Recognizing Chords on the Page and By Ear
I want to see a chord on the staff and know what it is at a glance. And I want to hear a chord in context and know its function.
Tonic Sense Blog
Learning to Read Syncopated Rhythms at the Piano
I've avoided syncopation for years because it's hard. Now I'm forcing myself to work on it. Here's what I'm doing and why I put it off so long.
How to Find Piano Keys Without Looking Down
Been away from the piano and I've lost my ability to find keys by feel. Need to repeat the old drills and re-train both hands.
My Favorite YouTube Piano Channels: 70 People Playing at Home for Fun
I've spent 8 years collecting YouTube channels of people playing piano at home in their living rooms. Here's a playlist.
How to Play Piano Without Sheet Music
You don't need to read notation to play piano. You need chords, ear training, and time. Here's how to build those skills.
Is Learning Piano Good for Your Brain?
Learning piano forces you through the three phases of learning repeatedly, improving your memory and attention span in the process.
Dominant 7th Chord Confusion: How to Count to 7
When you build a dominant 7th chord, which scale are you counting in? I once spent days searching for an answer to a question I couldn't phrase right.
How to Hear the Music Before You Play It
Skilled sight readers don't just decode notes -- they hear the music in their head before their fingers touch the keys. This skill can be developed. It starts with scale degree recognition.
Why You Can Hear a Song in Your Head But Can't Play It on Piano
Your ear works fine and so do your fingers, but the connection between them doesn't. The skill that bridges audiation to playing is recognizing scale degrees.
Why Transposing Feels So Hard
Most piano players learn pieces as letter names and finger positions, which means transposing feels like starting over. The fix is learning to hear and play in scale degrees -- and practicing that in all 12 keys, not just C major.
Why You Can't Play Piano Hands Together (And How to Change Your Brain)
Your hands know what to do separately. Together, your brain locks up. Here's why -- and a specific exercise that fixes it.
How to Learn Chords and Ways to Practice Them on Piano
The best way to learn chords on piano: learn each shape, then drill until your hands move without thinking. Here's how to learn block chords, broken chords, left hand patterns, and more.
How to Find the Tonic by Ear: 7 Ear Training Techniques for Solfege and Melodic Dictation
Learn 7 practical ear training techniques to find the tonic (Do) in any melody. Essential for solfege, melodic dictation, and playing by ear - with interactive examples and practice exercises.
Sight Read Practice Files - Homemade sight reading sheet music PDFs
Chords, intervals, landmark notes, sight-reading practice files I made using LilyPond in 2018.
Perfect 4th vs Perfect 5th: How to Stop Confusing Them in Interval Ear Training
Why you keep mixing up perfect 4ths and 5ths in ear training apps - and how to fix it. The problem isn't your ears, it's mental inversion. Learn to hear which note is actually higher.
Slow Progress Is Still Progress
When people think 'playing piano', they picture someone who can sit down and perform a piece cleanly and at tempo. What I do doesn't look like that.
2 More Thoughts on Sight-Reading
What's the most helpful thing I ever read on fingering?
12 Things I Did to Teach Myself Sight-Reading
I would practice reading left hand separately a lot. (I was exposed to treble clef starting at 5 years old, but didn't learn bass clef until my late 20s. Even in my late 50s early 60s I still had to give it extra attention.)
Why I Switched from Intervals to Scale Degrees
When you're trying to identify intervals, your brain has to hold two different notes in your mind simultaneously and compare them.
My Physical Limitations
When I started teaching myself piano, I had no idea how much my body would get in the way.
Why I Avoided C Major
Do not divide the world of key signatures into C versus not-C.
Building a Person Who Can Play Piano
I knew that if I approached it the same way as before, I would just end up being an efficient typist again.
3 Ways to Practice Melodic Dictation: Solfege, Scale Degrees, or Piano Keyboard
Choosing between solfege, numbers, or keyboard for melodic dictation practice. Learn why practicing on piano in all 12 keys builds keyboard visualization - and why most musicians benefit from all three methods.
Solfege Melodic Dictation: Why I Built a Piano-Based Ear Training App
I built a solfege melodic dictation app that lets you practice on a piano keyboard. Learn why existing melodic dictation piano tools weren't enough and how I created something better.