Piano Lessons For Beginner

[Chris and Dan]

I am seeking an English speaking beginner piano (keyboard) instructor.

Does anyone know of one in Chiang Rai?

[tayto]

I am seeking an English speaking beginner piano (keyboard) instructor.

Does anyone know of one in Chiang Rai?

If you contact Paramet Lerdkasem, director of Chiang Rai Youth Orchestra at 086-7325292 he will be able to sort you out. He can speak English.

[chownah]

The black keys on the piano comes in groups of twos and threes. Find a grouping of two black keys and locate the white key which is between them....that white key plays a D note. There are several keys that play D notes on the piano. Start at any D key on the piano (remember the D key is the white one between the two black keys in a two black key cluster) and if you move to the right and stay on the white keys the first white key to the right of a D key will be an E key and the next will be F and the next will be G....but...be careful because the next one will be an A key and then B and then C and then you will find yourself back at another D key and notice that you will again be on a white key which is between the two black keys of a two black key cluster. So as you can see, the notes are called A,B,C,D,E,F,and G. There is no H note....when you get passed G you just start with A again and cycle through the notes repeatedly as you move along the keyboard staying on the white keys.

[tayto]

Is this what you mean.

well down Chownah, I never knew you were a penis(spelling)

[chownah]

Great graphic, tayto!

Using the graphic lets start with a finger on the C (which is a white key) on the left and then move it to the right to the next key. It will be a black key. Move the finger again to the right to the next key and it will be a white key (the D key)...and again to the right to a black key....and again to the right to a white key (the E key)...and if you keep on going you can walk that finger right on up to the C key on the left. You can do the same thing going to the left too.

Each time you move from one key to the next you have gone a "half step". Now I know it seems like a whole step but in the land of piano it is called a "half step" and in the land of piano when if you go two "half steps" to the left or right it is called a "whole step".....don't ask why...its just the way it is.

Now that you know about half and whole steps you probably wonder why....rather than to explain I'll give you an example of their usefullness. If you start your finger at the C key on the left and move to the right one whole step then you will be on a white key called D, and then go right one more whole step and you will be on the white key called E, and then if you go one half step to the right you will again be on a white key called F.....and.....if you continue choosing whole and half steps appropriately you can walk that finger right up to the C key on the right by staying on the white keys and avoiding the black keys entirely! In doing this you will have played a scale ( a scale being a specifice collection of tones played in order)...this scale is called C major....play it in one continuous swoop and you will hopefully hear that it somehow fits together well. Congratulations you have played a scale...you can do it going up ("up" means to the right) the keyboard or going down ("down" means to the left) the keyboard.

One last thing. There are lots of different major scales (12 I think) and they can all be played by doing the following: Start on any key you want at all, black or white and then if you go to the right a whole step, and then another whole step, and then a half step, and then a whole step, and then a whole step and then a whole step and then a half step you will play a major scale. Memorize this: "whole step, whole step, half step, whole step, whole step, whole step, half step" and then you can start on any key you want and play a major scale. Try it. Notice that depending on where you start you will be using different numbers of white and black keys.....its FUN!!!

[chownah]

So..now you know how to costruct major scales!!!! and you know the names of the white keys!!!! Next you need to know what to call the black keys. Each black key can actually have two names which can be confusing at first but don't worry about it. By the time it is crucial for you to know their names you will have it aced.

Consider the D key. Its the white one between the two keys of a two black key cluster. The black key to the left of the D key is called D flat and the black key to the right of the D key is called D sharp.

Consider the C key which is the white key just to the left of the D key. The C key has only one adjacent black key which is on its right. We have already named this key D flat....but.....since it is to the right of the C key we can also refer to it as C sharp.

Consider the E key which is the white key just to the right of the D key. The D key has only one adjacent black key which is on it left. We have already named this dey D sharp...but....since it is to the left of the E key we can refer to it as E flat.

Do you see the pattern? Every balck key has two possible designations; one it takes from the white key on its left and one it takes from the white key on its right.

Look at a three black key cluster....look at the middle of the three black keys....to its left is the G key so we can call the black key G sharp if we want....to the middle black keys right is the A key so we can call the black key A flat if we want.

Another way to look at this is to consider that if you "sharpen" a note it gets moved one half step higher (to the right) and if you "flatten" a note it gets moved one half step lower (to the left). If you listen to the pitch of a tone and then you sharpen that tone it will have a higher pitch and if you flatten the tone it will have a lower pitch.

A philosophical question....what is the meaning of C flat...or B sharp....or E sharp or F flat?

What about double sharps and double flats? Half sharps and half flats on a piano?

[chownah]

You've probably seen people playing the piano....quite often one hand (usually the right hand) will play alot of notes one after the other as it plays the melody whille the other hand (usually the left hand) plays several notes simultaneously. Playing two or more notes simultaneously is called a "chord". There's lots of different kinds of chords and the mood of the music is to a great extent determined by which chords are played.

Let's make a chord.....let's make a chord playing three notes at once!!!....let's play a three note chord using the C major scale!!...let's play the three note chord called the "C major chord" using the "C major scale"!!!!

If you remember correctly the C major scale is made up of all the white keys but you must start at the C key. So to play a C major scale you would sequentially play C, D, E, F, G, A, B, and C. To play a C major chord you play the first, third, and fifth notes of the C major scale....that is to say you play the C, E, and G notes simultaneously. The easiest and most common way to play a C major chord is to use the thumb, middle, and little fingers to depress the three keys simultaneously....this works for both the left and right hands...although usually you use the thumb, middle and little fingers of the SAME hand although you COULD use some fingers from each hand this is not the usual way and is used only when the music gets so complicated that there is no other way.

Now, just to show you how easy life can be...let me just say that makinga major chord from any scale is done in a similar way....you just play the first, third and fifth notes of what ever major scale you want and you will be playing the major chord for that scale. For instance, if you want to play a D major chord then you simply play the first, third, and fifth notes of the D major scale!!!!.......simple, isn't it!!!!!......you do remember how to construct a D major scale don't you?

Edited July 17, 2007 by chownah

[tayto]

You've probably seen people playing the piano....quite often one hand (usually the right hand) will play alot of notes one after the other as it plays the melody whille the other hand (usually the left hand) plays several notes simultaneously. Playing two or more notes simultaneously is called a "chord". There's lots of different kinds of chords and the mood of the music is to a great extent determined by which chords are played.

Let's make a chord.....let's make a chord playing three notes at once!!!....let's play a three note chord using the C major scale!!...let's play the three note chord called the "C major chord" using the "C major scale"!!!!

If you remember correctly the C major scale is made up of all the white keys but you must start at the C key. So to play a C major scale you would sequentially play C, D, E, F, G, A, B, and C. To play a C major chord you play the first, third, and fifth notes of the C major scale....that is to say you play the C, E, and G notes simultaneously. The easiest and most common way to play a C major chord is to use the thumb, middle, and little fingers to depress the three keys simultaneously....this works for both the left and right hands...although usually you use the thumb, middle and little fingers of the SAME hand although you COULD use some fingers from each hand this is not the usual way and is used only when the music gets so complicated that there is no other way.

Now, just to show you how easy life can be...let me just say that makinga major chord from any scale is done in a similar way....you just play the first, third and fifth notes of what ever major scale you want and you will be playing the major chord for that scale. For instance, if you want to play a D major chord then you simply play the first, third, and fifth notes of the D major scale!!!!.......simple, isn't it!!!!!......you do remember how to construct a D major scale don't you?

Nope. ah could you start from the beginning.

[chownah]

You've probably seen people playing the piano....quite often one hand (usually the right hand) will play alot of notes one after the other as it plays the melody whille the other hand (usually the left hand) plays several notes simultaneously. Playing two or more notes simultaneously is called a "chord". There's lots of different kinds of chords and the mood of the music is to a great extent determined by which chords are played.

Let's make a chord.....let's make a chord playing three notes at once!!!....let's play a three note chord using the C major scale!!...let's play the three note chord called the "C major chord" using the "C major scale"!!!!

If you remember correctly the C major scale is made up of all the white keys but you must start at the C key. So to play a C major scale you would sequentially play C, D, E, F, G, A, B, and C. To play a C major chord you play the first, third, and fifth notes of the C major scale....that is to say you play the C, E, and G notes simultaneously. The easiest and most common way to play a C major chord is to use the thumb, middle, and little fingers to depress the three keys simultaneously....this works for both the left and right hands...although usually you use the thumb, middle and little fingers of the SAME hand although you COULD use some fingers from each hand this is not the usual way and is used only when the music gets so complicated that there is no other way.

Now, just to show you how easy life can be...let me just say that makinga major chord from any scale is done in a similar way....you just play the first, third and fifth notes of what ever major scale you want and you will be playing the major chord for that scale. For instance, if you want to play a D major chord then you simply play the first, third, and fifth notes of the D major scale!!!!.......simple, isn't it!!!!!......you do remember how to construct a D major scale don't you?

Nope. ah could you start from the beginning.

I'll give you a hint: "whole step, whole step, half step, whole step, whole step, whole step, half step."

[chownah]

Did you ever notice that pianos have pedals....and that just like cars some have three pedals and some have two pedals. Step on the piano's pedal which corresponds to the gas pedal (accelerator pedal) in a car and then play some notes and see what happens!!!!!

Edited July 20, 2007 by chownah

[goski]

I've done that in my modified Pickup-piano-truck Lowlux! I made a C-major before hitting the breaks! (And I was gonig for a low key).

[chownah]

Well, the piano's "accelerator pedal" (the one on the right) is called the sustain pedal. Usually when you depress a key and then release it a small damper inside touches the strings that are vibrating from the note and thus the sound is dampened...i.e. the sound stops when you release the key.....but....with the sustain pedal depressed, all the dampers inside the piano for all of the strings are kept away from the strings so the sound produced is not stopped when keys are released. This not only lets the note or notes played to ring for a long time after the key(s) are released but also lets the strings of notes not struck to develop sympathetic vibrations from the vibrations of the strings activitated by depressing the key and these sympathetic vibrations create a rich and full sound which can be quite pleasing. You might notice that you get a different effect if the sustain pedal is depressed before playing a note or notes compared to if it is depressed after playing a note or notes (which is more subtle).

[SoulCakeDuck]

Paramet Lerdkasem seems like the best choice..he isn't bad,though..I used to think he was kind off smug..but my little mate seems to enjoy taking the lessons from him.