Learning Piano
For beginners, learning piano can be a long process. However, for the diligent student, it can be a worthwhile investment for a future in the art of music. A few basic things to know for learning piano include:
- Posture – Slouching is not allowed at the piano. One must sit tall with a straight back. This is not only for making you “look good” at the piano, but also for back health.
- Hand Position – Your arms need to extend straight from the elbows to the piano with your hands resting as if holding an imaginary bubble in the palms. The fingers should be remained curved and relaxed at all times. Most beginner piano books will show you a diagram of the keyboard and how the hands are to be positioned.
- Middle “C” Position – Generally, the thumb of the right hand is placed at what is called the “middle C” position on the piano keyboard. The C key is generally the middle key on the keyboard, directly centered under the piano label. Your piano book for beginners will generally show you where middle C is located.
- Keyboard Layout – From the middle C position, the ivory keys are lettered going to the right are alphabetical (D, E, F, and G). After the G key, the alphabet starts over and goes from A to G again, and repeats until the keyboard runs out. This set of letters (notes) is known as an octave.
- Sheet Music – Musical pieces are sheets that have multiple lines in sections – generally there are two groups of five lines in each section. These sections are called the Grand Staff. The upper group of five lines is the Treble Clef Staff and the lower five lines is the Bass Clef Staff, each indicated by their respective symbols at the beginning of each staff.
- Notes – On the staff lines of sheet music are the notes that you play. There are several kinds of notes, but the basic ones for beginners include whole, half, quarter, eighth, and sixteenth notes. Whole notes are a solid black circle, with a smaller open circle inside. The half note looks like a whole note, but has a line extending upwards from it. A quarter note is a half note with the circle completely blackened in and an eighth note has a “flag” from the upward line. The sixteenth note has two flags on its line.
Once you become familiar with the basic utilities as listed above, then you are ready to move on to putting it all together and playing the piano. |
