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I need some help figuring out styles of piano other than Classical.

Like Jazz. Honky tonk - does that count? And Pop. Are there others?

The reason I'm asking this is 'cuz I've been a Classical player through and through. I'm interested in branching out and I'm wondering how difficult that will be. Both in finding teachers and gaining experience, and just learning a new style of piano.

Diana Krall started out with classical; now she is an awesome Jazz pianist and vocalist and selling albums and concert tickets like crazy and deservedly so. Watch her concert DVDs and you will see that she has wonderful play technique.
*I envy her long slender "piano fingers". Diana Krall has the complete package.

Having some classical piano playing chops doesn't have to stop you or hinder you from doing well on other styles like Jazz/Blues.

In the end, all that matters is your response to sound. If you like a certain sound, then study it and develop your ability to produce it. Anything at all "counts". Just produce and enjoy whatever sounds please you and forget about social classification, definitions, "ought tos" and "shoulds".

Well, at the risk of sounding absolutely monotonous, I'll put in a plug for new age solo piano. IMO, new age is more melodically-driven and pleasing than a lot of classical music. And there are some artists like Philip Glass or Ludovici Einaudi who seem to be at the intersection of new age and classical.

New age music is on average substantially easier than classical (which is probably why so many classical musicians turn their nose up at it; it's not complex or technically demanding enough for them). So you wouldn't have to get a new teacher or anything; it would just be a matter of listening to a few artists and checking out their sheet music. But it could expand your repertoire and give you something light and pleasing to play as a break.

On the Adult Beginners forum there is currently a fairly active thread by ShiroKuro entitled something like "For Monica and all other fans of new age music" that solicits people's favorite new age artists and where you can find their sheet music. You might want to check that out if you haven't already.

I'm a big fan of New Orleans and Blues piano - Dr. John and Ray Charles especially.

Mikester.

I would rule out 'honky-tonk' as this is not really a serious style of piano playing. It's a term evolved from hearing jangly old worn out pianos IMHO. Pleasure cannot really seriously be had from such instruments.

Jazz is a very wide topic and includes all the varieties as you would find if you read the numerous posts here.

Pop is often rather basic but the melodies can be 'embellished' with jazz style playing.

You can only listen to as much music as possible encompassing all the wide ranges and see what stirs your emotions and vibration senses.

Alan

Alan, I'm crushed. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Theres a song called "We" on Neil Diamond's last album entitled "12 Songs" that's got some rockin' honky tonk in it that sounds like anything but a worn out instrument.
Better not give it a listen, you might get hooked.
What can I say, I like it.

Don't forget reggae piano. What would reggae be without the bubbling?

"Honky Tonk, " as played in Texas, at least, connotes both a style of playing (drunk and lonely), a financial demographic (broke), and a beverage preferance (long neck). To call it "not serious" is, I think, to diminish in a serious way the contribution that maybe 15 million Texans have made to postmodern culture (we give you, for instance, George Bush).

Let us stand "Honky Tonk" on its wobbly legs and compare it to other stlyes.

Does it compare to Pop? No, you're right. "Rocket Man" by Elton John really is serious music after all. Don't be listening to no Honkly Tonk.

Does it hold a candle to Jazz? I think not. Diana Krall crooning "White Christmas" off key and making a Kazillion dollars in CD sales is a far more serious artistic endeavour than anyting Delbert McClinton might offer.

Really, why listen to music that has anything to say about the way people really live. Let's just all listen to new age ruminations on the strange way snowflakes are all different from one another. That's piano playing. TGG

Very well put!

As a music form, Honky Tonk is closely related to Ragtime, Stride, Boogie Woogie, and Blues. Jelly Roll Morton, who claimed to be the Originator of Jazz, paid homage to it in his 1938 composition "Honky Tonk Music".

"Honky Tonk Train Blues" written by Meade Lux Lewis in 1927 has to be one of my favorite piano pieces of all time. Not sure if Elton John or Diana Krall play it but Keith Emerson did a rather interesting recording of it.

Howard

TGG--

I believe everything you wrote is true, but you forgot my favorite, "smoothjazz" (Kenny G and stuff like that) dental office music. Now that's some high-cotton sophisticated music.

I guess this could be summed up by saying there's good and bad music in every genre (including classical).

I have a good and bad music tester if anyone wants to borrow it.

Best, John

Mikester:

If occurs to me that if you have a classical background, an alternate style of play you might like is something called Novelty Piano which was popularized by classically trained pianists in the 20s. Look for authors like Felix Arndt, Zez Confrey, Pauline Alpert, and Billy Mayerl. Or contemporary recordings by performers like Tony Caramia or Alex Hassan.

Howard

Mikester, you should definitely start doing a lot of listening, in as wide a variety as you can manage. Something may just cause a spark and you'll want to try to play it. Here are a few things that come to mind.

New age or modern solo piano:
Philip Glass
George Winston
Ryuuichi Sakamoto
(Monica, add to this listen!)

Jazz:
Bill Evans
Jelly Roll Morton- if you saw the Legend of 1900, his song, the Crave, is featured very nicely.
I'll let someone else contribute more to the jazz list.

Then there's movie music (Michael Nyman) ragtime (Joplin), blues, popular/rock (Vanessa Carlton, Billy Joel, Elton John, Carole King, whose music is all piano based) and how about soul (Alicia Keyes?)

Just as there are an almost infinite number of genres within classical, non-classiscal also encompasses a huge range.

Also, there should be some books available that address how a classical trained pianist can make an easy transition into pop or jazz. There are a very few basic rhythmic differences, if you pick up on those that's more than enough to be able to play a wide selection of music. Some might disagree, but I don't think you necessarily need to do a whole bunch of chord theory or things like that. Just read the sheets and do a lot of listening.

Please report back if you find any styles or artists that interest you enough to play.

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Originally posted by Johnny-Boy:
<strong> I guess this could be summed up by saying there's good and bad music in every genre (including classical).

I have a good and bad music tester if anyone wants to borrow it.

Best, John

Great, I share the same thoughts as the Duke.

John

Or as I like to say it, there's only two types of music - good music...and country music.

I'm just joking, of course.

i think what he may have meant was music from any genre played(and composed) well was good music

Exactly MMM!