Music Notations - Free Piano

Lessons for Beginners

Here are some basic music notations that you need to know before you begin the actual
piano lessons:

Music notation is the written form of music. Music is often called a universal language.
We all know that in order to speak a language, we first need to learn the alphabet.
Unlike the English alphabet (which has 26 letters) the musical alphabet has only seven
letters - A,B,C,D,E,F, and G and then back again to A. Sometimes we use solfege (sohl-
fezh) of solfeggio (sohl-fed-joh) with syllables do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti and do (if you've
seen the movie "The Sound of Music" then you know what I mean) to name the notes. If
you have a piano, you will find these notes several times accross the keyboard. In the
English alphabet we start by learning the letter A, but in this free piano lessons, we first
need to learn the note C.

When you look at the keyboard, you will see that there are black keys which are grouped
into 2's and 3's. On the left side of each group of 2 black keys, you will find the note C.
Play all the C's on your keyboard. When you sit in front of the piano, you will find the
middle C. On the right side of middle C is the D note and on the left of C is the note B.
On the left side of the 3 black keys is the note F. Play all the F notes on your keyboard.
On the right side of F is the G note and after G is A. So the music alphabet is
A,B,C,D,E,F,G and then back to A. There are a total of 12 keys on the piano (including
the black keys). The piano keyboard is just the repetition of these notes.

Watch the video tutorials on the First Pieces page for "Hot Cross Buns," "Jingle
Bells (short version)" and "Camptown Races"

Follow these instructions:

1. Put your fingers on the keyboard according to the chart below. For the First
Pieces page, your fingers should not move from this position. Play pieces on
this page with the help of the finger numbers next to the notes.

2. Memorize the letters for the keys on the keyboard and for the notes on the
sheet music with the help of these virtual flash cards:
The First Pieces Keyboard
The First Pieces Staf
First Pieces Keyboard and Staf
You can download these flashcards to your iPhone or iPod Touch when you
 buy the iFlipr app: In iFlipr search for "Deben First Pieces", download the
decks and practice on the bus, on the beach or on the plane--anywhere you
take your iPhone or iPod Touch!

3. Do the first three chapters of these Music Theory Workbooks.

An octave is the interval or distance between the first and eighth degrees of the diatonic
major scale. The middle C to the next C is eight notes apart therefore is called an
octave.

The music staff (staves in plural form) is the group of five parallel, horizontal lines upon
which music is written.

THE GRAND STAFF

Piano music is written on two connected staves called the grand staff. Some music for
the keyboard uses only one staff which are called leadsheets.
Pitch - the highness or lowness of a note, as determined by its frequency. Leger or
Ledger lines are short lines written above or below the staff for notes that are pitched
outside the staff.

THE G CLEF (TREBLE) AND F CLEF (BASS)

Clef - the symbol at the beginning of a staff that indicates which lines and spaces
represent which notes.

Notes - are the written symbols of music found on the spaces and lines of the staff.

VALUES OF NOTES AND RESTS

Here are the values of notes and rests used in music notations:
Notice that:

* a whole note is equivalent to 2 half notes

* a half note is equivalent to 2 quarter notes
* a quarter note is equivalent to 2 eighth notes
* an eighth note is equivalent to 2 sixteenth notes

It's also the same with the rests.

DOTTED NOTES/RESTS AND THEIR VALUES

A dot, when placed beside a note or rest increases the duration or value of that note or
rest by half.

PIANO FINGERINGS (number names of the fingers)

For your RIGHT HAND:

1 - thumb
2 - index finger
3 - middle finger
4 - ring finger
5 - pinky finger

For your LEFT HAND:

1 - thumb
2 - index finger
3 - middle finger
4 - ring finger
5 - pinky finger

Remember, the thumb is always number 1.

TIME SIGNATURE AND KEY SIGNATURE

Time Signature - is made up of two numerals, placed one above the other. The upper
numeral tells us how many beats there are in each bar or measure, while the lower
numeral tells us which kind of note gets one beat.

Examples:
2/4 - means there are 2 quarter notes or beats in a measure/bar
3/4 - means there are 3 quarter notes or beats in a measure/bar
4/4 - means there are 4 quarter notes or beats in a measure/bar
6/8 - means there are 6 eighth notes or beats in a measure/bar

Key signature - the sharps or flats written on the staff at the beginning of a piece to
indicate the key.

At the beginning of any piece of music, next to the time signature, you will notice that
sometimes there are sharp or flat signs and sometimes none. If there are no
symbols(#'s or b's) that means you are on the key of C (they say this is the easiest key
because you will be playing mostly the white keys). But for example, you have a piece of
music with you and the key signature has 3 flats, do you know what key you are in? You
are on the key of Eb.

See piano tips and tricks (free piano lesson) (Formula on sharps and flats) to learn how
to know the key signature of the piece/song you are about to play:

As I mentioned awhile ago, the staff is made up of five lines and four spaces. Here are
some of the notes that you will find on the lines and spaces:
In this piano lesson, you can also use a secret formula which I find very helpful for my
piano students so that they can remember the letter names of the notes on the staff: For
the line notes, use the phrase "Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge". This simply means
that the bottom line note is E (first letter of Every), the second one is G (first letter of
Good), then B, D and F. For the notes on the spaces, use F,A,C,E as in your face.

HALF STEP, WHOLE STEP, SHARPS (#'S), FLATS (b's) AND THE NATURAL SIGN

HALF STEP - is the distance between any key and the nearest key to it.

A SHARP (#) placed before a note raises it a H.S. (half step) or semi-tone

Example:
* From C, if you put a sharp symbol before the note, it becomes C# or from D to
D#...etc

A FLAT (b) placed before a note lowers it a H.S. or semi-tone

Example:
* From G -> Gb or D -> Db ...etc

WHOLE STEP - is twice the distance of a half step or is equivalent to 2 half steps (major
2nd)

Example:
* From C to D is a WS (whole step), G to A, E to F#...etc. and there should be a note in
the middle of the 2 notes.

Therefore, 1 W.S. = 2 semi-tones and 1 H.S. = 1 semi-tone

When you see a NATURAL SIGN in front of a note that has been played on a black key
you must play it on its natural, the white key.

Starting from the middle C, play all the white notes in succession up to the next C. This
is called the C major scale. From the middle C to the higher C is called an octave (eight
notes of the scale). Piano is made up of the same notes (all twelve of them chromatically
or by semitones). You will find the same notes several times accross the keyboard.

Here is a diagram of the C Major Scale:

 Notice that from C to D, D to E, F to G, G to A and A to B is a whole step (WS)
and from E to F, B to C is a half step (HS). This is the formula for the any major
scale: WS-WS-HS-WS-WS-WS-HS.

Basic Sight Reading

How to sit on the piano:

You should sit at the keyboard so that your nose or your navel is roughly even with the
Middle C. This will allow your hands to move up and down the keyboard comfortably. The
left hand should be lower than Middle C and the right hand is mostly around and above
Middle C. Your arms should be loose and should make a relaxed 90 degree angle from
your shoulders. Do not sit too close or too far from the piano. Your fingers should be
curved slightly as if you are holding a ball.

Now let's learn about basic sight reading . . .

When you look at the keyboard, you will notice that there are two sets of black keys and
3 sets of black keys. On the left side of each group of 2 black keys, you will find the note
C. Play all the Cs on your keyboard and find the middle C at the center of your keyboard.
On the right side of C, is the note D and next is E. Now go back to the middle C. On the
left side of C is the note B. Now find the 3 sets of black keys. On the left of the 3 black
keys is the note F. Play all the Fs on your keyboard. On the right side of F is G and next
to the right of G is A. The music alphabet starts with A and ends with G, i.e. A-B-C-D-E-
F-G and then starts all over (there is no H). The notes on the piano keyboard are just
repetition of the same sets of notes, five black notes and seven white notes (12 of them
chromatically). Starting from the middle C, play all the white notes in succession up to
the next C (C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C). This is called the C major scale. From the middle C to the
higher C is called an octave (the distance between a note to the other note with the
same name).

Use the middle C and the G above it as anchor points to help you memorize the
sequence of notes.

Now for the bass clef, use C and F as anchor points.

Notice that the same note (middle C) is found on the first ledger line below the G
(treble) clef, which is also the first ledger line above the F (bass) clef.

Here are the piano fingering for the C Major scale.

For the right hand...

For the left hand...

For both hands (one octave)...

(two octaves)...