Christian Fries

“Thank you for being interested

in music and chords.”

This is what I care about:

Piano Accompaniment

Vocalists, Instrumentalists, Choirs
I learned classical piano, ear training and melody harmonization from the age of five. By applying embellishments to chords, different comping patterns, flexible accompaniment and chord voicing, I can communicate the emotion of a song to the soloist as well as to the audience. Most musicians that played with me told me that they felt safe with me playing the piano, because they know: if something happens unexpectedly, I tend to apply chords on the fly to adjust and make the music sound right, even if it was wrong. Often songbooks are poorly written, because the melody is not only in the staff of the soloist, but also in the right hand of the pianist. If you can adjust freely to what is written in the songbook, let the vocalist take care of the melody and concentrate on improving the accompaniment. That way your music will sound richer. (Hint: you have to learn about chords in order to do that.)

  • Average aesthetic quality of music (not the performance) to my opinion 70% 70%
  • Complexity (is it hard to learn?) 80% 80%
  • Benefit for life long term 80% 80%

Playing in Bands

Pop music and other modern styles
In Pop music, comping patterns and styles don’t necessarily have to be that complicated as in classical or solo playing, because you are just one part of the whole band. There are other things challenging here. Aside of sound programming, chord voicings and inversions come into play to create tension. Furthermore, you can avoid overlapping frequencies with other instruments, such as guitar. The result will be a more equally spread out frequency spectrum (EQ, bass, mid, treble) and a more decent sound for the listener. I played in several bands from cover rock and pop to mainstream and singer/songwriter bands with their own music. I also did the keyboard/piano part in a musical and a soulful christmas show. Every purpose requires different approaches to music.

  • Average aesthetic quality of music as an art (not the performance) to my opinion 25% 25%
  • Complexity (is it hard to learn?) 10% 10%
  • Benefit for life long term 70% 70%

Church Music

Organ, Ensembles, Choirs
For me, this kind of music can bring out the most majestic and joyful emotions. Through all musical ages great composers have created wonderful works of sound experience. It is even more fun to play this music than to just hear it. Starting with playing services at age 11, I use what I know about chords, voicings and music to bring out the exact emotions required in a particular moment of a church service. Most common “songs” in church do only have a written melody, no chords or accompaniment are shown in the music sheet. So it is completely up to you what style of music of the different ages you use to make the song sound interesting and serve the service. In church music, you have the maximum amount of freedom to be creative, but it is also the hardest kind of music I have learned so far. If you can do that, playing in bands and performing popular music is a piece of cake.

  • Average aesthetic quality of music (not the performance) to my opinion 90% 90%
  • Complexity (is it hard to learn?) 98% 98%
  • Benefit for life long term 95% 95%

My Dark Side 😉

Folk music, Polka, Wind ensembles
This can be so much fun, if you can connect to the mentality of the people doing such music. There is a lot of commercial folk music stuff out there that I don’t like, but if you dig down to the roots aside from the commercial machinery, you will find people doing this music in its original way, with the spirit of traditions, friendship, coming together and enjoying the beauty of nature. Caution: It may happen that you will have a beer.

  • Average aesthetic quality of music (not the performance) to my opinion 40% 40%
  • Complexity (is it hard to learn?) 45% 45%
  • Benefit for life long term 70% 70%

Wind Orchestras

Symphonic wind music
Playing the euphonium and the trombone as well as additional synthesizer instruments and percussion is another part of my musical life. There are great composers out there for symphonic wind orchestra, and it’s so much fun to hear the chords in the peace, especially what function my tone that I’m playing has in the greater picture and how it fits into the whole. With proper ear training and hearing experience, you can adjust the pitch and quality of your tone to help transfer the emotion of the piece to the audience.

  • Average aesthetic quality of music (not the performance) to my opinion 70% 70%
  • Complexity (is it hard to learn?) 10% 10%
  • Benefit for life long term 75% 75%

Recording

Virtual Instruments, Audio Recordings
My hobby is to record audio on great performances or in my home recording studio. As a physicist, I know a little chunk about the physics of sound waves and how music is transferred through microphones with different patterns. Stereo imaging is fun to me. It is amazing how much quality you can get out of your equipment nowadays on a budget, compared to the past. Today, knowledge of things is more important than having the right gear. That change in our society can be seen everywhere.

  • Is it fun to produce well sounding recordings? 80% 80%
  • Complexity (is it hard to learn?) 50% 50%
  • Benefit for life long term 60% 60%

Recent Projects

Feinkost

Feinkost is a singer / songwriter band with German texts and an acoustical set. The music is…

Feinkost in TV show

Glad we were invited to the TV show “Kaffee oder Tee”. The cake was delicious.

Musical MyShow

This is a new project in Saarlouis. Next year they do Naturally Blonde – The Musical.

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