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Piano For Beginners March 1st, 2017 Digital Back Issue Cover

Piano For Beginners Magazine (Digital)

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Welcome to Piano for beginners

Making the decision to learn a new instrument can be a whim or a long-standing ambition. Either way, picking up an instrument for the _rst time is a daunting feeling, as the scale of the task sinks in. This is particularly true if you have never learnt to play an instrument before, with all those technical terms, scales and notation marks to decipher before you have even played a single note. This new edition of Piano for Beginners is therefore an essential guide for piano and keyboard _rst-timers. Simplifying the process through step-by-step tutorials, this bookazine will help you lay solid foundations for years of enjoyment. From the correct way to sit at the piano to reading notation, we start with the basics before expanding your musical horizons with easy…

Welcome to Piano for beginners

The ultimate guide to the piano

Deciding to take the first step towards discovering your musical talents is worthwhile at any age. Learning to play an instrument is a rewarding journey and the piano really is a great one to start with. Although you’ll need plenty of time, practice and patience, the piano is a relatively easy instrument to master, which is why it’s a popular one to try to learn first. Many musicians find that after conquering it, the idea of learning other instruments isn’t as daunting. The piano has come a long way since it was invented, and alongside the traditional acoustic varieties, there are now digital pianos and portable keyboards. Learning to play the piano is the same on all three, but you’ll find some may offer more or fewer features than others,…

The ultimate guide to the piano

How to sit correctly at the piano

Before you start learning how to play the piano, the first thing you need to do is ensure you have the correct sitting position. Posture is very important for piano players, as it ensures you have the maximum level of flexibility to reach all the keys, and it also helps you learn the proper technique for striking the keys. On the path to perfect posture, one of the major things you’ll need is a proper seat. If you’re slumped down below the piano you’ll struggle to learn the basics, while if you’re propped high in the air you won’t be able to hit the keys properly. You don’t need anything really expensive; the best thing to have is an adjustable seat, but you can also just use pillows and cushions…

How to sit correctly at the piano

Learn the white keys

Once you’ve perfected your posture in our previous tutorial, you’re almost ready to start playing the piano. The next step is to learn the names of the white keys, where the different keys are located, and how to remember them. The white piano keys are known as the natural keys, because they sound a natural note as opposed to the sharps and flats of the black notes, which we’ll explain in the next section. The first thing you’ll want to do is find Middle C. In the centre of the piano you should see three white keys surrounding two black keys. The furthest left of these three keys is Middle C. As a starting point for beginners put the index finger of your right hand on this key. From here…

Learn the white keys

Learn the black keys

The black keys on the piano are known as the flat and sharp keys. In technical terms this means they make a note half a step (or a semitone) lower and higher respectively in pitch from their corresponding white key. You will notice that the black notes are grouped in twos and threes, and taking the time to remember which is which is also a useful way to remember the white keys’ names. Each black key acts as both a sharp and a flat. A sharp is a note that’s half a step higher than the corresponding white key, and the flats are half a step lower. First, let’s focus on moving to the right from Middle C. The black key immediately to the right is C sharp (C#). This…

Learn the black keys

Using the piano’s pedals

Pedals on a piano are used to create sounds that you could not otherwise achieve with your hands alone. There are two standard foot pedals on a piano. On the left is una corda, and on the right is sustain. Some pianos have an additional middle pedal called the sostenuto. However, this is not used very often. The una corda pedal is played with your left foot and is known as the soft pedal. It is used to enhance softly played notes and is designed for notes that are required to be played quietly. It will not be as effective in softening louder notes. The right pedal is the sustaining pedal, also known as the damper pedal, which is used by your right foot. It is used to elongate the…

Using the piano’s pedals

What is musical notation?

Musical notation is a way composers express to musicians how to play a piece of music through both pitch and rhythm. Music is written on a stave which consists of five lines. Notes can be placed either in the spaces or on the lines themselves and represent one of the seven natural notes in music. Musical notes are separated by vertical lines called bar lines. Preceding the musical notes, you will usually find a clef and time signature, and sometimes you may see either a sharp or flat representing a key signature within a particular piece. Above the stave you will almost always find a tempo marking either through a number or an expressive term which will indicate the speed of the piece. Underneath, a composer could add dynamic markings.…

What is musical notation?

Introducing the staves

Staves (or staffs) are some of the most important parts of musical notation – without them we wouldn’t have anywhere on which to put the notes we need to play! Staves consist of five horizontal lines with four spaces, with a clef on the left-hand side. Although there are several different clefs throughout the world of music, as pianists we only need to concentrate on the treble clef and bass clef. Usually, the treble clef and the stave that it sits on dictate the notes that will need to be played by the right hand, while the bass clef tells you the notes that the left hand should play. However, pianists need to play both right and left-hand parts at the same time, so both treble and bass are joined…

Introducing the staves

Notes and their values

Notes are the foundation on which Western musical notation is based – without them we wouldn’t know what to play or how long to play it for. We know what note to play by its position on the stave, which we’ll address in the next tutorial, and we know how long to play it for by the type of note it is. Most notes consist of the note head (the ovalshaped dot) and a stem either pointing up from the right of the head, or pointing down from the left. The only note you’re likely to see at this stage that doesn’t have a stem is the semibreve/whole note, which is just the note head (see below for more). Quavers/eighth notes and shorter (ie semiquavers/ sixteenth notes) also have a…

Notes and their values

How to read musical notation

If you want to become a successful pianist, you should be able to read musical notation. You should be able to transcribe those dots and squiggles on the stave into beautiful music that flows from your fingertips. Fortunately, once you have got the basics of notation down, it’s not too hard to get to grips with. The ultimate goal is to be able to sight read – just take one look at the sheet music and transfer those notes immediately. We’ve been through what the different types of staves are and what sort of notes you’ll find on them, now we need to discover how their positioning on the stave affects what notes you should play. Every white key on your keyboard corresponds to a dot on either a line…

How to read musical notation

Understand time signatures

A time signature will always be found at the beginning of a piece of music directly after the key signature. It is very important as it tells us exactly how to divide the beats of the bar, in turn making it so much easier to read a piece of music. There are two main types of time signature: simple time and compound time. Here’s a bit more about them. Simple time Simple time is a signature where the main beat is divided into two equal beats. For instance, in 44 time, the main beat is a crotchet/ quarter note, and this can be divided in two quavers/eighth notes. The most common forms of simple time signature are 44 , 3 4 (most often used in waltzes) and 24 (considered a…

Understand time signatures

Interpret key signatures

K ey signatures are shown at the beginning of a piece of music and are either a series of sharps or flats. You will see a key signature immediately after the clef in a piece of music, and this saves the composer from having to add them after each required note. They explain two things; firstly, the key the piece is in and secondly, which of the notes you play as either sharps or flats. The order that sharps and flats are placed in a key signature will always remain the same. There are two mnemonics that we can use to help us remember these orders on a treble clef stave. For sharps we can use: Father Charles Goes Down And Ends Battles For flats we can use: Battle Ends…

Interpret key signatures

Learn about ledger lines

When you’re looking at a piece of music to play on the piano, you’ll notice that the treble clef and the bass clef are joined together with a bracket on the left-hand side. This is called the grand stave and makes it possible for you to read the music to play on the keyboard with both your left and right hands simultaneously. However, as there are more notes on the piano that can fit on the treble, bass or even grand stave, we need ledger lines to help. These are lines that work to extend either the treble stave or bass stave’s five lines in order to represent notes that appear either above or below the stave For example, Middle C appears below the five main lines of the treble…

Learn about ledger lines

Change note lengths

To properly understand what notes that use dots and ties mean, you first need to brush up on signatures and note duration. The pace of a piece of music is governed by its time signature. You can see this symbol at the start of any stave, right next to the treble or bass clef. It is usually two numbers such as 4/4 placed on top of one another, but it can differ. The stave is divided up into bars, and so the time signature defines the type and amount of notes (so how many beats) that each bar contains. Different notes have different durations. A 4/4 time signature means that a bar needs to contain note values in each bar that combine to equal 4 beats, for example four crotchets/quarter…

Change note lengths

Alter a note’s pitch with accidentals

The term ‘accidentals’ is given to little symbols that turn a note into a sharp or flat, or back to a natural. Essentially, the symbols tell you how to modify the pitch of the note. Flat lowers the pitch by one half step/ semitone and sharp raises the pitch by a half step/ semitone. You’ll see these symbols to the left of note in question, and you will also notice them clinging on to the treble and bass staves between the clef and the time signature. This is what is known as the key signature. Key signatures tell musicians which key the tune is played in, and refer to the sharps and flats that are to be used throughout the piece – you’ll need to memorise the ones to play…

Alter a note’s pitch with accidentals

Navigate music notation

Learning to read music is like learning a different language. There are so many different directions, most of them in Italian, and it can get confusing when you’re faced with a page of music peppered with markings and symbols. It can get especially sticky when certain tunes require you to double-back on yourself and repeat sections over and over. Where do you start from and how do you know what to repeat? The good news for beginners is that once you understand the theory behind all this melodious jiggery-pokery, you’ll realise that all it takes is the memorising of a few key attributes to keep you flowing through the bars. The first aspect to grasp is bar lines and what different ones mean. Then codas and segno signs step in.…

Navigate music notation

Control the volume with dynamics

When you start to read music, all those dots and symbols on the page can look confusing. But as you get more confident, you can then start to put more ‘oomph’ into your music when you come across dynamics Essentially, musical dynamics control the volume of a piece. They are Italian words that are abbreviated or symbolised alongside the notes on the stave and are just one way that the composer is telling you to inject more feeling and personality into a song, rather than just routinely playing the notes off a page. The basic dynamics are forte (f) and piano (p). These mean loud and quiet respectively. However there are plenty more variations, for example pianissimo (pp) means very quiet and fortissimo (ff) means very loud. The word ‘mezzo’…

Control the volume with dynamics

Set and change the tempo

Another aspect of music that helps bring the notes to life is tempo. The word comes from the Latin word ‘tempus’ meaning ‘time’, and indicates to the musician how fast or slow the music should be played. It can also direct the mood or feel. You’ll see the tempo marked at the top of the first stave, and it’s effective throughout the piece unless the composer states otherwise. There are two ways that tempo can be expressed. The first is in beats per minute (or BPM). This is a rather precise measurement, and you can use a metronome to help you keep in perfect time. As a time signature tells you the number of beats in each bar, the tempo tells you the speed at which to play these beats.…

Set and change the tempo

Add articulations to notes

When you’re reading music, alongside being given general direction for the whole piece and technical instructions on what notes to play at what time, you will also come across markings which tell you how to play individual notes in terms of style. No matter what it is, you still need to know what kind of emphasis to put on it. This is where articulations come in. These small symbols are found either above or below an individual note, depending on the position on the stave. Articulations can alter the way you play each note as well as create relationships between the notes themselves. Instructions such as staccato (shown by a small dot, but be careful not to confuse this with a ‘dotted note’) can tell you to play the notes…

Add articulations to notes

Use musical ornaments

In the same way that dynamics, tempo and articulations all layer up to create marvellous music, ornaments simply add to this with little quirks and fiddly bits that enhance the tune. They’re easy to recognise and you might find that the hardest part is getting your fingers around them on the piano keys! Ornaments are noted as small symbols above specific notes. There are four kinds that you need to know. Start with a trill, which is really simple – play the note and the note above it alternately in quick succession. Next is a turn, which is also easy. It’s four notes: the note above, the main note, the note below and the main note again. Then there’s a mordent, which has three notes. There are two kinds of…

Use musical ornaments

Warm up your hands

In the same way that an athlete must warm their body up before running a race, a pianist must warm up before they play music. Although not as physically taxing as running the 100m, going through a few short piano exercises before you begin is a sure way to enhance the way you play. Relaxing your shoulders, arms, wrists and hands will enable you to flow through the music. Your finger dexterity will be improved, enabling you to both find and reach keys quickly and easily, putting no obstacle between you and the notes on the page. You’ll also enjoy practising piano more too, because if you’ve warmed up properly you won’t get achy fingers, wrists or back. Warming up also avoids getting cramp in your hands, which can be…

Warm up your hands

Introducing musical scales

Scales in music are series of notes that are arranged into a specific sequence which can be either ascending or descending. They usually start and end on the same musically named note (ie C) separated by an octave (the distance between eight musical notes). The scales will normally follow a set pattern of either semitones (half steps) or tones (whole steps). The three most common forms of scales are major, a happy-sounding scale; minor, a sadsounding scale; and chromatic, a scale whose sound is ambiguous and is made up of semitones. There are, however, different types of minor scale with subtle differences in their make-up. Learning scales on piano is important for a number of reasons. It will enable you to learn your keyboard quickly, which will become very important…

Introducing musical scales

The C major scale

Give it a try Audio file Listen to the audio files and follow along on your own keyboard Scales are an important part of learning to play piano both in terms of understanding written music and for technical improvement. Reading musical notation is often referred to as music theory, which is like learning the language of music. Scales are a vital part of music theory, just as grammar is necessary for speaking. As you learn to play scales you will start to understand many aspects of musical theory. Practising scales regularly will improve the fluidity of your playing and help your fingers to become more adept to this new activity. Scales are great for developing co-ordination between the hands and are also ideal for introducing a variety of what pianists…

The C major scale

The F major scale

Give it a try Audio file Listen to the audio files and follow along on your own keyboard Musical notes are named after the first seven letters of the alphabet: A, B, C, D, E, F and G. On a piano, these notes are represented by the white keys. When you play your C major scale you start with a C and then ascend up through the successive letters to G after which the pattern returns back to A and carries on from there. This is the same for the entire length of the keyboard. The white keys simply repeat A through to G over and over again. Any set of eight notes together is referred to as an octave and the scales you learn as a beginner will tend…

The F major scale

The G major scale

Give it a try Audio file Listen to the audio files and follow along on your own keyboard As we have observed, there are seven different white keys (notes): A, B, C, D, E, F and G. For each set of seven white keys however, there are only five black keys. Each of the black keys can be known by either its sharp name, or its flat name. Remember, the ‘flat’ of a white key is always below the note, and the ‘sharp’ is always above. The black key used in the F major scale is the note Bb which replaces B for that scale. In other scales, the same black note might be referred to as an A#. In this way, some scales use the flat names for the…

The G major scale

The D major scale

Give it a try Audio file Listen to the audio files and follow along on your own keyboard Every one of the 12 major scales has its own unique set of sharps or flats. The collection of sharps or flats found in a scale is known as the key signature, which in written music is situated right next to the clef at the beginning of each line of music. So far you have learnt to play three different major scales: C major (no sharps or flats), F major (one flat) and G major (one sharp). F major, containing one flat, is followed by a scale containing two flats. Likewise, the scale that follows G major has two sharps. This scale is D major. You may begin to notice a pattern…

The D major scale

Introducing minor scales

Give it a try Audio file Listen to the audio files and follow along on your own keyboard The most important type of scale to learn next is the minor scale. Unlike the major scale, the minor scale comes in three different formats: the natural minor, the harmonic minor and the melodic minor. This means that for any given minor scale, there is not one pattern to master, but three. Don’t worry if this sounds daunting as the three different formats are all centred on the same series of notes; they just have slight variations which are useful to learn and understand. With a little bit of practice you will soon be adept at playing all three types of minor scale. The A minor scale is the equivalent to the…

Introducing minor scales

Give it a try Audio file Listen to the audio files and follow along on your own keyboard Just like major scales, the minor scales follow a cycle, adding either a sharp or a flat with each new scale. The next minor scale to learn is D minor which has one flat; B . The relative major scale to D minor is F major, as it also contains the same single flat note. As with A minor, you will learn three formats: the natural minor, the harmonic minor and the melodic minor. These contain only a slight change but each sounds very unique. It is important to understand the three types of minor scale, as their sequences will appear in the music you will go on to learn. The D…

Learn about intervals

Give it a try Audio file Listen to the audio files and follow along on your own keyboard So far, we have only played one note per hand, but the polyphonic nature of the piano means that we can play up ten notes at the same time. This is very rare, however, and most of the time you will be playing two, three or sometimes four notes with the same hand. We’ll be talking about playing three and four notes at the same time in the chord walkthroughs, but for now let’s look at playing two notes together and how the intervals between them will affect your sound. In music theory terms, an interval is the difference between two notes (not necessarily played at the same time), and they are…

Learn about intervals

Understanding chords

Give it a try Audio file Listen to the audio files and follow along on your own keyboard A chord is a set of three or more notes played at the same time, and they are an integral part of music. When they are played in sequence it is known as a chord progression, and a well thought-out progression can transform an average song into a great one. Fortunately, we can use music theory and knowledge of the scales we’ve already covered to construct and experiment with different chords. To play a three-note major chord (also known as a triad), you must play the first, third, and fifth note of its corresponding major scale. For example, if you want to play a C major chord, you would need to play…

Understanding chords

Using inversions

Give it a try Audio file Listen to the audio files and follow along on your own keyboard Playing chords, no matter what kind, would be pretty boring if all you could do was play them the same way all the time. No matter how you changed the way you used them rhythmically, the notes would always sound the same. Luckily, you can use handy inversions to play the chords you think sound best but in different ways. Rather than just playing C (the root), the E (the third) above it, and the G (the fifth) above that to play C major, you can start on E, then play the G above it, and then the C above the G (so you’re playing the C that’s an octave higher than…

Using inversions

Give it a try Audio file Listen to the audio files and follow along on your own keyboard A major chord comprises three notes played simultaneously: a root, a major third and a perfect fifth. The terms ‘major third’ and ‘perfect fifth’ arise as in the major scale of the root note these intervals are the third and fifth tones respectively. Some major chords are more commonly used than others, and as your repertoire increases you may notice how particular sequences of major chords form the basis of many popular and classical compositions. The root is the note that the chord is named after; C for C major, for example. To identify the major third count four semitones up from the root (four black or white keys); in C major…

Give it a try Audio file Listen to the audio files and follow along on your own keyboard Minor chords (m) have a near-identical structure to that of their respective major; the only difference being the major third is lowered by one semitone – producing a minor third. Minor chords are renowned for their solemn, melancholy tone – think Losing My Religion by REM, or Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 3. However, most Western music that is written in a major key will include some minor chords to add to the richness of the melody. As we will cover later in ‘Chord Progressions’, using combinations such as G-D-Em-C is the formula for an overwhelming majority of popular music – take most Beatles hits. Mastering the use of minor chords will add a…

Suspended chords

The chords that we have examined so far have all involved the third note in the corresponding scale. However, the thing that defines a suspended chord is that it doesn’t use the third note at all. In the world of piano compositions, the two most common suspended chords are sus2 and sus4. In order to play a sus2 chord, you must replace the third from a major or minor chord and instead use the major second – the second note in the chord’s corresponding major scale. Using C (C-D-EF- G-A-B-C) as an example, you would replace the E (the third) in a C major chord with D (the second). So, to play a Csus2 chord, you would play C, D and G at the same time. Note that the root…

Suspended chords

Augmented chords

Give it a try Audio file Listen to the audio files and follow along on your own keyboard Augmented chords can liven up a piece of music, but should be used sparingly. As with the other triads, an augmented chord is formed of a root, a third and a fifth note, but the key difference between an augmented chord and a simple major/minor chord is that each note is a major third (four semitones) apart. For example, where C would be formed of the notes C, E and G, C augmented (notated as C+) would be formed of C, E, G#. The interval between the third and fifth note has been increased (or augmented) by one semitone, thus technically a minor augmented chord cannot exist. At first an augmented chord…

Augmented chords

Diminished chords

Give it a try Audio file Listen to the audio files and follow along on your own keyboard Diminished chords can add a really interesting sound to your playing but need to be used in moderation. If your piece is in a major key, then the diminished chord that occurs naturally will have its root on the seventh note of that scale. In the key of G major for example, the diminished chord would be F#dim. To form this chord, first locate the root note (F#) and count up three semitones to locate the minor third (A). The fifth note lies another minor third up from this note (C). If, however, your piece is in a minor key, the naturally-occurring diminished chord will be built from the second note of…

Diminished chords

Dominant seventh chords

Give it a try Audio file Listen to the audio files and follow along on your own keyboard A dominant seventh, sometimes called the major minor seventh, is a chord formed of four notes: a root, major third and perfect fifth (collectively a major triad) with an added minor seventh (the seventh tone in the minor scale of the root note). Let us walk through an example here. To play C dominant seventh, noted as C7, first form the major triad (C-EG). Instead of playing this with the fingering 1-3-5 in the right, or 5-3-1 in the left, you should use 1-2-3 or 5-3-2 respectively. This then leaves your thumb or fifth finger free to add the minor seventh to the chord – remember that this note will be three…

Dominant seventh chords

Major seventh chords

The major seventh, notated as Maj7 (or M7), is formed of four notes: a root, major third, perfect fifth and a major seventh note. This is why you may also hear it referred to as the major major seventh. It is the most dissonant of the seventh chords, meaning it can sound inharmonious if used out of place. However many composers favour the major seventh chord for its dreamy, airy sound – think of the first line of Close To You by the Carpenters. Subtle dissimilarities in how this family of chords are noted can produce very different harmonies. In particular, be careful to not confuse M7 with m7 (a minor seventh) as both the third and seventh notes are altered. Let us work through a simple example of a…

Major seventh chords

Minor seventh chords

Top tip Minor major seventh chords There is one type of chord we haven’t covered here: the minor major seventh (mM7). To play an mM7 chord, you must _atten the third (like a minor triad) but not the seventh. So, for CmM7, you play C-Eb-G-B. The latter three notes are actually an Eb augmented triad, which gives the mM7 a mysterious feel. The minor seventh, notated as m7, lifts the mood of a minor triad and stops it from sounding quite so glum. Unlike a major seventh chord, a minor seventh enables you to add the seventh note without clashing with the overlying melody, allowing you to be more experimental. However, do be cautious not to confuse it with a 7 or M7 chord as this produces the wrong kind…

Minor seventh chords

Use chord progessions

Give it a try Audio file Listen to the audio files and follow along on your own keyboard You may recognise the above as lyrics from Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah; what you may not know is that the words describe a useful chord progression. A chord progression describes shifting through a series of chords within a key signature. Particular sequences may also be used to move to a new key. As you know there are seven possible roots for chords within a major or minor scale, and with regards to progressions these seven notes are labelled with Roman numerals; that way you can apply the method to any key signature. In C major, for example, chord I would be C, II would be D and so on. If the chord is…

Use chord progessions

Left-hand patterns

Give it a try Audio file Listen to the audio files and follow along on your own keyboard When you’re playing piano, your right hand will likely be playing the melodies. However, this doesn’t mean you should neglect your left hand. It doesn’t matter if your right hand can play incredibly intricate passages over and over again; if your left hand can’t back it up with solid accompanying patterns then you may struggle to master the piano. It doesn’t just have to accompany, as a left hand melody can provide vital variety and possibly a response to the right hand. Not only are the patterns that we look at in this tutorial valuable for improving left-hand dexterity, they can also be used when you only have the chords of the…

Left-hand patterns

Learn arpeggios

Give it a try Audio file Listen to the audio files and follow along on your own keyboard We’ve already learnt about the main chords and progressions you can use to enhance your music, but it’s also possible to break chords up to create arpeggios. Rather than playing three notes at the same time, you can play them in sequence, one after the other, often ascending and descending. You’ll find that arpeggios are useful tools that enable you to keep your music flowing, no matter which hand is playing them. So, for example, if you were to play a C major chord, the normal route would be to play C (the root), E (the third note in the C major scale) and G (the fifth note in the scale) at…

Learn arpeggios

Get to grips with recording

There are many reasons why people want to make recordings of themselves singing or playing a musical instrument. Some use recording as a method of becoming a better musician – they play their recordings back and hear the mistakes they’re making – while others want to record songs that they have written themselves. Whatever your recording goals or aspirations, we’re here to show you how to take your first steps into the world of recording. The great thing about technological developments is that there are a number of ways to record music – from using your Mac to even using your iPhone. Gone are the days of fumbling around in your bag for a notepad and pen to scribble down your musical ideas – just grab your iPhone or iPad…

Get to grips with recording

Play through a computer

If you have a keyboard or digital piano – basically any non-acoustic piano – you may be able to hook your device up to a desktop computer to record, edit and generally just mess around. If your only option is an acoustic piano, then you will still be able to record on your computer, but you won’t have the same degree of control over sound. To hook your keyboard up to a computer you either need a USB cable (one may have been supplied when you bought your keyboard) or a USB cable, two MIDI cables and a MIDI-to-USB adapter. To find out which you need, check the back of your keyboard or digital piano. If USB or MIDI inputs are available they should be clearly labelled on your device.…

Play through a computer

Record on a Mac

Want to hear yourself back or record one of your own creations? Look no further than your Mac computer. GarageBand is a music-making application which comes pre-installed on your Mac as part of the iLife package. Whether you’re a seasoned musician or someone who just wants to have a go at making some noise, GarageBand is the perfect place to get creative. Technological developments have come a long way since the days of recording music to tape. Thanks to GarageBand, you no longer need a bank loan to be able to record a song. You don’t even need any external equipment – computers enable you to plug your electric piano directly into a USB port and start recording straight away. GarageBand has the facilities to record any instrument, whether that’s…

Record on a Mac

The path from piano zero to piano hero can be fraught with obstacles, but thanks to the PC and the right piece of software it can be a far smoother transition than expected. There is no need for the expensive studios or expert producers that come with a recording contract. All that is needed to record multilayered music tracks is a computer, a piano or keyboard and recording software such as Audacity. There are a host of software recording packages on the market, ranging from beginner to pro, costing nothing to thousands of pounds. A great option for beginners is Audacity, a powerful, free and open-source audio editor and recorder. The fact that Audacity is free makes it a great starting point for anyone who wants to start recording piano…

Improve your technique with apps

Smartphones and tablets are fantastic tools to aid creativity thanks to their scope and power. It is now possible to see sheet music for your favourite musician’s latest album and get virtual lessons on various instruments from the App Store. The piano is one such instrument that is brilliantly catered for, with apps on offer to take you through everything, from the very first time you sit at a piano, to the point of writing your own portfolio of songs. The beauty of using your own device is that it takes away some of the daunting nature of having to sit at a full size piano. Instead you can sit back in comfort (wherever you may be), iPad in front of you, and experiment as you wish. Just a few…

Improve your technique with apps

Give it a try Audio file Listen to the audio files and follow along on your own keyboard The piano has played a large part in popular music for a long time now, from early hits like The Righteous Brothers’ version of the classic Unchained Melody up to modern greats like Adele’s Set Fire To The Rain. The piano tends to take one of two roles in a pop song: either as a backing instrument that adds depth to the accompaniment, which will usually consist of drums, bass, and guitar; or as the only instrument backing a powerful singer for a balladlike song. Either way, the piano will rarely take centre stage in a pop song. As a backing instrument among several others, the piano will probably only be playing…

Give it a try Audio file Listen to the audio files and follow along on your own keyboard As a genre, blues music has been around for a long time (well over a century now) and the piano has been a huge part of its sound for the duration. While it has a lot of sub-genres – some well known, like boogie woogie and delta blues, others not so well known – there are a few components that remain consistent among songs of this genre, appearing time and time again. The first of these components is blue notes. These notes give the blues genre its distinctive sound. While these notes don’t fit into any major scale, they are still notes that can be found on the piano or keyboard. For…

Give it a try Audio file Listen to the audio files and follow along on your own keyboard As it’s one of the most complex musical genres in the world, playing jazz is often regarded as the ultimate test of a musician’s ability. Like the genre in general, jazz pianists rarely stick to any musical templates or rules – any time signature or chord structure goes! Relatively simple chords like major sevenths (maj7) are very common, but other commonly used chord types of the jazz sound include augmented sevenths and minor ninths, which are rarely played in other types of popular music. The one rule-of-thumb of jazz music is that there are no rules in jazz music; pretty much anything goes, and there isn’t much that doesn’t belong in a…

The Classical period

Give it a try Audio file Listen to the audio files and follow along on your own keyboard Western classical music after 1600 can be divided into four eras: Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and 20th Century. While the Baroque era (around 1600-1740) relied heavily on keyboard music, the preferred instrument of choice was usually a harpsichord, an ancestor of the piano, and the organ. By the mid 18th Century, however, the Classical period had arrived, and it featured solo music composed on the fortepiano, an early version of the piano we know and love today. The Baroque era’s elaborate flourishes and confusing multiple melodies were gradually replaced by homophonic texture – where multiple instruments would play one melody over an accompaniment. In Classical era piano music specifically, simple arpeggios and Alberti…

The Classical period

The Romantic period

Give it a try Audio file Listen to the audio files and follow along on your own keyboard The Romantic revolution throughout the 19th Century wasn’t just felt in music – the desire to express emotion and creativity swept across the literary and artistic worlds too – but it may have had its biggest impact here. The piano was a massive part of it, thanks to gradual improvements in its form. Indeed, it could be argued that the piano was the most important instrument of the Romantic era as it grew massively in popularity throughout this period. While the era’s symphonies grew larger in size and became more grandiose in scale with more and more instruments being used, piano solo pieces started getting shorter and more digestible. As a result,…

The Romantic period

Contemporary piano music

Give it a try Audio file Listen to the audio files and follow along on your own keyboard Although music purists would be loathe to label it classical, and the genre’s fans wouldn’t want to hear it be classified as straight-up pop, contemporary piano music tends to straddle the line between both genres and adds a bit of new age and world music into the mix. Compositions are often kept simple – especially when compared to the elaborate pieces performed in the Romantic era – and are usually based on accessible pop-like chord progressions, although just chords on their own are rarely used. Instead, the right hand can use the pop influences to craft beautiful and accessible melodies that will appeal to many. Vocal tracks aren’t often used in the…

Contemporary piano music

Give it a try Audio file Listen to the audio files and follow along on your own keyboard Although its heyday lasted barely 20 years, the ragtime genre has had a profound effect on piano music. It eventually evolved and merged with blues to become an early form of jazz, but in the late 19th Century and early 20th Century, ragtime captivated listeners with its bouncy bass lines and syncopated right-hand melodies. A genre that almost exclusively uses piano – especially in the early days – ragtime uses a 2/4 march time signature and a common left-hand pattern that would have the bass note on the first beat and chords on the second. These notes would be played staccato and the sustain pedal seldom used. The right-melodies would often be…

Your questions answered

Getting started Timescale I have no musical background and have recently considered buying a piano for the first time, so I was wondering how long it would take me to be able to play properly? That all depends on how much time you are prepared to invest. In most cases you will be looking at years rather than months, but it also depends greatly on what you want to play as you can easily learn how to play a simple one-handed tune in a day or two. Playing more complex pieces requires a greater understanding of the instrument and we would recommend a series of lessons – at least until you pass through the various grades. Some people say that the real learning, pleasure and musical development comes after about…

Your questions answered

A Accidental These are small symbols within the music that alert the player that they need to alter a note into a sharp or a flat or a natural. Arpeggio A collection of notes in a chord, played one by one up or down the keyboard, instead of at the same time as you would play a full chord. Articulations Articulations tell you to play each note in a particular style, expressed by little symbols near the note. Some of these include: • Staccato To play in a clipped, short fashion, shown by a small dot either above or below a note. • Legato To smoothly slur the notes together, shown by curved lines which link notes. • Accent Tells you to add some extra oomph to a note, shown…

Major scales are the first scales that many people learn to play as they’re harmonically pleasing and relatively simple – there are no accidentals to contend with. To play a major scale with looking at music, play the root note then follow these intervals: tone, tone, semitone, tone, tone, tone, semitone (TTSTTTS). The easiest to play is C, as it uses all the white keys in order. Finger patterns are exceptionally important when learning scales, and major scales are a good place to get used to the best way to play. For many of the simplest major scales – ie not too many sharps and flats – you will need to tuck under your thumb on the right hand and cross over your middle finger on the left hand. “Harmonically…

Natural minor scales

In a way, natural minor scales aren’t too far removed from major scales. Take a natural minor scale – we’ll use ‘A’ – then find its relative major by counting three semitones higher – in this case it’s C. The relative major’s key signature will be same for the minor (so no sharps or flats), but you will start on the root note of the natural minor. So A natural minor would comprise A, B, C, D, E, F, and G – the notes of C major but starting on A. B major is a scale that uses all the black keys and get a bit confusing; however, B minor is pretty simple. This is because its relative major is D, which only has two sharps. So B natural minor…

Natural minor scales

Harmonic minor scales

Harmonic minor scales are the same as natural minor scales apart from one rather large difference. The seventh note is raised by a semitone resulting in an unusual interval of three semitones between the sixth and seventh notes. This gives the scale a distinctive, ‘spooky’ sound that will be easily recognisable once you’ve played through the scales a few times. Since it’s still a minor scale, the key signatures follow the same rules as the natural minor, ie the same as its relative major. So, if we take D harmonic minor as an example (it has one flat in its key signature as its relative major is F), its seventh note, C, is raised by a semitone to C#, resulting in a Bb to C# interval of three semitones. “The…

Harmonic minor scales

Melodic minor scales

Melodic minor scales are interesting in that their ascending form is different to their descending form. On the way up, they are similar to harmonic minors, except the sixth note is also raised by a semitone along with the seventh. On the way down it is the same as a natural minor scale. Remember accidentals don’t need to be added after a bar line, so make sure you check the scale’s key signature. C minor has three flats – Bb, Eb, and Ab. The Eb is used throughout the scale but because the sixth and seventh notes are raised by a semitone, the Ab and Bb are both raised to naturals. On the way down they are flats, but the notation need not reflect these notes as accidentals as the…

Melodic minor scales

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