Candy del Carmen

Getting Familiar with the Harmony After learning the rhythm, every learner should know the theory behind the piano chords as it would become easier to understand the music structure. Don’t make it complicated as you can learn it in simple way. Like listening to two or group of people singing together a melody in different pitches, then that is harmony we are talking about. It can add depth to a song if it is done properly and creating a beautiful sound. Otherwise, the person listening will be having difficulty with a mass of noise produced by unskilled people. When harmonizing, one singer can sing a song on one pitch, the second singer sings the higher note, and the other one sings the lower note. Now, the challenge is to be familiar with minor and major scales. For those not well-acquainted with scales, it composed of 8 successive notes within one octave from letters A- G. When starting to learn harmony, you need to be comfortable with the song. A lot of practice is needed to achieve harmony. Ear training exercise must be part of everyday routine to develop the skills. Try playing a note on a piano and determine the pitch. Then sing the note while playing the piano. This time, try again using a note higher, then a lower note. Understanding the Rhythm What entails for you to understand the rhythm is to learn how to read the piano sheets and counting the intervals, as well as the chords. First, rhythm is the combination of notes into patterns with regular repetition of the beat. Learning how to count is very easy with some exercise. Clap and count loud. Using 4 bars of crotchets corresponds in using a time signature of 4. This time, you can now play and count out loud with the rhythm using one note. Any key would do, repeat the process using the right and left hands and some variety of keys. What you need to understand is that every single note has a certain number of counts. You can hold down the notes as long the counts are. A whole note has 4 counts. Meaning, when you are counting 104, a quarter note has 1 count. If you are creative, do not hesitate to play different notes by using any given rhythm. Example of 4 beat notes is the following: The rhythm: ^ / ^ / ^ / ^ // With counting: 1 2 3 4/ 1 2 3 4/ 1 2 3 4 / 1 2 3 4// Mixtures of 1, 2 and the 4 beat notes The rhythm:* ( ( / ^ / ( ( * / ^ // With counting: 1 2 3 4 / 1 2 3 4 / 1 2 3 4 / 1 2 3 4// How to Read the Music Every great musician knows how to play music as well as knows how to read it. Learning to read the music is a must for every beginner who would want to be best on their craft. Therefore, this short article will bring you some useful tips you can keep in mind. Sheet music is set up with specific structure. First, you have to learn to identify the clef. It is the five lines wherein the notes are written. It can tell you which spaces and lines correspond with which note. It will tell you what oclaves you are playing. Another thing, you have to determine the key signature which is located to the right of the clef. The groups of more flat and sharp symbols are the key signature. It tells you how many notes as per measure will be played. The measure is separated in vertical line and the standard is 4/4 time. Time signature is another important thing in reading the music. It is highlighted in blue. It consists of two numbers and looks like a fraction. The staff is also one of the most important factors in reading the music. It composes of five lines and four spaces. There are names of notes indicated on each lines and spaces. There are so many things to learn in notes like how long to hold each note, etc. For this, every beginners must learn to discipline in music. Understanding the Piano Keyboard Understanding the piano keyboard for the beginners is complex and hard to understand. If you want to have solid understanding of the music theory, every learner must have a solid understanding on the keyboard. For some basic knowledge, piano consists of 12-note patterns that only repeat on the key layout. It wold be best to look at your piano to see it for visual reference. The black and white keys on your piano stand for every note. In a smaller piano, you can see 49 key and acoustic piano has 88 keys. But remember that it only consists of 12-note patterns. The black keys serve as your guide as where you are on the keyboard. These are grouped together into two and three. Notice also that there is white note as “C” located to the left of each group of the two black notes. Don’t be mistaken because there is lots of C in the piano. Just look for the middle C. In order for you to name the black notes, you need to understand the flats, semitones and flats. You may also encounter G flat and G sharp. That is also something that needs to be familiarized. Make sure to get familiarized with every single notes of the piano, most especially the basic notes. Piano Exercises for the Left Hand In piano lesson, there are certain exercises designed for particular hands. For the beginners, playing piano exercises regularly can result into something amazing that every learner can notice the difference. To start with, you can place your left hand resting in the C key position on the piano keyboard. Remember that there is numbering involve in piano, number 1 corresponds to thumb, 2 is for index finger, 3 is for middle finger, 4 is for ring finger, and lastly, the number 5 is for little finger. Place your finger number 5 on C, while your finger number 4 is on D. Then practice playing piano keys alternate in keys C and D. You can also do this in following order: 5 and 4, 5 and 4, 5 and 4, and so on and so forth. Next, you can try placing your finger 4 on D key, then finger number 3 on E, then alternating the fingers on both key. Follow this following order: 4 and 3, 4 and 3, 4 and 3, and so on and so forth. You have to learn to rest your fingers on the correct key and each note must be played with same volume level and duration. Don’t be afraid to commit mistakes while practicing, enjoy while learning. Learn the correct technique, and ride with the rhythm. Piano Exercises for the Right Hand One of the skills that every beginner must learn is to develop fingering ability like a pro. Pianists have different routines in order to sustain flexible fingers. There are simple techniques on how to go about this. You can take a look on the following exercise. To properly get the technique in getting accustomed to play for the right hand, start in aligning the fingers on these following keys: C, D, E, F, and G. You can place your finger on middle C, the next finger on the right of middle C (D note). Once you master the basics of this exercise, you can now practice in playing keys of C and D and alternate the fingers in these following order: 1 and 2, 1 and 2, 1 and 2, 1 and 2, etc. Now, you can place your 3rd finger on E, then the 4th finger on F. Like the exercise above, you can practice laying the alternate keys of E and F and alternate the fingers in this following order: 3 and 4, 3 and 4, 3 and 4, 3 and 4, and so on and so forth. Once you familiarize yourself with the routine, you can play faster and become more comfortable as the time goes by. Never get tired in practicing until your right fingers become very flexible. Playing Piano with Both Hands Playing piano involves both hands; therefore, the pianist has to play it synchronized. Learn from the given tips below and have fun! What you need is relaxation so that you can touch every piano key with gentleness. If your hands are stiff, learn how to get the notes at the right time. If your hands are relaxed, there is no way you cannot touch the keys with more ease. Start playing a piece that you are very familiar with. It would only add to your burden to play a very difficult song. Practice your ear with songs you can play well. Master playing by ear for more fluidity. Master playing by ear for more fluidity. You would notice that the one you are playing from music sheet, once you learn to play by ear, your hands can anticipate where to place your fingers on which note. One important thing to remember is that you have to learn to play the piece immediately and push yourself to learn the piece that will not take long enough for you to start learning it, from the start. If you are playing the scales, play it with your right hand when you go hp. Start with the pinky right finger, then the middle finger, then play the next lower note. Same thing goes with your left hand. The same arrangement applies. Playing the Melody You may not aware that when you find the written notes on the piano, you are also playing the melody. Now the question can be, how to learn holding each note, break them into parts and put them back together to play the music. Step 1 is looking for the key signature. You can see that at the beginning of the line when sharps and flats appeared on the piece of music. Next is for you to read the notes you see in the first four measures through their letter names. Use your right hand on the keyboard and play them for you to see where are they located. Step 3 is going back to time signature. Notice how many beats to count in every measure. Four is to four, meaning to say, four means count 4 quarter notes; and so on and so forth. Now, for the step 4 would require you to look at the flags and stems above the note. A single stem means quarter note and one flag would correspond on the stem that makes it an eight note. Then, count the time for the first four measures. This time, do not play the notes by tapping your fingers on the front keys. Lastly, you can now play the melody in putting all the notes and rhythm together. Always use your right hand for playing the notes and your left hand on the rail. How to Practice for Improvement Even a professional music artists practice for their improvement because the hours you dedicate in improving your skills is the determinant factor for your success. In piano practice, every session must strive for perfection, musicality and improvement. It involves the hand and finger positions, touch, wrist movements, as well as the music interpretations. Every piano practice must create a room for challenges. Meaning to say, you have to accomplish what you never achieve in your previous practice. What should be included to be considered it is something challenging this time? You can include new song, new rudiment, and new exercise. It can be a new tempo for your well used exercise. The main goal here is to make something new each session so that you could still challenge yourself to be better. If the question is how long you should engage in practice, that depends on every individual. Beginners can start from 1 hour a day, like warming up. Then level up to 2 hours or more per session. A professional pianist never fails to practice for not less than 3 hours or more a day to increase their skills of music. Most importantly, you have to trouble shoot your point of weakness and improve on that area. Always think that practice is not an obligation or a chore or a torture. If you really wanted to improve, that is something you should put your dedication and commitment. Then at the end, your patience will turn into something spectacular in your career.