"Reading Music: Piano Lesson #1!"
Welcome to your first piano lesson! This lesson is to get you on your way to playing your first song rather quickly. Before you do, however, I don't want to be too hasty. There are a few basics that you want to familiarize yourself with. Today, let's focus on the grand staff, okay? At least a little piece of it. Now let me be clear on this: I want you to familiarize yourself with the notes on the grand staff and how these notes relate to the piano keyboard - this does not mean you need to master the entire staff overnight! No, of course not. Rather, once you visit this page I'd like you to become familiar with the lines and spaces of the G Clef. More specifically, for this piano lesson, learn where Middle C is, the D above that, the E above that (first line of the G Clef), the F (first space), and the G (second line up). There's a link there that will allow you to print only the staff, so that you can easily place it on the music stand of your piano or keyboard. For this piano lesson, that's five notes - and five keys on the piano to learn:
Note: We refer to our fingers as numbers, so please read this explanation here before you go any further. While you are on that page, become familiar with the proper way to position your hand on the keyboard. You'll see this illustrated both with images and you can see it demonstrated in the video there as well. Please read that entire page. Have you taken the time to do this? Good! Using what you've learned, position your right hand fingers (yes, including the thumb) on C, D, E, F and G, maintaining good hand form. It's quite normal if this seems a little awkward at first - you will get used to it. Just remember to keep your hand and fingers relaxed This is a key point in this piano lesson! Now, take that left hand and, using the same form, rest its fingers on any five piano keys to the left of that Middle C. You don't need to play them. It's just good practice to have both hands in a "ready to play" position at all times. Okay, having gotten this far, simply play that C, D, E, F, and G one at a time. You can mix up the order in any way you want to: C E G D F ... F G E C D ... E D C G F ... the more you mix it up, the better! Keep doing it, staying relaxed. Just have some fun doing this for a while. This is all I am asking you to do for this lesson. By the way, if you have only gotten as far as taking a look at the grand staff, without proceeding to those other steps above, that's fine! These lessons are here for you to make progress at your own pace! So, enjoy them and take you time. When you're ready for each new step of the lesson, you'll get there - no rush! Okay, assuming you're at the point now where you've located the five notes on the staff and you're playing their corresponding keys one at a time and mixing up the order, etc., take notice of your hand and how it feels. Is it relaxed? Don't tighten your hand and fingers - if you did, relax them immediately. Whenever you feel them getting tight, that's a signal to instantly respond with loosening up, okay? Great! Just keep associating those five notes on that G Clef staff with those five keys you are playing. And, as you play, see what kind of interesting little melodies you can create with them. Play some for very short durations - hold some for longer durations. Experiment, listen, play, smile! FastBall: What's a fastball? I'll introduce them in the middle of certain piano lessons once in a while - they are little efforts you can make to accelerate your progress, so take advantage of them!
For example, play that Middle C and, while doing so, picture that note that exists on that line that goes right in between that G Clef and F Clef - really see it! Do this for the other four notes as well. Make a game of it. Keep it fun - it's supposed to be! Okay, there's no rush moving onto the next piano lesson, so soak this one up in its entirety. Move on to
Lesson #2
when you're feeling confident!
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