Piano Notes Matthew C. Wiencke | |
| Creating Beautiful Music Together Thank you for participating in the Refer A Friend Campaign the month of June! When you refer a new piano student, you will receive your next lesson at no charge. Quote for Thought “Music can change the world.” ~Ludwig Van Beethoven |
Learning About Chords
Chords are the building blocks of music. They do a lot of important things in piano music.
First, what is a chord? Three or more notes played together. Some chords have four or five notes. Some even have seven or more notes, but those appear less often.
Chords add harmony and structure. For harmony: they add a bass note and more depth to a melody for a fuller sound. Think of an orchestra where you have violins playing a melody, and many other instruments supporting underneath. Those other instruments often function as chords.
For structure, they add rhythm to a piece.
Chords, by giving harmony and rhythm, give a piece of music a sense of direction. They take music from one place to another. Music is never stagnant; it’s always moving somewhere, telling a story.
A Few Chords in the key of C:
C Major: bright, happy sound: C – E – G
C Minor: sadder sound: C – E-flat – G
C dominant 7th: C – E – G – B-flat
This chord adds the B-flat which is the 7th. It usually resolves or moves to another chord.
Practice these chords and HAVE FUN!
New Music on Website
We just posted a new recording of music on our Home page www.matthewwiencke.com
“Imagine” by John Lennon.
Let me know if you would like to learn this song.