Free Online Piano Lesson 1: Laying a Foundation

Source:Internet    Posted by:Learntopianoonline.com   Date:2010-01-02   Click:

FREE ONLINE PIANO LESSONS 
If you would like to see what sheetmusic is available as you begin your lessons search below for books and sheetmusic of any level or genre!

  Artist Song Name Composer Composition Instrument 

Congratulations, after studying these 10 lessons you will have mastered the skills needed to understand and play the piano. This lesson will familarize you with the keyboard and teach valuable piano playing technique.  If you have any questions throughout this series please visit our Books  page for a list of recommended music resources.  Posture and hand position are very important first skills that will, if learned early, help you later on. Always remember to sit with a straight back at the piano.  Your arm should extend straight from your elbows to the piano where your hand should rest as if holding an imaginary bubble in your palm.  Your fingers should remain curved and relaxed at all times.  Before learning the note names, introductory music often gives finger numbers instead of notes.  Most books will have a few songs that include hand positions at the top of the song indicating which keys to place your fingers on.  The picture below shows "C" position. The fingerings are then 1 through 5 starting with your thumb and ending with your pinky.  Before trying to understand a hand position from a book it is helpful to know where middle C is.  By looking at a hand position chart you can see exactly which key it is, and this key is often found almost directly under the piano label in the middle of the keyboard. 

The next step is understanding the way the keyboard is laid out.  Here is a picture of a keyboard with its matching letter names.  The names of the notes are A,B,C,D,E,F,G.  These notes form what is called an Octave  and repeat up and down the keyboard.  The keyboard is divided into groups of black and white keys.  The groups can be used to remember key names.  For instance, the "D" note can be found between the group of 2 black keys.   "C" is the white key directly to the left of "D" and the white key to the right of "D" is "E."  The black keys will be explained in lesson 3.  Practice finding all the "D's" on the keyboard.  Locate the lowest "D" and play the note names going up. D,E,F,G,A,B,C, and you should find yourself back at "D."  Try to think of clues to help yourself remember which notes are located where.  One common device for remembering "D" is to think that "D" is in the "Doghouse" between the two black keys.

Once you've mastered finding notes on the keyboard it's time to start looking at an actual piece of music.  As you look at a piece of sheet music you see that there are 2 groups of 5 lines each, connected by a bracket.  This is called the Grand Staff .  The grand staff is made up of the treble staff  and the bass staff .  Each staff is marked by their respective clef signs.  On each staff you will see the key signature and the time signature, which will be explained in a later lesson.  The grand staff is where notes will be placed that correspond to keys on the piano.  It's now time to begin learning note names.