Piano and keyboards - Table of contents

 Lesson 01: The keyboard and musical notes of the piano

 Lesson 02: The double staff to set the notes
 Lesson 03: Fingering and position on the piano
 Lesson 04: The C - G extension for piano
 Lesson 05: The rhythm and measures to learn
 Lesson 06: The F - C extension on the piano
 Lesson 07: The silences of the piano
 Lesson 08: Play the piano with both hands
 Lesson 09: Hand movement: from C - G to F - C
 Lesson 10: Learn the thumb step
 Lesson 11: Staccato and ligature
 Lesson 12: First chords: C, F and G
 Lesson 13: The value ligature and the dot
 Lesson 14: The C major scale for piano
 Lesson 15: Figures of value with piano: the eighth note
 Lesson 16: D major and E minor chord for piano

Piano - Lesson 1: The Keyboard and

Musical Notes

In this piano course we are going to begin by describing the element of the piano that
musicians use to play music. This is none other than the piano keyboard .

We will also learn musical notes ; but not their spelling and reading, but from the point
of view of the place they occupy on the piano keyboard .

We will see the seven natural sounds, and their position on the keyboard. We will leave
the altered sounds for later, which are a little more complex.

Figure 1. The piano keyboard.

The first thing we can notice, when looking at figure 1, is that on the keyboard there are
groups of two and three black keys that alternate. That is precisely the pattern of
keys that are repeated ; those included in the group of two and three black keys.
In figure 2 you can see the pattern of keys that is repeated and the musical sounds that
correspond to each key.

Figure 2. Keyboard correspondence

of sounds.

Thus we have seven sounds: DO, RE, MI, FA, SOL, LA and SI. There are only seven of
these sounds, and in order for them to cover all the keys on the keyboard, they must be
repeated. In short, these seven sounds are repeated but sounding in different tones ;
higher or lower.

Maybe you are wondering why there is a group of two and another of three black keys.
The reason is that these groups serve as a reference for us when playing the
instrument. Since notes, as we know, are repeated cyclically, we need a reference
system to know how to reach the pitch of a given sound .

If we are playing a medium-pitched D and want to move to a high-pitched E, we just

have to locate the group of two black keys to the right and press the white key
immediately to the right of this group.

Figure 3. Groups of black keys help us

to identify musical sounds on the keyboard.

Middle C is used as a reference for the position of the hands on the keyboard. For
now you just have to know that it exists, since we will refer to it later to start performing
exercises and correctly positioning our hands on our piano keyboard; or the electronic
keyboard.

Piano - Lesson 2: The Double Staff

The staff is the graphic system that musicians use to represent music in writing . It is
on the staff where musical notes are written.

Thus, we also have musical notes, which are graphic representations of musical
sounds .
When playing the piano, we will use a system called double staff; which serves to
represent bass and treble sounds simultaneously .

Let's first look at a simple staff:

Figure 4. Staff with its spaces and lines

from bottom to top.

The only interesting thing to know is that the lines and spaces of the staff are named
from bottom to top as indicated on the graph.

The Double Pentagram

What we will use to learn the piano notes will be the double staff; which is the ideal
graphic system for pianists . These are two parallel staves , one for the right hand and
the other for the left.

Figure 5. The double piano staff.

The musical clef is a symbol that is used to relate a space or line on the staff with a
musical sound . Thus we have the treble clef in the 2nd line which indicates that the
note G is located in the 2nd line. The same happens with the bass clef in the 4th line.

Piano - Lesson 3: Fingering and Position

on the Pianohttp://twitter.com/share
The position of the hands on the keyboard is an important aspect to achieve harmonious
execution, and for the sounds to sound linked.

Each key must be pressed , at all times and depending on the circumstances, by a
specific finger . To teach which key to press with which finger, it is indicated by
fingering.

When playing the piano, the hands must be relaxed , and the fingers maintaining their
natural curvature. The body position should be comfortable , with the feet well
supported on the ground.
Finger Fingering

To indicate the finger that should be used to play a certain musical note on the piano, we
have to identify said finger in some way. What you do is number the fingers and
indicate the number next to the piano note .

Figure 6. We number the fingers to identify them

on the staff.

Now, with our fingers fingered, we can refer to them on the staff ; to indicate that
you have to use that finger to play the musical note on the piano. Figure 7 shows how to
do these instructions:

Figure 7. Notes will come with an associated number that

will indicate the finger to use to execute them.

Finger Position on the Piano

Well, there is a reference key to place your hands correctly on the piano keyboard.
This is the key known as middle C. This middle C is located in the center of the
keyboard, just before the group of two black keys.

In middle C we have to place the thumb of the right hand (finger 1 in the fingering).
The next fingers will correspond to the next four keys respectively. So we have the
thumb on C, the index finger on D, the middle finger on E, and so on.

As for the left hand , we have to put the little finger on the C located to the left of
the middle C. In the same way, each finger will occupy its respective key on the piano:
the ring finger on the D, the middle on the E, and so on.

Piano - Lesson 4: The C - G Extension

for Piano
Extension is understood to be the number of contiguous keys that can be covered ;
When you start playing on the piano they are usually groups of five keys.

Thus, when talking about the C - G extension, we are talking about the group of keys
that begins in C and ends in G.

Each finger will then correspond to a key, and each key corresponds to a note on the
staff . In addition, the note on the staff has fingering to know which finger to press with.

To begin learning the C - G extension, we are going to learn the correspondence of the
notes of this extension with the keys of the piano keyboard :

Figure 8. Correspondence of the Do - Sol extension

and the piano keys.

You must learn this correspondence between the notes on the staff and the keys on the
piano. To do this, two exercises will be provided below , one for the right hand and
another for the left (Treble and Bass clef). Later you will learn to play with both hands.

Piano exercise 1: (right hand)

Piano exercise 2: (left hand)

Piano - Lesson 5: Rhythm and

Measureshttp://twitter.com/share
In music there is an element that is very important to give personality to each of the
compositions that we make with the piano: it is rhythm.

Rhythm is everything related to the duration of sounds . For example, tempo

determines the duration of sounds. When the tempo is fast, the rhythm will be faster
than if the tempo were slower.

Another aspect of rhythm is the duration of the succession of sounds in a melody, for
example. By combining the durations of the sounds with each other, we will achieve a
certain rhythm and another.

Figures of Value
Figure Denomination Worth Duration
round 4 stroke
white 2 times
black 1 time

Value figures help us establish the rhythm of a piano composition. To do this we use
figures that establish a duration in time of the sound . This duration is expressed in a
concept called times.

Beats are nothing more than a period of time, always constant, that is, in music all
beats are of equal duration . The figure called white is the unit, that is, it is worth 1.

The so-called white figure is worth half of the round one, that is, ½, and the black one is
worth half of a white one, that is, ¼.
The Compasses and the Indicator Figure

Figure 9. Staff divided into measures.

Measures divide music into rhythmic units . In this way, the written understanding of
it is made easier. The measures consist of beats, the amount of time that a measure
has is indicated by the upper number of the indicator figure .

On the other hand, the indicator figure as a whole indicates the value of the
compass . In the case of figure 9, the value of the compass will be the round, since the
unit is valid as the indicator cigra.

Piano exercise 3: (right hand)

Piano - Lesson 6: The F - C Extension on

the Pianohttp://twitter.com/share
It's time to learn a new extension for the piano keyboard, it's the F - C extension.

As usual, when you start playing the piano, you have to start with extensions of five
keys or musical notes.

Next, in figure 10 you can study the correspondence of the notes of the F - C
extension with the piano keys .

Remember that while touching this extension the hand has to be relaxed.
Figure 10. Correspondence of the extension F - C and
the piano keys.

To better assimilate the F - C extension, a couple of exercises are provided; one for the
right hand and one for the left. Figures of value are also included .

Piano exercise 4: (right hand)

Piano exercise 5: (left hand)

Piano - Lesson 7: The Silences of the

Pianohttp://twitter.com/share
We are used to relating music to sounds, but, without realizing it, we perceive silence
as part of the music .
That's right, music is not just musical sounds, silence also plays an important role, and
in fact, there are symbols to express silence .

In your learning as a pianist you will need to assimilate these symbols and interpret
them correctly to learn to play the piano.

The symbols of silence are:

Figure 11. Symbols to express different

"durations" of silence.

Observe in the figure that the silences adopt the names of the figures of value . This
is because the duration of the quarter note silence, for example, is equivalent to the
duration of the quarter note sound.

To play silences on the piano we have to, with a movement of the wrist, lift our hand
from the keyboard , separating it from the piano keys. We will maintain this hand
position until the time for silence ends.

We must also not forget that, since the silences have the same value as their respective
value figures, they must be placed appropriately on the staff according to what the
indicator figure indicates.

Below are a couple of piano exercises that will allow you to assimilate the
interpretation of silences. These are exercises 6 and 7; one for the right hand, and the
other for the left.

Piano exercise 6:

Piano exercise 7:
Piano - Lesson 8: Playing with Two
Hands
In this piano lesson we are going to start learning how to play with both hands .
Without a doubt, it will take practice, so we will also do exercises.

From here we will use the double staff , which we already saw in the corresponding
piano lesson. The exercises will help us gain coordination between both hands.

But before playing the piano with both hands, we are going to do a preparatory
exercise where we will alternate playing with both hands.

Piano exercise 8: (alternating hands)

As you can see, in piano exercise number 8 everything we have seen is combined: the
figures of value, the silences... Another important aspect is that the notes must be
played fluidly when changing hands .

In exercise 9 you already play with both hands. Silences will not be included so as not
to make learning and practice too difficult. It is important that the sounds sound
coordinated when playing more than one at a time.
Piano exercise 9: (with both hands)

Piano - Lesson 9: Hand Movement: from

C - G to F - Chttp://twitter.com/share
Until now we have remained static in a single extension during the performance of the
piano scores. It's time to practice changing extensions .

What we are going to practice specifically is to play in the C - G and F - C

extensions , going from one to the other as indicated in the score.

To do this we have to control the movement of the hands so that we can position them
without hesitation in one extension or another . The best way to learn is by practicing
with piano exercises.

But really the important thing is to know when we have to switch to the other extension.
To know this we have to know very well the range of notes that belong to one
extension or another and, consequently, move our hand to the new extension. When
we notice a note on the staff that belongs to the other extension, it is time to reposition
the hand.

We are going to do some exercises to practice hand movement to go from C - G to F -

C. If you do not remember these extensions well, it is advisable that you review the
corresponding lessons.
Piano exercise 10:

Piano exercise 11:

Piano - Lesson 10: The Thumb

Stephttp://twitter.com/share
Surely you have heard a piano performance where a series of notes is played that exceed
the length of five notes that we know how to play.

How does the performer play these notes that all sound linked to each other? We know
how to exceed the extension with the movement of the hand across the piano
keyboard.

Professionals manage to play a wide range of notes through a technique known as the
"thumb step."

Basically this technique consists of moving the thumb from one key to another to be
able to move the hand across the keyboard without having to lift it from the piano
keyboard. In this way it is possible to play a succession of linked sounds that sound
with the same cadence.

To move the thumb from one key to another we need to fold it and reach the key
occupied by the middle finger . When we begin the thumb step, we have to raise the
middle finger as is logical. The index finger will act as a pin.

We are going to do an exercise to practice the thumb step.

Piano exercise 12:

Also, as a little more effort, we can make the thumb reach up to the key occupied by the
ring finger, so we will pass the thumb along the two adjacent fingers . On this
occasion it will be the middle finger that will act as a pin, and we will raise the ring
finger.

In piano exercise number 13 you can practice this slightly more complicated way of
passing the thumb. Note that by passing the thumb in this way we will place the hand
directly in the F-C extension .

Piano exercise 13:

Piano - Lesson 11: Staccato and

Ligaturehttp://twitter.com/share
Staccato is a musical effect that consists of shortening the duration of the note
considerably. For them we have to learn their way of execution.

It is also known as picado in Spanish, and the keys, when doing staccato, are as if we
were tapping them with our finger.

Although this is true, it is better to use Italian terminology, since chopping is another
effect different from staccato. It is symbolized on the staff by a dot below or above
the musical figure .

The ligature is another symbol that has the same effect as the staccato ; but instead of
doing it to each note, it does it to the last note it affects . If the slur fits four notes, the
first three will sound slurred and the last one will sound staccato.

The ligature is a curved line that affects two or more notes; grouping them so that they
sound linked, except the last one that sounds chopped.
Figure 12. The ligature affects a group of notes, the
staccato goes note by note.

You must remember that in Italian the ligature is known as legato . Now it is time to
do some exercises to learn how to execute these musical performance effects with the
piano.

Piano exercise 14:

Piano exercise 15:

Piano - Lesson 12: First Chords: C, F

and Ghttp://twitter.com/share
This piano lesson is intended for learning the first piano chords. Chords are nothing
more than groups of three or more notes that are played simultaneously on the
piano keyboard.

We are going to learn three-note chords first because they are the easiest to play and,
since we are learning piano, it is better to start with the easiest chords.

Figure 13 shows the first piano chords: C major, F major and G seventh. It is
recommended that you study them through the figure and practice with the
exercises that will be provided to you.
Figure 13. The first three chords for piano.

We are going to explain figure 13 so that it is easier to study these first chords. At the
top we have fragments of staves to learn to read the chords . In addition, the
fingering of the fingers is also facilitated.

At the bottom we have the keyboards to know which keys are part of the chord in
question. There is a key that is marked in red to show that it is the most important key
of the chord , and for which it receives its name.

Finally, a text is presented with the name of the chord.

Below is exercise 16 for piano. This exercise will consist of a double staff ; The first
measures will be with chords for the left hand, while in the following ones it will be the
right hand that plays the chords.

Piano exercise 16:

Piano - Lesson 13: The Ligature and the
Dothttp://twitter.com/share
The ligature of value and the dot are musical performance effects that affect the
natural duration of the figures of value.

In this way, we can have more flexibility when establishing a rhythm for our
compositions or musical performances.

These effects are not difficult to understand, the difficult part comes because they are
relatively demanding when it comes to putting them into practice . Therefore, it is
important to do exercises with this ligature and the stitch.

Let's learn more about these effects.

The ligature value is a curved line , horizontally next to the staff, that affects a certain
group of musical notes . It can be two or more musical notes. What it does is merge
the durations of the musical figures it affects.

If we have a white and a black that are being affected by the value bond; the duration of
these will be merged; So in practice we have to let the note sound until the sum of
the durations of these two musical notes.

The dot also affects , as in the case of the ligature value, the duration of the musical
notes . It only affects one value figure, a single dot cannot affect two or more value
figures.

The dot effect consists of increasing the duration of the value figure by half its value
. This means that if we have a round affected by a dot, it will have a value of four
quarters plus two quarters. The dot is represented by a dot next to the musical note.

Figure 14. The effects of ligature value and dotting.

The value figures affected by the value ligature must have their corresponding
notes at the same pitch . This is logical, because if the value ligature merges the
duration of a musical sound, consequently, the affected notes have to produce the same
sound.

Piano exercise 17:

Piano exercise 18:

Piano - Lesson 14: The C Major Scale for

Pianohttp://twitter.com/share
A musical scale is a succession of adjacent notes ; That is, to make a scale we have to
play the notes ascending or descending without skipping any during execution .

Playing scales is not very common during a performance. The reason for the scales is to
exercise when learning to play a musical instrument , in this case the piano.

We are going to learn the first musical scale, it is the C major scale .

The C scale is made up of the extensions that we have already seen: C - G and F - C.
When playing the scale we need to execute the thumb step to position ourselves in one
extension or another as we ascend or descend the scale.

Figure 15. The C major scale.

As can be seen in figure 15, it is an ordered succession of musical notes that goes
from C to C one octave above. To close the musical scale we need to reach the same
sound , but with a different tone.

To practice, we are going to do the following piano exercise. In it you will have to play
the chords already learned along with the C major scale .

Piano exercise 19:

Piano - Lesson 15: Figures of Value with
Piano: The Eighth
Notehttp://twitter.com/share
Let's learn a new figure of value , it is the eighth note . We will also learn its
corresponding rest: the eighth note rest.

As we get to know more figures of value and their silences, we will be able to make
more complex rhythms ; since we will handle more variety of time fragments.

As usual, we will also do exercises to assimilate and gain skill with the new concepts
studied for piano.

Figure 16. Four eighth notes, four eighth notes linked

and the eighth note silence.

As can be seen in figure 16, we can write several consecutive eighth notes in two
ways: the first is by writing them separately , and the second is by writing them
together . It must be said that it is normal for them to appear linked .

The eighth note value figure, and its rest, have a value of one eighth , that is, half a
quarter note . As a consequence, it is very common for them to be worth half a time, so
when executing them you have to be very precise . To achieve that precision it is best
to practice.

We are going to present a couple of exercises to practice eighth notes and their
corresponding eighth note rest. It is important that the execution is fluid , without any
type of hesitation when interpreting the piano exercise.

Piano exercise 20:

Piano exercise 21:

Piano - Lesson 16: D Major and E Minor

Chordhttp://twitter.com/share
In this piano lesson we are going to study chords. We have already seen three chords: C
major chord, F major chord and G seventh chord.

This time we are going to see two new chords for piano , these are the D major and E
minor chords for piano.

With these two new musical chords we will gain harmony , so our piano music will
begin to sound complex and harmonically rich.

In figure 17 we can learn these chords.

Figure 17. The D major and E chords

minor for piano.

These two chords: D major and E minor, must be played together with those
previously learned ; so that in this way our harmonic vocabulary grows, and thus play
the piano in a more complex way.

As always, the note represented in red is the note that gives its name to the chord , it
is the one that gives the chord its D or E character respectively.
When you start playing them, it is important that you press the keys on the piano
keyboard at the same time so that the musical notes sound simultaneously. At first you
won't be able to do it, so practice with the following exercises:

Piano exercise 22:

Piano exercise 23: