theory

Steve Koven – Play Piano, See The World

This week, SongTalk welcomed jazz pianist and teacher Steve Koven. Steve is a composer, performer, producer and educator. He has one of the longest standing trios in Canada, performing, touring and recording together for over 26 year. Aside from performing and recording with his trio – Steve Koven Trio – Steve also has other recording projects such as the Koven Collective and Koven & Law as well as Lazersuzan

We talked with Steve about:

his process for writing
how he communicates his song ideas to his bands
the touring opportunities available through consulates and embassies
where he finds inspiration for his music
what improvising can bring to songwriting

The Trio

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Learning an Instrument for Songwriting: What You Need To Know

by Donna Maurer

There are many benefits to your musicianship when you learn and master playing an instrument. You increase coordination, cognitive skills that include better memory, and create a higher level of social awareness.

The piano works as a wonderful starting point for most musicians, as it provides a good base in music theory, and it helps make identifying chords and key signatures a much easier task.…

All about Modes with Jeff Alan Greenway

by Neel Modi

Composer, singer-songwriter, and piano virtuoso Jeff Alan Greenway joined us to talk about musical modes — what they are and how they are used in songs.

Jeff went through each mode and sang a well-known song live with his piano.

Listen to the whole show:

Additional resources about modes:

https://ledgernote.com/columns/music-theory/musical-modes-explained/

http://openmusictheory.com/scales2.html

http://openmusictheory.com/popRockHarmony-EverettSystem2.html

Here’s an easy to understand video that explains modes.…

The Perfection of the Perfect Fifth

by Neel Modi

The question of the perfect fifth has been simmering in my mind for some time now. It started when we started investigating chord substitutions on Song Talk Radio in 2016. For that show, I looked at the Circle of Fifths as a great tool for making chord choices when writing a song.…

How to use the Circle of Fifths to write songs

by Neel Modi

I know many of you don’t care for music theory. It’s clinical, it’s boring, and it sucks the soul out of songwriting. Well, news flash: you’re using music theory whether or not you intend to. For myself, I know my theory pretty well, as I learned it at young age.…

Giving yourself a deadline to get stuff done: Janice Ho

by Phil Emery

Our very own Tweeting SongBird, Janice moved to the other side of the mic. We talked about her having Opera training and her natural bluesy style.

Some stuff we talked about:

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