Piano For Dummies

Hal Leonard Corporation, headquartered in Milwaukee, WI, is the largest sheet music publisher in the world. Adam Perlmutter is a freelance music writer, transcriber, and engraver.

Introduction 1

About This Book 1

Foolish Assumptions 2

Icons Used in This Book 3

Beyond the Book 3

Where to Go from Here 4

Part 1: Getting Started with Piano 5

Chapter 1: Preparing to Play a Piano 7

Knowing Why the Piano is So Special 8

Advantages to playing the piano 8

Advantages to studying music at the piano 8

A skill and an art 9

Understanding Why People Take Piano

Lessons(And Why They Often Quit) 10

Getting to Know Your Instrument 11

Comprehending the Language of Music 12

Developing an ear for horizontal and vertical music 13

Getting to know musical forms and styles 13

Starting to Play the Best Way 14

Being Aware of What You Already Know about Playing the Piano 15

Chapter 2: Meeting the Keyboard Family 17

Looking at the Acoustic Ones 18

Pianos 18

Harpsichords 22

Pipe organs 24

Identifying the Electric Ones 25

The nuts and bolts of electronic sound 26

Synthesizers 26

Digital keyboards 27

Chapter 3: Finding the Perfect Keyboard 29

To Hum or Not to Hum: Electric or Acoustic (Or Both)? 30

Buying an acoustic 30

Buying a digital 32

Buying a hybrid 34

Picking the Perfect Acoustic Piano 34

Taking location into account 35

Getting all the pedals you deserve 35

Finding good buys (and avoiding scams) 36

If you’ve heard one, you haven’t heard them all 37

Looking at some specific piano brands 37

Selecting a Digital Keyboard That Lasts 38

Digital pianos and organs 39

Arrangers 40

Stage pianos 40

Workstations 40

Synthesizers 40

Avoiding obsolescence 41

Knowing the digital features you want 41

Browsing some specific keyboard brands 43

Other electric keyboards 45

Before You Drive It Off the Lot: Sealing the Deal at the Store 45

Taking it for a spin 45

Loving and leaving it 46

Refusing to pay the sticker price 46

Shopping online 47

The MIDI Places You Can Go 48

A MIDI primer 48

Keyboard to computer 49

Keyboard to keyboard 50

MIDI and music notation 50

Chapter 4: Taking Good Care of Your Keyboard 51

Providing a Good Place to Live 51

Making It Shine: Cleaning Your Keyboard 52

Calling In a Pro for General Checkups and Serious Repairs 54

Tuning acoustic keyboards 54

Keeping digital keyboards happy 56

Dealing with serious keyboard problems 57

Taking the Worry Out of Moving Your Acoustic Piano 58

Chapter 5: Eighty-Eight Keys, Three Pedals, Ten Fingers, and Two Feet 59

Finding the Keys, Easy Peasy 59

The white keys 60

The black keys 62

Discovering What Your Parents Never Told You about Posture 63

To sit or not to sit: That’s the real question 64

Sitting down: Chairs versus benches 65

Using stands and racks 67

Paying Attention to Hand Positioning 68

Arch those hands and fingers 68

Fingering 69

Giving your hands and fingers a rest 70

Pedal Power: Getting Your Feet in on the Action 71

Piano pedals 72

Digital keyboard pedals 73

Part 2: Deciphering Squiggles on Paper to Create Sound 75

Chapter 6: Reading Lines and Spaces 77

Your Guide to a Piano Score 78

Employing a staff of five lines 78

Hanging from a clef 80

Double Your Staff, Double Your Fun 85

Grand staff and ledger lines 85

Climbing up the staff and beyond 87

An octave above, an octave below 87

Punctuating Music: Bar Lines 88

Continuing to Read: Don’t Stop 89

Chapter 7: Joining the Rhythm Nation 91

Eyeing Tempo: The Beat Goes On 92

Measuring the beat using tempo 92

Grouping beats in measures 93

Serving Some Musical Pie: Basic Note Values 94

Quarter notes: One piece at a time 95

Half notes: Half the pie 95

Whole notes: The whole pie 96

Counting all the pieces 97

Faster Rhythms, Same Tempo 97

Eighth notes 98

Sixteenth notes and more 99

Listening for the Sound of Silence: Rests 100

Whole and half rests 100

Quarter rests and more 101

Counting Out Common Time Signatures 103

Common time: 4/4 meter 104

Waltz time: 3/4 meter 104

March time: 2/4 meter 105

6/8 time 106

Playing Songs in Familiar Time Signatures 106

Chapter 8: Changing the Beaten Path 111

Getting a Jump on the Start: Pickup Beats and Measures 111

Adding Time to Your Notes with Ties and Dots 113

Linking notes using ties 113

Extending notes using dots 113

Playing Offbeat Rhythms 116

Triplets love chocolate 117

Swing and shuffle time 118

Syncopation 120

Playing Songs with Challenging Rhythms 121

Part 3: One Hand at a Time 131

Chapter 9: Playing a Melody 133

Let Your Fingers Do the Walking 134

Getting into the Right Position 135

C position 135

G position 140

Shifting your hand position as you play 141

Crossing Your Fingers and Hoping It Works 142

Crossing over your thumb 142

Passing your thumb under 143

Playing Melodies in the Right Hand 144

Chapter 10: Scaling to New Heights 149

Building a Scale, Step by Step 150

Stepping Up to the Majors 151

Understanding major scales 152

Trying a major scale exercise 154

Exploring Minor Variations 155

Natural minor scales 155

Harmonic minor scales 156

Melodic minor scales 157

Trying minor scale exercises 158

Showing Your Rebellious Side with Blues Scales 160

Playing Songs Made of Scales 161

Chapter 11: Hey, Don’t Forget Lefty! 165

Exploring the Keyboard’s West Side 165

Moving into position 166

Getting used to the new neighborhood 166

Tackling Some Left-Hand Melodies 169

Practicing Some South-Paw Scales 170

C, G, and F major 170

A, E, and D natural minor 171

A harmonic and melodic minor 172

Trying Accompaniment Patterns 172

Three-note patterns 173

Four-note patterns 174

Adding the Left Hand to the Right Hand 177

Sharing the melody in both hands 178

Melody plus one note 178

Melody plus three-note accompaniment pattern 180

Melody in unison octaves 180

Playing Songs with Both Hands 182

Part 4: Living in Perfect Harmony 187

Chapter 12: The Building Blocks of Harmony 189

Measuring Melodic Intervals 190

Interval shorthand 191

Seconds 192

Thirds 193

Fourths and fifths 194

Sixths and sevenths 196

Octaves 197

Combining Notes for Harmonic Intervals 197

Playing two notes together 197

Adding intervals to the melody 198

Harmonizing with the left hand 200

Playing Songs with More Harmony 202

Chapter 13: Understanding Keys 209

Homing In on Home Key 209

A whole ring of keys 210

Using keys to play music 211

Reading key signatures 212

Leaving and returning to the “home” key 217

Playing Songs with Key Signatures 218

Chapter 14: Filling Out Your Sound with Chords 221

Tapping into the Power of Chords 221

Dissecting the Anatomy of a Triad 222

Starting Out with Major Chords 223

Branching Out with Minor Chords 224

Exploring Other Types of Chords 225

Tweaking the fifth: Augmented and diminished chords 225

Waiting for resolution: Suspended chords 227

Adding the Seventh 228

Reading Chord Symbols 229

Playing with Chord Inversions 232

Putting inversions to work 233

Flipping the notes fantastic 233

Playing Songs with Chords 235

Part 5: Technique Counts for Everything 241

Chapter 15: Dressing Up Your Music 243

Playing Dynamically 243

Starting with basic volume changes 244

Widening the range 244

Making gradual shifts in volume 245

Articulating the Positive 246

Interpreting articulation symbols 247

The power of articulation 248

Controlling the Tempo 249

Putting the Pedal to the Metal 250

Using the damper pedal 250

Getting the hard facts on soft-pedaling 251

Eyeing the middle pedal 252

Touching on Grace Notes 253

Tackling Trilling 254

Dazzling Your Audience: Gliss 255

Trembling Tremolos 257

Dressing Up Your Songs 260

Chapter 16: Great Grooves 267

Great Left-Hand Accompaniment Patterns 267

Fixed and broken chords 268

Chord picking 270

Octave hammering 270

Bouncy rock patterns 272

Melodic bass lines 275

Applying Great Intros and Finales 277

The big entrance 279

Exit, stage left 281

Playing Songs with Left-Hand Grooves 284

Chapter 17: Perusing the Aisle of Style 287

Taking Aim at Classical Music 287

Playing the Blues 290

Clues for the blues 290

12-bar ditties 290

Changing it up 291

Rockin’ around the Keys 293

Rocking ingredients 294

Slamming and jamming 294

You’re a Little Bit Country 295

Country-style cooking 295

Finger-pickin’ good 295

Pop! Goes the Piano 297

Popular picks 297

Topping the charts 297

Soul Searching 298

Saving your soul 298

Motown sounds 299

Funky sounds goin’ round 300

All That Jazz 300

Jazzing it up 301

It’s up to you 301

Substituting chords 301

Playing Songs in Favorite Styles 304

Part 6: The Part of Tens 311

Chapter 18: Ten Ways to Improve Your Practice and Performance 313

Be Comfortable at All Times 313

Shut Off the Distractions 314

Make a Schedule and a List 314

Get into Deconstruction 315

Use a Metronome 315

Rehearse Your Dress Rehearsals 315

Know Your Performance Piano 316

If You Memorize . 316

Preempt Post-Performance Syndrome 316

Smile and Take a Bow 317

Chapter 19: Ten Ways to Supplement This Book 319

Working through Method Books 319

Using Reference Books 320

Buying Music to Play 321

Types of printed music 321

Arrangements and transcriptions 322

Fake books 322

Where to buy printed music 323

Gigging with Others 324

Piano duets 324

Chamber groups 325

Bands 325

Checking Out the Masters 325

Johann Sebastian Bach 325

Ludwig van Beethoven 326

Johannes Brahms 326

Frederic Chopin 326

Franz Liszt 326

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 327

Sergei Rachmaninoff 327

Attending Live Concerts 327

Listening to Recordings 328

Perusing record stores 328

Shopping online 328

Visiting the library 329

Exchanging music with friends 329

Exploring Piano Sites on the Web 329

Enjoying Pianos on the Big Screen 330

Realizing You’re Not Alone 331

Chapter 20: Ten Questions to Ask Prospective Teachers 333

Whom Else Have You Taught? 333

How Long Have You Been Teaching and Playing? 334

How Much Do You Expect Me to Practice? 334

Would You Mind Playing Something for Me? 335

What Repertoire Do You Teach? 336

How Do You Feel about Wrong Notes, Mistakes, and Slow Learners? 336

What Methods Do You Use to Teach Piano? 337

Where Will the Lessons Take Place? 337

How Much Do You Charge? 338

Do You Have Student Recitals? 338

Appendix: About the Website: Audio Tracks and Video Clips 339

Index 345