How to Play Piano

Let's start by playing some music! From minute one of this course, you will be at the piano, fingering keys and playing tunes. In this opening episode, you'll familiarize yourself with the piano, perform a few basic exercises to warm up, and explore some introductory rhythm patterns. By the end of the episode, you'll know how to play the theme from Beethoven's Ode to Joy.

After reviewing the introductory finger patterns you learned in the first episode, delve into the concepts of pitch and meter. Find out about the concept of measures and different types of notes. Then explore the C major five-finger pattern and play it in action with your first étude.

The piano is a brilliant instrument because it can be used for both melody and harmony, the lead tune and the accompaniment. In this introduction to harmony, you'll explore the tonic and dominant notes of a scale, and you'll revisit Ode to Joy to better understand these concepts in action.

"Tempo" refers to speed in music, and it can be measured with a metronome. Continue working on the interplay of harmony and melody. When you add time to the equation, you can explore "intervals," or pitches in a scale. You've learned enough at this point to study basic notation - the first step toward musical mastery.

Begin to familiarize yourself with the landmark pitches on the staff. By practicing various five-finger patterns (including C major, D major, E major, and A major), you will soon be able to match a tune to a specific tempo. This episode also introduces the concept of "chords," a triad of notes that allow for richer accompaniment.

Round out your study of the major five-finger patterns, and how "accidentals" (changing a pitch by half a step) work. Jazz around with "When the Saints Go Marching In," and then learn about the interval of the fourth. Add "Aura Lee" - the folk song Elvis used for "Love Me Tender" - to your repertoire.

Delve more deeply into the concept of chords and see how they can offer a richer harmony than single notes or two-note harmonic intervals. Examine one of the most popular chord progressions: I-IV-V-I (tonic to subdominant to dominant to tonic), one of the most common patterns in Western music.

Transposition - moving a melody from one key to another - is an important skill often under-used in traditional piano episodes for beginners. It provides an opportunity to get to know the different musical keys and can help you jazz around with an old piece of repertoire. Practice transposition with a few melodies, including "Woodland Jaunt."

This episode will enrich your musical life by building the technical foundation upon which piano music is based. Inverted chords (moving the lowest note of a triad up an octave) is a complex musical detail that will open your ears for future episodes. Learn to recognize how inversions look on the staff and the correct fingerings to play them.

Here, build on the last episode about chord inversions and take a deeper look at the dominant chord. Try your hand at transposing a new chord progression into various keys, and then practice some C major cross-hand arpeggios. The move may be tricky at first, but Professor Pike gives you plenty of time to practice.

Find out about a practice technique called "blocking," which will help you recognize chord patterns more easily - a major step toward sight-reading. Practice three types of accompaniment patterns: the broken-chord pattern, the waltz (3/4 time) pattern, and the Alberti bass pattern.

In this episode, you'll discover the final five-finger pattern - G flat - rounding out your knowledge of key signatures. You'll continue working to harmonize melodies with the accompaniment patterns you learned in Episode 11, and you will begin a new technique - using the damper pedal.

Now that you are growing comfortable with the major key signatures, shift your attention to the minor finger patterns and chords. You'll learn several new pieces ("Skip to My Lou" and a minor étude), and you'll continue practicing your efforts at sight-reading. You will also discover an important new skill: how to harmonize a lead line.

Playing the piano is as much art as science, so here you will consider several techniques to boost the artistry of your playing. The way you articulate or play notes (also known as staccato and legato) will add personality to your playing. Practice with two new pieces: Gurlitt's At School and Diabelli's Waltz.

So far, you've been practicing five-finger scales, but in Western music, a complete scale is an octave, or eight notes. Expand your abilities to play full eight-note scales, and practice with C major, G major and D major. In addition to working on your existing repertoire, you'll add the jazzy "Minor Romp" and "A Turkish Tune" to the mix.

Hone the new musical skills you learned in Episode 15. After reviewing scales and learning to harmonize a minor melody, you'll experiment with a new rhythm pattern. Dig into "A Turkish Tune" to isolate problem spots, and then try your hand at a theme from Beethoven's Minuet in G.

Learning to play the piano is a complex, challenging process, so don't worry if you feel like you're hitting a plateau. In addition to expanding your knowledge of theory - including secondary chords - use this episode as a time to review what you know and assess what needs work.

Secondary chords are those that must go to the primary chord for resolution. Deepen your understanding of secondary chords by improvising with the minor second chord, and then playing around with the third and sixth chords. Deepen your abilities with Beethoven's Minuet in G and the Harp Étude.

After reviewing your sight-reading skills to date, going over the Beethoven Minuet again, and revisiting the secondary chord progressions, Professor Pike shows you two new time signatures: 2/4 time and 3/8 time. She also shows you some new music: the peppy "Cheerful Tune" and the "Rocking Étude" to bring compound meter to life.

Reflect on the relationship between parallel major and minor keys. For example, D major and D minor are not relative keys (like C major and A minor), but they do have an intriguing relationship. In this exploration, you will refine your technique for harmonizing melodies and learn the "Bell Melody" and "Elephant Stroll."

Over the past few episodes, you have moved from very basic off-staff rhythms and pitches to much more complicated rhythmic patterns. Today's episode takes your knowledge of the minor keys to a whole new level as you examine the natural, harmonic, and melodic forms of the minor scale. Also, witness "syncopation" in action in Swing Low.

Revisit the expressive quality of music and how you can use the techniques you are learning to better convey expression. Professor Pike offers a few tips for where amateurs tend to get distracted with anticipation. Reflect on how musical dynamics are related to the musical line, form, and harmonic progression.

Learning to play the piano is about more than acquiring, perfecting, and practicing techniques. Understanding the time periods of music history help inform your understanding of practice. Here, start with the Classical period and learn how the piano developed as an instrument. Play Mozart's theme from the Sonata in C.

Continue your study of the Classical period with a look at one of the most important forms in piano music: the sonata-allegro. See why the seventh chords are so important for classical music, and then survey the life and music of Haydn. Practice Mozart's Sonata in C and Haydn's Dance in D Major.