Free Online Piano Lesson 2: Rock Bottom Basics

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

 

 In this lesson we will explore how to find note names on the staff and also use the above chart to learn the values of certain notes.  This is where you progress from playing by finger numbers to reading actual notes on the page.  Both the treble and bass staffs are made up of 5 lines.  In between you can see there are 4 spaces.  The letter names of notes on the lines follow the pattern E,G,B,D,F.  Mnemonic devices such as "Every Good Boy Does Fine," can help you to memorize the letter names of the lines.  The four spaces are labeled F,A,C,E.  As you can see, the letters spell the word FACE, and are therefore easier to remember.  Practice some drills naming random letters of the lines and spaces and then locating those notes on the keyboard.  Don't become frustrated if this part of the lesson is difficult.  It will take some practice before playing notes on the keyboard becomes automatic. 

The next step is to incorporate rhythm into playing.  So far you have learned the notes of the piano and where they are written on the staff.  Yet there are many different kinds of notes that you need to be familar with.  The note value chart given on this page will help you visualize the basic note durations and their names.  Rhythms in music are divided into beats, and those beats are divided into measures and time signatures , as you will learn later on.  For right now we will deal with playing notes along to a steady beat.  The quarter note is the most basic.  This note most commonly gets one beat of a group of four beats.  There are two eighth notes for every  quarter note.  When you divide an eighth note in two you get a sixteenth note , etc.  Longer than a quarter note is a half note , which equals two quarter notes, in this case 2 beats.  The whole note will sound for the entire measure, for four beats in our practice rhythm.  There are always 2 half notes for every whole note.  You will eventually come across notes that have a dot next to them.  This indicates that half of the note's original length is now added to the note.  For example, a quarter with a dot now equals one and a half counts.  Although this probably sounds confusing right now, it will become easier once we cover time signatures in the later chapters.  For now just concentrate on memorizing how many smaller notes equal a larger one.  For instance, 2 eighth notes equal 1 quarter note.  2 quarter notes equal a half note, and so on.  The theory worksheet located on the Free Staff Paper/Worksheets Page  can give you some good practice with this.