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Business surveys consistently show us that poor workplace communication is a major source of employee dissatisfaction. The repercussions of this include not just low employee morale. Employee productivity suffers, along with a range of other business performance indicators.

Business Impact of Poor Communication

Have you stopped to think about how much unsatisfactory communication practices are costing your business? Some of these costs include:

• increased employee turnover
• increased absenteeism
• dissatisfied customers from poor customer service
• higher product defect rates
• lack of focus on business objectives
• stifled innovation

How many of these costs can you recognize in your business? You can turn the situation around. Employees will put in that extra “discretionary effort” when they are kept informed openly and honestly on aspects of their job and the business and they feel that they are being listened to with empathy.

Employee Communication Needs

What and how should you communicate with your employees? Communication in your organization should satisfy the three key employee needs before they can be engaged and highly productive. Each and every employee needs to:

1. Know that …
-included here are facts about your organization and their specific job - what business you are in, who your customers are, specific details about your product or service, where forms are located, who to see when there is a problem …

2. Master that …
-included here are the practical skills required to do their job well - repairing a machine, filling out an invoice, designing a building, writing a software program …

3. Feel that …
-included here are the interactions that give them a sense of belonging and self-worth - being listened to, respected, trusted, valued …

Managers predominantly concentrate on the first need - know that - and pay less attention to the second need to master skills. The third need - feel that - is what makes employees distinctly human and what drives them to outstanding achievement in work and outside of work. And yet it is in this dimension that employee communications are most lacking.

Look closely at the communication happening in your business. Is it satisfying what employees need to be fully engaged and working productively? Consider each of the four fundamental levels of communication in your organization for an answer:

1. Organization wide communication - involving all employees

2. Departmental communication - specific to one department or unit

3. Team communication - within one cohesive team or group

4. Individual communication - specific to one employee at any one time

Communications may be working effectively at higher levels, with regular and informative newsletters emanating from Head Office. However, the quality and quantity of communications may fail dismally at the more local level. The interpersonal skills of supervisors, team leaders and local managers are especially critical at levels 3 and 4, as these are the people that frontline workers develop working relationships with most personally and closely. Many exit surveys have shown that employees commonly leave an organization because of a poor working relationship with an immediate supervisor. How are the communication skills of the supervisors in your organization?

Just as important is the communication between and within levels. Gone are the days when departments could stand as silos, isolated from the rest of the organization by impenetrable barriers. Intra-national and international competition is now so fierce that everyone in the organization needs to collaborate closely on solving organizational challenges and on achieving agreed strategic objectives. What are the communication barriers in your organization?

Where is your organization at in its life-cycle? Is it large or growing rapidly? As more people are added to an organization, communication needs and stresses increase exponentially. Joe, who used to do purchasing, inspection and warehousing on his own now needs to talk to three other departments as well as the people in his own growing team. What structures, systems and processes has your organization put in place to encourage and facilitate effective communication flow?

Well-designed organizational culture surveys and employee communication surveys can determine how well your communication systems and practices are contributing to your organization’s performance - or how much they are hindering performance. This information will then help you in devising an effective employee communication strategy. Whatever else you do, communication practices impact every facet of your business. Looking closely at communication in your organization is well worth your while, because even if you do not, your employees are.

2006 © Business Performance Pty Ltd. All rights reserved.

Vicki Heath is the Director of Business Performance Pty Ltd, a company providing practical online information and resources in a range of business areas, including employee surveys. Her company’s guides, tools and templates assist organizations engage and develop people, manage organizational change and improve project delivery.

Available tools include a ready-to-go Organization Communication Assessment Survey. This survey in the familiar Microsoft Word format is customizable and is packaged with a comprehensive Consultant Guide. Investigate this and other useful tools and free downloads at http://www.businessperform.com.

Have you ever been a victim of road rage? Well it is not so fun is it? All of a sudden someone in a car near you simply goes berserk for no reason at all and there you are trying to defend your self in a much nicer car than they are in? Obviously you do not want to meet by accident, as the last thing you want to do is give this person you ID and personal information. A person like that is liable to go crazy and come to your home?

So what do you do when some moron is talking on the cell phone and flips you off thru the sunroof of his car while he shouts obsenities you can almost hear over your stereo and air conditioning? Meanwhile this maniac is honking the horn with his elbow and holding the cell phone in the same hand? And you are a bad driver? Hmm? Sounds like this SOB needs some anger management classes and quick?

Where is a cop when you need one; what a jerk off indeed, I mean who is this guy and what is his problem; he must be on drugs you think? Now your driver’s hand book says to not make eye contact with these road raging nut cases, but it is rather hard not too as this guys speeds up, slows down, swerves in your lane hits his brakes.

You are starting to think you should just ram the dude? Ah but don’t, knowing your luck they will take you to jail instead. Just count to ten back off the gas and let this guy go where ever he is going; and yah you are thinking what I am think; I hope he goes to hell?

“Lance Winslow” - Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; http://www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs/

What if there was a solution to protecting and restoring your health. What if you could turn back the clock and return to when you were healthy. You wonder why we have such horrific health problems, yet its right in front of your eyes. You all know that nutrition is important, but do you know why. What if given the right nutrition your body could heal itself of anything, and I mean anything. What if this was true and all you needed to do was give your body the right nutrition.

Over half the United States population is undernourished and overweight; these two problems contribute to most of the disease and death in this country. The 1 trillion dollar food industry is directly tied to our health problems. Processed foods are a big problem for people’s health today. Especially because processed foods are so hard to avoid. Many of these foods that we put into our bodies contain no essential nutrients that our bodies need. With these nutrients almost gone, our immune systems are breaking down and disease is taking over. Our bodies were not designed to be taking in these kinds of foods. Also, our fruits and vegetables don’t have the nutritional value they once had. The main reason for this is because of green harvesting and the depletion of minerals in our soil.

People are now supplementing vitamins and minerals, with the hope of improving their health. Yet this is not enough, a huge misconception is that by taking vitamins, you are giving your body what it needs to be healthy. Unfortunately not all supplements are equal. Most vitamins and minerals are synthetic, and not easily absorbed by the body. You can test to see if your vitamins are synthetic by taking them with a glass of water and not eating anything for a couple of hours. If you start feeling sick then you know that these are synthetic vitamins. If all you are essentially taking are nutrients which are supposed to be food, then why do you have to eat food with them?

Scientists have recently cracked the code to nutritional supplementation. Scientists have for some time tried to figure out how our cells communicate with each other. We all know that when you cut yourself that your body naturally heals itself. We just didn’t really know how it worked; we just knew that they did. Now Scientists have discovered how it works. It’s sort of like how a blind person uses brail bumps to read writing. Blind people know how to read brail and therefore they know what it says. What would happen if some of the brail were scratched off? They would go from a level of communication to miscommunication. Our cells work the same; each cell have thousands of protein molecules, and attached to these are glycoforms. The cell uses glycoforms to enable them to effectively communicate to each other. Of the some 200 monosaccharides that occur naturally in plants, eight are known to be components of these glycoforms, and are used in cell-to-cell communication. These eight sugars are glucose, fucose, mannose, galactose, xylose, N-acetylglucosamine, N-acetylgalactosamine and N-acetylneuraminic acid. Of these sugars only two are commonly found in our diet.

By supplementing these glyconutrients, your body has the ability to be able to effectively make these glycoforms. When your cells communicate optimally, they will ultimately fix anything that is wrong with your health.

A company by the name of Mannatech owns the patent on the combination of these essential sugars. This means that you cannot get a combination of these sugars from anywhere else in the World. Glyconutritional products will play a huge role in the 21st century’s emerging wellness industry. You can learn more about this technology by clicking on the link below, which will take you directly to my site.

If you would like to see for yourself what glyconutrients could do for you, then you can order directly on my site. I will personally make sure that you have an amazing product experience by keeping a health journal to keep track of the benefits that you will have had. Thank you for taking the time to educate yourself about this amazing technology that is changing the world.

Get your glyconutrients, or my free e-book the 10 deadly health myths of the 21st century. http://theoffer.myglycostore.com

When you take your food next time, take care of the food what you are taking. Because the food you take determines your character. Not able to believe this. But it is true.

Although many other reasons determine the character of a man, food becomes an important part in determining the character of everybody.

Mind controls one’s action, and speech. Decision making ability is the important functions of a mind.

Decision making ability is depending upon the food we take.

Vegetarian food enhances intelligence. Even though the non-vegetarian food contains some energy vital for the human body, the same energy is available more in the vegetarian foods also.

The direction you are sitting to take food is also important. Facing eastern direction will be good.

Whether the mood of the person who is serving the food or preparing the food will affect your health. Yes, definitely.

When the person who serve you food or cook the food is in a happy mood naturally it will reflect in the food he is preparing.

Not only that when we take that food it will digest easily and we can also enjoy the real deliciousness of the food.

If the person cooks or serves with angry, decease, depressed mind, lust, hatred, then even the nutritious containing in the food become useless to us and cause more problems like indigestion, etc

I can explain it with one real example. There is one famous Hindu shrine in India.

There are thousands of cows belonging to the shrine. They gush milk and it is utilized for the purpose of temple rituals.

The temple authorities found sudden spurt in the gushing of milk from the cows. Then they find the reason after some difficulty that it was because of the audio system near the shelters where the cows are housed.

It is the routine of the temple authorities to broadcast devotional songs at specific intervals. They found that when a particular song is broadcasted the cows are gushing much milk than normal gushing.

So the power of music through the senses, increase the gushing of milk.

Another real incident is the soldiers in an army unit were used to give fresh and condensed milk every day for the better maintenance of health and for their better fighting capability.

But the story of gushing milk from the cows in the camp is very interesting. Before gushing the milk from the cows, the young calf will be released free.

By that time the dog in the camp will also be released. On seeing the dog, the calf began to run out of fear. Unable to tolerate the sufferings of the calf, which is chasing by the dog, the cow as a “mother” become in an angry mood.

The milk gushing by that time from the cow that was in an angry mood contains more nutritious which is essential for the fighting capability to the soldiers.

At least now we believe that the mood of the person who serve us, indirectly affecting us, if the food is prepared and served in a wrong mood.

C.Krishnan
Author

C. Krishnan, formerly working with Government in India, has written many articles on inspiration, children, parenting, etc.,

You can view more of his articles in his home page http://www.tncity.biz

Life wasn’t easy for cave men. They had to hunt all day, kill their dinner with a club, and drag the carcass to the cave. Then they had to butcher the animal and rub sticks together for a fire to cook it. They made clothes from the leftovers. And I think I have it rough when the husband wants me to cook instead of picking up carry out!

Life wasn’t easy for our ancestors who crossed oceans seeking freedom. It wasn’t easy for pioneers who fought wild Indians, and settled the wilderness. Life has never been easy for past generations. It won’t be any different for us.

I used to think I would arrive some day at that magical age when everything would be easy and problem free. Now I’ve wised up and learned this simple math equation: life = problems.

Trouble is a natural part of life like taxes, Big Macs, bad hair days, and Leave it to Beaver reruns. If you expect to have an idyllic life like Ward and June Cleaver, you may be in for disappointment. No matter how good life can be, there will always be some difficulty mixed in. Expecting to face some trouble can help us deal with it more effectively.

When Herbert Hoover decided to go into politics, he knew he would get criticism, but he went ahead anyway. Later he said, “When the criticism came, I wasn’t surprised; I was better able to handle it.”

The Bible confirms that hardships should not surprise us. The apostle Peter wrote, “Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial, which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you.” (1 Peter 5: 12, 13)

So why am I sometimes surprised when hassles come my way? Loved one get sick or hurt, people lose jobs or homes. These things happen in life: car trouble, financial trouble, and in-law trouble. Unfortunately, none of us is exempt from problems. Do you sometimes feel that trouble attacks you like a swarm of angry bees? You swat one, and two more sneak up and sting you from behind. But don’t let that depress you; we have hope!

I was shocked when I realized life isn’t just about what I want, and I’m not here just to enjoy a pain-free life. When I asked myself what my life’s purpose was, I realized God created me to get to know Him, to serve and glorify Him, and to become more like Him. The Bible says we need to be transformed. (Romans 12:2) That’s not a miraculous happening. It’s a process that involves problems. Problems are not only a normal part of life, but they’re a necessary part too. They prepare us for the future. Not just the future five years from now, but also for the future that comes after our earthly lives end.

Only in heaven is life perfect and easy. But with each problem comes a chance to fulfill your purpose on earth, to learn something new, and to develop a more godly character. It can be difficult to remember this, though, when you’re buried in heartache.

The good thing about pain is that it helps me put my focus where it should be, on the only one who can help me cope. When I practice depending upon Him rather than myself, I fulfill my purpose.

People often learn lessons during tough times that they could never have learned if life had been easy. I’ve found that I more fully enjoy beauty, since I nearly lost my ability to see it.

Think about a frightening circumstance you were forced to endure, and ask yourself what positive result came from it. Chances are you gained some special gift or grew spiritually in some way, not in spite of your ordeal, but because of it. That’s why I say this life is merely a practice run or testing ground. It teaches us, stretches and sharpens us, strengthens us, and prepares us for eternity.

There are many unhappy endings in this life, but we can embrace hope knowing that the next life will not only be happier, but it will have no end.

When we understand that difficulties are inevitable and that we can’t handle them on our own, we realize why it’s important to develop a relationship with the all-powerful God before those trials come. It’s good to know that we have a close relationship with, and are dearly loved by, the only one who can provide the strength, perseverance, and courage we will undoubtedly need throughout life. He’s just waiting for us to ask for His help. “He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry; when He hears it, He will answer you.” (Isaiah 30:19)

Author Marsha Jordan is founder of a nonprofit charity called Hugs and Hope for Sick Children (http://www.hugsandhope.org). More of her articles on depression are in her book, Hugs, Hope, and Peanut Butter, a compilation of essays illustrated with drawings by critically ill children.

Pain is never easy, but it’s more bearable with the healing power of laughter; and you’ll laugh with the author as she recounts, in Erma Bombeck style, her search for the perfect purse, camping adventures, her badly behaved toy poodle, and her experience with a new magnifying mirror. Some chapter titles include, “Limburger Attitude, “The Joy of Shopping,” “Is Broccoli Hazardous?” and “Life in the Manure Pile.” She also outlines ten tips for beating depression, written from her own experience of battling this illness for most of her life.

Other essays in thee book include, “More Than I Can Handle,” “Ten Tips For Beating Depression,” “Why Doesn’t God Answer My Prayer?” and “What Did I Do To Deserve This?” Order the book or learn more at http://www.hugsandhope.org/book.htm

When it comes to exercise, routine is your enemy. Your body should constantly be forced to guess what crazy new workouts you decide to put yourself through. This practice inhibits your muscles and physiological systems from gradually adapting to the demands you place on them. While some training programs address this adaptation by completely changing the workout program’s set, rep, and exercise routine every 4-8 weeks, I’d like to explain a less common idea: changing the daily intensity. For the purposes of this article, I will be incorporating three different intensities - high, medium, and low. With a routine like this, you won’t have to worry about switching your workout mode every few weeks, as long as you constantly plug and play new exercises.

Think of your body as a car’s engine. Low intensity would involve idling at a stoplight. Your primary fuel is fat, and your actual caloric expenditure is low. There is still a good amount of blood flow to exercising muscles, but the actual cardiovascular stress and fiber tearing in the muscle is minimal. You are not breathing hard, conversation with your fellow gym-goers is fairly non-stressful, and muscles really don’t burn all that much. Such an intensity is great for a recovery workout, or for a strength/power workout with long rests between sets. You could potentially go for several hours at this intensity and still be able to do another workout the next day.

You’re cruising down the highway when in medium-intensity mode. Breathing and heart rate become a bit more rapid, you can feel a burn in the working muscles, and the primary fuel is a mixture of fat and carbohydrate. Mental focus is typically a little higher than low-intensity mode, and the workout itself is challenging, but not daunting. You can usually exercise the next day, but typically want to avoid stressign the same muscle groups.

In high-intensity mode, you are working at a 100%, all-out effort. Muscles are constantly burning, breathing and heart rate are very high, carbohydrate is the main fuel source, and caloric expenditure is through the roof (as is your post-workout metabolism). The entire body is tired after this type of workout and you generally need about 24 hours of rest of very easy work afterwards. Many times, it can be difficult to mentally force yourself to *begin* one of these kind of workouts, although once you launch into and the adrenaline kicks in, energy levels naturally rise.

The key to the sample training program outlined below that the low, medium and high intensities are stacked so that your body optimally responds and optimally recovers from each workout. So here is a sample daily-intensity based workout for a fairly frequent 6 day work-out routine.

Day 1 (i.e. Monday): high-intensity cardio intervals (shorter, i.e. 20 minutes) with high-intensity full body resistance training (longer, i.e. 45 minutes), incorporating back-to-back sets, challenging weights, difficult training scenarios, and short rest periods.

Day 2: low-intensity cardio, long and steady (i.e. 45 minutes+), with no lifting. Good day for an outdoor workout, like a hike or easy bike ride.

Day 3: high-intensity cardio intervals with medium-intensity full body lift, incorporating primarily body weight training. Great day to experiment and try new exercises and/or group exercise classes.

Day 4: low-intensity cardio, long and steady (i.e. 45 minutes+), with no lifting.

Day 5: medium-intensity cardio (shorter, i.e. 20 minutes) with low-intensity lifting (longer, i.e. 45 minutes),. For the lifting, incorporate heavier weights with longer rest periods, and focus on slow and controlled movements with perfect form and little to no ballistic activity.

Day 6: high-intensity cardio (longer, i.e. 45 minutes) with high-intensity full body resistance training (shorter, i.e. 20 minutes). Great day to try the Weekly Trainer Challenge, plus some extra cardio.

Day 7: active rest. Does not equal couch+bon-bons. Get up and move around, but just don’t stress your body too much.

There you have it. This type of exercise routine allows for sufficient recovery after the high-intensitiy periods, while still allowing for maximum caloric burning and efficient workouts. There are many different ways you could approach such a routine (in terms of exercises, specific cardio intervals, etc.). Just let me know if I can help you put a training plan together…you can e-mail me at elite@pacificfit.net.

Head trainer Ben Greenfield runs the online training website Pacific Elite Fitness, and holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Sport Science and Exercise Physiology, as well as certifications from the National Strength and Conditioning Association as a Personal Trainer and Strength and Conditioning Coach (NSCA-CPT & CSCS). For over 6 years, Ben has coached and trained professional, collegiate, and recreational athletes, and helped hundreds of individuals achieve their personal fitness goals. For more information on online personal training and fitness, contact Ben at elite@pacificfit.net.
www.pacificfit.net

A broadband phone is a phone that uses the Internet to make calls over Internet Protocol (IP). You can use your old telephone for calling, but your calls are routed through IP using broadband Internet access. This is done by using a device called a digital adapter, which connects the broadband modem with your telephone. This connection gives access to the broadband phone line. The primary function of the digital adapter is to unravel and rearrange the digital voice data that it obtains through the Internet and convert it into intelligible messages like the ones you receive through your ordinary non-digital telephone. The international call costs are much cheaper than those made over the conventional telephones or cell phones. The process of transmission of messages is quite efficient.

The transmission of voice over IP, or “VoIP” for short, has a bright future in making long distance calls. The main plus point is that the transmission of voice messages does not require any new platform or infrastructure. It uses the already existing Internet communication system, which is being used with great success. Great advances are being made in the improvement of the Internet communication systems as new technologies are being introduced. In view of this it can be safely assumed that the new broadband telephone technology, which rides piggyback on the Internet, will advance accordingly and provide improved and cheaper services to individual and corporate business users. Quite possibly the interconnecting digital adapter would altogether be eliminated. You may get digital telephones that can be plugged directly into the USB ports on PCs and can send and receive calls digitally.

It appears that as broadband grows in popularity, VoIP will revolutionize the telecommunication system as never before, even more than cell phones have done. As a result, most call charges should eventually become dirt-cheap.

Broadband provides detailed information on Broadband, Broadband Phones, Broadband Speeds, Broadband Internet and more. Broadband is affiliated with Broadband Satellite Internet.

The Seattle Sonics, a National Basketball Association team, are having problems. This is nothing new for the Sonics, nor for many professional teams. The same could be said for many businesses. The actual problem is universal.

In a local news article, the plight of one of the Sonics stars is sited.

“Rashard Lewis has made peace with this lost season. He says he’s no longer angry with ownership, management, teammates, and the circumstances that have turned the once-proud Sonics into a franchise struggling for respectability.”
— Lewis voices upset over Sonics’ path - The Seattle Times, February 26, 2006

In an industry where sometimes it seems like sports stars just go through the motions of playing as they take home millions of dollars for uninspired effort, Lewis is contrary. Like others stuck in positions with little chance of advancement, Lewis speaks his mind. “I’m tired of losing. My main focus is to compete for an NBA championship before my career is up.”

The Sonics are in disarray. They have changed coaches; they have traded players; they are threatening to relocate; they have remained secretive about their plans for playing and winning.

The John Cleese training video people have a communications training video that speaks to this problem. The aim of the video is to ensure that managers inform and involve their teams in order to improve motivation and productivity. It doesn’t really matter if we are talking about a sports team or a workteam at the office. The predicament is the same.

“Research shows that the two most common complaints in organizations worldwide are ‘nobody ever tells us’ and ‘nobody ever asks us’. The Best Of Motives consists of two videos, which tackle each of these issues. Part One is No One Ever Tells Us, and Part Two is No One Ever Asks Us. The final lesson is that people need results to achieve, not tasks to perform if they are to be productive, successful and willing to contribute to the business.” - Ad copy for The Best of Motives

Lewis, who will probably ask out of his contract that is scheduled to pay him 21 million dollars for the final two years, says, “I still don’t know what’s going on with management. Are they going to sell the team? I think there’s a number of different things that are really going on right now.”

Here we have a player that is worth millions of dollars a year and he doesn’t know what’s going on. His mind goes over the same concerns as an employee making $12.50 an hour. Will he stay on the job where he’s not informed and his opinion isn’t asked for, or will he seek employment somewhere else? “No One Ever Tells Us” and “No One Ever Asks Us” are major hurdles at all levels.

We all face the same communication issues. Lewis probably has a better chance of succeeding than most of us, and by speaking up he’s involving himself in the communications process.

Communications should always be a two-way street. One-way and no-way communications just don’t work. Team members want to succeed if given the chance . . . the tools . . . and a little information.

Don Doman is a published author, video producer, and corporate trainer. He owns the business training site Ideas and Training (http://www.ideasandtraining.com), which he says is the home of the no-hassle “free preview” for business training videos. He also owns Human Resources Radio (http://www.humanresourcesradio.com), which broadcasts HR and business training information, program previews, and training samples from some of the world’s great training speakers twenty-four hours a day. You can listen and learn on Human Resources Radio.

When you are just starting out playing cricket it’s not always straightforward to know what you need to buy. If you go into a sports retail shop & ask them what you need, you will most likely finish up coming out with a great deal of equipment that you don’t need. Hence, it’s better to work out what you will want previous to you going shopping. That way you are a great deal more likely to obtain what you need, rather than what the store landlord recommends you need.

Below, is more or less a complete cricket equipment list, you do not have to get everything on this list, as numerous clubs will lend you kit especially at junior level:

Cricket whites, cricket bats, balls, helmets, gloves, batting (wicket keeping) inner gloves, wicket keeping gloves, batting pads, wicket keeping pads, box, chest pad, arm guard, inner thigh pad, cricket boots (bowling boots; batting boots), box (groin guard), stumps and bails. Check out the latest cricket equipment sales online at Sportswear-Equipment.com.

For the majority of sports games you take part in you will need to have your very own set of whites. Cricket whites contain white cricket trousers & a cricket shirt. It is therefore important to make sure that you buy a high-quality set of cricket trousers and also a nice white cricket shirt and jumper as it can rapidly turn pretty cold if you are standing out on the pitch for a long time especially if you are playing in England (the start and end of the season are the coldest).

If you can not borrow kit from your club the other most important items of equipment are a cricket bat and box. A high-quality cricket bat is crucial if you want to score heaps of runs & is a very individual piece of cricket equipment, spend some time selecting your bat, in an ideal world you would be advised to go to a store and pick one up before you buy so you know how it feels to play with. As soon as you know what you want you can often buy bats on the Web much cheaper). You need a good box to protect your groin from the ball, as getting hit down below’ is particularly painful, so investing in a good box before you start is a clear must - you can not play cricket without one.

A lot of new age piano music consists of repeating patterns, or textures in the left hand while the right hand improvises a melody. This approach is really a good one! It frees you up to create in the moment. First you decide what chord or chords you’ll be using in the left hand. You then create an ostinato or arpeggio that lays the foundation for the entire piece.

It’s like the background a painter uses before the foreground is drawn in. In the case of music, the background would be the textural patterns in the left hand. Then the right hand comes in “to paint” in the rest of the picture - in this case, the improvised melody.

George Winston used this approach in the piece “Rain.” First you get this beautiful textural background created exclusively by the left hand. He covers more than an octave with the left hand using the thumb to reach past and make the music sound fuller. Now, in this piece he uses only a few chords, but interest is maintained through the improvised melody. In my piece, Flashflood, from Anza-Borrego Desert Suite, I use the same technique.

I start by playing an ostinato in the left, than add in the melody in the right. I keep playing the ostinato for as long as my intuition says, “this sounds good,” then add in some contrast, either by changing chords, or by adding in new material.

It’s important to realize that complete textural backgrounds can be created using the left hand alone. In fact, entire pieces of music can and have been created using this very versatile approach. It’s especially suited for new age music. So, here’s a step-by-step procedure for creating textures:

1. Choose your chords - These can be triads, or Open Position Chords, or any chord structure

2. Create a pattern for your left hand

3. Improvise a melody with your right hand

About the Author: Edward Weiss is a pianist/composer and webmaster of Quiescence Music’s online piano lessons. He has been helping students learn how to play piano in the New Age style for over 14 years! Visit us now at http://www.quiescencemusic.com/piano_lessons.html for a FREE piano lesson!

Source: www.isnare.com