Looking at the Piano
Before you begin to play the piano, you need to become familiar with what the instrument is. Some pianos are upright pianos, which are usually large, heavy, tall vertical boxes. These are anywhere from 36 to 51 inches tall. Spinets are the shortest upright pianos, at 36 to 39 inches. A studio vertical is 44 inches or taller.
If you get the chance to play a grand piano, the sound and overall quality is much better. We consider these horizontal pianos that are around 5′ to 9′ in length. Keep in mind the strings are horizontal as well. What about vertical pianos? Well there strings are vertical.
When you sit on your stool, there will be a music rack that allows you to place your sheet music on it. There are various styles that range from ones that fold down or possibly slide into a slot. When it’s time to play just place your sheet music there. Obviously you will be sitting on some sort of bench that allows you to reach the keys at any part of the piano. Be careful though, if you sit too far or too close, you might not be able to reach them all.
Underneath the piano is a set of pedals that will help you either sustain a sound or cut it off short. This is something that beginners don’t have to deal with, and only the veteran piano players should worry about throughout a session.
The part of the piano that will be most important to your learning is the keyboard. It is made up of white and black keys which run from the left to the right of the piano face. These keys do not alternate white-black-white for the entire length of the keyboard.
Take a look close look at the keys. You will see that there is a consistent pattern that works with 7 white keys and 5 black. There will be an interval formed from the beginning of one set and ending on the beginning of the next. These are the musical distances between two sounds. You may know this to be called an octave.
The keys are also setup in order from lowest to highest (left to right). Each one of these keys whether black or white is a half step higher in pitch. If you’re looking for a full step then you have to go up or down two half steps. Don’t worry, it may sound difficult but with a little practice you will be able to learn the intervals easily.
We also recommend trying a few other intervals so you can hear different sounds. Just glance at the amount of half or full steps you are taking. Choosing a key and playing the next key up in the same position is basically how it works. Over time you will gain plenty of abilities to play octaves without an issue. No pun intended, but this is one of the keys to playing the piano.
If you can get a better understanding for the piano in the beginning, it will be much easier to learn how to make music. In a short amount of time you will see yourself being able to play simple songs. All it takes is a little effort and drive on your part to make it all happen.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 6th, 2010 at 4:43 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.