Happy Birthday is the most important song to know how to play by ear. If you only ever learn one song by ear, this should be it! Pianists will always have opportunities to play Happy Birthday. And this song is a lot of fun to experiment with once you've got the basics down. First learn how to … [Read more...]
Play By Ear: Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star
Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star is a great first piece when you're leaning how to play by ear. Follow this easy 4 step process: 1. To play by ear, first make sure you know the song well enough to sing from memory. 2. Find the starting note on the piano. The starting note is marked for you on … [Read more...]
Play By Ear: Somewhere Over the Rainbow
Playing piano by ear is actually very easy- I've seen kids as young as five years old play successfully. There's a simple formula for playing by ear, and when you know it, you can play some really neat songs- even if you're just a beginner! Read about the formula on the post How to Teach Kids to … [Read more...]
How to Play White Christmas by Ear
Use this free printout to learn how to play Irving Berlin's White Christmas on the piano by ear. Just follow the directions on my post How to Teach Kids to Play by Ear. White Christmas is believed to be the best selling single of all time. You can easily learn to play this beautiful, nostalgic … [Read more...]
How to Play Silent Night with Chords
Use this free printout to teach kids how to add chords to Silent Night. Use this activity after kids have mastered playing silent night by ear. Just use the simple I IV V chords in this activity. If you used my How to Play Silent Night by Ear printout, you learned Silent Night in the key of C, … [Read more...]