A lesson in expression: Adrian Valia shows us how to play emotions with ROLI Piano
Join the composer, author, and educator for a video masterclass in expressing your inner feelings through your playing
When we talk about music, we often refer to the idea of expressing ourselves, or adding emotion to our playing. But how do we actually do that?
Enter Adrian Valia, an award-winning musician, producer, and author based in London. He’s also the owner of a hugely successful TikTok account where he regularly shares his knowledge on music theory and playing techniques with more than 65,000 followers.
In our latest video, Adrian joins us for a closer look at how a little bit of music theory goes a long way when it comes to broadcasting our thoughts and feelings. Watch it below for a powerful, yet easy-to-follow, primer on adding emotion to your piano parts.
Love
First up, Adrian tackles one of the most powerful emotions of all. Here, he picks the C major scale, and selects only the major chords within it for the most uplifting feeling possible. From there, he adds a melody and explores how the romance can be heightened by giving careful consideration to register, tempo, voice leading, and more.
Sadness
Adrian contrasts love with a less welcome, but equally relatable, emotion. Sadness, he says, begins with choosing a minor key and emphasising the minor chords within it. He also plays in a lower range here and slows the tempo right down for a more subdued vibe. As a finishing touch, he adds some crunchy dissonance in the right hand with semitone intervals.
Sneakiness
This may not be our first thought when we think of an emotion, but we all know sneaking about feels like — or at least what it sounds like in the movies. Here, Adrian selects a staccato string patch and arpeggiates his minor I and V chords with a lilting rhythm that tiptoes around his chord tones.
Excitement
Here, Adrian chooses a major key, loads up a nice, bright synth sound, and launches into some energetic fifth chords that yet again conjures up some movie magic. His insistent rhythms propel the action along, as he borrows chords from other keys to create some intrigue and keep us guessing.
Bonus emotion: Nostalgia
Just as Adrian thought he was done, we threw him a curveball and challenged him to show us what nostalgia sounds like — and he didn’t disappoint. Placed on the spot, he improvised his own unique interpretation of this hard-to-pin-down feeling using a combination of major and minor chords with occasional forays outside of his chosen key for added flavor.
Preorder ROLI Piano and save
Want to express your own emotions? ROLI Piano, as featured in this video, doesn’t just teach you to play by lighting up in time with your favourite song. It’s also one of the most expressive keyboards ever created, with polyphonic pitch bend and aftertouch on every one of its 49 full-size, semi-weighted keys. Best of all, you can preorder it right now at a saving of $200 / £180 / €200.
