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The Keyboard Alternative approaches to teaching and playing Peter Antony

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The Keyboard Alternative approaches to teaching and playing

Peter Antony

ii The Keyboard

Table of Contents

Table of Contents ii

Forward iii

Creativity: knowledge society versus industrial society 1

Personal veiws on creativity in music education 2

Classic, Jazz, Rock, Pop, and beyond 3

Two approaches to teaching 4

Two approaches to teaching music 5

The horse whisperer 6

Teaching Jazz 7

Parameter’s of music 8

The music lesson 9

Aha! moments 10

Third level analysis 11

The Pop music industry 12

Pop music 13

The keyboard 14

A brief history of the keyboard 16

The keyboard player of today 20

Teaching the keyboard 21

The three modes of teaching 22

Lesson content 23

Conclusion 24

Bigliography and further reading 25

iii The Keyboard

Forward

This essay is part of my submission for the final exam for the fourth berufsbegleitenden Lehrgang, Popmusik an Musikschulen, at the Bundesakademie für musikalische Jugendbildung, Trossingen, that took place between December 2010 and July 2012. In consideration of my thirty-five years as a professional performing musician and twenty-five years as a teacher, my tutor, Phillip Moehrke, suggested that my essay should be a personal reflection on, and detailing of, my acquired (occassionally unconventional) philosophy, practices and methodology as a teacher and performing musician. This having something of a personal nature, he suggested that I write in my mother tongue, English: something I am very happy to do. Again, because of its personal nature, I have not always adhered to strict academic standards and conventions of citation and referencing, especially where concepts and thoughts were arrived at by assimilation of many sources, over many years, and by personal experience. However, where approriate, I have included in-text citations and have also added a bibliography and further reading list for information.

Peter Antony

The Keyboard 1

The Keyboard

Alternative approaches to teaching and playing

Creativity: knowledge society versus industrial society

‘And my contention is, all kids have tremendous talents. And we squander them, pretty ruthlessly. So I want to talk about education and I want to talk about creativity. My contention is that creativity now is as important in education as literacy, and we should treat it with the same status.’ (Robinson, 2006, online)

‘You'll never come up with anything original, if you're not prepared to be wrong. And by the time they get to be adults, most kids have lost that capacity … Picasso once said this -- he said that all children are born artists. The problem is to remain an artist as we grow up. I believe this passionately: that we don't grow into creativity, we grow out of it. Or rather, we get educated out if it.’ (Robinson, 2006, online)

‘Every day, everywhere, our children spread their dreams beneath our feet. And we should tread softly.’ (Robinson, 2010, online)

___________________________

Sir Ken’s basic message is that the educational system, being developed to fulfill the needs of the Industrial Age, is no longer suitable for the Technology or, as he likes to call it, the Knowledge Age. He says the unpredictability of the future should be a decisive factor in deciding the pedagogic priorities of the present. He maintains that the most important thing to foster and develop in a young mind is creativity.

This rings very true to me.

Sir Ken Robinson

The above quotes are taken from two now famous, humorous and enlightening TED talks [Technology, Entertainment, Design: ideas worth spreading] given in 2006 and 2010 in Monterey, California by Sir Ken Robinson and available on the internet (see below).

Peter Antony

The Keyboard 2

Personal views on creativity in music education

I come from a family where I was always encouraged to think for myself and I grew up in a time and place where traditional ideas were continually being challenged (London in the late Sixties and early Seventies). I try not to take anything for granted, have always reflected on what I was reading or being told, and continually measure it against my own experience.

I have tried to assimilate and incorporate this into my professional life as a player and teacher of music, and thus have not always used the traditional approaches and techniques to learning and playing. This might have been inefficient at times, as sometimes I have had to ‘re-invent the wheel’, but I have come to some conclusions that I continually see affirmed. I agree with Sir Ken that the education system needs reforming and note that much is being done, although it is often meeting resistance and setbacks. I see this education macrocosm very much reflected in the microcosm of music education, with approaches using creativity clashing with methods that are more traditional. One of the functions of music education is training an elite to preserve the European art music tradition – and then such traditional methods might be appropriate. Specifically, traditional music education emphasizes the interpreting of a score and discourages improvisation and composition without first learning reams of tedious and often archaic rules. These days, much lip service is paid to creativity, but, in the end, reading and interpreting the dots is what is generally expected. Sir Ken points out that in the regular education system, if you pass all your exams and don’t fall by the wayside, you move on to the next level until you finally reach the zenith: you become a university professor. In music education, it is very similar and the zenith is to become a concert performer. This is, in itself, fine, but the price is that many who are not motivated enough or ‘talented’ enough or just do not see this as their aim often have the joy taken out of making music and turn their backs to it.

This cannot be music education’s only purpose. It seems to be widely accepted that playing an instrument and making music enriches lives and promotes, amongst other things, language, mathematical, social, and personal skills. These are desirable outcomes, and music education should be inclusive and accessible to everyone: teaching methodologies should keep this in mind. Making music for enjoyment should be much more common and accepted. Creativity and experimentation should be encouraged at every level and the sharp divide between amateurs and professionals should have less relevance.

Creativity is accepted as something positive, but it happens more in art classes than in the music room: pupils learn particular techniques and are then immediately encouraged to create with them and the number of hobby painters creating art into their adult years is large. Another outcome, as Alex Ross (2010), writing in the Guardian newspaper, pointed out: the number of people who would admire a painting by Picasso or Jackson Pollock far exceeds the number of people who would listen to Arnold Schoenberg or Karlheinz Stockhausen. He also wrote, ‘the music profession [has become] focused on the manic polishing of a display of masterpieces’.

This is true of much music education, in both classic and jazz.

Peter Antony

The Keyboard 3

Classic, Jazz, Rock, Pop and beyond

___________________________

Music is music is music.

__________________________

Forcing music into categories and genres often leads to discounting a particular piece of music because it doesn’t belong in the ‘acceptable’ style that someone has become a fan of, through discernment or, more often, through peer pressure. This way of looking at music comes from two sources: academics and the record industry. Academics have always analyzed music, normally long after its creation. This can be a very useful tool for music educators (as long as it does not become too pedantic), helping pupils to understand, perform and create music by studying the differences and similarities between pieces, styles and genres and, while categorizing things, noting that the borders are vague and continuous.

The record industry, especially the pop industry, also likes to put things into pigeonholes: to ease marketing and to pit loyal fans against each other. An example is one I experienced personally: as a youth, spurred on by the music industry, press and peers, many of my friends and I became vehement Beatles fans, scorning the Rolling Stones, while others did the opposite (or some became ‘Mods’ while others became ‘Rockers’). This increased loyalty and thus sales for both bands. It was only years later that, contradicting what we had been led to believe, I read that Jagger, Richards, McCartney and Lennon had actually been the best of friends. I have since come to appreciate the music of the Stones and recognize that they were also an important force in the revolution in Pop music that took place in England in the Sixties.

This kind of artificially created, imposed division is still common in music (as well as in sport and politics) and should be recognized and challenged by music educators. It is common that pupils, who, in a possibly extreme case, are fans of Trash Metal would never listen to Gangsta Rap, and vice versa, even though there are some common or similar musical elements (e.g. syncopated rhythms, form and harmonic structure) and common content (protest, aggression, rebellion). It is up to the music educator to introduce new genres (from European art music [Baroque, Classic, Romantic etc.], to Blues, to Jazz, to Soul, to Funk, to Rock, to Pop, to World Music, to Garage, to House, to Trance, to Chemical, to Goa, to Gabber, to Ambient, to Dub Step, to Minimal to Death Metal to Gothic, to Rap, to Electronica and beyond) and to encourage pupils to broaden their musical horizons and help them recognize the common ground as well as the divergences.

I would equally welcome this openness in music professionals: performers and educators. Unfortunately, this is not always the case, with the classical musicians often looking down on the jazz musicians, who look down on the pop and rock musicians, who have their own prejudices.

Peter Antony

The Keyboard 4

Two approaches to teaching

Although I have just pleaded for the recognition of the similarities in all types of music, I would now like to draw attention to two different approaches to teaching generally and then specifically to teaching music. These approaches are not new and the education pendulum is constantly swinging back and forth between the two, although the needs of the industrial age (mentioned above) made the pendulum stick for a while.

One is that expertise is imparted by lectures and books (Figure 1).

___________________________

___________________________

The other envisages more discourse and a more active participation from the student. (Figure 2).

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Figure 1. Unknown artist, miniature painting of a philosophy lesson from a manuscript of the Ovide Moralisé, fourteenth century CE, vellum. Bibliothéque Municaple, Rouen, France

Figure 1.7 Roman mosaic showing Plato’s Academy, from the House of T. Siminius in Pompeii, copied from a Greek original, first

Figure 2. Roman mosaic showing Plato’s Academy, from the House of T. Siminius in Pompeii, copied from a Greek original, first century BCE, marble and glass paste tiles, Museo Archeolico, Naples.

Peter Antony

The Keyboard 5

Two approaches to teaching music

I will equate the first of these methods with what I could call the theoretical or traditional approach to teaching music. The ‘basics’ are seen as a thorough grounding in music notational systems and theory. Imparting and learning music is mostly through a written score with personal, creative musical input and interpretation reserved for advanced pupils. Improvisation and composition are hardly ever touched upon and even often actively discouraged. It is generally an exclusive system, with many demotivated or overtaxed pupils dropping out because of the ever-higher demands. The few who do stick it out, or are motivated enough to continue, often reach an incredibly high level, which is certainly a positive result and to be welcomed, even if this is not necessarily the only way to achieve this.

A negative aspect is, obviously, that many, possibly gifted, creative people get left behind, discouraged and stop making music, but also that the super achievers (especially in classical music) often complain that they cannot improvise and are tied to the written score. Very few of them are ever creative and compose: For the ones who do, it is my impression that it is often despite, not because of, their formal music education. The line between improvisation and composition has always been a very thin one, and not only in jazz and other modern forms: some of the greatest composers of the past were also exceptional improvisers (Mozart, Beethoven, and Liszt to name just a few).

I could call the other approach to teaching music the practical or creative approach. This does not mean that there is no theoretical study but rather that it takes on a secondary importance. Music teaching focuses on making music, being expressive, improvising and being creative. Music is learnt through imitation, aurally, and through presenting rhythmic and harmonic frameworks in which to operate. Theory and notation are learnt in passing. Creativity occurs at many levels, from developing an accompaniment, to improvising a solo, to writing a melody or song to composing an opus.

___________________________

Obviously the traditional method is the one most used, for good or bad, when teaching European Art music (what used to be called Classical music, even though it covered not only the Classical period, but also the Baroque and the Romantic period).

Peter Antony

The Keyboard 6

The horse whisperer

As this is partly a personal account, I think it acceptable to now bring in an anecdote I heard recently about a professor at a music conservatory. He would always start off with his new students by demoralizing them, demeaning them and tearing their achievements to date totally apart. His idea was that, when they were finally empty, he would be able to fill them up with his knowledge and wisdom. This pedagogic approach seems extreme, but I don’t think it is that rare.

It reminded me of Monty Roberts, the original ‘horse whisperer’. Monty grew up in the 1940’s in America. His father was a horseman who used the traditional, then standard, method for training horses. The word used describes it all: he would ‘break’ them in. Monty, who developed a deep love for horses, thought there must be a better way. He spent months following unbroken horses in the wild and closely observed how they communicated with each other.

These observations led him to develop a non-verbal, body language, that he called Equus, which he could use to achieve ‘join up’: the horse, in less than an hour, would effectively agree to join in a partnership with the trainer.

___________________________

The traditional method took much longer and would basically torture the horse into submission.

___________________________

Monty (not Marvin) has successfully applied some of his ideas in foster homes he has helped set up for children who were either orphaned, abandoned or from dysfunctional families.

___________________________

I will leave the reader to decide whether this has any application or relevance to music education.

Marvin Roberts (1957)

The moment of ‘join up’. Monty Roberts (2007)

Peter Antony

The Keyboard 7

Teaching Jazz

Now we come to the teaching of Jazz and my favorite oxymoron: Jazz Theory.

The term Jazz is actually hard to define and covers music covering a long time span (c. 1900 CE till the present). Its relationship with the Blues is complex, with each influencing the other. Many different styles of Jazz have developed. Here are just some: New Orleans, Swing, Bebop, Cool Jazz, Hard Bop, Modal Jazz, Free Jazz and Smooth Jazz. More recently, there have been crossovers and mixings with other genres: Latin Jazz, Soul Jazz, Rock Jazz, Fusion, Funk Jazz, Smooth Jazz (possibly better described as easy listening or Pop Jazz), Acid Jazz (mixing Jazz with Funk and Dance Music, i.e. Disco, House or Techno), Nu Jazz (combining with Ambient and other forms of Electronica), Future Jazz (a particular sophisticated subgenre of Nu Jazz, from Norway, that even puts folk melodies into its eclectic mix), Punk Jazz and Jazzcore. These last two intigrate some of the dissonance, rawness, energy and aggression of Punk Rock and other modern forms of guitar- oriented music, such as Trash Metal. M-Base (with it’s main innovator Steve Coleman) deserves a special mention here, for its sophistication, complexity and spirituality, and for its pervading influence on contemporary jazz. It is beyond the scope of this essay to examine all of its concepts and philosophy, but Coleman can give us an insight into two of the common factors of all the above styles of jazz – spontaneity and creativity.

‘Ultimately there is no difference between composition and improvisation for me. I consider improvisation ‘spontaneous composition’; it is just a matter of the method of creation. Spontaneous Composition requires that you develop the ability to create things in real time, in the moment. So you need to develop skills that address these problems.’ (Steve Coleman, 2007, online)

So how can jazz be taught? Some of the jazz musicians developing the above styles were classically trained, some were trained in jazz and some were self-taught. It would be very hard to find a common element between them, except their willingness to step outside of the box, take risks and try something new. Music educators need to recognize this and encourage it, from day one, in their pupils (some do, some don’t) as well as teaching by the traditional methods of learning and implementing jazz theory. John Coltrane and Miles Davis, two of the greatest innovator’s in Jazz, might have been inspired by George Russell and his Lydian Chromatic Concept of Tonal Organization (1953) to come up with and develop modal Jazz, but without their years of playing and experimenting and their willingness to take risks, nothing would have come of the interaction.

What can we learn from the history of jazz? For me, that jazz is very much alive and continually developing. It is certainly valuable and correct to examine and emulate the masters of the past, but an over reliance on Abersold or the Berklee chord scale theory seems limiting. Knowing standards by heart is wonderful but surely cannot be the zenith in jazz. Many teachers say learn the basics, using these methods before you start to step out. This has been said through the ages, i.e. ‘learn the rules, before you break them’. I ask if this correct and are you sure you have the right rules?

Peter Antony

The Keyboard 8

Parameters of music

There are many ways of dividing up music into different areas or parameters to assist learning. Myself, coming from a mathematical background, I could define music as having three parameters: pitch, volume and tone (timbre) that change over time. This perception is sometimes useful, e.g. when editing MIDI information using the graphical notation system often found in computer sequencing programs, or in understanding what a CD quality .wav file actually is (basically, it is a quantification of the three parameters, 44,100 times per second).

However, this mathematical model is not particularly helpful when learning how to make music.

___________________________

I haven’t defined music yet, and I won’t try, otherwise I might end up in an even more philosophical discussion, having to bring in Rousseau, Schopenhauer, Wagner and Derrida (to name but a few). However, we can agree that music is more than just mathematics: it conveys emotion and has a subliminal meaning beyond words. Levitin (2006) and Spitzer (2005) look for an understanding in neuroscience, and although this brings some interesting insights and can lead to new methodologies, it is for me still a bit like trying to understand a Beethoven piano sonata by looking inside a piano.

‘Piano roll’ graphical editor as seen in ‘Logic’ audio/MIDI sequencer

.wav file as seen in ‘Logic’ audio/MIDI sequencer

Peter Antony

The Keyboard 9

The music lesson

Victor L. Wooten is a five-time Grammy Award winning bass player and teacher whose book, The Music Lesson: a spiritual search for growth through music (2008), basically says that no teacher can teach you anything: all he can do is show you things and the student must learn for himself. There is obviously some truth to this and it pinpoints one of the weaknesses of the present education system: pupils are spoon fed facts which then have to be regurgitated for exams and these facts are then normally quickly forgotten – a kind of learning bulimia. There is rarely time to use, assimilate and digest the facts so that they can become retained knowledge. This also explains some pupils’ resistance to a creative approach: they are simply not used to it and for me it again indicates the practical rather than the theoretical approach

~ The best to way to learn to make music is to make music. ~

This has become my personal motto when it comes to teaching and performing – and it means concentrating on playing music rather than practicing to play music at some future date. Wooten’s rather esoteric book comes to the same conclusion, and he stress that this applies as much to beginners as it does to advanced musicians. I think this is true.

___________________________

Wooten divides music into eleven elements, that he says are of equal importance:

Groove – Notes – Articulation/Duration – Technique – Emotion/Feel – Dynamics Rhythm/Tempo – Tone – Phrasing – Space/Rest – Listening

I have always intimated their value but now consciously try to actively incorporate all these elements into my teaching and playing. Interestingly, the element that is most stressed in traditional music education, ‘notes’, is only one of the eleven elements – and he means notes not notation. In other words, playing the right notes is only of minor importance.

___________________________

A review of the book is available here: http://jazztruth.blogspot.de/2011/04/music-lesson-victor-wootens-ephiphanyin.html

Peter Antony

The Keyboard 10

Aha! moments

Again, as this a personal account rather than purely an academic essay and to put some of my opinions in perspective, I will briefly relate my musical history and some of the musical Aha! moments I have experienced. My first Aha! moment was when, as an eleven year old, after having struggled with playing the trumpet for six months, I played a piano at a friends house. I was suddenly making music instead of having to listen to the dreadful racket I normally made: I loved it. I bought a neighbor’s old piano with

my Christmas money and played it until my Mother finally had to send me to lessons. The techniques I learnt in these traditional lessons were valuable. However, when I tried to play a Beatles song from the notes I had bought, I realized that it sounded nothing like the record. The mistakes in the notes forced me to listen intensely to the song and I aurally, self-taught myself much more about harmony, form, rhythm, groove, sound, tone, and articulation through listening, trial and error, than I learnt in piano lessons. This was another Aha! realization: that I would still be relying on notes if that Beatles song had been correct. Later, teaching myself guitar, I learnt to use chords and would transfer that to the piano, where I would mess with the chords for hours. These were the first steps in improvisation, arrangement and a natural understanding of jazz: the kind of skills I would later need in my professional life, playing in bands, writing songs and composing.

From the age of fifteen, I have played in many bands in many genres, playing professionally from the age of twenty. I discovered that band playing required the skills I had began to teach myself as a teenager. Now, as a teacher, I can save my pupils time by demonstrating these techniques. Some of my pupils are much further than I was at their age. Later, backing singers from insufficient notes, I learnt the real time arrangement skills that come from the ability to quickly analyze a score or leadsheet.

Around the age of thirty, I started teaching piano and keyboards, aided by my experience as a band player and fan and user of new technological innovations. In my search for good pedagogic methodologies, I think that not being a trained teacher has made me more questioning and reflective than some of my colleagues. I have tried to make up for my missing teacher and music qualifications by reading and further education, often to find that my experience had taught me the same but in a more inclusive, intuitive way.

Another Aha! moment was when, upon taking a further education course in teaching the keyboard at the Bundesakademie in Trossingen, I realized that the content and methods we were being advised to use were the same as those, based on my personal experience, that I was wanting to use (but not confident enough) or was already using.

Peter Antony

The Keyboard 11

Third Level Analysis

The electronic keyboard course in Trossingen (2001-2003) was run in conjunction with Professor Rob Maas and Frank Tellings from the Musikhochschule Munster.

It was this course that mostly confirmed that I was on the right track with my approach to teaching: emphasizing the practical making of music, two-way communication between pupil and teacher and the desirability of creativity. The lesson content could be based on my own acquired personal knowledge and experiences as a performing musician. Additionally, I realized that the well-rounded keyboard player and teacher should be equally at home in all music genres and be familiar with the computer and modern music production techniques as well as be aware of, keep up to date with, and be able to use the new innovative technologies continually appearing.

___________________________

These are the same abilities and skills needed by the teacher of Pop music, where the practice-oriented and creative teaching approach discussed above is a more appropriate method. For this reason, I will be looking in more detail at my concepts for teaching keyboards later in this essay.

___________________________

In 2007, Tellings and Maas also held a two-phase seminar on creativity in music and music teaching, which I attended. Again, to me, the ideas presented rang true. Later, I found many parallels in Wooten’s book, even if there they were expressed in a rather esoteric manner. The pair introduced me to the concept of first, second and third level analysis, that I like to think of as the what, how and why of music. The first level (what) encompasses the physical tools we use to make music (piano, violin, keyboard, computer, pencil and paper etc.). The second level (how) is how and what we use to interact with these tools. This covers everything from technique to theory to key to harmonies to melody to rhythm to groove to dynamics: the cognitive tools we use to create music. It is at this level that most music education occurs. The third level (why) looks at what we trying to communicate with music and how to accomplish it. Intent, content and message are a part of it, as are feelings. By starting with examining the third level, we find how to best use the second level and what first level tools are appropriate. Great composers and songwriters do this instinctively. It was the course’s contention that this is also appropriate for teaching at all levels, especially beginners.

___________________________

I find this idea credible and fascinating and am continually searching for and experimenting with teaching methods that apply these concepts.

Rob Maas Frank Tellings

Peter Antony

The Keyboard 12

The Pop music industry

Pop music - meaning popular music, a form liked and listened to by the majority - has been around since at least the 19th century. The German term Schlager (meaning hit) was first used to refer to Waltzes by Johann Strauss that became popular through their easily accessible melodies and rhythms. The pieces would hit home (einschlagen). Businessmen began to exploit this popularity and the production of music for the masses became an industry like any other, with production, marketing

and distribution. Early distribution methods were through sheet music and simple songs were written for an eager populace (e.g. ‘Tin Pan Alley’). Then, as now, most of the work produced was quickly forgotten, but occasionally memorable composers did emerge (e.g. George Gershwin).

It was with the technical developments of the first half of the twentieth century, such as the gramophone, the microphone, radio and film that the industry really took off. It became possible to reach a large number of people with its products, and marketing became more important. Early uses of multimedia appeared, combining popular songs with film. The Hollywood star factory was copied in the music industry to enhance sales – with stars, created and maintained by publicists. Teenage dissent and search for identity become a valuable factor, as groups of teenagers would identify with a particular music and its associated fashions (e.g. rock and rollers, beatniks, mods, rockers, punks, rappers, emos etc.). Film and music have always been interrelated, but more and more pop songs are being used to promote films and films are being used to promote artists and their songs.

The Internet, radio and television are three of the most important tools for the marketing of Pop music. People will mostly buy what they are familiar with. One way it becomes familiar is having it played on the radio and television. What is played is generally decided by the ‘Chart’ system. There are various systems for deciding the charts but one, used in Germany and known as the German Media Control Chart (an album and a single's chart) is actually a reflection of what the record stores have ordered (a statistically significant number are polled), not what the consumer has actually bought (that is only determinable when the unsold records are returned to the distributor after six months). What the record stores order is mostly influenced by what the record companies decide to promote. Thus, what the record companies promote gets ordered more, giving it a chart placing, giving it radio and television play, increasing its familiarity, increasing its sales, thus justifying its place in the ‘Charts’: in other words, a closed, self-perpetuating system. Effectively, the ‘Charts’ are another marketing tool, pre-decided by the record companies. Distribution and marketing are now mostly on the Internet – the principle is similar but it is not quite as controlled by the industry.

Packaging of the product is very important. Packaging refers not only to the artwork on a CD cover, (only really significant to buyers in record stores) but also to the complete presentation of the product/artist, the most important these days being the accompanying videos, the recognition factor and Internet presence of the artist involved. The video requires a sizable investment from the companies and the recognition factor and Internet presence requires the involvement of publicists and web designers who aim to keep the artist in the public consciousness. Genre, an often artificial categorizing of music (as previously discussed), is a marketing tool - consumers will buy because of an affiliation to a particular subculture and genre. This also allows tie-ins and profit possibilities with the fashion and other spin-off industries.

Peter Antony

The Keyboard 13

Pop music

This somewhat exploitive and jaded view of Pop music should not discourage us. Most people alive today have grown up since the major establishment and acceptance of Pop and Rock music, arguably started in England in the 1960’s by bands such as the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. We were all seduced by whatever form of Pop music was fashionable when we were teenagers and our favorite artists have grown older with us. Pop music itself has grown up. It is now far more sophisticated than in its early days in Tin Pan Alley. It has incorporated music from other genres and

made them its own: e.g. instrumentation and harmonies from rock and jazz; vocal styles and choral work from blues, gospel and soul; complex orchestrations from ‘Classical’ music; rhythms and sound design from techno and electronica. Again the borders are vague: Pop music is probably now as difficult to define as jazz music. As music educators (and performers) I believe we should use an inclusive definition as possible, where the improvisation of jazz, the energy of rock, the aggressiveness of punk, the emotions of blues and soul and the innovative sound design of electronica all find a place. We should develop and encourage creative mixes, using all the modern tools available: again, the keyboard and computer are the main tools that act as a gateway to all these creative possibilities.

___________________________

I would like to have a brief look at how computers and the Internet are changing so many things in life, looking particularly at Pop music. Professor Röll in his book, Self directed learning (2003) writes much about how the internet has and will continue to change education, with the networking and assimilation of ideas becoming much more important than the traditional linear approach. Further detail goes beyond the scope of this essay.

For musicians, especially creative Pop musicians, the Internet and computer technology offers countless new possibilities, circumventing the oligarchy of the big record companies. Affordable soft and hardware allows musicians to create high quality sound and video recordings. The Internet allows them to collaborate with other musicians anywhere, to keep up with new innovations and developments everywhere and to market and distribute their own creations.

Peter Antony

The Keyboard 14

The keyboard

To fully understand, utilize and teach the keyboards, one must first understand what a keyboard was, is and what it can become. One must understand and master the skills and techniques of the past, present and future professional keyboard player. One must be able to analyze and structure these skills and techniques, from beginner to advanced and pass these on to one’s pupils. Keyboard playing can and should be much more than simple musical interpretation of a written score - the main aim of traditional music instrument education. The keyboard, combined with the computer, can be the main tool in analyzing, producing, arranging and creating music in all its styles and forms. It should probably replace the piano as the required second instrument for music students. The electronic keyboard is probably the most often misunderstood instrument, by musicians and non-musicians alike. For some it is a cheap unsatisfactory piano substitute; for others a solo entertainer’s sterile accompaniment provider; but for others it is a tool to create new songs, arrangements or soundscapes. The keyboard cannot be defined as one particular instrument. It is, in fact, a generic term for many electronic instruments, such as the electronic organ, electric piano, synthesizer and, most commonly today, the hybrid instrument known as the portable keyboard. The keyboard can also be seen as a combination of modules, in various configurations:

• The keys themselves (triggers which produce MIDI control information) • The multi pad section (extra triggers for samples or patterns) • The sound production section (using synthesis, wave ROM, sampling etc.) • The sampling section (for recording/editing sounds, then triggered from the keyboard) • The resampling section (resampling sounds passed through the synthesizer’s effects) • The sound editing and manipulating section • The registration configuration and memory section • The arpeggiator • The auto accompaniment section with fill-in, intro and ending generator • The song (linear) sequencer • The pattern or style (loop) sequencer • The effects section • The mixer section; • The amplifier and speaker section • The data saving and retrieval section (USB, disk drive etc.) • The controllers’ section (modulation wheel, pitch bend, joy stick, ribbon controller, sustain

pedal, expression pedal, data entry knobs, sliders, switches, alpha dial, after touch, breath controller, d-beam, glove controller etc.) allowing a sound to be altered in real time in many different predetermined ways (e.g. changing the pitch, volume or timbre)

Peter Antony

The Keyboard 15

The keyboard (continued)

These modules can be separate, a computer can perform some functions, or all or most can be included in one keyboard. The workstation is the professional variant with most of the above modules included except the auto accompaniment. The portable keyboard has many of the modules in a scaled down version.

The portable keyboard has the auto-accompaniment and sounds of the electric organ, the touch sensitivity and sounds of the electric piano and the (reduced) sound possibilities of the synthesizer. The sounds can be additionally controlled by the piano’s sustain pedal, the organ’s volume pedal and the synth’s pitch bend and modulation wheel. It can also include a simple sequencer and an effects section.

Since the eighties, all keyboards have had MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) built in. This allows control information to be passed from one keyboard to another or to a sound module, sampler, sequencer, mixer, effects unit, groove box or to a computer (which can be all of these things with the appropriate software) where the MIDI control information can be stored and/or manipulated. MIDI information can also be converted to a control voltage (MIDI/CV converter) that can then control anything from a lighting console to a coffee machine. A keyboard is not one instrument, but many and the keyboarder and the keyboard teacher must master a wide variety of techniques to fully use it. Most pupils use the aforementioned hybrid portable keyboard. At present, this hybrid keyboard must make many compromises to be affordable - so the quality of the individual sections often leaves a lot to be desired. As technology has advanced, however, the quality of the hybrid portable keyboard has nevertheless improved and become more affordable and will become even more so.

A professional keyboard player will either buy an expensive all-in-one keyboard (workstation) or he will use a modular solution where the parts are acquired separately (master keyboard/synthesizer, sound modules, drum machine, sequencer, mixer, computer etc.).

As computer technology develops, many of these modules are now available as software and new modules are being developed or combined in different ways all the time. The keyboard is becoming simply the main user interface to music software on the computer: a trend that will continue.

The development of tablet computers has also added new possibilities. Software synths can be ported to them and receive a new control dimension through the additional in- built sensors.

They can also function as complex controllers for other synthesizers (hardware or software) such as the iPad app for Spectrasonic’s virtual synth, Omnisphere.

Peter Antony

The Keyboard 16

A brief history of the keyboard

The first keyboards were mechanical (e.g. harpsichord, piano etc.). As they advanced in the twentieth century, electronics were also used to produce sounds, and instruments were developed (e.g. the

Theremin). The first widely used instrument to combine a keyboard with an electronically created sound was the electric organ, developed in the second half of the century. Its design was taken from the church organ. It often had two manuals and a pedal board. It lacked touch sensitivity, so expression was added by a volume pedal, which allowed the tone to be dynamically altered after the attack phase, making it a sustain instrument as opposed to a percussive

instrument like the piano where the volume can not be altered after striking. Serious students of the organ were often required to study piano first, with its heavier keyboard and touch sensitivity, so as to obtain the necessary independent control and strength in the fingers. A keyboard today has the ability to recreate organ (with or without touch sensitivity) and other sustained instrument sounds and thus a keyboard player and teacher should master specific organ techniques (e.g. volume pedal, glissandi, finger control etc.)

An automatic accompaniment section with a chord recognition feature was introduced in some electric organs, a feature which has been retained in the modern hybrid keyboard.

In the 1960s, the company Hammond developed their own distinctive tone wheel sound production method, which was widely used with the rotating speaker system from the company Leslie, utilizing the Doppler effect for sound enhancement. Towards the end of the sixties organists in rock bands (e.g. King Crimson, Deep Purple etc.) would have to turn up the speakers to maximum to be heard over the drums and electric guitars which caused a musically interesting distortion: a sound that can be found on every modern-day keyboard and synthesizer.

Another development in the sixties was the Mellotron. This used prerecorded looped tapes of instruments (e.g. string section) - with one tape for each note/key: an idea that is the basis for today’s digital samplers.

Tapes were also used in “serious“ music in the fifties and sixties (e.g. by Stockhausen, Cage and in musique concrete etc.). A sampler/synthesizer is an

effective and flexible way of producing such sound collages, where any sound can be recorded and electronically manipulated to create new, previously unheard soundscapes.

The Hohner Clavinet D6 was basically an unsuccessful attempt in the 1960s to create an electronic harpsichord. It used a plucking mechanism with an electronic pickup on every note. Because it produced a very percussive, staccato sound, some innovative musicians used it as a kind of rhythm guitar: most notably, Stevie Wonder on his song Superstition. This is a sound that is found on all present-day keyboards and one that requires its own special playing technique.

Peter Antony

The Keyboard 17

A brief history of the keyboard (continued)

The first electromechanical pianos, the Wurlitzer and the Fender Rhodes, also appeared around this time. Each had its own individual sound that can be found, with many variations, on modern day keyboards. To effectively use these sounds, a good piano technique (including the sustain, soft and sostenuto pedal) is required.

Synthesizers began to appear in the 1970s, the most famous being the Moog, developed by Bob Moog. A synthesizer is a purely electronic sound production machine. The Moog and its copies used ‘subtractive synthesis’ where an electronic oscillator produced a simple waveform (e.g. saw tooth, sine, square etc.). Passing the sound through filters would change it by removing some of the frequencies. The filter settings could be changed in time by an envelope generator creating a lively, dynamic sound. This kind of synthesizer is now known as an analog synthesizer as opposed to a digital one, which was developed later. The sounds produced are not copies of other instruments (any resemblance is purely coincidental): In the last few years they have regained popularity, especially in electronic music (e.g. techno). Today analog sounds are mostly digitally reproduced. To effectively use such sounds the player and teacher should have a basic understanding of subtractive synthesis and the real time control possibilities.

Drum machines were the next development, one of the first being the Linn Drum followed by various machines from the Roland Company. Drum machines would electronically reproduce the basic sounds of the drum kit. They could be played by pads on the machine or activated by trigger mikes and, more importantly, had a feature where the order of the pads played could be memorized and played back. This was the start of the sequencer, a development that really took off

with the introduction of the MIDI standard in the 1980s. The more expensive Linn Drum fairly successfully recreated the sounds of a real drum kit. In the Roland machines, trying to be more affordable, the sounds sounded synthetic and at first did not receive wide acceptance. With the development of electronic music (techno, ambient etc.) in the 1990s these Roland sounds became more fashionable.

Both the drum sounds (playable from the keyboard or sometimes from pads) and the sequencer are a part of the today’s keyboard and the player/teacher should master the drum set, the sequencer, and have a knowledge of various patterns and styles and should be able to create and re-create them on the keyboard.

The step mode programming possibilities of the drum machine were also included in some of the earlier synthesizers (e.g. from Sequential Circuits and Roland). This allowed the creation on an ostinato figure. Later, combined with a note recognition system similar to the chord recognition of the organ’s automatic accompaniment, the arpeggiator was invented. This module, included in many synthesizers, can produce complex preprogrammed patterns that respond to the notes played on the keyboard.

Peter Antony

The Keyboard 18

A brief history of the keyboard (continued)

The introduction of the MIDI standard in the early 1980s was a quite unique occurrence. All the various manufacturers of keyboards agreed on a standard protocol that each keyboard could understand. A control signal could be sent over MIDI from one keyboard to another so that both could sound, producing sound layers. But the real breakthrough came when software companies like Steinberg and Logic and computer hardware companies like Commodore and Atari realized that this control information could be read, manipulated, stored, edited and replayed on a computer. The multitrack sequencer was born, which basically turned the keyboard into a very flexible, easily editable, multitrack recording studio. The computer could also turn this control information into standard musical notation. In the 1990s, as computer technology advanced, digital audio could also be recorded and synchronized to the MIDI control information on the computer. These days the computer can also recreate the effects units of a studio (e.g. reverb etc.) and the sound producing part of the keyboard itself (virtual synthesizers and samplers). Almost every electronic keyboard can be recreated virtually using software and the computer’s processing power. Other programs have been developed for creating, editing and manipulating sounds and music in various ways. Here are some examples - wave editors (e.g. Wavelab), time and pitch stretching (e.g. Melodyne), musical notation (e.g. Finale), auto-accompaniment (e.g. Band in a Box), composing programs (e.g. Tango), real time sequencers (e.g. Abelton Live), mastering (e.g. TC Works) etc. Programs have been developed for synchronizing video and audio on the computer (e.g. professional audio sequencing programs i.e. Cubase, Logic, Pro Tools, Cakewalk, Digital Performer etc. and video editing software i.e. Final Cut etc.)

The keyboard, combined with the computer, has become more and more important as a tool for creating, arranging and recording music. In fact, the boundaries between the computer and the keyboard are becoming harder to define. The keyboard player/teacher/producer should have a thorough knowledge of MIDI, MIDI and audio sequencing, virtual synths, the various programs available and computers generally.

In the 1980s, the keyboards themselves started to use computer technology to digitally recreate sounds, the first being the Korg Poly 61, and the most successful being the Yamaha DX7. The DX7 used a new synthesis technique called FM (frequency modulation) previously used to send radio signals. The DX7 could produce sine waves that could either

be heard (carriers) or be used to alter the carriers (modulators). Millions of combinations were possible, allowing for a wealth of new, previously unheard sounds. Some of the most famous DX7 sounds are its imitation of the Fender Rhodes electric piano, but FM synthesis is capable of much more. Since then, synthesizers have developed with new synthesis methods (e.g. additive synthesis, wave synthesis, physical modeling, granular synthesis, etc.) appearing regularly, with an ever-increasing number of parameters to ‘tweak’ (change). A whole new subgroup of keyboard players has appeared - the sound programmers.

Over the last decade, the synthesizer has been developing in three directions: improving the authenticity of the imitation of natural instruments (wave players/romplers and physical modeling, with improved real time control possibilities), virtual (digital) re-creation and advancement of early analog synths (Moog etc.) with better real time control, and new synthese methods (granular etc.). There are simply too many to list here.

Peter Antony

The Keyboard 19

A brief history of the keyboard (continued)

The digital sampler first appeared in the 1980s. This used the RAM computer technology to allow digital recording of an instrument or sound. Initially this was very basic due to the limited memory space, but now, with memory cheaper and many times larger, a complex multi-sample is no problem. This means that, nowadays, every note of a grand piano, for example, can be sampled (recorded) at various volume levels (later utilizing velocity switches/velocity cross fades) creating a very authentic reproduction of the instrument, which can then be played from a keyboard, computer or sequencer. Multisampling and preparing a key map can be difficult and time consuming, and another subgroup of keyboard professionals often does this with the results of their work available to purchase as data for use in a sampler (hardware or virtual). These days, samplers have the sound manipulation possibilities of a synthesizer, with filters and effect sections built in, and synthesizers often have the possibility of sampling, both being able to create new sound possibilities, leading to yet another area for the modern keyboard player: sound design.

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The quality and variety of synths and keyboards available (as hardware and software) continues to grow. New innovations are continually appearing, presenting new creative possibilities. I have tried and used many keyboards and am continuously trying out new setups. The picture on the left shows a part of my present set up that can create both old and new sounds (from top down):

Novation UltraNova Hammond Melodica Korg Kaoss Pad Nord Stage 2

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Even larger advances have been made with software: almost every good synthesizer of the past has been emulated as highly affordable software; new undreamt of synthesizers with unlimited sound potential are being designed; sampling and expressive control capabilities mean that the subtlest nuances of a natural instrument can be recreated by the capable keyboard player.

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Peter Antony

The Keyboard 20

The keyboard player of today

The professional keyboarder of today is a hybrid creature, with many areas of operation. Working as a musician, he/she will be using one of the many combinations of modules mentioned above, to create or recreate music on stage or in the studio. The music might be his/her own, or other peoples and he/she might be alone or in a band. He/she might be composing film music or producing a jingle for an advertisement, preparing a sample CD or a MIDI playback or preproduction, providing the music and sound effects for a computer game, or simply providing entertainment on record or on stage. But whatever he/she is doing, these are the skills needed to do the job effectively:

• Piano and/or organ techniques

• Notational skills - reading, interpreting and writing traditional and graphic notation

• Reading, interpreting and writing chord sheets, text sheets with chords and lead sheets

• Playing and/or transcribing music by ear

• Improvisational skills

• Imitation (of various instrument) skills

• Arranging, composing and songwriting skills

• A readiness to experiment and keep up to date with new technological developments

• A readiness to experiment and keep up to date with new musical developments

• A knowledge of and the ability to create and recreate various musical forms

• A knowledge of and the ability to create and recreate various musical styles

• Singing

• Jazz/pop/rock and traditional music theory

• Use and handling of various keyboards, (synthesizers, samplers, groove boxes etc.) • Use and handling of studio equipment, (mixers, effects, compressors, mikes, etc.) • Use and knowledge of MIDI

• Use and handling of computers and the relevant applications, such as midi/audio sequencers, virtual synthesizers and samplers, composing software, mastering software, sound (patch) editing software, sound (wave) editing software, notational software, auto-accompaniment software, film editing and music synchronization software etc.

• Knowledge and understanding of sound editing and sound design

• Knowledge and understanding of the music production process

• Knowledge and understanding of the present day music industry and its workings

• Communication, multimedia and IT (Information Technology), skills

The effective present day keyboard player must be a good player, an equipment specialist, a sound technician, a producer, an arranger, a composer, a computer expert and a walking music library.

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The effective keyboard teacher should also be skilled in all these areas, as well as having the ability to pass these skills on, finding the right balance between practice and theory, creation and imitation.

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Peter Antony

The Keyboard 21

Teaching the keyboard

As already mentioned, the keyboard is a widely misunderstood instrument: it is often necessary to educate pupils, parents, the school’s administration and colleagues to the nature of the instrument and the form, content and aim of the lessons. The keyboard player requires many skills and a main aim of the lessons is to teach these skills. The required skills of the professional keyboarder can be taken as a point of reference: this then dictates the form and the content of the lessons. The teacher should be familiar with the skills required and be able to analysis them and reduce them to basics. All skills should be used from the beginning and developed gradually. This means that skills such as improvisation, experimentation and creativity, handling of equipment, learning by ear, computer skills etc. should be introduced from the start. For example, experimenting with granular synthesis might be the advanced pupil’s occupation, but the beginner can be set on this path by being encouraged to try out the different voices on the keyboard, defining and describing them and playing or improvising with them. Traditional skills can also be taught and a good finger technique, for example, developed from the start. However, learning through imitation, experimentation, having form and style demonstrated and, very importantly, by listening, is to be preferred to imparting information only through traditional notation. Encouraging and organizing music making and creating with others should also be a part of the teaching concept.

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The aim of the keyboard pupil is not to become a concert pianist – if it is, he/she is in the wrong place. The keyboard player only needs an adequate piano technique. But, as we have seen the, keyboard player needs a wealth of other skills and the keyboard should rather be seen as the gateway to understanding, playing and creating all kinds of music. This should make it the second instrument of choice for all other instrumentalists and singers, especially those in the Pop/Rock/Jazz areas.

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On a small aside: I have often been surprised by some people’s negative attitudes towards keyboards. If a piano player attempts to play the violin for the first time and can’t make music, he does not blame the violin, he blames himself. If a violinist, or even a pianist, plays a keyboard for the first time but can’t make music (rather than just triggering a few notes), he blames the keyboard, not himself. The voice is the most direct musical instrument, being a part of the body and closest to the mind, the source of music. The violin is one step removed and so making music requires learning, but is still fairly direct and can become intuitive. The piano is probably one step further away and the keyboard, being electronic, one further step, so it requires a different kind of effort (more cognitive) to make music effectively and a very special ability to make keyboard playing equally as intuitive. It is a different, but related, skill to the violinists or pianists, but not a lesser one.

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Peter Antony

The Keyboard 22

The three modes of teaching

1) Auditory learning

Music is to be listened to, and from the start, the pupil should develop an awareness of what he/she is playing or listening to. This can be done by playing without notes, having the pupil imitate something played by the teacher, having the pupil copying something from a CD, improvising etc., and should always be a part of the lessons. In Pop and Jazz music, this ability is especially important, as very little is written down. Additionally, when one plays with other musicians, one must listen, not only to the keyboards, but also to the other instruments and change the keyboard part accordingly that it optimally fits - a very refined skill. Improvisation, a sense of dynamics, song and style analysis and reproduction, instrument imitation, rhythmic skills etc. are all only possible with proper listening skills.

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2) Linear

A melody or a text is linear, and this approach is more traditional. Reading and playing regular notation is linear.

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3) Block

Bars or sections are blocks. A rhythm guitar player plays blocks when he plays chords. Reading chord changes is thinking in blocks. An accompaniment pattern or keyboard style is a block. Thinking and teaching in blocks is very useful in Pop and Jazz and can be utilized in many ways. For example, when sequencing, or playing from a chord chart with a specific accompaniment pattern.

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Of course, these three approaches are indivisible, and all three are present when playing or teaching music, but one can approach a piece from one angle more than the other. An example would be a piece of music played in different ways:

• By ear (auditory)

• By ear with form written out (form is both linear and block)

• With a chord chart (block)

• With a lead sheet with melody and chords (LH - block, RH - linear)

• With a written piano arrangement (both hands - linear),

• With an original pianistic arrangement using a left hand pattern (LH - block, RH - linear)

• With RH chords, LH bass, an accompaniment pattern (block) and the melody sung (linear)

It is a good idea to play a piece in all these ways to develop these different approaches.

Peter Antony

The Keyboard 23

Lesson content

To fully list the content of lessons goes beyond the scope of this essay. But here a few examples, from beginner to advanced, in some of the required skills. This is not a comprehensive list.

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Improvisation: black key pentatonic, short phrases, question and response, other pentatonic scales,

syncopations and other rhythmic variations, blues notes, tonal centers, chord scales, modes. With improvisation it is important not to get bogged down in theory, but to develop the willingness to experiment, to break rules and the ability to listen to what one is playing. The best solo is the predictably unexpected, where less is more. Composition is also closely related to improvisation.

Accompaniment: simple chords, percussive techniques (left/right hand), singing, auto

accompaniment, basic patterns, drum patterns, bass patterns, rhythm instrument patterns, left hand chord patterns, arpeggios, split playing, pianistic playing, style analysis and imitation, song analysis and imitation, sequencing, developing original patterns, voicings, complex chords, complex patterns, arrangement, composition

Sound design: voices, splits, layers, registrations, effects, MIDI, editing voices, sound effects,

sampling, sequencing software, sound editing software, subtractive synthese, other synthese, composition, film/video music

Piano skills: finger movement, dexterity and independence, legato, dynamics and expression,

staccato (wrist), non legato (arm), marcato, portato, sustain pedal, slide finger (blues licks), soft pedal, sostenuto pedal, expression pedal (organ), differentiated (LH/RH) dynamics , phrasing and articulation

Theory: simple notation, chords, chord notation, simple chord functionality (tension and release),

major scales, pentatonic, blues scale, tetra chords, slash chords, dynamic signs, intervals, circle of fifths, graphic notation, computer notation programs, advanced notation, complex chords, complex chord functionality, chord scales, modes, reharmonisation, tritonus substitution It is important to underscore theory with aural and practical examples.

Familiarity with the computer and music software should also be encouraged from the beginning.

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Obviously, the various elements are all interrelated and the exact order of introducing new material should be flexible depending on the abilities and motivations of the pupil. It is best to use all three approaches: by ear, linear (written examples) and block (understanding of the structures involved).

Peter Antony

The Keyboard 24

Conclusion

The keyboard is an indefinable, broadly used, continually developing instrument. The music and the music creation tools of the future are unknown. The area of activity of the keyboarder of the future is only partially imaginable. Thus, the keyboard player of today must strive to develop creativity, flexibility, inquiry and independence so that he/she can effectively utilize future developments in music, musical expression, music genres and technology.

The overall aim of teaching the keyboard must be to introduce and develop the necessary skills needed by the present and future keyboard player and music producer and, additionally, to encourage and promote independence, self-sufficiency and a willingness to experiment and, above all, be creative. These aims are applicable to all teachers involved in Pop music education.

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ps. food for thought

Tips on how to be creative (from a TED talk)

Learn from everyone

Follow no-one

Watch for patterns

Work like hell

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Subdivisions of human thought (from a TED talk)

Thinking

Sensation

Intuition

Feeling

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‘The most important thing for human kind is its own creativity’ The Dalai Lama in his autobiography, Freedom in Exile (1991, p. 242)

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Peter Antony

The Keyboard 25

Bibliography and further reading

Antony, P. (2003) Das Unterrichten des Keyboards Submission for BL7 Keyboards, Trossingen. Unpublished Antony, P. (2003) The Pop Industry Submission for BL7 Keyboards, Trossingen. Unpublished Coleman, S. (2007) ‘The “nexus” of a musical language and jazz’ August 4, 2007, The M-BASE blog Available online at http://mbase.wordpress.com/category/philosophy-of-music/ (last accessed 11.05.2012)

Levitin, D.J. (2006) This is Your Brain on Music - The Science of a Human Obsession New York, Dutton. Maas, R. (2010) Studiengänge an der WWU: Keyboards & Musicproduction Available online at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rIpEbhaj1Q (last accessed 10.04.2012) Roberts, Marvin (1957) Horse and Horseman Training Salinas, El Camino Press Available online at http://www.montyroberts.com/images/jui_photos/horse_horseman_training.pdf Ross, A. (2010) ‘Why do we hate modern classical music’ published in the Guardian 28.11.2010 Available online at http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/nov/28/alex-ross-modern-classical-music?intcmp=239#history-link-box (last accessed 10.05.2012) Robinson, K. (2006) Schools kill creativity Available online at http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html (last accessed 10.04.2012) Robinson, K. (2010) Bring on the learning revolution! Available online at http://www.ted.com/talks/sir_ken_robinson_bring_on_the_revolution.html (last accessed 10.04.2012) Rohlfs, E. & Hartmann, F. (2005) (editors) VdM Lehrplan Keyboard Kassel, Gustav Bosse Verlag. Roll, F.J. (2003) Pädagogik der Navigation: Selbstgesteuertes Lernen durch Neue Medien München, Kopaed Verlagsgmbh.

Russel, G. (1953) Lydian Chromatic Concept of Tonal Organization New York, N.Y.Concept Publishing Co. Spitzer,M. (2005) Musik im Kopf: Hören, Musizieren, Verstehen und Erleben im neuronalen Netzwerk Stuttgart, Schattauer Verlag. StiMED, Stiftung für Innovative Musikerziehung Available online at http://www.stimed.nl/de/home (last accessed 10.04.2012) Wooten, V.L. (2008) The Music Lesson Berkley Publishing Group, Boston