Learn piano with Grammy nominated artists featured on LUMI

The 2024 Grammys are here! The event to kickoff awards season is in its 66th year with nearly a hundred categories.

While some years have surpassed this mark, this year’s line of available Grammy awards is drawn at 94, and of the 94 Grammy awards, a few artists featured on the LUMI Music App are included, some for multiple awards!

Not only that, but plenty of artists who have previously been awarded Grammys are featured on the app too! That’s one way to motivate you to learn more music!

A brief history of the Grammy Awards

Historically, the Recording Academy Grammy Awards have been a prestigious night within the music community. The first dozen or so Grammy Awards began with less flash on stage, but plenty of it in the crowd.

The Recording Academy, the now non-profit organisation which produces the Grammys, launched the event as a black tie affair. It was not televised, though it was regularly curated through simultaneous events in multiple cities.

Grammys for the Modern age

It wasn’t until the 1970s that televising the event skyrocketed the production, including performances and lightening up on strict attire requirements.

Today, the Grammy event feels like a blend of the original vision, a late night show, and a Super Bowl Halftime Show. Not to mention the red carpet and celebrity hosts to add some flare to the affair.

If you're learning piano, enjoying the spectacle of the Recording Academy Grammy Awards is an easy way to stay connected to what's happening in the music industry.

While the awards and overall music industry has an unfortunate reputation of racism and tokenization, The Recording Academy has slowly improved their representation in Grammy award types and nominees.

So long as the Grammys are never considered the only, or all-truthful source of who is shaping modern music, we believe that all those interested in playing music should enjoy the show.

The Grammy Award winners and nominees in the LUMI App

Of the Grammy Award nominees this year, plenty are artists with songs available to play and learn in the LUMI App. Billie Eilish, Taylor Swift and Olivia Rodrigo were all up for Record of the Year for 2024, and Calvin Harris and Kylie Minogue both had nominations for Best Dance Pop Recording, with Kylie taking home the trophy.

Ed Sheeran had also snapped up a nomination for Best Vocal Pop album alongside Swift and Rodrigo, and Dua Lipa was up for Song of the Year.

Industry icons return for the Grammys

Moving away from the contemporary artists nominated on the evening, industry icons such as The Beatles who recently made a return with new music in 2023 with their single "Now and Then", received a Grammy for much older song, "I'm Only Sleeping" which won Best Music Video, and David Bowie’s "Moonage Daydream" won for Best Music Film.

More legends such as Stevie Wonder, Annie Lennox and who appeared on the nights "In Memoriam" segment to honour the likes of Tina Turner, Sinead O'Connor and Shane MacGowan, and Billy Joel made a spectacular comeback performance for the events finale.

Learning songs from Grammy nominees in the LUMI App

If you already use the app, paired with a vibrantly illuminated LUMI Keys, you already have access to learn plenty of the music from these Grammy nominees and winners.

This dynamic, versatile music hub awaits with not only the music of 2024 Grammy winners, but over 500 total songs. The learning content is organized through formal lessons, interactive exercises and fun (potentially addicting) games.

In addition to a number of them being nominated for multiple Grammy awards in 2024, there are already plenty of Grammys peppering the shelves of these stars. Their staying power is just another sign of their music's role in our lives. Like them or not, they're doing something right!

Taking inspiration from the Grammy awards

For all aspiring pianists and songwriters, being able to learn some of the music written by previous Grammy winners can be an exciting burst of inspiration to take their learning that much further. Who knows, perhaps one day your piano playing could lead you to writing your own music and being nominated for Record of the Year one day!

Learn piano with the Grammy nominees and winners

When you’re ready to dive into the app, take note that most of the songs in the catalog include a range of difficulty levels. Of the Grammy nominees, you can explore nearly 50 interactive lessons depending on your experience level with a large range music genres to choose from.

If you're starstruck by Billie Eilish, Dua Lipa or Miley's performances, there is no better time to learn some of their music.

You’ll also encounter a number of songs by these artists in the learning stages. This is a curated learning journey for beginners to tackle the basics and work towards playing with two hands, reading sheet music, and more.

For example, if you reach Stage 4, you’ll be able to learn through Taylor Swift’s ‘’Love Story’’ in the third group of lessons. You’ll only need one hand, but the chord changes can be tricky!

Watching the Annual Grammy Awards as a musician

Have you ever plugged in your instrument to play along to your favorite songs? Not necessarily with music in front of you, just listening and improvising, having fun with it.

While spending focused, distraction-free time with the LUMI App should build your fundamentals, most musicians and songwriters will share that there is also power to more relaxed methods of building comfort with your instrument.

Practicing music as you watch the Grammys

Jamming, noodling around, it has many names, and is often on a couch. While it can feel silly at first, this is a powerful method of practicing physically and training your ear as you listen to and play music. Plus, you can count it as increasing your playing time towards 10,000 hours ;) 

To try out this approach with this year’s Grammy awards, we encourage you to have your keyboard next to you. Cozy up, and each time a performance or loud background music comes up, challenge yourself to play along.

You can do this by having your LUMI App open, or plugging the keyboard into your computer. Remember that your LUMI can also act as a MIDI instrument, connecting to free programs like GarageBand or paid ones like Ableton and Logic, so if you're a songwriter, you can begin to record your own music when the inspiration strikes you.

Joining in with the Grammys conversation

Whether you're an aspiring songwriter or beginner pianist, it's a great time to join in the conversation with other songwriters and musicians about what's hot and what's not according to the music world and among the recording arts. It's a great way to build your own musical opinion and share that with others in your immediate music community!

Performances at the 2024 Recording Academy Grammy Awards

With the Recording Academy list of awards winners and nominees now published, you can see this includes a few artists such as Billie Eilish, Dua Lipa, Olivia Rodrigo and Calvin Harris whose songs are available to learn in the LUMI app.

From contemporary stars to industry icons, the star studded evening also included a special lineup with an incredible array of performances from Grammy winners of the past and winners who were awarded on the night.

Miley Cyrus, who took home awards for Record of the Year and Best Solo Performance for "Flowers", took to the stage to perform, as did Olivia Rodrigo, nominated for multiple awards on the night for "Vampire".

Billie Eilish performed the incredibly moving track "What Was I Made For?", the very song which won her Grammy awards for Song of the Year and Best Song Written for Visual Media this year, with her brother FINNEAS accompanying her on piano.

The legendary, multiple Grammy award-winning 'Piano Man' himself, Billy Joel, closed out the Grammy Awards with his first new song in 17 years, proving the staying power of piano music across the decades.

Pick up your instrument and play along!

And this is the perfect time for you to have your instrument nearby to join into the show. No matter how far along in your learning journey you are or how ‘’good’’ it sounds to you, keep trying.

As songwriters and growing musicians, this is how we improve our ears, push your comfort zone, and overall feel for the music within us. Not to mention, you can engage differently with television while also becoming better at piano!

Piano performances at the Grammys throughout the years

While the awards can no longer be the only draw of the event, the potentially best reason to tune in is the unforgettable performances.

Much like at the Super Bowl, the production of these performances are truly breathtaking. It becomes even more impressive when thinking about how much work goes into stage and costume design for such short performances.

But what makes the piano so special? It doesn’t quite need all of that. While some of the best performances of all time require a mobile, dynamic frontperson (See: Kendrick Lamar’s incredible set in 2016), pianists can mesmerize us with only the instrument and a seat.

Our favorite moments centering the piano at previous Grammy Awards

🎹 Alicia Keys re-defining the dueling piano concept in 2019, before a 2020 encore in the early days of the Coronavirus pandemic. (Alicia Keys also won an award for Best Immersive Album for "The Diary Of Alicia Keys" at this year's Grammys).

🎹 Taylor Swift's performance from a decade ago. Having won four Grammy Awards at this year's event, including Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal album, her popularity among Grammys appearances and performances is unmatched. We previously released an article on how to play like Taylor, be sure to check it out!

🎹 One of the first performances after televising the Grammys was none other than young Stevie Wonder, featuring his still-famous clavinet sound.

Whether we're interest in the nominations or who gave the best acceptance speech or not, there's no doubt that we can learn a lot about the recording arts and performance from events such as the Grammys.

Staying motivated to learn piano

This is just the tip of the iceberg, and not considering the hundreds of award-winning music that has centered the piano over the years and has proved itself to be a crucial part of the recording arts and Grammy experience.

At the end of the day, learning piano is an experience which can last a lifetime. As an instrumentalist or a songwriter, being creative in our ways to inspire, motivate, and yes, practice, is so important.

If you've been inspired by what you've read in this article, all the artists mentioned, from nominees to winners and performers, can be found in the LUMI app! We'll have the latest Grammy nominated songs from Billie Eilish, Olivia Rodrigo and Dua Lipa coming to the LUMI App next month, so be sure to have your LUMI Keys ready to start learning!

Get started on your piano learning journey with songs from Grammy award-winning artists and maybe one day you'll be up for consideration with the Recording Academy.