2016
Oliver wanted to work on his recording studio questions-- we went through song writing, how to assign parts, mastering, getting a full sound, stuff like that.
We used my Trinity keyboard as an example platform, then imported it into the computer for mastering.
June 23rd, 2015
We talked more about lounge music and worked through some scales and strategies.
See you next year, and if you want to take any one-off lessons in the summer, let me know.
June 16th, 2015
Oliver wasn't able to make it in tonight.
June 9th, 2015
We played through some loungey jazz approaches, for playing background during a dinner, for example (He's been asked to play for something for the LDSB)
Talked about different modes, and how they work, by starting the scale on a different note (for example, playing a C scale with an F sharp in it would be like playing in G but starting on the fourth. There's a name for each more, but what's important about this is getting the feel of that different mode.
June 2nd, 2015
Oliver didn't make it in tonight.
May 26th, 2015
Oliver and I worked on the Les Mis song again, and I recorded a video of me playing it for him to work from.
We talked about adding complexity to chords by adding the ninth, we talked about accompanying singers, and keeping things simple, so as to not upstage them. We talked about using arpeggios in octaves in moments between vocals to build, etc.
May 19th, 2015
Oliver brought in a song from Les Miserable, wanting to learn to accompany singers, without just playing the melody.
I gave him some strategies for doing this.
May 12th, 2015
Oliver wanted to work on intervals. He's doing well on most of them-- has trouble with 6ths, 7ths, major 7ths.
We then talked about dominant chords within a key leading to chords outside of the natural key.
May 5th, 2015
Oliver wanted to focus on playing by ear, relative pitch, and hearing unison notes.
We spent quite a lot of time just quizzing unisons-- I'd sing a note, and he'd try to find it on the piano.
I suggested that he find a program -- or I could write one for him -- to play a note, and wait for his input on the keyboard.
Learning this is critical to be able to play by ear.
April 28th, 2015
Oliver and I worked on chord progressions, and (that word I can never remember) -- moving between chords.
April 21st, 2015
April 14th, 2015
Oliver brought in a big sheet music thing he's working on for an audition that's coming up. I suggested we record it next week using my cameras and audio equipment.
We also talked more about extended harmonies, and how sympathetic harmonics ring in resonance with the primary note, and how we can add those as harmonies to create an extended harmony for any chord.
We played around with making his audition piece more jazzy, and I showed him through the timing of a couple of difficult parts.
He'd like me to recommend a practice regimen for each week, so this week, practice playing the blues scale in every key.
April 7th, 2015
Oliver wasn't able to get a ride to lessons.
March 31st, 2015
Oliver and I worked through a piece for school, and talked about good counting and practicing techniques to improve playing the right rhythms as they are written.
We talked about 7/8 time, and how to split that up into 4/8 and 3/8 to make it easier to count (1234/123)
March 24th, 2015
Oliver and I worked through the standard "Fly Me to the Moon" -- we talked about the relationships between keys, for example, how Ab is related to C, etc.
We talked about when to use the C blues scale when playing in C, and when to use the A blues scale when playing in C.
We talked about harmonic minors, relative minors, and that kind of thing.
He wants to talk more next week about time and rhythm.
March 17th, 2015
March 10th, 2015
Oliver had done a recording for his band this week, and we listened to it together. He felt like it was amateur sounding, so I gave him some tips to improve the quality of the playing.
1. Use expression in the melody
2. Don't play the left hand louder than the melody
3. Sometimes less is more -- be okay with playing a simple left hand.
4. Don't speed up-- keep the tempo nice and even
5. Focus on the left hand being true, and let the right hand just do it's THANG.
6. Commit the chord progression to memory, so you don't have to think about it, and can be freed up to play the melodies expressively.
7. Vary the weight of your melody-- so many of your notes are heavy, let some be light, and remember to phrase.
March 3rd, 2015
Oliver and I worked on song writing some more. We did some evaluation of melodies he already knows, then used those concepts to create similar sounding melodies.
For example, a melody that has fifths and fourths in the theme -- we can use that strategy by using thirds and sixths, for example, or a melody that uses a lot of scales (like Canon in D), we can create a similar sounding melody by using scales, with perhaps opposite directions, and with chords that are flipped around opposite to the ones in the original song.
We played with a few ideas like this.
February 24th, 2015
Oliver and I talked about the song he had been working on this week, the original piece he's developing. There was an issue with the time signature-- he was playing in 3/4, but switching to 4/4 at one point. We talked about alternate ways to do that.
We spent some time talking about using chords outside of the standard 6 chords in a key. I explained one of the approaches, using the dominant chord to lead into a relative chord in the key, for example in C, using D7 to lead to G7 to lead to C. The subdominant minor leads into the tonic as well, so another example of non-key chords that work.
February 17th, 2015
Oliver came in with a similar request as last week, in wanting to better understand how to write songs. I emphasized that the rules of patterns, and not a lot of note jumping are key in writing good melodies. Close steps in a melody of a half-step or whole step make a big difference.
He was being a tad hard on himself, feeling like when he played chords they sounded bad, and I told him that it's not true. I showed him a couple of different voicings and explained the rule of parallel fourths and fifths, how they need to be avoided.
February 10th, 2015
Today Oliver wanted to learn how to make melodies similar to some of the ones on my CD.
We've talked about this before, and I reiterated what I've said in the past. Melodies should not be too complex... simple melodies are easier for the listener to connect to, to remember and whistle back, etc.
We went through a bunch of songs as examples, like Amazing Grace, Oh Canada, the theme from THe Mission:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zL7CDcVQjbM
He tried a few melodies, and we broke them down and analyzed them, and talked about how to improve them.
February 3rd, 2015
Oliver brought in a bunch of music today, wanting to go over them and get suggestions for making his playing sound more 'musical.'
I suggested mostly dynamics, but also putting his emotions into the music-- people are moved by what we feel, so feel every note, every phrase, every chord change, like it expresses the deepest pain you can connect with.
January 27th, 2015
Oliver wanted some tips on recording again. We worked through the Ardour software, I showed him the sequencer, and etc.
January 20th, 2015
January 13th, 2015
Oliver was able to come in, so we didn't use Skype - he wanted to learn this song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33ZjsLKOYZo
We worked through the piano part and I explained the approach and how it was different than the version he knows from his book (in the key of F, instead of D).
January 6th, 2015
Oliver and I looked at a Pat Metheny song he really likes, because he wanted me to break it down into an analysis so he could write songs that sound similar to that.
We observed that there were many minor chords separated by fourths, though the song was in a major key. We also talked about strategy for developing a melody by starting with a rhythm and using that as the rhythmic theme, and then putting a melody to it, using a pattern such as A B A C.
December 30th, 2014
Oliver wanted to work on some Gospel. We listened through a few black gospel songs, and I showed him some of the approaches.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryKP2HCDi_Y&list=PLajXc6JpoE9nPtzBEatWWLu-Eejr3FqnD&index=1
December 23rd, 2014
Oliver and I talked about the purpose of music, and what's most important as far as what musicians are trying to accomlish when they play. My belief is that music is a language of the soul-- it's purpose is to move people, to cause them to feel something they might not otherwise feel. Though it's tempting to make music about our abilities, we don't need to have a lot of "chops" to be effective in music in moving people. We need to have a lot of heart connection to what we're playing.
We went over the 3D piano song he wanted to learn, and we talked about how to improvise over it.
December 16th, 2014
Oliver wanted to work more on song writing, so we talked more about melodies, the use of accidentals in a melody, the importance of keeping a strong time - he does tend to lose his sense of "1" if he's not really intentional.
He showed me a couple of songs he'd been working on, and together we talked about how to develop the melodies, and ways to find alternate harmonies based on the melody note.
December 9th, 2014
Oliver wasn't able to make it tonight.
December 2nd, 2014
Oliver has been working on a song that he's written and so we experimented a bit with it, looking at different ways to play the same chords, etc.
We talked about the whole-tone scale, and messed around with implementing that for a few minutes as well.
November 25th, 2014
Oliver came in with some books from a musical his school is doing, and we reviewed some questions he had about the parts, specifically quickly sight-reading some chord formations, varioius extended harmonies (ie 13th), etc.
This took most of the lesson, but at the end he wanted to review melody making, so I talked again through some various rules about good melodies.
1. Not a lot of big leaps from one note to the next (melodic)
2. Occasional big leaps (interest)
3. Pattern recognition: listener need to be able to hear and predict the melody with only a few suprises to keep from being bored
4. A A B A or A B C B, or A B A C, etc-- 8 measure melodies with 2 measure phrases.
November 18th, 2014
Oliver didn't have something specific he wanted to learn today, so I suggested we focus on some song-writing theory. We looked at an example song he's been working on, and I showed him how he could simplify it to make it easier to appreciate on a first - time hearing.
We talked about verses, choruses, etc. and I encouraged him to try to apply this to the song and record it this week.
November 11th, 2014
Oliver wanted to have the recording set up demo'ed for him again, so I walked him through connecting Hydrogen to Jack, to Ardour, making a simple "House" drum beat, playing it into Ardour while recording, lining up the beats, adding keys using ZynAddSubFX, bass lines, then compression plugins on each track, a bit of reverb etc.
November 4th, 2014
Oliver brought some recordings to listen to, as well as sheet music to go over.
We talked about extra details in the songs, some voicings for harmonies he was using, etc.
October 28th, 2014
We looked at the video Oliver had sent me during the week, and talked about how to do that style-- it was very similar to the style we've already done.
He expressed an interest in how to play the smooth jazz, melodic stuff like "Blue Moon," "Sentimental Journey," "Georgia," etc. It follows a fairly predictable chord pattern of 1^7, 6min7, 2min7, 511.
I demonstrated the scales that work for this style of playing-- focus on the 7 note of the scale to get that jazzy feel, for example the key of G, play lots of F#s. Don't use the flat five much, as it moves it more into blues.
October 21st, 2014
Oliver sent a couple of wma files with a style of piano playing he wanted to learn to play. The first one was a sort of black Gospel piano style, and I gave him some tips on how to play this way.
The second was more of a forties burlesque style, and we talked about it some, but didn't spend a lot of time on it. He found some other gospelly style songs which we worked through.
October 14th, 2014
Oliver and I went over the programs for working with audio. I showed him how to connect various instruments to each other using Jack, and described how to use the synths and samplers.
It's a lot to take in, so I told him to call if he has trouble.
October 7th, 2014
Oliver played me a style of music that he wants to be able to emulate-- George Gershwin piano over orchestral stuff.
Unfortunately, I don't have any easy tricks for this. I showed him some of the diminished chords they were doing, and tried to explain the approach, but it comes down to practicing the runs, and likely the best way to learn this style, is to get the sheet music and learn to play it.
We then talked about open source samplers, and he is interested next week in learning how to use the sampler I have in Ubuntu, and/or a sequencer to make arrangements sound more realistic using free options.
(Oh, that song we looked at was Rhapsody in Blue: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-YPZs7JzP8)
September 30th, 2014
Oliver wanted to focus on keeping a steady tempo at this lesson, so we talked about the principles. First, realize that in focusing on musical ideas, one must not abandon the structure of the meter. That is most important.
Start by playing a metronome or drum beat in which the first downbeat (1) is nice and clear... perhaps a "ding click click click, ding click click click". When improvising, play only quarter note melodies that fall on each beat. Once one feels strong in the ability to stay on tempo, introduce some eighth notes into the melody, but only occasionally.
After that, add more eighth notes before finally adding some sixteenth notes.... by increasing the complexity of subdivisions gradually, one can ensure that the foundation of meter is intact.
We then listened to some drum beats on YouTube, and he played along with them. He was drawn to the dixieland style (new orleans beat), and so I showed him some techniques to play this style on the piano. The left hand does a strong 1,5,1,5 while the right hand does lots of octaves with octaval "rolls." Half steps between bass line chord changes, and the occasional melody change also lends to the sound.
September 23rd, 2014
Oliver came with a couple of different jazz-style songs which he wanted to know how to emulate the style of.
I explained to him how to do a "boom-chuck" thing with the left hand, with octave/chords in the right, and demonstrated the chord logic, which is sort of 1, 6 major, 2 minor, 5 seventh.
The other song I wrote the chords our for in the middle, and we talked about how to solo over changing chords, so that you're aware of the accidentals you must play to accomodate strange chord changes.
September 16th, 2014
Oliver wanted to work on Bebop today, so we talked about the bebop major scale (in c: c,d,e,f,g,g#,a,b,c).
The point of the 8 note scale is to be even in 8 beats of a bar... and it sounds best when the down beat of every beat is on a main note of the chord.
We also reviewed the jazz stuff we worked on last week, and I showed him how the flat 9 can enhance a dominant 7th.
September 9th, 2014
Oliver expressed an interest in continuing with learning how to improvise in a piano lounge player style. This style of music focuses strongly on major 7 chords, so we worked through some scenarios, and I showed him how to determine which blues scale to use with the right hand.
We also talked about going to major chords, and use their dominant 7 versions to move to their relatives, thus drawing through the close of a phrase.
I recorded a video to demonstrate this so he can look back at it for reference.
June 10th, 2014
Today I showed Oliver some tips on ad libing, and also some little licks he can use in his playing to add interest. We took a video of a few of the ideas, for him to look at later.
January 7th, 2014
Oliver did not come in today.
December 31st, 2013
December 17th, 2013
Today Oliver wasn't able to come in.
December 10th, 2013
Today we continued working on improvisation, and reviewed some techniques including how to flesh out the chord in the right hand when playing a melody.
December 3rd, 2013
Oliver and I worked on some jazz and I showed him how to figure out which blues scale to play with which key. We also spent time (at the first of the lesosn actually,) talking about his audition, and I helped him out a bit with some of the parts.
November 26th, 2013
Today Oliver and I went over some specific questions he had about:
1. Adding scales to melodies
2. Playing grace notes smoothly
3. playing Glissando without pain
4. Double Glissando
5. Playing the blues scale
6. Diminished chords and half diminished chords
I recorded "Canon in D" for him on his phone as a video for him to look at this week. He played around with improvising the Canon after that, and really did fantastic.
His interest in more complicated harmonies has really grown, and he's getting better and better every week!
November 19th, 2013
Oliver and I worked more on improvisation, going over "Sentimental Journey," "Tennessee Waltz," "Hallelujah," and his Anime song.
We worked on swinging the beat, as well as improving the right hand.
November 12th, 2013
We talked about picking out bass notes in chords, and trying to determine which key a song is in.
We also talked about rethinking music as numeric instead of note based, as it's easier to learn relative pitch when you can identify note 1, to note 3, for example.
It also helps with transposing to new keys.
November 5th, 2013
Oliver and I went over the new song he is writing, and I gave him some suggestions for verses and so on.
We also touched on last week's song, and the riffs I showed him for that. He's really coming along amazingly with ad libing!
Good job Oliver
October 29th, 2013
Oliver wanted to continue to learn improvisation techniques, so I showed him a few "tools" for his tool box:
1. Country piano riff (5__(2 3 2 1))
2. Tremelo Octaves (like western piano)
3. Regular Octaves
4. Scales to the top melody note
3. Tubular bell emulation using 6,1,5,1,4 interals
October 22nd, 2013
Oliver and I worked again on the same song from last week, and I showed him how to swing it more. We talked about how to play grace notes on the piano, and I showed him how to separate the third from the left hand so that it doesn't sound so muddy. Finally we spoke again about keeping in the beat and how important it is to have a solid meter. We worked on that for a bit.
October 15th, 2013
Oliver and I worked more on improv, using this song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=ZVCdLi6FGVg#t=3710
As a frame of reference.
I showed him how to play the boom-chuck with the left hand only, and we worked on jazz scale (flat third, sharp 5, major sevenths) to make it jazzy with the right hand.
October 8th, 2013
Today we went over improvisation, especially focusing on 1. which chords transition from one to another and 2. making interesting melodies over chord patterns.
October 1st, 2013
Oliver was sick today.
September 24th, 2013
Oliver came early today to make up missed time.
We talked for 10 minutes or so about the show tunes he's working on with his school-- he's not sure he wants to, and I encouraged him to not give up, but embrace the challenge. He can do it. Make attainable goals like to play the first chord of every bar in order to keep up with the rest of the band.
We then worked on ad-libing and creating melodies. He seemed to get some of my points about pattern and repition, and in some of the chord progressions, came up with really pretty melodies.
I wrote out a typical song structure, and asked him to work on repeating 4 bar phrases for verse and choruses to put a simple song together.
September 17th, 2013
Oliver didn't come this week.
Whups, he was standing outside my door!
We had a shorter lesson today. We'll be making up the lesson next week -- he'll come 15 minutes earlier.
September 10th, 2013
Oliver won't be starting this week.
June 25th, 2013
June 18th, 2013
June 18th, 2013
Today Oliver and I continued to work through the Message of Red, focusing on getting the left hand right while playing the right hand. I also wrote out a couple of spots for him.
(Yes he brought a book this week! :)
June 11th, 2013
We revisited Waltz of Shahiro (Theme song from Spirited Away) and I wrote out the middle parts, and the key change transitiions for a couple sections, and we practiced a couple of times.
Apparently this is for a thing he is doing on Friday.
June 4th, 2013
Oliver and I added a new song, "Message of Red," which I wrote out for him. Oliver, try to remember to bring blank sheet music with you so I don't have to print it.
Thanks!
June 4th, 2013
Oliver and I added a new song, "Message of Red," which I wrote out for him. Oliver, try to remember to bring blank sheet music with you so I don't have to print it.
Thanks!
May 28th, 2013
Oliver and I went over Swept Away today, in prepartion for a talent show at his school.
I also showed him an App that I found for our Androids which analyzes chords and notes, and tells you what you're playing/singing. This is helpful for picking up songs from recordings if your ear isn't hearing it.
We downloaded it and I showed him the ins and outs of it.
He wants to transpose part of the song to E, so I walked him through this, moving the chords down a minor third.
May 23rd, 2013
May 23rd, 2013
May 14th, 2013
Today Oliver expressed a desire to learn some theory, so we talked about a few various subjects:
1. Transposition of various instruments- the why and how of it
2. Minor/Major/Diminished/Augmented chords, 2nds vs. 9ths, 7ths, 11ths, and 13ths
3. Playing by ear- what's required, and how one would go about learning - we spent some time on ear training for intervals, first individual notes on 2nds, 5ths, and 4ths, then chords for 4ths and 5ths. I recommended he download an ear training app to do this as well
4. We spent some time learning the melody of Mario Bros.
May 7th, 2013
Oliver brought another song in today-- he wants to work on last week's song on his own, so I helped him disect and begin working on his new piece:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcjUOdeq6G8
At the end of the lesson we mentioned Mario Bros. theme song, and he says now he wants to learn that one! LOL
So many songs, so little time.
May 7th, 2013
Oliver brought another song in today-- he wants to work on last week's song on his own, so I helped him disect and begin working on his new piece:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcjUOdeq6G8
At the end of the lesson we mentioned Mario Bros. theme song, and he says now he wants to learn that one! LOL
So many songs, so little time.
April 30th, 2013
Oliver brought a new song that he wanted to learn today. It's called Showtime:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5ggzIxfGDs
I wrote out the parts (chords and melody) for the first two sections, and helped him work through the parts.
April 23rd, 2013
Oliver has come along quite nicely with his Karakua Perroit, and he brought another piece along today which he wants to start learning.
We worked through the melody a few times, while I played the left hand for him. The syncopation is a difficulty as usual, but he's close to getting it.
I wrote in the chord names throughout the song to make it easier for him to learn.
April 23rd, 2013
Oliver has come along quite nicely with his Karakua Perroit, and he brought another piece along today which he wants to start learning.
We worked through the melody a few times, while I played the left hand for him. The syncopation is a difficulty as usual, but he's close to getting it.
I wrote in the chord names throughout the song to make it easier for him to learn.
April 16th, 2013
April 11th, 2013
April 11th, 2013
April 2nd, 2013
Today we added a new song, called Karakua Perroit, and he hadn't really had a chance to work on last week's song.
We went over the rhythms of this new song, which is in 12 8 time, like 4 4, only each beat is a triplet. 123 456 789 10-11-12
We talked about creating original material, and how to make it less simplisitic (he feels his music is too simple).
March 26th, 2013
Today I wrote out the melody for a song Oliver is wanting to learn. We didn't really do any lesson, except that he played it through two or three times after I wrote it out.
March 26th, 2013
Today I wrote out the melody for a song Oliver is wanting to learn. We didn't really do any lesson, except that he played it through two or three times after I wrote it out.
March 19th, 2013
March 12th, 2013
March 12th, 2013
March 5th, 2013
Today Oliver came with a sound track of a song that he wanted me to transcribe for him. We only had 30 minutes, and it took nearly that long to transcribe it. He then went through it once without the recording, and once with the recording.
February 26th, 2013
Today Oliver and I finished recording, and then worked on his new medley.
We talked about the transitions between them.
We also looked at Country Roads, and I encouraged him to try to appreciate extended harmonies.
February 26th, 2013
Today Oliver and I finished recording, and then worked on his new medley.
We talked about the transitions between them.
We also looked at Country Roads, and I encouraged him to try to appreciate extended harmonies.
February 19th, 2013
February 12th, 2013
Today Oliver and I did some more parts on the song he is recording.
I believe it is nearly completed.
February 12th, 2013
Today Oliver and I did some more parts on the song he is recording.
I believe it is nearly completed.
February 5th, 2013
I'm confused about when the half hour lessons are.
Today Oliver and I learned a song he was asked to play at the old folks home. I showed him some tricks to play the left hand more easily (simplfy).
We then recorded a song that he is interested in... we'll continue it next week.
January 29th, 2013
Oliver has done a lot of work on his main piece since last we met, and it sounds fantastic.
I showed him how to play the left hand of the intro for a couple of spots where he was having a bit of a hard time getting it.
We then looked at two more songs, and worked through some parts that were challenging him.
One of the songs is hand-written so he is considering finding an alternative that is easier for him to read.
January 29th, 2013
Oliver has done a lot of work on his main piece since last we met, and it sounds fantastic.
I showed him how to play the left hand of the intro for a couple of spots where he was having a bit of a hard time getting it.
We then looked at two more songs, and worked through some parts that were challenging him.
One of the songs is hand-written so he is considering finding an alternative that is easier for him to read.
January 22nd, 2013
Today Oliver and I went over some sheet music he brought, and we worked out some of the harder parts in it.
We also talked about some music styles he was interested in and recording a symphonic version of a piano song he is learning.
For work this week, he should try to put the two hands together for the Intro of the song (the music in F# that has the intro) and when that's done, add it to the music he knows from the Gb version of the song.
January 15th, 2013
January 8th, 2013
Today Oliver played for me some of the music he has been working on. After playing through a few songs, he indicated a desire to learn some theory to:
1. Help with playing by ear
2. Help with writing his own music
3. Help with embellishing songs he has learned.
I showed him the circle of fifths, and asked him to memorize the three major and three minor chords of each key (1,4,5 and 2,3,6 respectively). He figured out a couple of songs by ear based on the basics I showed him (Happy Birthday and Mary Had a Little Lamb), and I asked him to focus on the scales and chords of the keys he finds most intimidating.
Those were Db, Gb, and B.
I asked him to practice playing Happy Birthday in C, F, and G, and also in the above harder keys.
I would like him to practice inversions of all the chords he knows, up and down the piano.
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