Edly Paints the Ivories Blue
ABOUT THE BOOK
Edly
Paints the Ivories Blue (book 1), now in its
second edition, teaches piano technique, reading skills, improvisation,
chords, and related theory. It's intended for lovers of blues, jazz,
rock, or any pop styles, as well as "recovering traditionally-trained
players."
Edly
Paints the Ivories Blue is a bright blue
alternative and supplement to traditional black & white
major-scale-based piano instruction books. It's as hip and fun as it is
educational. Bypassing twinkling stars and little lambs, it teaches
piano through blues songs written specifically for this book. 48 pages
softcover, black & white, $12 (one dollar for every bar of a
twelve-bar blues)
AUDIENCE:
• do-it-yourselfers (teacher input recommended)
• private students with teacher
• teenage to adult beginners
• traditionally trained players wanting to move towards pop styles or
improvisation.
MATERIAL:
• beginning piano instruction using the blues as the teaching material;
keys of C, G, D, A, E, and F.
• reading: notes, rhythms, symbols, etc.
• improvisation
• blues form, melody, and chords
ORIENTATION & TONE:
• alternative primary method, or supplement to a traditional method.
• unusually hip, fun, and engaging for an instruction book
• user-friendly, humorous, heavily illustrated, attractively laid out
• much more explanation than most piano method books
• encourages experimentation
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WHY THE BLUES?
So glad you asked. In addition to the blues' own inherent rewards, it's
also a close relative of many types of jazz, rock, and pop, and its
chord progressions are found in many types of music. Learning and
playing the blues is a great
introduction to many styles*.
Second,
improvisation is an integral part of the blues. Any style that fosters
improvisation gets my "good teaching material" vote. Young 'uns
naturally improvise in their musical play, but most traditional music
instruction makes it easy for this instinct to die of attrition. This
approach attempts instead to nurture it.
Third,
repetition is an important part of practicing. Blues is especially full
of repetition and patterns; melodic (the tune), harmonic (the chords),
phrased-based, accompaniment, etc. Put 'em all together, and blues
makes a great vehicle for learning piano.
Fourth,
I've had students who knew they wanted to focus on blues, rock, or jazz
right from the start. This book gives that focus a home.
Fifth and
finally, most people practice more when they enjoy the music. Blues is
fun and likeable, and therefore may get more playing time than
traditional material covering the same techniques. The student
progresses faster and is happy. The teacher's happy. I'm happy.
Everybody's happy. Ahhh, the power of a blue note, a bit of swing, and
the blues.
*... the blues is a great introduction to many styles...
Like any organism, blues has grown and changed with time. The
twelve-bar form based on the I, IV, & V chords has emerged and
assumed reign as the most common standard, though plenty of variations
still exist. Many colors including whites have joined blacks in blues.
Blues itself has produced an 
impressive
family tree, and has had a role in the conception and development of
many styles, including jazz, rock, rhythm 'n' blues, country, pop, etc.
While blues lives on in more traditional contexts, it has also been
stripped and reclothed in outfits ranging from fashionable to foppish,
slick to cerebral. Its influence is not to be underestimated. Why, I've
even heard tell of a tale that told that the great composer J. S. Bach,
while studying at Yale, would leave his wig, wife, and weekend
wehearsal, motor a mod Mercedes many miles, down brown-black beer in
the din of booming blues at the back of a candlelit club and be back in
time to lead the next morning's cantata.
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