Community Building

Music is a universal language and helps connects people of many backgrounds and cultures so if you give a group instruments, they will most certainly go wild with it. No, not vandalizing but performing the most outrageous shows you can imagine. Some people have proposed at street pianos or even gathered to hold impromptu performances with local and non-local musicians. The Street Piano projects popping up are enabling people from a variety of backgrounds to use the piano to express themselves and invites people to join in.

It's Exciting

So you're walking down the streets, taking in the local sights when you see an extravagantly decorated piano just hanging out on the sidewalk. What do you do? Ignore it? Stare? Take picture and instagram it? The possibilities are endless but we hope you would take the time to play a note or two before continuing along your way. Playing piano is fun but playing an impromptu performance is even more enjoyable. You never know who might stop by during a street performance.

How do you start a Street Piano Project?

A lot of towns could benefit from their very own Street Piano Project and securing the funding isn't as hard as it might seem. Low cost pianos can be found on Craigslist in most cities. Sure, you may have to do a little maintenance but that is also an opportunity to personalize your city's pianos. Kickstarter and Indiegogo are great places to get initial funding to support the cost of the pianos. Be sure to get city permission before dropping off pianos randomly downtown. These are some of the first steps you should take when beginning to plan for your very own street pianos.

Bringing piano music outside of concert halls and onto the streets is one way to revitalize a town and piano music. We dig piano street projects so let us know if you're in the process of starting your own!

Tip 1: Set a Practice Time and Stick With It

A lot of parents agreed that creating structure around piano practice helped their children get into the proper mindset when practice rolled around. Adding an hour block of piano instruction into your child's daily routine will help them understand the importance of practice. This time could be independent practice or guided lessons but the most important thing is that the time doesn't jump around. Keeping it consistent will help build a routine that many kids can adjust to.

Tip 2: Let Your Child Pick Their Sheet Music

It is great for kids to learn the classics like Bach, Beethoven, Hayden, and Mozart but everyone's tastes are different. These days finding sheet music for pop songs, Top 40s hits, and TV/Video Game/Movie soundtracks is relatively easy. Letting your child pick some sheet music for their favorite songs will encourage them to practice for themselves. Sure, these pieces may not be appropriate for recitals but they help your child connect with the piano.

Tip 3: Give Your Child a Break

The rewards of practicing piano are easy to recognize but the side effects of too much practice are even easier to spot. Some children enjoy playing piano songs over and over again non-stop. If your child has an insatiable appetite for piano that is wonderful! Give them some sheet music from their favorite genre and let them run with it. On the other hand, don't feel guilty for giving your child break, especially if they have recently completed a piano recital or competition. Sometimes a little downtime can help relieve the pressure of having to master piano sheet music.

Tip 4: Take Time to Listen to Your Child Play Piano

When your child is first learning to read piano sheet music practices can be a little rough around the edges. They will awkwardly fumble along to the music like a baby duck flapping around on the keys. It is okay to give them space while they are developing their skills. It is equally important to listen to your child's music as they develop confidence in their skills. While the playing may be a little amateur we are our child's first and best audience. So cheer them on when they ask for you to listen in on their living room mini-concert extravaganza held especially for you.

Tip 5: Chill Out

A stressed out parent never helps a child practice. Keeping your calm will help your child focus better on learning the basics of piano and the skills they need to improve their piano techniques.

Any tips that have helped encourage your child to practice piano sheet music without the stress or heartache? Share them with us today!

• Easy Classical Duets for Teacher and Student, Book 1: So maybe mom hasn’t played a while and her skills are a little rusty. Maybe you’re a little out of practice. These are no reason to stop yourself from playing piano with your loved one this Mother’s Day. Easy Classical Duets features popular classical songs with easy piano notation.  The sheet music in this songbook increase in difficulty in the later half but beginner pianists should have no trouble picking it up playing.

• The Joy of Duets: If you’re looking to play more challenging piano duets then this piano songbook is for you. The Joy of Duets contains 10 hit songs from the 90s including “My Heart Will Go On”,  “Let it Be”, “Linus and Lucy” and many more.

• Piano Duets: Classical Composers: This book of piano sheet music is perfect for fans of classical music. The music in the book is varied and accessible to players from a variety of skill levels, perfect for showing off your duet skills. Play piano duets from famous composers such as Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert.

• Duet Showstoppers: Ready to show off your piano playing skills this Mother’s Day? These duets are not for the faint of heart and will certainly have your fingers flying. Duet Showstoppers is perfect for intermediate pianists who want to play piano duets with a  little flare.

• Heart And Soul & Other Duets: Playing piano duets with mom can be fun with these silly yet unforgettable songs. Heart And Soul & Other Duets will have you laughing as you attempt to play “Y.M.C.A”, “The Rainbow Connection” and other hit songs this Mother’s Day.

Music is the gift that keeps on giving so give your mom some piano sheet music that you can play together this 2013 Mother’s Day. Piano duet sheet music is a little more difficult to master but the rewards are worth it. Try for yourself and see why the joy of piano duets continues even today. We’re sure your mom will thank you for it.

Tip 1: Start Easy and Work Your Way Up

It can be hard to fight the urge to jump ahead to more advanced piano songs but force yourself to hold back. Learning the basics of piano sheet music and learning them well will reward you in the long run. Sheet music, like any language, builds on prior skills. If your ability to read sheet music is weak, trying to read more advanced pieces will only work to discourage you. Start by using beginning piano songbooks that teach rudimentary sheet music reading techniques. Very quickly you will find reading the notes will come with ease.

Tip 2: Find Beginner Piano Sheet Music You Like

A lot of pianists try to learn piano by playing only the classics. Classical piano music is beautiful but if you don't enjoy the sound of it, you probably won't enjoy learning piano by playing classical music. Instead, find beginner sheet music in a genre that you enjoy. Many people forget that a wide range of genres offer beginner sheet music for new pianists.

Tip 3: Set Goals

Piano recitals are a great way to see how far your skills have grown since you started playing so schedule mini recitals for yourself as you learn to read piano sheet music. This will help you see how your confidence increases over time in your playing abilities. Learning to read sheet music requires a player to set goals and stick with them. Ready to tackle two-handed notation? Want to know what all the symbols on the scale mean? Setting goals will make sure you accomplish your goal of reading sheet music without the stress.

Tip 4: Get a Buddy or Two

Reading sheet music can be tedious. It requires a lot of practice and sometimes boring drills. Having a buddy to play piano with can make the process much more entertaining, especially if you are learning to read sheet music together. Work together to master piano sheet music and learn more advanced piano notation.

Tip 5: Try, Try Again

Learning to read sheet music isn't always easy but it will help you gain the skills necessary to tackle intermediate and advanced piano song books. If a song seems too complicated, don't give up. Try breaking the complicated sections down and working on them bit by bit. Sometimes giving things another try is all it takes to be able to play the piano piece.

These tips have helped many people learn to read sheet music but there are many beginner piano reference books that have drill for reading piano music. These piano drills can help young pianists become accustomed to piano notation and song structures, providing them with a great foundation for more intermediate and advanced piano songbooks.

Normally we focus on finding the best piano sheet music for you all to enjoy but this time we just couldn't contain ourselves and picked up a few songbooks for other instruments. Star Wars fans rejoice because we've got a lot of awesome Star Wars songbooks to share and you can play them on more than just piano. So gather your friends and get ready to start your own Star Wars cover band because the sheet music below has all the tools you'll ever need.

Star Wars for Beginning Piano Solo: Maybe you just started playing piano but have been a diehard Star Wars fan for ages. Don't worry, this beginning piano songbook will enable you to play songs from Star Wars without the heartache. Impress your friends with these amazing piano solos, carefully transposed for beginner pianists.

Star Wars - A Musical Journey: This songbook has everything you need to play the best songs from all 6 Star Wars films. Play "Yoda's Theme", "Across the Stars", "Cantina Band", "Luke and Leia" and more. Bring all your favorite Star Wars moments to life with Star Wars - A Musical Journey.

Star Wars - Episodes I, II, & III: Normally we give our attention to the pianists but today we wanted to let our violin, viola, and cello friends in on the Star Wars madness. Play along to the first three films of the trilogy on your very own stringed instrument. The mood will certainly be different than playing on a piano but we can assure you playing Star Wars music on stringed instruments is an amazing experience. You can even grab a piano playing friend to form an epic duet.

Star Wars for Recorder: Play Star Wars on the recorder, yes, you heard us right. For a few bucks you can pick up a recorder and play some of the most epic music ever created on the instrument you first learned in grade school.

Hopefully some of these Star Wars songbooks will be enough to keep you satisfied until the newest Star Wars film is released. If 2015 can't come soon enough for you take a peek at some of our other movie sheet music.

The jump between beginner piano sheet music and intermediate piano songs can seem pretty daunting for a new player. Suddenly, once simple sheet music is filled with extra notes and notations. But have no fear because intermediate piano sheet music can be tackled with a little practice and perseverance. Spring is the perfect time to refresh and update your piano skills that may have gotten a little rusty from the Winter blues. These songbooks will help make your transition back into playing piano regularly a smooth one.

Classics for the Developing Pianist, Book 1:

There is no better place to start learning intermediate piano than with Classical music for piano. This piano songbook contains over 100 masterworks from famous composers such as Bach, Beethoven, Haydn, Mozart, and more. The piano pieces in this book will help any intermediate pianist advance their skills over time. From early-intermediate to advanced sheet music, the right classical piece is contained inside.

Audition Repetoire for the Intermediate Pianist, Book 1:

Spring is here and practicing for piano recitals may be keeping you busy. Finding the right intermediate piano songbook can be hard so let us help. The Audition Repetoire will help prepare you for your next upcoming audition or recital. The compositions contained in this book will help you show off your mastery of intermediate piano techniques.

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Piano Exercises:

Playing piano at the intermediate level and beyond requires a pianist to develop many of the basic techniques. Before setting off to tackle your next book of intermediate sheet music try refreshing your basic skills with the help of this reference book. This guide to piano exercises will help pianists develop their individual finger strength and improve dexterity.

Piece by Piece Value Pack:

Upgrade your piano skills with the help of the Piece by Piece series songbooks. These books contain a diverse selection of intermediate solo piano pieces to help any player improve their skills. Develop your technical skills while learning to play pieces with different styles, textures, and moods.

Hopefully these songbooks and more will help your spring back into playing the piano and get a head start on developing your piano techniques. Check out our extensive collection of Intermediate piano sheet music.

This banana piano is not your traditional piano.

Some may relish the sound of a traditional piano in its simplicity playing the classic piano concertos and sonatas of classical composers. Others enjoy listening to piano concertos turned upside down. Ever since the digital age began, instruments have been manipulated and the piano has not escaped this digital manipulation. These days musicians can reap the benefits of digital and midi keyboards that enable them to plug right into their computer and play away. These digital keyboards are much smaller, compact, and lighter than their traditional counterparts, enabling the musician on the go. While some enjoy the portability these instruments offer, many pianists feel the voice of the piano is lost under all the electronic manipulation. Surely a happy medium can be reached between letting the piano speak and adding a touch of flare from digital effects.

Keyboards no longer are the shape and size of traditional pianos and some musicians have taken this concept to the extreme. The banana piano was created using technology that enables every day food items to become instruments. Switching from keys to bananas is not the easiest switch to make but never hurts to stretch your skills.

For musicians looking to stretch their fingers and get ready for spring we've got the perfect selection of songbooks for you. Dust off your synthesizers, midi keyboards, and more and get back into the swing of things with our Preludes for Piano Value Pack. Let yourself listen and linger on the sounds before trying out some effects to make the pieces contained in this sheet music value pack your own.

Still not sure you're ready to jump from a traditional piano to a synth or midi keyboard? Check out our collection of piano reference books for a little bit of help along the way.

1. A Jazz Inspired Easter:

This year start your Easter off the right foot with a little jazz piano music to get everyone moving around. Jazz and Easter may seem like a strange mix but never fear; jazz music can uplift anyone's spirits and that is what Easter is about. In this collection of Easter inspired jazz songs you will find pieces that can be played just about anywhere, from church to recitals to family gatherers. If you're feeling a little bit courageous this jazz piano songbook includes bass and drum parts for some of the arrangements. Grab a friend or two and start your own jazz jam band this Easter.

2. What Can I Play for Easter?

This question is on a lot of our minds this Easter. Picking songs for Christmas, Halloween, or any other holiday can seem like a breeze when you start trying to pick the perfect selection for your Easter piano recital. This book helps does all the hard work for you and has some of the best Easter songs for piano. What Can I Play for Easter has all the sheet music to elevate your church service and add bring joy to any audience.

3. Easter Song

Celebrating Easter shouldn't stress you out. With this holiday piano songbook you'll have friends and family singing along in no time. This version of the Christian group 2nd Chapter of Acts' song has been revamped for piano by composer Annie Herring. Add your own touch of the Easter spirit when you play this piece for family this year.

Playing piano for Easter is a gift that can't be beat by Easter eggs or chocolate bunnies. Hopefully these Easter songbooks will give you some inspiration for your upcoming Easter recital. If these don't do the trick, check out our large selection of religious piano sheet music and songbooks.

Les Mis isn't the only musical we've been singing along to these past few weeks. When we think Broadway and the flashing lights of New York City only one musical comes to mind, Wicked. With Oz the Great and Powerful now in theaters, it is hard to stay away from the wonderful world of Oz. The Broadway interpretation of Dorothy and her travels on the yellow brick road has been going strong for decades, featuring casts all across the US.

Disney's Pixar just won an Oscar award for its hit feature film Brave but the studio has had no problem winning over fans in 3D, 2D, or real life. Another Broadway hit inspired by Disney is certainly The Lion King musical. The puppetry and stylized make up first transported audiences into the world of Simba but the music is what captured out hearts. Most fans of Disney's The Lion King will have no trouble singing "Circle of Life" or "Hakuna Matata" by heart.

A recent Broadway release has won over fans in a surprisingly short amount of time. The creators of South Park once again has left audiences in tears (in a good way) with their Broadway hit titled The Book of Mormon. Opening to sold out crowds around the country, the musical offers a surprisingly upbeat and unique perspective on Mormonism, injected with a little bit of humor that only Matt Stone and Trey Parker could dream up.

If we didn't name your Broadway hit here, don't worry. Musicals like Chicago, Hair, The Phantom and the Opera, and more are included in our selection of Broadway musicals. We haven't seen them all but most of us have sung along to these and many other Broadway songs at the office. Musicals are big at Piano Place and hopefully you can make room in your music collection to have some Broadway sheet music of your own.

Embrace the newness of the music:

New piano sheet music, fresh from the mail can make any musician giddy. Opening the pages means entering exciting yet unfamiliar terrain. Take a break to enjoy the music without falling trap to a desire for perfection the first go around.

Scan the sheet music:

Wait, that sounds pretty self-explanatory but you’d be surprised how easy it is to overlook the notes right in front of your nose. Before diving head first into a new piece, make sure you’ve got the simple things in your mind like the time signature, rhythm, and dynamics. Oh, and don’t forget to glance ahead while playing the piece; sometimes notes have a way of sneaking up unexpectedly.

Trust yourself:

Making mistakes doesn’t mean the downfall of a sight reading piece but second-guessing can lead to a rough sight reading experience. Letting your previous knowledge of the piano guide will help ease the rocky patches rather than highlight them. Always remember to continue through your mistakes. Often a little mistake will not influence the quality of a performance but bringing the music to an abrupt halt leaves a definite impression.

Listen:

This is often the most simple part to forget when forging ahead with a new piano sight reading piece. The tension from trying to get every note exact combined with cramping fingers and a possibly sweaty brow can make listening the last thing on your mind. Listening to the piece can enable a good player to catch patterns in the song, adjust the tempo, and ease past trouble spots rather than stumbling through. Even the best sight reading can fall short without a good ear.

And lastly, practice:

They say practice makes perfect and the old saying holds true with sight reading as well. Becoming skilled at sight reading requires practicing pieces from a variety of levels and styles. Finishing a piece of music doesn't mean it should be tossed; instead, save it and pull it out later for sight reading duels with other musicians. Competition can make even an intimidating task like reading new music (or forgotten tunes) fun again.

We hope these tips will help you learn to play piano and increase your piano playing skills. Easy piano music can help the learning process for a beginning pianist but investing in sight reading will take your playing to the next level.