The Sweet Reward of Making Piano Your First Instrument
I've watched it over and over again. Musicians who make the piano their first instrument are able to pick up and play other instruments more quickly. Why does learning the piano make studying other instruments easier? Because a person naturally learns music theory...
4 Reasons Why Piano is the Best Instrument For Learning Music Theory
The 3 R's and a P For many years, parents have worked hard to ensure that their kids learned the 3 R's of education: reading, writing, and arithmetic. Like other dads and moms, Cheryl and I have done the same with our children; however, we have an additional category:...
How to Make Your Practice Times More Productive
I've been around music my whole life. I've rubbed shoulders with symphony players, jazz artists, and just about everyone in between. I've also had some great teachers. One of my piano teachers graduated from Manhattan School of Music. My trumpet teacher in high school...
How to Boost Your Sight Reading Ability With the Best App
I ran across an app the other day called Piano Notes Fun. It looks like it's been on the market for at least a few years. I immediately fell in love with it and I have already passed it on to my Reynolds Piano students. The purpose of the app is to help pianists with...
Beneath the Music: Building the Foundation With Scales
This is part 3 of the Beneath the Music series. In my previous posts, I showed you a high-level view of The Nashville Numbering System. We then took some time to learn about the staff, notes, and intervals. Today, we are going to cover scales. A scale is a sequence of...
Beneath the Music: Staff, Notes, and Intervals
In my previous post, How to Play Songs on the Piano With Ease in Any Key, I shared with you a high-level look at the Nashville Numbering System (NNS). As promised in that article, I'm going to break things down for you today so you can see what it is made of and how...
Beneath the Music: The Nashville Numbering System
Have you ever met someone who can confidently play songs on the piano in any key? You wonder how it could be that you took 10 years of lessons and your level of playing doesn't even come close to theirs. Surely, you think, they must know something that I don't...
The Secret That is Guaranteed to Make You a Better Pianist
The Beginning Talk to anyone who has ever learned to do something and most of the time they will tell you how they started from the beginning. A baseball player will remember back to his first tee ball season where he learned the basics of baseball. An engineer will...
Improve Your Playing by Building from the Foundation First
In my previous post, I talked about the mistake that musicians often make when learning to play an instrument. What is it? They fail to start from the beginning. Scales are the foundation of music and failing to learn them only complicates and warps your viewpoint of...
How I Got Started With Music And All The Fun Along the Way
Hey everyone! This is the first official blog post on the Reynolds Piano website. How exciting! I’m sure by now you must be wondering, “Who is this guy and where did he come from? I’m so glad you asked! My Birthplace I was born in Port Jervis, NY, to...