| George Winston is the poster boy for New Age piano. | | | | he put it to good use in creating unique atmospheres |
| There's no denying this. And why not? The man | | | | for piano. In Lesson Forty: "Flashflood," I illustrate what |
| practically put New Age piano on the map with his CD | | | | George does best, namely, get a very nice |
| December. So poignant, so sad and filled with joy is | | | | background going with the left hand while the right |
| this music, that it resonated with millions across the | | | | improvises a melody. Using only 2 chords, we can |
| world. | | | | create a aural canvas upon which we "paint" our |
| Many years ago, I read an article where George | | | | melodic portraits. |
| describes what he does on the piano. He said | | | | The trick is to get the left hand down well enough so |
| something like; "I get my left hand down. It's like the | | | | you can freely improvise with the right. Now, the hard |
| band and has the bass and chords. Then the right | | | | part of this is being able to "freely" improvise. This |
| hand is free to do its thing." | | | | requires much practice and it is a very good idea to |
| Now, George Winston didn't invent this technique, but | | | | take it slowly and build up to a freer right hand. |