Help on Piano Lessons

[Cynical John]

I'm not sure if this should be in the anime music thread*

I was wondering if anybody here knows how to play the piano. Due to my tight budget I am forced to try and learn how to play it by finding sources on the internet. After a couple of webpages with complete lessons I still have no clue on what to do. Although I did learn about beams, quarter notes, halves, wholes, eigths, and sixteenths and all that stuff. I'm having trouble reading them on the staff though. I'd greatly appreciate people taking their time and try to post up tutorials and discuss about this. Thanks.

[TitanScholar]

Yeah. I play piano. I no longer take lessons, just for fun. Latest fun song was Yoru no Uta from CCS!!! VERY COOL!

But yeah... um... Give me some staring point, cuz I just don't have the time to go over a whole course on Music Theory...

~Love and Peace~

[Cynical John]

Alright, if you don't mind would you care to submit a little about sharps and flats? I know they're the black keys and they have something to do with a half step next and before but I just need a clearer explaination on things.

[Cain]

Oh my? You're still in that stage I see.

Hmm, I was going to reply and tell you I am wanted for various Conservatoria, so that I know a thing or two about various musical instruments. Piano included.

But I don't know if I can help you like that.
Let me think about it.
And don't worry, I never had lessons for anything either.

[rtil]

Alright, if you don't mind would you care to submit a little about sharps and flats? I know they're the black keys and they have something to do with a half step next and before but I just need a clearer explaination on things.

I play piano. Okay sharps and flats, only the C, D, F, G, and B notes have sharps. Those are a half step up (the black keys.)
D, E, G and A notes have flats. Those are a half-step down from that note, the black keys again.
Theoretically there is also E#(sharp) and Bflat (can't make that symbol), those are a half step down, yet on a white key.
Understand?

[Cynical John]

Hey thanks for clearing that last part up. I really didn't get it when I was reading a couple of tutorials. I didn't know that E-sharp and B-Flat was a white key.

Okay, now that THAT part is out of my head would anyone else care to explain a little more about that little dot after a note that is supposed to represent half of a note or something. It's like a dot just right after a note but that's all I remember about it, sorry but it's 2:08 AM and I was to lazy to find what it is please understand, thanks.

[Razzle]

the dot after a note gives it an exrta beat. Like a dotted half note gets 3 beats.

are you ok with ties, slurs, forte, decrasendo, fermatas, time signatures, and all that? ^^;;

[Cynical John]

Um...nope, but it would really help if you explained more about the dot after the note and what you have previously mention, thanks.

[rtil]

OK a dot after a note is.. oh god i haven't had lessons in years.. XD


Well i'll just tell you what i remember..
A plain note with a filled circle is a quarter note, 1 beat on a 4/4 scale.
A plain note without a filled circle is a half note, 2 beats on a 4/4 scale.
A plain note without a tail (just the filled circle)is a whole note, 4 beats on a 4/4 scale.
A plain note with 1 flag is an eigth note, 1/8 a beat on a 4/4 scale.
A plain note with 2 flags is a sixteenth note, 1/16 a beat on a 4/4 scale.
other notes that are smaller are hardly ever used.

[Grey]

How long have you guys been playing piano, I took lessons for only 3 years but I've been playing for 5 years now.

[Cynical John]

lol, rtil, I already know the notes but there was this note that's a dot as in " . " after a note that meant half a note of the previous note or something. SO far this is confusing to me and it owuld help if it got cleared up a bit.

[rtil]

A dot after a note means it takes up 3 beats on a 4/4 scale.
Roppon i took lessons for 7 years.

[Winona]

Erm...do u know what crotchet and quavers are?

Crotchet is the plain note with a filled circle and
quaver is a plain note with a filled circle and a flag

So example ...you have a dotted crotchet which is a crotchet with a dot after it.The dot means or represents another quaver.
If you count the crotchet as one beat then the dot would be an extra half beat.
So it's like 1+

Hope it helps^_^

[rtil]

Wow - this is an old topic but.. i think that was already explained. I never remember calling them those name before, though. O_O

[Jiggapuffly]

c-john,

you will have to learn proper technique before handling any large amount of repertoire. The main key in proper technique is (duh) finger strength. You want to develop your technique so that you will rely mostly on your fingers and not on your arms/shoulders. If you rely on your arms/shoulders, then the tension in your muscles will overwhelm you in the more advanced pieces (ie. prokofiev toccata, rach3 cadenza in mvt 1, most of the chopin etudes, etc.). Learn to keep your arms and shoulders relaxed while stiffening your fingers and let fingers do the work. Train yourself to play arpeggios/scales using purely your fingers and nothing else; eventually you will see that your fingers will get a little more "chubby" or even "fat." This is a good sign! You want to gain muscles in your hands and fingers so that eventually you can play scales quickly and nonstop w/o getting tired.

Hope this helps... if you have questions, i will be happy to tutor you and guide you through a well-planned repertoire. Feel free to email me, sszhou@wam.umd.edu. I used to play piano very seriously...

[The Legend]

I know how to play the piano...aliitle. But i used to play the viola and i got the book and thats how i know how to play piano, i play really good. But im sorry i cant help tho.