Celebrating Thanksgiving with Simple Gifts and More
In honor of Thanksgiving, today's post features a medley of two seasonal hymns: I Danced in the Morning (Simple Gifts) and Rejoice the...
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Diana Mascari
5 min read
How to Identify the Key of Any Song in No Time
Introduction How often have you looked at a song or classical piece and noticed symbols on the left side of the music? These symbols,...
Diana Mascari
5 min read
What Adult Piano Students Can Learn from "Take Five"
Take Five (see Diana's Performance below) Take Five composed by Paul Desmond and made famous by the Dave Brubeck Quartet, is a jazz...
Diana Mascari
5 min read
Creativity, Composition and the Piano
Today's article follows up on my recent blog called How Playing the Piano Might Help You Ward Off Symptoms of Dementia Reading or...
Diana Mascari
3 min read
How to Master the Core of Walking Bass: Demystifying the I-vi-ii-V Turnaround
Although being able to play walking bass lines requires knowledge and quite a bit of practice. The core of walking bass is the I-vi-ii-V...
Diana Mascari
4 min read
How to Play Flowing Style Accompaniments To Enhance Your Songs with Calm and Fluid Left-hand Backgrounds
In this article, you'll learn two of the most useful accompaniment patterns that will enhance your songs with a flowing style background...
Diana Mascari
3 min read
What Is Shuffle Bass and How to Use It Effectively
In this article, you'll gain the knowledge to be able to recognize the shuffle bass when you hear it, you'll learn the left-hand patterns...
Diana Mascari
4 min read
How to Guarantee a Successful Solo Piano Performance in Five Easy Steps
In this article, you'll learn how to guarantee a successful solo piano performance in five easy steps. Watch how Diana plays her samba...
Diana Mascari
3 min read
The Power of the Oom-pah Pattern and How It Can Give Your Songs a Solid Foundation
In this article, you'll learn what chords can make your piano playing sound rich when playing standards from the Great American Songbook....
Diana Mascari
3 min read
5 Secrets to a Successful Piano Performance
In this article, you'll learn the five secrets that enabled me to have a successful performance recently. You would think that after...
Diana Mascari
4 min read
How To Arrange a Song in 12 Easy Steps
How to Arrange a Song in 12 Easy Steps One: Determine the key of the song according to its key signature. This information will identify...
Diana Mascari
4 min read
How to Breathe Vitality into Holiday Hits
Did you know that playing Christmas and holiday songs can make you a better pianist and give you a wonderful ROI besides? In this...
Diana Mascari
3 min read
Jazzing Up Jingle Bells with Shuffle Bass
When the holiday season arrives every year, do you wonder how to breathe vitality into those "same old-same old" holiday tunes? Don't...
Diana Mascari
4 min read
What Is Bass in 2 & How Does Using It Bring Vitality To Your Piano Playing?
In this article, we'll talk about the accompaniment style called bass in 2. After I explain what it is, I'll show you where you can use...
Diana Mascari
4 min read
How to Pick the Best Style for a Song You Love such as Autumn Leaves
In this article, we'll look at ways to assess songs that you want to play. When we select pieces of music, we'll find ways to treat them...
Diana Mascari
4 min read
How Does Using Chord Symbols Give You Musical Freedom? Try Norwegian Wood
Reading the Black Dots Everyone knows that playing classical music requires a pianist to read the "black dots" on the page-and for good...
Diana Mascari
3 min read
How Can the TAP System Transform Your Piano Playing? Diana plays "Yesterdays"(Kern)
One of the most important aspects of playing the piano is the way you can personalize your performance of a song. Although there are many...
Diana Mascari
4 min read
What's The Difference Between Playing a Classical Piece and a Jazz Composition?
In this article, using my performances of Duke Ellington's Meditation and Duke Ellington's Theme from New World A-Comin', I'll explain...
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