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    A Bar Napkin Guide: Play Any Instrument: Bar Napkin Guides, #1
    A Bar Napkin Guide: Play Any Instrument: Bar Napkin Guides, #1
    A Bar Napkin Guide: Play Any Instrument: Bar Napkin Guides, #1
    Ebook81 pages45 minutes

    A Bar Napkin Guide: Play Any Instrument: Bar Napkin Guides, #1

    By Orvetta Black

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    About this ebook

    Do you have an instrument that you've always dreamed of playing? Is your Grandma's piano sitting in your living room unused? You are only one little book away from playing any instrument. Learn the essentials of music and start playing now.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBar Napkin Guides
    Release dateJan 21, 2018
    ISBN9781386129431
    A Bar Napkin Guide: Play Any Instrument: Bar Napkin Guides, #1

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      Book preview

      A Bar Napkin Guide - Orvetta Black

      To my mother who handed me a recorder and a music book when I was five-years-old and told me to amuse myself.

      AUTHOR'S PREFACE

      YOU REALLY CAN take the tasks and concepts in this book and apply them to any instrument! I’ve learned over 20 instruments to date (and counting) by doing a few simple tasks. The musical notation I am asking you to learn is real. It is not a modified version or specialized for any one instrument. The reason I’m asking my readers to learn the basics of reading music is because I believe it is the most efficient way to learn more than one instrument, and to better understand and play the one you choose as your favorite. Understanding basic musical notation is the key to unlocking the entire world of music, and doing whatever you want with it. What I’ve glossed over in the musical notation is easily covered later once you have a good understanding of the useful part of the music, i.e., the part that gets you actually playing a song! There are only a few concepts you need to learn now in order to read musical notation and to get playing. The other details, which in the long run are important too, make more sense once you’ve actually had some experience playing the music.

      With this book I hope to strike a balance between giving you enough tools for independent exploration, without getting so mired down in music theory that is sucks the motivation and fun out of the playing. I want to give you enough detail about how music works to confidently approach new pieces of music, but at the same time not overwhelm you with the details. The details are important, but not right now. You don’t need to understand music theory in order to play real music.

      Maybe you haven’t learned your dream instrument because the thought of playing an instrument seemed exciting, but that motivation that faded away as frustration and the sheer amount of information you had to learn piled up. I promise that playing music is budget-friendly, fun, rewarding, and above all else, doable.

      I wrote this book as I would a conversation between two friends. You have always wanted to play an instrument but didn’t know how to get started. I grabbed a napkin and scribbled down the basics. This is that napkin and those scribbles.

      INTRODUCTION

      PLAYING MUSIC IS worthy of your time. By picking up this book I’m making the assumption you agree with me. But just in case, consider just how special playing music is. It connects, entertains, challenges, and relaxes. It can be done by yourself or in a community of people. Like food, music is a universal language.

      Learning music is good for our brains.  At its essence learning music is about breaking down large amounts of new complex information into small doable chunks, a concept that can be applied to many other situations. There are multiple studies showing the benefit of musical education in children, but adults will benefit too. Researchers at Johns Hopkins University found that older adults who took a few piano lessons had improvements in the areas of attention, memory, problem-solving abilities, moods, and quality of life.  In both children and adults, playing music improves executive function. Executive function is a high-level cognitive process by the brain that enables us to quickly process and retain information, make good choices, solve problems, and adapt to changing tasks. Sounds like excellent skills to cultivate! Playing with other people increases cooperation, improves the sense of community, and reduces depression. Music is the ultimate practice of mindfulness that is all the craze right now. Sitting still and being quiet not your thing? I promise you that it is almost impossible not to be fully in the moment as you tackle a piece of music. Everything else fades away.

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