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Author Archives: Francesco L'Erario

Composition: here are the notes that make your music more effective (part 1)

The ‘appoggiatura’

Today we start a new cycle of video lessons that will allow you to learn very effective kind of notes that should be used to compose a great melody.

There are many reasons why these notes are so fascinating, but maybe the most important is that:

these notes can change the whole harmonic result.

Remember, all great songs are made up of notes like these!
For this reason we need to know them in depth and how to use them in the right way.

To make the most of this lesson, I suggest you to watch the following lesson (if you haven’t already done):

Strong beat and weak beat, rhythmic accents, downbeat and upbeat

Learning material of this lesson

6 videos	40 mins
1. Introduction to the new cycle of videolessons	2m 06s
2. Non harmonic tones and strong beats	7m 40s
3. What is the ‘appoggiatura’?	8m 58s
4. How to use ‘appoggiatura’ on secondary strong beats	7m 53s
5. Ascending ‘appoggiatura’	7m 36s
6. Hot to mix different kinds of ‘appoggiatura’	6m 15s
+ 1 pdf file

... to continue this video lesson

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Music Reading: the tie, dotted notes and other rhythmic figures (Part 8)

Other rhythmic figures

In today’s lesson we will end this cycle of video lessons in which you have learned many new rhythmic figures.

Today we will improve even more our skills in music reading.

In fact you will find many new music reading exercises to practice with all the different figures.

But, maybe more important, we will introduce 2 new rhythmic figures. We will learn them from a theoretical point of view and understand how to read them.
Even in this case you will be able to immediately play them, thanks to some practical video exercises.

After all these video lessons you have reached a high level in music reading!

Learning material of this lesson

7 videos	21 mins
1. Introduction to the new lesson	2m 23s
2. First figure: eight note rest and a couple of semiquavers	3m 40s
3. Practice (first figure)	1m 57s
4. Exercise to learn to play (first figure)	2m 23s
5. Second figure: dotted crotchet and a couple of semiquavers	7m 05s
6. Practice (second figure)	1m 42s
7. Exercise to learn to play (second figure)	2m 52s
+ 1 pdf file
+ 11 audio files

... to continue this video lesson

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Music Reading: the tie, dotted notes and other rhythmic figures (Part 7)

Double dotted quavers

Today we will cover a very important rhythmic figure:

The double dotted quaver.

This is a very common figure but since it is quite complex to read, people often find some difficutlies with it.
For this reason today we will learn in depth how to read double dotted quavers.

In this lessons we will cover many other topics such as:

what are demisemiquavers
how to read demisemiquavers
how to read double dotted quaver plus a demisemiquaver
how to play double dotted quaver plus a demisemiquaver

To make the most of the material in this lesson, I suggest you to read the Introduction page of this cycle of lessons. (go to link).

The exercise to learn to play double dotted quavers

Learning material of this lesson

6 videos	27 mins
1. Introduction to the new lesson	4m 09s
2. What are demisemiquavers and how to read them	5m 36s
3. Double dotted quavers (theory)	6m 04s
4. Double dotted quavers (practice)	6m 34s
5. Music reading practice	1m 44s
6. The exercise to learn to play double dotted quavers	2m 33s
+ 1 pdf file
+ 10 audio files

... to continue this video lesson

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Music Reading: the tie, dotted notes and other rhythmic figures (Part 6)

Double dotted crotchets

What is a double dotted crotchet? It is an essential and very common rhytmic figure:

Today we will focus on this new essential musical element: we will learn double dotted crotchets in depth and practice through many music reading exercises.

As usual you will also find a video to learn to play double dotted crotchets.

To make the most of the material in this lesson, I suggest you to read the Introduction page of this cycle of lessons. (go to link).

Have a good lesson!

Learning material of this lesson

4 videos	19 mins
1. Introduction to the new lesson	2m 12s
2. Double dotted crotchet (theory and practice)	12m 59s
3. Music reading practice	1m 59s
4. Exercise to learn to play double dotted crotchets	2m 24s
+ 1 pdf file
+ 9 audio files

... to continue this video lesson

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With a Free account you gain immediate access to 15 lessons of piano, theory, harmony, music reading and composition (36 videos).

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Music Reading: the tie, dotted notes and other rhythmic figures (Part 5)

Double dotted notes

Up to now we have covered many different elements to prolong the sound, such as dotted notes, tie, etcetera

Today we will introduce some new essential tools in music reading, double dotted notes.

How do we read double dotted notes?

Toady we will focus on this very important topic.

As usual you will find several music reading exercises to put into practice everything you learn.

To make the most of the material in this lesson, I suggest you to read the Introduction page of this cycle of lessons. (go to link).

Learning material of this lesson

4 videos	14 mins
1. Introduction to the new lesson	2m 23s
2. Double dotted notes: how to read them	6m 40s
3. Music reading practice	1m 54s
4. Exercise to learn to play double dotted minime	2m 51s
+ 1 pdf file
+ 9 audio files

... to continue this video lesson

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With a Free account you gain immediate access to 15 lessons of piano, theory, harmony, music reading and composition (36 videos).

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Music Reading: the tie, dotted notes and other rhythmic figures (Part 4)

Dotted quavers

What are the dotted quavers?

How can we read them?

Today we will focus on this new musical element and we will also introduce a very common rhythmic figure made up of a dotted quaver and a semiquaver:

We will learn in depth how to read and play this figure.

Moreover we will practice by mixing all the different musical elements that we already know with the new rhythmic figur

To make the most of the material in this lesson, I suggest you to read the Introduction page of this cycle of lessons. (go to link).

Have a good lesson!

Learning material of this lesson

5 videos	21 mins
1. Introduction to the new lesson	2m 33s
2. The dotted quaver (theory)	2m 41s
3. The dotted quaver (practice)	11m 22s
4. Music reading practice	2m 26s
5. Exercise to play the dotted quaver	2m 08s
+ 1 pdf file
+ 10 audio files

... to continue this video lesson

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With a Free account you gain immediate access to 15 lessons of piano, theory, harmony, music reading and composition (36 videos).

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Music Reading: the tie, dotted notes and other rhythmic figures (Part 3)

Dottes notes

Today we introduce something fundamental in music writing:

The dotted notes.

What are dotted notes?
What effect do they have on notes?
How can we read and write dotted notes?

These are only some of the questions we will answer.

Moreover as in all lessons, you will find lots of music reading exercises with audio podcast for practice.

Have a good lesson!

Learning material of this lesson

6 videos	23 mins
1. Introduction to the new lesson	2m 45s
2. Dotted notes	3m 43s
3. The dotted crotchet	5m 56s
4. A trick to read music as best as possible with dotted notes	5m 30s
5. The practical exercise of music reading	2m 58s
6. The exercise to learn to play dotted notes	2m 08s
+ 1 pdf file
+ 11 audio files

... to continue this video lesson

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With a Free account you gain immediate access to 15 lessons of piano, theory, harmony, music reading and composition (36 videos).

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Music Reading: the tie, dotted notes and other rhythmic figures (Part 2)

The group made up of a quaver and a couple of semiquavers

In the lesson today, we will introduce a new and very important rhythmic figure:

The group made up of a quaver and a couple of semiquavers:

This figure is used very much in written music and therefore it is very important to learn to read it well.

Today will learn to read music correctly and learn to do practical exercises which allow you to play the music immediately on your instrument.

To make the most of the material in this lesson, I suggest you to read the Introduction page of this cycle of lessons. (go to link).

Have a good lesson!

Learning material of this lesson

6 videos	18 mins
1. Introduction to the new lesson	3m 31s
2. The difference between the tie and the slur	3m 15s
3. The quaver group plus semiquaver couple: theoretical explanation (part 1)	6m 59s
4. The quaver group plus semiquaver couple: theoretical explanation (part 2)	6m 53s
5. Practical exercise	2m 30s
6. Exercise to learn to play the quaver group plus the semiquaver couple	2m 04s
+ 1 pdf file
+ 11 audio files

... to continue this video lesson

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With a Free account you gain immediate access to 15 lessons of piano, theory, harmony, music reading and composition (36 videos).

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Music Reading: the tie, dotted notes and other rhythmic figures (Part 1)

New rhythmic figures: the tie

In the lesson today we get to know how to read some new rhythmic figures.

In particular we will concentrate on the tie.
This is one of the rhythmic figures which are most used in music to lengthen the duration of the sound.

Today we will learn the best way to read this in music, even in the most difficult cases.

To understand how to use the material found in this lesson, I suggest you to read the introduction to this cycle of lessons (see link).

Have a good lesson!

Learning material of this lesson

8 videos	34 mins
1. Introduction to the new cycle of lessons	3m 44s
2. What is the tie	6m 31s
3. How to read the tie	5m 26s
4. Another example of reading the tie	3m 13s
5. Practical exercise with the tie	2m 56s
6. Exercise to learn to play 1	8m 17s
7. Exercise to learn to play 2	2m 28s
8. How to make the most of the exercises in attachment	1m 52s
+ 1 pdf file
+ 9 audio files

... to continue this video lesson

The access to this lesson is reserved to Premium Membership subscribers.

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With a Free account you gain immediate access to 15 lessons of piano, theory, harmony, music reading and composition (36 videos).

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Music Reading: the tie, dotted notes and other rhythmic figures (Introduction)

The tie, dotted notes and other rhythmic figures

I want to introduce a new cycle of video lessons in which we will learn many rhythmic figures.

In these lessons we will focus on many essential topics such as:

the tie
dotted notes
double dotted notes
other common figures

Every lesson is made up of videos, pdf files and audio files.
To make the most from the material of these lessons it is advisable to follow the videos first and then to practice with the pdf and audio files.

I suggest to skip to the next lesson only when every topic is clear and after some practice.

Every lesson is made up of:

1. Introduction to the lesson

2. Theoretical explanation of the new rhythmic figure

3. How to read the new rhythmic figure

4. Music reading practice

5. Pdf file with exercises and corresponding audio files

6. Video Exercise to learn to play the new rhythmic figure

It is advisable to use the last video exercise only after learning in depth the new rhythmic figure and practiced a lot with it.

Below you find the link to the corrisponding lessons:

Music Reading: the tie, dotted notes and other rhythmic figures (part 1)

Music Reading: the tie, dotted notes and other rhythmic figures (part 2)

Music Reading: the tie, dotted notes and other rhythmic figures (part 3)

Music Reading: the tie, dotted notes and other rhythmic figures (part 4)

Music Reading: the tie, dotted notes and other rhythmic figures (part 5)

Music Reading: the tie, dotted notes and other rhythmic figures (part 6)

Music Reading: the tie, dotted notes and other rhythmic figures (part 7)

Music Reading: the tie, dotted notes and other rhythmic figures (part 8)