The Finney School of Real Life

There are not many complaints about the Apple iPod, only one complaint often is oftentimes brought up by iPod customers is the lack of ability to transfer iPod music and video from their iPod to a different personal computer. Though the iPod has no trouble transferring songs from your desktop computer to iPod utilising iTunes, the opposite is prevented. Without iPod Transfer Software, you cannot copy your iPod files to an additional machine. This issue often happens when iPod users get a new PC or have to restart the operating system on their old PC. Apple prohibits this action because it doesn’t want unauthorised sharing of purchased files from the iTunes website. Even So, there are a lot legitimate situations that iPod users call for the ability to copy from iPod to PC. If a machine dies and you have to install the operating system, you could need iPod to Computer copy software to recover your worthful data. Differently, the clean installation of iTunes will wipe your iPod, potentially costing you hundreds of dollars in lost files. Yet another common situation people need these types of programs is when they buy a new machine and want to transfer their existing database of iPod files on the new personal computer. Once Again, if you do not install this type of application, you might possibly lose your worthful data. You can find many companies that provide programs to carry out this task. A quick visit to freeware websites will reveal a lot of picks. You can also just type the phrase ‘iPod to PC copy software’ into the search engine of your choice.

A student wrote me an email about the lesson “Ocean Dreams.” Here it is:

“Dear Edward, I can’t believe that you’re using just 3 chords for this piece. It sounds like it uses much more material. Please tell me how you did it!”

Here’s my answer - Dear B. First, thanks for listening to my free lesson. To answer your question, the secret to getting the full sound you hear in this piece is not in how many chords are used. It’s in how the chord is voiced! Notice in the lesson that your left hand is very much open and covers a full octave of the keyboard.

This is what creates the full sound you hear! My right hand is playing melody notes pretty close to the left. Also, I use the principles of repetition and contrast to maintain interest. For example, you’ll notice that there is a beginning section where the melody repeats. Then another section is added (still only using the same 3 chords) with a contrasting melody. Then back to the first theme so the whole piece can be broken down into what’s commonly know as ABA form (even though this piece was improvised).

Using repetition and contrast, we create music that has a definable form or shape. ABA form is very, very common and is used in almost all genres of music, especially New Age. This is why I always say that you don’t need a lot of material to create with. If you understand and use time tested principles, you can use just 3 chords and create an entire piece of music. I hope this answers your question. Regards, Edward Weiss.

Edward Weiss is a pianist/composer and webmaster of Quiescence Music’s online piano lessons. He has been helping students learn how to play piano in the New Age style for over 14 years and works with students in private, in groups, and now over the internet. Stop by now at http://www.quiescencemusic.com/piano_lessons.html for a FREE piano lesson!