Category: Giveaway!

Posted on

Exercises to Help You Play Triplets

Rhythm is one of the most difficult music skills to teach and to learn. Last month I posted an exercise to help you keep your eighth notes to exactly twice as fast as your quarter notes. Today I would like to help you play triplets correctly.

Triplets Exercise #1

If you are beginner, Triplets Exercise #1 might be challenging for you. Eighth note triplets subdivide each beat into three equal parts. Click to print the Exercise #1 sheet below, then follow these steps:

  • 1) Play your LH quarter notes along with my video, staying with my beat and listening to the RH triplets.
  • 2) Play your LH quarter notes along with mine, singing “tri-pl-et” or “mu-si-cal”evenly for the triplets.
  • 3) Play your RH triplets along with my video, and see if you can stay with my beat.
  • 4) When you are ready, try playing Ex# 1 with hands together along with my video. FYI, my metronome is set at 50 BPM (beats per minute) if you want to try this exercise on your own.
CLICK on Exercise #1 above to PRINT

Triplets Exercise #2

If you are an intermediate piano player, Triplets Exercise #2 might be challenging for you. Six quarter note triplets spread out evenly and equally over four beats. Click to print the Triplet Exercise #2 sheet below, then follow these steps:

  • 1) Play your LH quarter notes with my video, listening to the sound of the RH quarter note triplets.
  • 2) Sing “tri-pl-et” or “mu-si-cal” for the triplets while your LH plays the quarter notes along with mine.
  • 3) Play just the RH quarter note triplets with mine.
  • 4) After much practice with RH alone, try playing Ex #2 with hands together with the video. (FYI, my metronome is set at 90 BPM). (Note: Beginners might not be ready to play Exercise #2 for quite a while.)
CLICK on Exercise #2 above to PRINT

Triplets appear in music often, so it’s helpful to practice this skill over time, before you encounter it in your music. Be patient with yourself; it can take days, weeks, months or more, to master playing 6 quarter note triplets against 4 quarter notes. It can feel like patting your head while rubbing your stomach! Keep playing with these videos until you can stay with my right and left hands. Often students think they are playing triplets correctly when they are not, so be sure to record yourself playing your triplets with mine to hear if they are aligning properly. Practice this skill at least a few days a week until you can play both exercises on your own, without the video. Once again, record yourself to be sure the triplets are even.

Let us know how you do with this exercise! Please subscribe in the upper right corner ↗️ of this page to get your July free sheet music next weekend!

With love and triplets 🎶, Gaili

P.S. If you are new to this blog, welcome! I am a veteran piano teacher of almost 35 years! I post free sheet music every month, arranged for beginning to intermediate piano students, plus posts like this one to motivate and inform. I have written piano instruction books for older adults (UpperHandsPiano.com), younger adults and teens (PianoPowered.com), Songs of the Seasons piano sheet music books for seasonal classical and popular favorites, and my latest piano/guitar/vocals books called The Music Remedy – sheet music collections to restore and revitalize the spirit. Check out my books on the websites above, or click below to view them on Amazon.com.

Posted on

Giveaway Winners! And some Practice Tips to review in ’22

I hope you had a lovely Valentine’s Day spent with someone you love, or doing something you love to do! (Like eating chocolate?! Playing some beautiful pieces?) Congratulations to the winners of my Giveaway for 20 of The Music Remedy books No. 1 and 2! I so appreciate your enthusiastic support and I hope you enjoy your books. Here are the winners:

  1. Helga Kaefer
  2. Fran Tracy Walls
  3. Mary Hebard
  4. Lee Shatto
  5. Raechel Averett
  6. Dee Fisher
  7. Louis Lemire
  8. Mary Ellen Huckstep Labreque
  9. CarolLynn Gregson
  10. Medgar (SailorMargie)
  11. Jolene Hudgens McClellan
  12. Lisa El-Lakis
  13. Cynthia Norlin
  14. Linda May
  15. Agnes Zelgert
  16. Vera Harte
  17. Sandy Ludwig
  18. Beth DeAngelis Gooch
  19. Nicole Rosenbach Brown
  20. Donnamarie Shortt Kavanaugh

Winners: To claim your book, please email your address to me: upperhandspiano@gmail.com, and I will send you your book via USPS. State your preference for The Music Remedy No. 1 or No. 2 (click to see CONTENTS and sample pages) and I will honor your requests until one or the other run out.

Thank you all for your support! I hope you are enjoying The Music Remedy books, and are finding the music to be both beautiful and revitalizing!

||: Beginners you might want to take a look at my post on Repeat signs. It takes awhile to remember repeat protocols! :||

🤏 Intermediate piano players would do well to review this finger exercise for a few weeks in 2022!🤏

🏃🏿 You also might want to review these ideas I posted years ago about Aging Well. Now that the numbers of new Covid Cases are going down (hopefully we won’t have a big Super Bowl surge here in Los Angeles) we can begin to be social again soon. Being social is one of the three main components of Aging Well. 🏃🏿

🌹 Stay warm, cozy and musical for the rest of February. If you haven’t already, be sure to print and play my free arrangement of My Love is Like a Red, Red Rose.🌹

With love and music, Gaili

Posted on

Giveaway! The Music Remedy books No. 1 and No. 2

I hope you have been enjoying playing my February free sheet music, My Love is Like a Red, Red Rose. To further celebrate the month of 💗 love 💗 I am giving away 20 of my new books:

  • The Music Remedy, No. 1: 12 Passionate Pieces to Move You from Loss to Love
  • The Music Remedy, No. 2: 12 Passionate Pieces to Move You from Anxiety to Calm

***I am giving away 10 of each on February 14th, Valentine’s Day, of course! To enter, subscribe to this blog (if you haven’t already) and LIKE @UpperHandsPiano on Facebook or FOLLOW Instagram or Facebook, and be sure to LIKE the post about the Giveaway! Two chances to win if you LIKE/FOLLOW both. Also extra entries each time you tag a friend on Facebook or Instagram, or share this giveaway in your stories (remember to tag me @upperhandspiano) Includes free shipping within the USA.***

*If you buy one of The Music Remedy books between now and the drawing, you will get a refund if you win the drawing (you will just need to show proof of purchase)*

Click HERE to learn more on our website

SONG LISTS:

The Music Remedy: No. 1  – 12 Passionate Pieces to Move You from Loss to Love 

  • ​What’ll I Do– Irving Berlin
  • You Made Me Love You– James Monaco and Joseph McCarthy
  • I Ain’t Got Nobody– Spencer Williams
  • I’ll See You in My Dreams– Isham Jones and Gus Kahn
  • Piano Concerto No. 1 – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
  • Somewhere Out There– James Horner, Barry Mann, Cynthia Weil
  • The Man I Love– George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin
  • Romance Without Words– Gabriel Fauré
  • Ready for You– Gaili Schoen
  • It Had to Be You– Isham Jones, Gus Kahn
  • At Last– Harry Warren, Mack Gordon
  • La Vie en Rose– Louiguy, Edith Piaf, Mack David

The Music Remedy: No. 2  – 12 Passionate Pieces to Move You from Anxiety to Calm 

  • The Tempest– Ludwig van Beethoven
  • Alla Turca– Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
  • Breathin– Ariana Grande
  • Rumination– Gaili Schoen
  • This Train – Gaili Schoen
  • Clair de Lune– Gabriel Fauré
  • The Swan– Camille Saint-Saëns
  • Meditation– Jules Massenet
  • Tristesse– Frederick Chopin
  • In My Room– Brian Wilson and Brian Usher
  • A Little Night Music II– Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
  • Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars– Antonio Carlos Jobim
from The Music Remedy No. 1: 12 Passionate Pieces to Move You from Loss to Love
from The Music Remedy No. 1: 12 Passionate Pieces to Move You from Loss to Love
from The Music Remedy No. 2: 12 Passionate Pieces to Move You from Anxiety to Calm
from The Music Remedy No. 2: 12 Passionate Pieces to Move You from Anxiety to Calm

The Music Remedy is a collection of beautiful, melodic songs and pieces for intermediate Piano/Guitar/Vocals that use the healing power of music to help restore your emotional balance. Because playing music can be the best medicine.

The Music Remedy books begin with pieces that align with a troubling emotion. Playing pieces that resonate with your emotional state can help you clear a path toward healing and growth. It is widely known that listening to and playing music is deeply therapeutic, and more often than not, we musicians have the power to take our emotions into our own hands and literally play our blues away. As you progress through each book, the music seeks to gradually shift your perspective, guiding you to a more balanced outlook; an emotional state that can enable you to imagine and create a brighter future filled with renewed possibilities.

​These books make great gifts for your loved ones, or for yourself! Leave a comment below to tell me which book you would like if you win and I’ll do my best to honor your request. Good luck and thanks for playing! 🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶 – Gaili

​

P.S. You can purchase the books plus my Upper Hands Piano books for adults 50+ below, or order from your local bookstore (The Music Remedy series is only available in the USA, for now. The Upper Hands Piano series is available in the US, UK and Canada). Thank you!

Posted on

Announcing… New Books and Free Holiday Sheet Music!

Click to view on Amazon.com
Click to view on Amazon.com

My series called The Music Remedy launched today!

For the past year I have been hard at work researching, selecting, arranging and editing songs and pieces for a new series of sheet music books called, The Music Remedy. For many of us, playing music was the best medicine during the Covid-19 pandemic, getting us through the isolation, the anxiety, and our many losses. In The Music Remedy books we target some of life’s most problematic obstacles, offering songs and pieces to help the musician (pianist, guitarist, vocalist) move through distressing emotions to a more positive and balanced emotional state. Piano players and guitarists who have tested these books report that playing (and singing) these songs and pieces helped them to cope with painful feelings; they also reported that the pieces renewed their optimism, restoring a sense of well-being. Playing and singing the songs in The Music Remedy: No. 1: – 12 Passionate Pieces to Move You from Loss to Love, helped them to extend themselves to people and to open to the idea of bringing a new love into their lives. The Music Remedy: No. 2 – 12 Passionate Pieces to Move You from Anxiety to Calm helped musicians to relax and trust that they would be safe. It’s been so exciting creating music books that might help people feel better (while also boosting their brain power, of course!) But even if you aren’t experiencing these issues, the pieces within The Music Remedy books are beautiful, melodic, and fun to play!

You can click the images above to order on Amazon, or click here to view sample pages and song lists for each book.

This month only, The Music Remedy books are on sale for $9.50! On January 1st they go up to $12.95, so buy now!

On TheMusicRemedy.com you can find links to video demonstrations for every song in each book. I think you’ll find that watching the videos will help you to learn the pieces more quickly and accurately. All of these arrangements range from the early to late intermediate levels. I hope that you will consider giving these books as gifts, or buying them for yourself (as my student Joan says, playing the piano is the best therapy!)

As an added incentive, if you buy ANY of my books this month (Upper Hands Piano levels 1-4, Songs of the Seasons: Spring, Summer, Winter or Autumn, Piano Powered, or The Music Remedy) send a screen shot of your receipt to me at UpperHandsPiano@gmail.com, and I will send you some free holiday music- Dance of the Sugarplum Fairy, Deck The Halls, Dona Nobis, I Saw Three Ships, Jingle Bells, Joyful Joyful, Little Drummer Boy, The Nutcracker Suite, O Christmas Tree, Oh Chanukah, Oh Holy Night, Sevivon, Silent Night, and Vivaldi’s Winter. Request one or request them all! That’s just this month, December 2021.

Selling my books helps me to support this blog so that I can continue to offer you free sheet music each month, so I hope you don’t mind my advertising today! Many thanks for your kind and generous support. Happy Holidays friends!

With love and music, Gaili

Posted on

Exercises in Thirds

One of the greatest challenges to us piano players is playing our 3, 4 and 5 fingers consecutively. Because of the way tendons are connected in our hands, it’s difficult to play fingers 3 and 4 or fingers 4 and 5 one after another. It can be so frustrating, sometimes we find ourselves avoiding playing with our 4-fingers altogether 😆. These Exercises in Thirds can help you gain more finger agility, if you practice them like this:

Using the PENTASCALES chart, practice Exercise #1 Parallel Motion (Parallel Motion means that your hands are playing the same notes and moving in the same direction) in the C pentascale (a pentascale is the first 5 notes of a major scale), then G, playing through all the rest of the 12 pentascales. Once you can play the Exercise #1 Parallel Motion in all 12 pentascales fairly well, move on to Exercise #1 in Contrary Motion in all 12 pentascales. Contrary Motion means that your hands are playing different notes, moving in opposite directions, but using the same fingering (i.e. both hands are playing fingers 1 – 3, 2 – 4, and 3 – 5 at the same time, but your hands are playing different notes.)

Next, move on to Exercise #2 Parallel Motion in all 12 pentascales. After playing all 12 in parallel motion fairly well, play Exercise #2 in Contrary Motion in all 12. You will have better and deeper brain retention and small motor skill development if you do each part of each exercise in all 12 pentascales (i.e. Exercise #3 in Parallel Motion) before moving on to the next part (i.e. Exercise #3 in Contrary Motion.) Students sometimes like to play all of the exercises in each key at once, but trust me 🙋🏻‍♀️, you will gain greater flexibility if you play each exercise part in all 12 keys before moving on to the next part. Here is Exercise #1 Parallel Motion in C and Db:

Click to Print Exercises in Thirds and the Pentascales chart:

I hope you find these exercises helpful. I like to have my students go back and review these exercises yearly or at least every other year; each time you review them you increase dexterity and finger independence.

How is your spring going so far? Here in Los Angeles it has been an uncharacteristically spring. We haven’t gotten much rain, but I am nevertheless enjoying watching my few vegetables grow in my garden (artichokes, corn, tomatoes and collards). What are you growing in your garden? Or are you planting seeds for new ideas or new summer projects? Please leave a comment and tell us what you are playing on the piano, what you are composing, or what seeds you are planting for new growth in your life. I do hope that you have been vaccinated and are enjoying increased in-person connections with loved ones.

With love and music, Gaili

Author, Upper Hands Piano: A Method for Adults 50+ to Spark the Mind, Heart and Soul

Posted on

November Free Sheet Music: We Gather Together

While we Americans are patiently 😁 awaiting our presidential election results, we might turn our attention to the fact that it is the season of gratitude. In the US, the weeks approaching Thanksgiving are a time to slow down and take stock of all the things we are thankful for. Life is such a gift, and I grieve for all who have lost loved ones in the pandemic, and am grateful for our own good health. What are you thankful for, in spite of all the disasters we have experienced this year?

I have posted the Thanksgiving favorite, We Gather Together for my November giveaway. This is replacing last year’s Over The River and Through The Woods. If you want that arrangement, leave a comment below and I will email it to you.

Print: WE GATHER TOGETHER

This month is also your last chance to print O Holy Night from my website. Just click on the link above and you can see all the other downloadable free sheet music from the past year.

I hope you are well, and will be able to connect with your loved ones during the holidays, even if it is only online. I am deeply grateful for all of the kind people who subscribe to my blog and tell me that they are playing and enjoying my arrangements. Bringing more music into your life gives meaning to mine. Thank you for joining me here, and for all of your good wishes.

Leave a comment below if you have a request for an arrangement of a holiday song or piece for December!

With gratitude, love and music, Gaili

Posted on

Claire de lune free sheet music reissued!

It has been awhile since I posted, as I was in France and England for 4 weeks, enjoying amazing architecture, music, art, books, and food with my family. One lucky day last spring I received a request to exchange my little house in Los Angeles for this 17th Century chateau in the Cognac region of France 😮 We hadn’t planned on a trip to France, but when someone wants to give you their chateau for 4 weeks, you must at least consider it!

The chateau was located on 300 acres of lush grasslands, lakes, apple orchards and hiking trails. Though it was large (5 bedrooms) and majestic, it was very cozy inside, and we had the time of our lives! Unfortunately the French family did not own a piano, but they had a little keyboard, so I was able to keep my fingers moving 🎹

And of course a few days in Paris (also on a home exchange) brought breathtaking views, wonderful bookstores, music and museums.

While driving through the French countryside, we listened to all kinds of French music: Satie, Debussy, Charles Trenet, Charles Aznavour, and Django Reinhardt.

We flew in and out of London where we got to visit the National Gallery. The Vermeer paintings of women playing a virginal (early harpsichord) were beautiful.

This all brings me to the issue at hand. Ever since I retired the sheet music for Clair de lune from my website I have had almost daily requests for it. I am happy to send it by email, but I thought that I might repost the Clair de lune INTERMEDIATE and EASY sheet music here for those of you who would like to print and play it but missed the original posting.

Click below to print Clair de lune:

Clair de lune INTERMEDIATE sheet music

Click here for a video demonstration of me playing Clair de lune, intermediate.

Clair de lune EASY sheet music

I hope you enjoy playing Clair de lune as much as I have enjoyed listening to it in France! And I have some exciting news: In a few days I will begin posting a medley of the main themes to Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue! I’m so excited that it came into the public domain this year. It’s a long piece, so I am taking the most beloved themes and arranging them for intermediate piano, and I will offer it free to you in installments, starting with February.

Also to celebrate the month of love, I will be hosting another GIVEAWAY in 💌February! I will be giving away 20 Kibkoh sheet music page holders to followers of this blog (in the U.S.) who leave a comment on my post in February. Every comment you leave in December 2019, and January and February 2020, gives you an additional chance to win.

I hope you are staying warm and cozy wherever you are. With love and music, Gaili

Posted on

It Had To Be You (January Free Sheet Music)

Happy New Year!

It is SO EXCITING when a new year’s worth of songs come into the public domain! As of today, all American songs and pieces written in 1924 are now available, and there are some really great ones I can’t wait to arrange and give to you this year!

One of my favorite 1924 songs is It Had To Be You, by Isham Jones and Gus Kahn. I was first made aware of the song in 1989 when it played under the romantic final scene of the film, When Harry Met Sally starring Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan. In that scene it is New Year’s Eve, and Harry rushes to find and kiss Sally at midnight, while we hear Harry Connick, Jr. sing It Had To Be You in the background. What an iconic piece of film history!

Click below to print an intermediate arrangement of It Had To Be You (and other pieces!) on my Free Sheet Music Page on January 1st 2020:

Print IT HAD TO BE YOU

There is also a funny scene with Diane Keaton singing It Had To Be You in the 1977 film Annie Hall, and it has been recorded by Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, and many others; so you might enjoying listening to some additional recordings on Youtube.com.

Friends, it has been such a pleasure writing this blog, and arranging pieces for you. I have also enjoyed addressing some of the issues that arise for adult piano students, finding short cuts or tools to help you advance your piano studies. We have another GIVEAWAY coming up soon (for 20 sheet music page holders) and I have lots of ideas about things to write about in the coming year; if you have an issue you are struggling with at the piano, please leave a comment below and I will try to help in whatever way I can.

If you don’t already know, I have written a series of piano instruction books called Upper Hands Piano: A Method for Adults 50+ to Spark the Mind, Heart and Soul. Click on the links below to view a few of them on Amazon.com.

I hope you have a wonderful new year, filled with music and magic, love and luck. Do you have any piano goals for 2020? Leave a comment below and let us know what your wishes and intentions are for the coming year. Let us support your musical dreams! With love and music, Gaili