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Here are some questions I’ve been asked by viewers since I started making YouTube covers. I thought it might be a good idea for me to post them here, with some answers, just in case anyone else might want to know too 🙂
If you have any other questions which I haven’t included here, or any comments, please feel free to comment at the bottom of this page… I love interacting with viewers! Remember to put in your name at least , otherwise WordPress considers it spam and tries to ‘protect’ me from it haha! 😦
1. My Headphones – quite a few viewers have asked me about them
Q: What is playing in your headphones? The song that you’ve transcribed or the output from the piano you’re playing?
A: The output – The headphones are connected to my digital piano so that I can hear what I’m playing without it disturbing the neighbors! I live in an apartment and I usually record at night, so it’s more considerate to use earphones. I don’t listen to the original while I’m doing the recording. I do that while I’m transcribing the song. I’m pretty good at writing down what I hear. Playing from memory takes much too long for me. I can play by ear, with basic chords, but I want my covers to be more complete and as much like the original as possible, so I always write the notes down.
2. My Tablet – I read my music from it while I perform. So far, I haven’t seen anyone else do that on YouTube, although I just read an article on BBC news, that some orchestra is going to use tablets for their scores. Might be a bit hard for them to turn the pages though – can’t use the violin bows haha! And tablets are still a lot smaller than A4 size.
Q: I’m just wondering, how did you get music sheets onto that tablet? I’m used to having a physical copy of the music sheet, but to save money and paper, I want to try reading from the tablet while playing.
A: Reading music from a tablet saves a lot of trouble dealing with paper copies. I write my music using Musescore (free and really easy to use!) on my laptop. Musescore themself tweeted me (So pleased!!!) And informed me that I don’t need a separate pdf converter 🙂 Just go to File > save as > select. pdf 🙂 Easy peasy! It turns the scores into pdf files which can then be copied over to my Acer Iconia tablet via a USB cable. If your tablet doesn’t have a USB port, you can email the file to yourself and open it using the pdf reader on your tablet.
3. Playing the pieces
Q: Thanks to you, I can now play this song. It does not sound as good as when you play it however! How do you do it?
A: You’re most welcome 🙂 It’s the fluency and expression that makes it sound good, so if you practise till it becomes really easy, then feel the music when you play, it will sound just as good! The secret, is individual voicing of different notes in the bar, meaning you’ll need to make certain notes softer so they taper off gently. This is so that it won’t sound ‘chunky’ – like a solid block of sound, but will flow and weave pleasingly 🙂 Just go lighter on the ‘weaker’ beats of the bar. 🙂
Read [FAQ Page 2] [FAQ Page 3]
Joyce Music 
What digital piano do you use? And how many keys does it have? I’ve been thinking about buying a digital piano…
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It’s a full-sized keyboard (88 keys), Yamaha Clavinova CLP330 digital piano. I would recommend it 🙂
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Since I can only play piano using notes with my right hand I’ve been using your sheets which do contain chords than can be read and play with my other hand. Please do a sheet of exo’s my turn to cry, it will be highly appreciated. Thanks! 😃
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I’ll think about it
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Joyce tocas muy lindo espectacular y tu pagina esta genial es muy buena ayuda las partituras que pones ,yo estoy retomando mis clases de piano pero aun me cuesta mucho porque deje mucho tiempo sin tocar.Me gustaria que por favor puedas poner la cancion de Boa BE WITH YOU es un tema que se lo dedico a su mascota y quiero aprenderla a tocar me encante .Yo vivo en el Peru
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Hello Juana, I’ll think about it, but no promises.
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Can you do Demons by Imagine Dragons? Thanks!
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If I m to commissioned u for an advanced piano arrangement for the whole song,
SWAY, with latin rythmns, what would be your charges..?
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Oh…I thought I replied you yesterday 😛 you’re Malaysian right? Perhaps you should email me at joycemusic1@gmail.com.
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I did not received yr reply. I hve wriiten to your email again.
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Email me at joycemusic1@gmail.com
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Wow your site is fantastic! I do write a lot and had learned piano when i was younger but I have forgotten a lot so I decided to get back into it. I was looking for Ailee-evening sky and found it!! Just wondering, do you have Younha – Not there? Thank you for your great help 🙂
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Sorry…haven’t done any Younha 😦
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Hey Joyce! 🙂
I had a question, how do you practice to get perfect pitch?
I play the violin and I’m having trouble with my intonations…
If you know any techniques or advices to help me improve my intonation, could you please tell me? ^^ Thank you!
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Hi Ashleigh, try this site to improve your aural skills : http://trainer.thetamusic.com
Practice every day 🙂
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Hi Joyce, now is grade 8 for my piano.
I have a very big problem is i always make mistake when i playing even I had practiced for a long time.
Hmm, what can I do so that I can play well??
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um,can you do chords?or um,songs with lyrics?thanks, and i really love your music!!!!
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All my sheets have chords in them (well except for some of the very early ones like EXO’s baby don’t cry) and since the beginning of this year, I’ve added lyrics into the new covers too 🙂 My latest cover is BoA’s Disturbance. Have you seen it?
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We are a group of volunteers and starting a new scheme in our community. Your site offered us with valuable info to work on. You’ve done a formidable job and our entire community will be grateful to you.
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