How to sit at the piano Itis important that you fee! comfortable when you play. Sit up straight, with your feet flat on the floor. If your feet don't reach the floor, put a low stool or ‘some books under them. Your hands should be level with your elbows. Make sure your back is straight. Your elbows should be level with the piano keyboard. Your hands : : Hold both hands out, with your palms facing up. ‘Make sure your elbows are touching your sides. Imagine you are holding (but not squeezing!) a tennis ball in each hand. ‘Now turn your hands over and they will be the correct shape for playing the piano. Some of the black keys are od ir of i The keyboard arranged in groups of two Here is a picture of a keyboard. All keyboards are made up of black keys and white keys. The keys are arranged in a repeating pattern. Play all the groups of two black keys ... ...and all the groups of three black keys. 1d some are arranged Now play all the white keys. groups of three. Keys and their names The white keys are named after the first seven letters of the alphabet This picture shows you the name of each key. clolelr‘To work out which white note is which, you need to look at the pattern made by the groups of black notes. C is always the white note to the left of the group of two black notes, while F is always the white note to the left of the group of three black notes. The same pattem is repeated all over the keyboard. c Now find the C nearest the middle of the piano, Cisalways the Fis always the This is called middle C. You need middle C for most white nete t white note to of the tunes in this book. the left of two the left of three ~ black notes. black notes. Then find some more Cs on the keyboard, followed by some Ds, Es, Fs and Gs. Then find some As and Bs. Finger numbers ‘When you play the piano, you need to put different fingers on different notes. Each finger has 3 a number, which is sometimes written in the music to tell you which finger to use, ps Hold your hands up in front of you, palms facing p ‘away from you, to match the picture. Wiggle each finger, starting with the litle finger of your left hand, and say its number. Both thumbs are called “1”. ‘Now put your right hand on the keyboard, as shown in the picture. Make sure your fingers are gently curved. Put your thumb on middle C. Play one white note at a time - C,D,E,EG- using i: fingers 1,2,3,4,5. Do the same with the left hand - only this time you will play C, BA, G, FRhythm Music is made up of sounds called notes, which This is a crotchet or can last for different lengths of time. The i] quarter note. It lasts for patterns made by note lengths are called rhythms.You can tell how long each note lasts by its shape, and you count the length of each note in counts called beats. On the right you A can see three types of note, with their names. ‘one beat. This is a minim or half note. It lasts for two beats. A semibreve or whole Music is usually divided into groups of notes © note lasts for four beats. called bars, Each bar is separated from the next cone by a bar line. In the music below,there are 4 J counts in each bar. So you count “!,2,3,4” as you play. With the thumb of your right hand on mille C, play and count: 1 Chewing it Over® Judd} lddddldd Wdddld J ldddele eS eS 1-2-3-4 wil line There are four crotchet counts in each bar Now play the tune again.This time your teacher can play along! (Your teacher can play along whenever you see the @ symbol, Now try the tune with the thumb of your left hand on middle C. (The tails of these left-hand notes have been written pointing downwards.) 2 Chewing it Over Again® ceeele t Ieeeele e Ieeeele oe lee The next tune uses the thumbs of both hands. Each plays for two bars at a time. Count aloud! 3 All Good Things ® reece 1-2-3-4 Right hand Left hand Right hand Left hand Jd |ddd lp Ire \d 2 ddd lp 1-2-3-4 1-2-3-4 1-2-3-4 “4 I-2-3-41-2-3-4 Ge “2-3-4 1-2-3-4Lines and spaces Music is written on groups of five lines. Each group is called a stave or staff. Notes above middle C are usually written on a stave with a sign called a treble clef at the beginning, Draw your own treble clefs after the one shown. 4 —— eo Treble clef Start here Then go to the top — Notes below middle C are usually written on a stave with a sign called a bass clef at the beginning, Draw your own bass clefs after the one shown. ‘And then down to the bottom E SS iz = Bass clef Start here ‘Then go to the bottom Most piano music is written on two staves, one for the right hand and one for the left hand.They are joined together by a curved line called a brace. For most of the tunes in this book, you play notes in ‘the treble clef with your right hand, and notes in the bass clef with your left hand. Find middle C again, Put the thumbs of both hands on it and play the next piece. 4 Staff Meeting ® 1 And then add the dotsNew notes on this page: Adding notes to the right : Now play the note D, using the 2nd — finger of your right hand, - 0 5 Fine D Tale® Aiadte c 1 a4 12 fone Now play E, using the 3rd finger of your right hand. ee E 6 Step by Step® ‘P= plano = quiet ietens ie P Here is another piece using the same notes. 7 Peasant Dance® f = forte = loud ss28 1198 f Why not make up your own piece? You can use * your own name in some way. Here is my piece: My name is Chris-to-pher, that = is_-s my_— name. You can start on any one of the three notes, but be sure to place your thumb on middle C. é eoG i New notes on thi Adding notes to the left : TIN) ee Now play middle C again with the f ‘thumb of your left hand. Using fingers 1,2 and 3 on the left c B A hand, play the notes C,B and A. a Here is a piece using these three notes: ec @ Bus Tour ‘ap = mezzo forte = quite loud 1232 oo ‘And here is another piece using these three notes: 9Goblins® ‘mp = mezzo piano = quite quiet 3 2 a 2 mp Now try making up a piece with words about where you live. Here is mine: | live in Leeds. Leeds is my home. 2 Different ways of playing There are many different ways of playing music - loud, quiet, fast, slow and so on. In music, there are special signs to tell you how to play. These signs are often short for Italian words, which are used because music was first printed Italy. In this book, new signs are explained in boxes at the right-hand side of the music, ike the ones on these pages.Time signatures Before you start playing a piece, you need to know how many beats there are in each bar. You could work it out for yourself, but it is easier to look at the time signature at the beginning of the piece. 4 means there are 4 J beats in each bar Clap and count: i | le 1-2-3-4!' 1-2-3-4 means there are 3 J beats in each bar Tye bldve edie bid, eddidddd 214, I How about trying to work out time signatures for these rhythms? Count how many J beats there are in each bar and write the time signature in the box at the beginning. Dsdliye J pd dye Hs J yt J yf td sd jt y Yule d ps ddye 4Here is a piece in 3/4: 10 In A Minor Key ® Step, skip and repeat You can move from one note to another by step: ‘ Step Step by skip (missing a note out): + a sl a == Skip Skip Repeat Repeat o--- 2-2 or by repeat: B Here is a"step” piece: 11 Slow Steps® 12 3 2Here is a"skip" tune: 122A Solemn Tune ® ais 2 P How about a “repeat” piece? 1 Sticking Point ° 1 2 3 2 1 mf 1 2 3 2 T Try making your own pieces up. First try “step” piece, then a“skip” piece, then a “repeat” piece. See if you can say where step, skip or repeat are used in the next tune. 14 Piece it Together ® 13 mp@ ‘win p/€ ul aum awd eS ~ 4 ¥ € e SSO}OU PURY-YO| MOU atp S: pone d 5 / spury yaya / ts au0U at saqou pupy-yay a “S830 MON alps > app -puy 34s a1ow S@}0U PUDYAYSU a 'se20U MON,17 Bouncy Castle ® 1 548 f Rests Rhythm is not just made up of notes of different, lengths. It can also contain silences called rests. Each of the different notes has its own rest sign © — = A-beat (semibreve) note = 4-beat (semibreve) rest d = 2-beat (minim) note = 2-beat (minim) rest u |-beat (crotchet) note =F — = |-beat (crotchet) rest itis as important to count the beats in a rest as it is to count the beats when playing a note. Make sure you lift your finger off the previous nate so that nothing sounds during the rest. Here are two pieces to help you to practise rests 13 Space® a chord (more than one note at once) . tVing tage Auno2 pup doy eq eu 20g z sueaw E “pfZ ul sadaid 385 UBYO OSPE JIM NOR “F/E JO bi uy uaaq aney pared arey nok savaid aup Ie} OS . aumDusIS BLN Mau \y fu a iaceecueead SU pue aredg 7z AYP] 9Up, 0} eBueYD UDYp ‘pUEY IYBL NO YUM eI du ¥ € 2 oMeyg - dozs 7 ‘sysau aug Ayepadse xynyase> UND NOK auns Bye) du ‘ ¥ € @ T 9 22ua4 ay) ul deg iz “00}pua ayp Te puoyp Ps] aNoUy ¥/€ UIs! apaid xOU ay ANO UE * du T s 9 ea2edg Suiavay 07 Anjd 0} sau ao : J)This piece uses a new sign called a slur It indicates that the notes should follow each other smoothly, with no gap in between. This is sometimes called playing legato, 4 Gaining in Confidence ® 1 Ties ‘The piece above used slurs to remind you to play the notes smoothly, with no gap in between. When slurs join repeated notes they are called aepr os , ties, When a note is tied you don't actually press the key again for the second note - you just hold on right through both notes. ae This is a slur — Hold thi for 2s Hold on® four beats 1 os P 2% Hold on Again® 1 P ‘When you are comfortable with Hold on and Hold ‘on Again, try playing them both at the same time.: £ » @Paqutog of fe 7 obaddyy 0 : “oipa001s BurAeyd palje> st ‘Aon sou ain ayew SIU {YDNO} 01 OY 00} st Ady 24) BUISEUUy “y Pade|d 02 nok syjzaaop ayy ‘aney NOK se UOOs se Ady BU} YO J9BUy NOK Bye} 0} NO& s|[91.'210U B MO}aq 4 'a}0U e Jo do} UO JOP y Sa}0U YOYS da & o May uStas04 27 oun ouses up. ie Aejd spuey tog ‘azaid Sumojjo} ay u} fia oowyheld Anjd 0} saneid omy3! Short Break ® The next piece has both slurs and staccato notes. 32The Duke of Cumberland’s Reel® 1 mf Semitones a Look at the keyboard. The distance from any key This distance is between a black key to the one next to it on the right or left is called a called a semitone. and a white key ... semitone, i og Most of the time a semitone is from a white key to a black key (ora black key to a white key), but on the keyboard there are some semitones between two white keys. Can you see where? Try playing some semitones on the piano. Listen to the sound of a semitone. Compare it with the sound 7 a made by two notes that have another note between _-but you will sometimes them, such as C and D, or F and G. find them between two ‘white notes too.9 a2ueg p40US Y Sf da 5 o Aeq Jo pug r¢ xq tp Jo 3299 1Se] stp UO S1IEIS BDaId TxaU ay Wlooy papmory cue y ‘Aseuipuo st sdueys 4 51 A nou sm agou si 5 49 8 9 H cueys @ 3 yews 04 aney nok eq ey ut sueadde ajou atp aun Asana OS “Dul] Jeq }XOU SUB [HUN Syse| 3] 0} XOU SI aIOU aUp.104 AlUO 20U SI UBIS dey “sdupys q pup sdioys > ‘sduoys y ‘sdioys 5 awios pu Mon ‘pupoghay ounid ap uo sdipys J awios pul} Depew dieys 4 “2}0U jeuBLo aup jo YB Up o9 (ONY 40 99249) BOU BuO 08 0} pau NOK:uaRLIM SI JeUB aIOU Alp anoge auouuas e X= ap Aejd NOK ‘aI0u 2 JO 1UOY UB UBS dueYs @ 295 NOK J = sdious ° aa) = 3() A new note for the left hand Sometimes you will need to play notes above middle C with the left hand. D above middle C, when written in the bass clef, looks like this: 36 Sur le Pont d’Avignon® Flats Ifa flat sign b is put in front of a note, you play the key a semitone below the note that is written; you need to go one note (black or white) to the left of the original note. Find some B flats on the piano. Now find some A flats, G flats, E flats and D flats. 37 Living in a Flat® B flat Anew note: Fiddle C if ow a middle Cfu ev ee 3 yo Joys ay) pur Bud] aU” ® du Poe 62 toe 9 Moqnups 03 anqu, ct a lll ii Dapp wey" ee mynd 160 HTH et aqou Mau @ mauy oPunosd a4} OF aso) # . AY oo