Yes! I want to play Piano-NOW!! Welcome!

Transcription

1 Yes! I want to play Piano-NOW!! Welcome! You have just made the best decision to join us and learn to play the piano like never before! Learning piano is FUN! Whether you're learning new tunes or making up your own songs, playing the piano is a journey and a very satisfying one too. Remember though, with all new things, there is a gradual learning curve and you need to be patient. To play the piano well you will need to learn a combination of the following; Learn to read music (yes, you can! and it's easy, I will show you how!) Learn to play by ear (yes, if you start the right way, this is also easier than you think!) Play songs you don't know (this is important to discipline yourself, reading notes, and 'brain-finger co-ordination') Play songs you do know (this makes learning fun!) Complete the given worksheets Sight reading exercises Practice technical exercises (really important to get the fingers moving correctly and having a good hand position) Regular practicing; minutes daily (yes! please do this as you will you will gain momentum very quickly and develop your skills so much faster!) 1

2 Okay! Let's get started... First of all, let's discuss sitting at the piano with the correct hand position. Sit with a straight back Relax your shoulders Feet flat on the floor Arms parallel to the floor Place fingers on the so you have one finger on each white key adjacent to each other Lift your wrists high so that your fingers naturally curve over the keys and your finger tips are touching the keys Important Always play with the tip of your finger (just like typing on your computer keyboard). If you play with flat fingers it will be difficult to navigate to the other keys on the piano. Have you tried typing with flat fingers? If you do, you might end up with some unusual looking words! (and it's quite hard to type with flat fingers). Same applies to piano playing. Play on the tips of your fingers It may be a challenge at first as our little fingers are weaker than the other fingers and we naturally want to play with flat fingers but please try to master this initial technique. You can thank me later! 2

3 How to read music Music is written on a series of 5 lines called a stave. Notes are written either as space notes (notes between the lines) or line notes (notes on the line) Notes Some notes we play are short notes and others are long notes. Let's start with the 3 main types of notes. Each note gets a different value or count. This note gets 1 count. It is called a Quarter Note. This note gets 2 counts. It is called a Half Note.. This note gets 3 counts. It is called a Dotted Half Note. The dot beside a note gives the note an extra 1/2 of its value, in this case an extra 1 count. So a half note (2 counts) + the dot (half of 2 = 1) = 3 counts. This note gets 4 counts. It is called a Whole Note. 3

4 The Treble and Bass Clef This sign is called a Treble Clef It means the right hand plays all the notes along the stave. This sign is called a Bass Clef It means the left hand plays all the notes along the stave. The Grand Stave below shows the Treble and Bass Clef (right and left hand) joined together with a line and a bracket. Piano music is always played on the Grand Stave. Right hand notes are written along these lines Left hand notes are written along these lines Music is divided up into bars of equal measures or counts. Each bar is separated with a bar line, like this; Bar line 4

5 Time Signatures At the beginning of a piece, there will always be a Time Signature. This tells us how many beats we count per bar and what type of note gets that beat, or count. For example, if we see a 4/4 time signature at the start of a piece the top 4 means how many beats per bar (in this case, 4 beats). The bottom 4 means what type of note gets one beat (in this case, a quarter note). So there are 4 quarter note beats per bar. When we have a 4/4 time signature and we have 4 quarter notes in a bar, we count it like this; If we see a 3/4 time signature at the start of a piece the top 3 means how many beats per bar (in this case, 3 beats). The bottom 4 means what type of note gets one beat (in this case, a quarter note). So now there are 3 quarter note beats per bar. When we have a 3/4 time signature we have 3 quarter notes in a bar and count it like this; Notice the time signature is shown in the Treble Clef and the Bass Clef. 5

6 Okay, can you count to 4? great! let's do some counting exercises! The exercises below are intended to help you with your counting and co-ordination. The first exercise has 3 counts per bar. Each quarter note gets 1 count (or beat). Count and clap the notes (as if you were playing the notes). 6

7 When we read piano music, sometimes there are numbers above the notes to help you. These numbers refer to our fingers. Hold out your hands, palms up. Notice the thumbs are always number 1 and our little fingers are OK, ARE YOU READY TO READ MUSIC? Awesome!! First, let's quickly cover the basics. Music uses the first 7 letters of the alphabet; A B C D E F G [repeated pattern] You can find the notes by using the black keys to navigate with, for example you will notice there are groups of two black keys and groups of three black keys all the way up the keyboard. Notes are always at the same place corresponding with the black keys. Remember we talked about line notes and space notes on page 4. Well, when notes are written side by side it looks like they're going up a ladder. Sometimes notes are written like this; space note, space note, line note etc. And that is just the start of the many combinations that make up songs! Ok, let's find our notes... 7

8 C D E F G A B C As you see on the piano above, C is situated to the left of the group of two black notes. To get really good at finding C, find them all on your piano and play them. Notice some are high sounding and some are in the low register. D is the white note situated between the group of two black notes. E is the white note situated on the right of the group of two black notes. F is the white note situated to the left of the group of three black notes G & A are the white notes situated in between the group of three black notes B is the white note situated on the right of the group of three black notes And this is how they look as written notes. Remember the Treble Clef means the right hand plays these notes C has its own special line below the stave (called a ledger line). Because of this it's easy to recognize - we call it Middle C because it's basically in the middle of the piano and the left hand usually plays it as well. It's a central note common to both left and right hands. Middle C is a 'line'' note. 8

9 TEST 1 Ok, let's see how good you are... Write the letter name beside each note. Print this page as many times as you like to get lots of practice naming notes! 9

10 And here are the left hand notes. Remember the Bass Clef means the left hand plays these notes Just a point to rememberr - when we read notes going down the stave, we have to think backwards in the alphabet... Notes are going down the ladder And when we read notes going up the stave, we think forwards in the alphabet. Notes are going up the ladder Ok - are you ready for another test?? Great! 10

11 TEST 2 Write the letter name beside each note -don't you just love the Bass Clef? Print this page as many times as you like to get lots of practice naming notes! 11

12 Let's play our first tunes! (well, exercises actually - we need to do this to get our fingers working!) Place your hands on the piano with high wrists so that your fingers naturally curl over the keys. It's very important to play on the tips of your fingers, see page 2, and not have flat fingers, so keep your wrists high, curl your fingers and get them strong! Here's an exercise for strengtheningg your fingers. Play the right hand first, nice and slow. Then play the left hand by itself. Then once you are familiar with hands separately, try playing it together. Ok, now try this one, same thing but different note combination. Right hand first, then left hand, then together - SLOWLY. Always have high wrists and play on the tips of your fingers!! YOUR FIRST SONG!! Name the notes while you play Hold for 4 counts! 12

13 Ok, are you ready for more? Then sign up, if you haven't already done so, and learn piano like never before! Online tutorials Weekly updates Various levels Lots of musical styles Reading music Writing music Playing music! 13