KEYBOARD GUIDE

Tips before starting

 Be patient. It usually takes much less time to read than to assimilate

and practice. You can read this tutorial in 10 minutes, however the
technique and theory you will learn here may take you a few days,
even weeks to fully master. Therefore, be patient. Practice, and do not
move on to the next chapter until you have completely mastered the
proposed exercises.
 Practice often. If you're really interested, set a daily schedule to
practice. It doesn't have to be many hours, but it does have to be a
regular practice.
 Never think "I was not born for this." You should know that anyone
can play the piano with a little practice. Do not give up. Don't think
that your hands are too small, or that you don't have rhythm. Just
practice and see how you learn!

Piano Course - Lesson 1: The keyboard and musical notes

In this piano course we are going to begin by describing the element of the
piano that musicians use to play music. This is none other than the piano
keyboard.

We will also learn musical notes; but not their spelling and reading, but
from the point of view of the place they occupy on the piano keyboard.

We will see the seven natural sounds, and their position on the keyboard.
We will leave the altered sounds for later, which are a little more complex.

The first thing we can notice, when looking at figure 1, is that on the
keyboard there are groups of two and three black keys that alternate. That
is precisely the pattern of keys that are repeated; those included in the group
of two and three black keys.

In figure 2 you can see the pattern of keys that is repeated and the musical
sounds that correspond to each key.

Thus we have seven sounds: DO, RE, MI, FA, SOL, LA and SI. There are
only seven of these sounds, and in order for them to cover all the keys on the
keyboard, they must be repeated. In short, these seven sounds are repeated
but sounding in different tones; higher or lower.

Maybe you are wondering why there is a group of two and another of three
black keys. The reason is that these groups serve as a reference for us when
playing the instrument. Like the

notes, as we know, are repeated cyclically, we need a reference system to

know how to reach the pitch of a given sound.

If we are playing a medium-pitched D and want to go to a high-pitched E,

we just have to locate the group of two black keys to the right and press the
white key immediately to the right of this group.
Middle C is used as a reference for the position of the hands on the
keyboard.

For now you just have to know that it exists, since we will refer to it later to
start performing exercises and correctly positioning our hands on our piano
keyboard; or the electronic keyboard.

Piano Course - Lesson 2: The double staff

The staff is the graphic system that musicians use to represent music in
writing. It is on the staff where musical notes are written.

Thus, we also have musical notes, which are graphic representations of

musical sounds. When playing the piano, we will use a system called double
staff; which serves to represent bass and treble sounds simultaneously.

Let's first look at a simple staff:

The only interesting thing to know is that the lines and spaces of the staff are
named from bottom to top as indicated on the graph.

The double pentagram

What we will use to learn the piano notes will be the double staff; which is
the ideal graphic system for pianists. These are two parallel staves, one for
the right hand and the other for the left.

The musical clef is a symbol that is used to relate a space or line on the staff
with a musical sound. Thus we have the treble clef in the 2nd line which
indicates that the note G is located in the 2nd line. The same happens with
the bass clef in the 4th line.

Piano Course - Lesson 3: Fingering and position on the piano

The position of the hands on the keyboard is an important aspect to achieve

harmonious execution, and for the sounds to sound linked.

Each key must be pressed, at all times and depending on the circumstances,
by a specific finger. To teach which key to press with which finger, it is
indicated by fingering. When playing the piano, your hands should be
relaxed, and your fingers should maintain their natural curvature. The body
position should be comfortable, with the feet well supported on the floor.

Fingering of fingers
To indicate the finger that should be used to play a certain musical note on
the piano, we have to identify said finger in some way. What you do is
number the fingers and indicate the number next to the piano note.

Now, with our fingers fingered, we can refer to them on the staff; to indicate
that you have to use that finger to play the musical note on the piano. Figure
7 shows how to do these instructions:

The position of the fingers on the piano

Well, there is a reference key to place your hands correctly on the piano
keyboard. This is the key known as middle C. This middle C is located in the
center of the keyboard, just before the group of two black keys. In middle C
we have to place the thumb of the right hand (finger 1 in the fingering).
The next fingers will correspond to the next four keys respectively. So we
have the thumb on C, the index finger on D, the middle finger on E, and so
on.

As for the left hand, we have to put the little finger on the C located to the
left of the middle C. In the same way, each finger will occupy its respective
piano key: the ring finger on the D, the middle on the E, and so on...

Piano Course - Lesson 4: The C - G extension for piano

Extension is understood as the number of contiguous keys that can be

covered; When you start playing on the piano they are usually groups of five
keys.

Thus, when talking about the C - G extension, we are talking about the
group of keys that begins in C and ends in G. Each finger will then
correspond to a key, or a staff. In addition, the note on the staff has
fingering to know which finger to press with.

To begin learning the C extension, we are going to learn the correspondence

of the notes of this extension with the keys of the piano keyboard.

You must learn this correspondence between the notes on the staff and the
keys on the piano.
To do this, two exercises will be provided below, one for the right hand and
another for the left (Treble and Bass clef). Later you will learn to play with
both hands.

Piano exercise 1: (right hand)

Piano exercise 2: (left hand)

Piano Course - Lesson 5: Rhythm and measures

In music there is an element that is very important to give personality to

each of the compositions we make with the piano: it is rhythm.

Rhythm is everything related to the duration of sounds. For example, tempo

determines the duration of sounds. When the tempo is fast, the rhythm will
be faster than if the tempo were slower.

Another aspect of rhythm is the duration of the succession of sounds in a

melody, for example. By combining the durations of the sounds with each
other, we will achieve a
certain rhythm and another.

Figures of value
Value figures help us establish the rhythm of a piano composition. To do this
we use figures that establish a duration in time of the sound. This duration is
expressed in a concept called times.

Beats are nothing more than a period of time, always constant, that is, in
music all beats are of equal duration. The figure called white is the unit, that
is, it is worth 1.

The so-called white figure is worth half of the round one, that is, ½, and the
black one is worth half of a white one, that is, ¼.

The compasses and the indicator figure

Measures divide music into rhythmic units. In this way, the written
understanding of it is made easier. The measures consist of beats, the
amount of time that a measure has is indicated by the upper number of the
indicator figure.

On the other hand, the indicator figure as a whole indicates the value of the
compass. In the case of figure 9, the value of the compass will be the round,
since the unit is valid as the indicator cigra.

Piano exercise 3: (right hand)

Piano Course - Lesson 6: The F - C extension on the piano

It's time to learn a new extension for the piano keyboard, it's the F -Do
extension.

As usual, when you start playing the piano, you have to start with extensions
of five keys or musical notes. Next, in figure 10 you can study the
correspondence of the notes of the F - C extension with the piano keys.

Remember that while touching this extension the hand has to be relaxed.
To better assimilate the F - Do extension, you are provided with a couple of
exercises; one for the right hand and one for the left. Value figures are also
included.

Piano exercise 4: (right hand)

Piano Course - Lesson 7: The silences of the piano

We are used to relating music to sounds, but, without realizing it, we

perceive silence as part of the music.

That's right, music is not just musical sounds, silence also plays an
important role, and in fact, there are symbols to express silence. In your
learning as a pianist you will need to assimilate these symbols and interpret
them correctly to learn to play the piano.

The symbols of silence are:

Observe in the figure that the silences adopt the names of the figures of
value. This is because the duration of the quarter note silence, for example,
is equivalent to the duration of the quarter note sound.

To play silences on the piano we have to, with a movement of the wrist, lift
our hand from the keyboard, separating it from the piano keys. We will
maintain this position for the hand until the time for silence ends.

We must also not forget that, since the silences have the same value as their
respective value figures, they must be placed appropriately on the staff
according to what the indicator figure indicates.

Below are a couple of piano exercises that will allow you to assimilate the
interpretation of silences. These are exercises 6 and 7; one for the right
hand, and the other for the left.

Piano exercise 6:
Piano exercise 7:

Piano Course - Lesson 8: Play with both hands

In this piano lesson we are going to start learning how to play with both
hands. Without a doubt, it will take practice, so we will also do exercises.
From here we will use the double staff, which we already saw in the
corresponding piano lesson. The exercises will help us gain coordination
between both hands. But before playing the piano with both hands, we are
going to do a preparatory exercise where we will alternate playing with both
hands.

Piano exercise 8: (alternating hands)

As you can see, in piano exercise number 8 everything we have seen is
combined: the figures of value, the silences... Another important aspect is
that the notes must be played fluidly when changing hands.

In exercise 9 you already play with both hands. Silences will not be included
so as not to make learning and practice too difficult. It is important that the
sounds sound coordinated when playing more than one at a time.

Piano exercise 9: (alternating hands)