8 episodes
Melodies with Morgan Morgan Showalter
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- Education
This is the place to learn piano chords and playing by ear the simple way. I've seen experienced and beginner pianist fall into the same dilemma: MOST of the popular piano methods fail to connect the dots with foundational piano patterns. It takes years to learn enough piano theory to finally see how it all works together. In this podcast, we'll be approaching music theory from a completely different angle allowing you to play by ear as a beginner or classically trained musician. You'll learn how piano chords connect like a chain and how to confidently weave through any piano key as you improvise. Also - to all the piano teachers out there - we'll be diving into how to teach piano classically AND by ear. You'll hear some fun (and failed!) stories from my years of teaching piano since 2013. Let's get started!
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008 Learning Chord Inversions (and why the I, IV, V pattern isn't ideal)
In this episode we explore chord inversions: what they are, how to find them from any chord, and how to use them for a melody and song. We also talk about why the traditional I, IV, V chord progression isn't ideal and teach it in a more thorough approach.
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007 Where Do I Begin? Learning Piano Chords!
Whether you have been playing classical piano for a few years or are a beginner to piano, this episode gives a clear action plan for learning your first piano chords! (And it's different than the traditional piano method!) What if there was a way to recognize patterns and have fun while learning your favorite songs and chord charts? Let's explore some ideas!
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006 From Basic to Beautiful! Realtime Piano Chord Examples
Let's dive into some piano examples together taking a basic chord progression and turning it into a beautiful melody! We'll cover how to expand a chord with voicing and how to use inversions to guide a melody. This episode's a must for all composers and gives some creative ways to get started for beginners.
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005 Don't Google Piano Chords! Learn This Simple Method Instead...
In this episode, we start where most method books end. We can derive chords from the scale (traditionally) but that leaves us with a lot of memorization and work to do before learning any chords. We would first have to learn 12 key signatures and the different sharps and flats in those scales. What if there was a way to learn chords, even as a beginner? Let's use a different approach to find the easy patterns for chords and start playing ASAP!
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004 My Secret (tried and true) Method for First Piano Chord
I wish piano chords were taught like this!! Learning the first chord can be so simple, easy, and fun! In this episode, I teach my method for learning the very first chord, and it's been tested successfully with so many of my students.
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003 How to Read a Chord Chart vs Sheet Music
This episode is all about reading a chord chart, which is so different from playing traditional sheet music. I wish someone would have told me these differences when I was first starting out with chord charts. Even if you have quite a bit of knowledge on reading sheet music, there's a few simple things to know about chord charts to kickstart your learning. I also share a few stories about my own journey and student success stories in this episode!