The piano is a symbolic instrument renowned as much for the difficulties it presents as for the beauty of the sound. Read this guide to get an edge in learning to play the piano and vibrate its strings.
Steps
Method 1 of 3: Instrumentation
Step 1. Buy a piano
Most teachers recommend buying an actual piano to continue practicing at home. Pianos differ widely in style, size and cost; in most cases, a medium-sized horizontal piano will be perfect because it takes up less space than a grand piano and has a much better sound than most compact models. Keep in mind that although you can find them for a reasonable price or even free, it is dangerous and difficult to move the piano from one place to another. Be sure to call a professional transport service to help you transport the instrument.
- When you buy a used piano from a private individual, at a low price or for free, you will probably need to have it tuned, and possibly repaired, to make it usable. Check with companies in your area to see if anyone is willing to come to your home to assess the condition of the piano.
- If you really must, you can buy a high quality electronic keyboard (for example if you live in an apartment with a small studio), but it is not recommended. It will be harder for you to learn correct hand posture and placement, and you will never be able to exercise control over the sound of the keyboard as you would with a good quality piano.
Step 2. Purchase the accessories
Once you've got your piano in place and it's been tuned and checked by a professional, it's time to get yourself a stool and sheet music to play. Many pianos are already equipped with stools; if not, you can get one from thrift stores or music stores. Choose an adjustable stool, since the height of the stool is very important to ensure correct posture. Do not use a lounge chair or sofa unless it is the ideal height for playing.
- Ask your local music store for advice on buying music books that are easy and simple to perform. The shopkeeper will probably be able to recommend at least a couple of books. Look for one that includes tips for beginners and contains scales, arpeggios, and a book with simple and complete songs for practice and practice, such as old folk songs.
- If you find it difficult to keep pace, buy a metronome. It goes above the piano and signals the beats in a similar way to a clock, but at the speed you want. This is an effective way to maintain a steady pace as you try to improve your performance.
Step 3. Get into the correct posture
Sit on the piano stool with the scores on the lectern above the keyboard. Bring your forearms towards the keyboard parallel to the floor. If the stool is set at the correct height, your fingers should arch slightly downward and rest on the keys, without you having to use your wrists or raise or lower your arms. Adjust the height of the stool so that you don't feel tension on your arms or shoulders when sitting in front of the piano.
- Rest your feet on the floor, at a comfortable distance from each other, with your toes pointing forward. Sit with your back straight - your shoulders shouldn't be hunched forward, and your spine should be straight. Bring your arms forward until your hands rest on the keyboard, without having to stretch your arms. You should be able to move your feet forward to the pedals and back again without applying force with your legs.
- If you don't have an adjustable stool, or it doesn't adjust high enough to reach a comfortable position, you can also use panels or cushions to further raise the seat height. But make sure they are the same in terms of thickness, and stable enough that you don't have to worry about possibly slipping as you play.
Step 4. Check the position of your hands several times
You should be sitting in the center of the keyboard. Each of the 10 fingers should rest on a white key. The right thumb rests on the white key immediately to the left of the two black keys in the middle of the keyboard, on the note C. Each of the other fingers of the right hand rest on the successive notes, namely the "re, mi, fa and sol". There should be two white keys (A and Si) between the thumbs.
- The note C on which the thumb of the right hand rests in the center of the keyboard is often called "middle C". It is customary among beginners to use a sticker or a piece of tape to mark middle C. But make sure it's something that can be cleaned later.
- Conventionally, we start by learning the notes from the center because a pianist normally has to sit in the center of the keyboard to be able to reach all the high and low notes without having to get up or move.
Method 2 of 3: Basic Techniques and Theory
Step 1. Get to know the keyboard
A piano keyboard repeats the notes from top to bottom for several octaves. This implies that the notes change from low (left side) to high (right side), without changing pitch. A piano can play the 12 notes: seven notes on the white keys (C, D, E, F, G, A, B) and five on the black keys (C sharp, D sharp, F sharp, A flat and B flat). Playing the notes on the white keys from C to B and back to C generates a C scale greater than one octave; playing the notes on the black keys from C sharp (following the white key of C) to B flat a pentatonic scale (of five notes) is generated. You can play all the keys (black and white) from C to C to create a 12-note chromatic scale.
- The piano is tuned in C major, since it is a very popular scale. However, other scales can be played by mixing the black and white keys for the necessary sharps and flats of each note. All the notes you normally see on the score can be played on the piano, which makes it a very versatile instrument.
- It's easy to check the pitch of a piano, just play the same notes on different octaves. They should sound identical; otherwise one or both are too high or low and need retuning.
Step 2. Play some notes
Beginning with middle C, gently but firmly press a key to produce a note. Take some time and try to push slower or faster, softly or hard, until you get an idea of the kind of control you can exert over the sound of the piano. Without moving your hands, play all ten notes under your fingers. Notice how with some, like the little finger for example, it is more difficult to play loudly, while for others (like the thumb) it takes a bit of practice to play softly.
He also plays the notes on the black keys. Typically black keys are played by moving the appropriate finger up and to the right, except for the thumb, since it is difficult to move the thumb until a black key is played without compromising the hand position. From the central C position, the index finger can move left or right to play C sharp and D sharp respectively
Step 3. Play the stairs
Try playing the notes starting with the little finger of your left hand on C, and working up to the thumb on C with your right hand. Play all the white keys in a row. When you have reached your left thumb, stretch it to play the next note (A) and then stretch to the right to play the B, returning with your thumb to middle C to finish the scale. Practice until it is easy - stretching your fingers will be as important as moving your hands when you have mastered it.
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Try playing different scales. Start with one of the fingers of your left hand, and play the notes of the scale until you reach the same note with your right hand. Carry out alterations using the black keys when needed. This is done by playing scales other than C major. For example, the D major scale is played D (middle finger), E, F sharp (black key), G, A, B, C sharp (black key), D (right hand index finger).
In addition to learning the scales in the manual or with a teacher, it is important to experiment with them on your own so that you can start memorizing them as soon as possible
Step 4. Study harmony
Even if some pieces do not require a lot of practice to be played, to express the full potential of the instrument it is necessary to learn to play several notes at the same time, using all the fingers of both hands. To get a nice sound, you need to understand how harmony works. It is a very structured topic that cannot be fully explained here, but you can still use these notations as an aid to your exercises.
- Never harmonize two adjacent notes. That doesn't mean they can't be used in particular advanced compositions, but for now, remember: playing two notes side by side is unlikely to produce a beautiful sound. More harmonic sounds are reproduced by increasing the spaces between notes.
- The space between the notes in harmony is called the "interval". The most common intervals in piano music are fifths, fourths, and thirds. To hear examples, play C with Sol, C with Fa, C with E respectively.
- Harmonic intervals go up to the 14th interval, which is considered a compound interval since it spans more than one octave. Harmonies can also be altered by introducing flat or sharp notes, adding supporting notes, and so on. In any case, you shouldn't worry too much about it for now.
- Playing the same note on different octaves is called "unison".
Method 3 of 3: Develop Your Skills
Step 1. Study the reading of sheet music
Sheet music notation may seem difficult at first, but with a teacher or a good manual and exercise, most people get the basics in a few weeks. The ability to read sheet music will open the door to a whole world of compositions that you can learn and play. Also in this case, the reading of musical scores involves a rather complex process that will not be dealt with entirely here.
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Musical notes are represented by full or empty oval signs (called heads), with or without other signs (the stems, which are straight straight lines, the hooks, which start from the stem itself) placed on a series of horizontal lines called the staff. which begins with a particular note, which must be established on the basis of the clef, or symbol, at the beginning of the staff.
Different symbols represent different lengths. An empty head without a stem indicates a "whole" note, the longest; a full head with stem and a hook indicates an "eighth", with the duration of one eighth with respect to the whole note. Your teacher or manual can point out all the different notes to you in more detail
- Each note is placed from left to right in chronological order, and from top to bottom according to how high the pitch is. Notes placed along the same vertical line must be played simultaneously.
- To add structure and regularity, the notes are divided into "Measures" or "Beats", which are indicated by vertical lines crossing the staff. each beat has the same duration; therefore a few long notes or many more but of short duration can enter a given bar, but their total must always give the same result.
- After the clef at the beginning of the staff there are two numbers to indicate the "tempo". This indicates how many notes must be played within the measure and how long they must be. The time in four quarters, for example, indicates that four notes worth a quarter each must be played within the bar.
- Special symbols indicate pauses. Rests are written within the measure and are read in the same way as notes.
Step 2. Practice independent use of your hands
Many piano compositions require one hand to play a certain rhythm and the other a different one. In particular, the left hand will generally play low, background notes, while the right hand will choose the notes of the higher melody. It's a bit like tapping your head with one hand and massaging your belly with the other; this technique takes some time to master. Practice playing a melody with your right hand, and playing whole notes for harmony with your left.
Step 3. Do some hand movement exercises
Eventually, you will need to leave the middle C zone and venture towards the fretboard limits. Get used to the idea by sometimes playing the exercises one octave lower or higher than normal. Sit normally, and don't move on the bench - in a concert, you would have no material time to move from one end of the bench to the other. Instead, tilt your torso slightly to the side (without bending your back or twisting it), and straighten or bend your arms to reach the notes.
Try changing positions on the fly. Play something simple, like a scale or arpeggio, from a lower position than normal, and jump to continue it on a different octave. If you start with your left hand, let it cross your right hand briefly and hold the position on the frets until you need it for the second octave. As you play those notes, bring your right hand back to its position as well
Step 4. Learn to use the pedals
Long before the electric guitar, effects pedals were applied to the piano to change the characteristics of the sound coming from the strings. On modern pianos, there are two or three pedals, each of which has an important function. In classical music, specific notations indicate when and how to use each pedal. Your teacher can explain its use to you.
- The "soft" pedal is usually located on the left. Softens the volume, but also the pitch of the notes being played. It is used extensively in Beethoven's compositions, among others.
- The sustain pedal is located on the right. It lifts the hammers off the strings, allowing the strings themselves to resonate much easier. Careful use of this pedal can connect harmonies and notes in an interesting and emotionally evocative way, and is generally found in compositions from 19th century romanticism onwards.
- The third pedal, the middle one, is usually the sostenuto pedal if you are playing a grand piano. This pedal supports the notes, but more selectively. In an upright piano, the center pedal (when present) is probably used to change the strings.
Step 5. Practice more
The piano is one of the most difficult instruments to master, but it is also the one that gives the most satisfaction: the sound it produces is peculiar and intense, the skills necessary to play it well can easily be used on other instruments. The secret to becoming a good pianist is to practice as much as possible, whenever possible. Plan to spend at least half an hour a day playing it; if you can spend an hour or more, so much the better. Even when you feel like you're getting nothing, exercise will eventually lead to improvement.
Advice
- Another way to learn a difficult piece is to learn each hand separately, then put together one measure at a time.
- Remember to count the beats.
- Set small, achievable goals to motivate yourself. If you run into problems with a piece, make it a goal to learn only the first part of the piece, then the second, and so on.
- Make sure you keep your fingers kinky, and hit with the tips rather than the whole fingertip. Playing with flat fingers is an easy habit to fall into, and in the long run it will hinder you.
- Try to keep your wrists relaxed. Keeping your wrists relaxed will allow you to be more agile and will reduce tension when playing long pieces.
