Introduction 1
About This Book 1
Foolish Assumptions 2
Icons Used in This Book 3
Beyond the Book 3
Where to Go from Here 4
Part 1: Getting Started with Piano5
Chapter 1: Preparing to Play a Piano 7
Knowing Why the Piano is So Special 8
Advantages to playing the piano 8
Advantages to studying music at the piano 8
A skill and an art 9
Understanding Why People Take Piano
Lessons(And Why They Often Quit) 10
Getting to Know Your Instrument 11
Comprehending the Language of Music 12
Developing an ear for horizontal and vertical music 13
Getting to know musical forms and styles 13
Starting to Play the Best Way 14
Being Aware of What You Already Know about Playing the Piano 15
Chapter 2: Meeting the Keyboard Family 17
Looking at the Acoustic Ones 18
Pianos 18
Harpsichords 22
Pipe organs 24
Identifying the Electric Ones 25
The nuts and bolts of electronic sound 26
Synthesizers 26
Digital keyboards 27
Chapter 3: Finding the Perfect Keyboard 29
To Hum or Not to Hum: Electric or Acoustic (Or Both)? 30
Buying an acoustic 30
Buying a digital 32
Buying a hybrid 34
Picking the Perfect Acoustic Piano 34
Taking location into account 35
Getting all the pedals you deserve 35
Finding good buys (and avoiding scams) 36
If youve heard one, you havent heard them all 37
Looking at some specific piano brands 37
Selecting a Digital Keyboard That Lasts 38
Digital pianos and organs 39
Arrangers 40
Stage pianos 40
Workstations 40
Synthesizers 40
Avoiding obsolescence 41
Knowing the digital features you want 41
Browsing some specific keyboard brands 43
Other electric keyboards 45
Before You Drive It Off the Lot: Sealing the Deal at the Store 45
Taking it for a spin 45
Loving and leaving it 46
Refusing to pay the sticker price 46
Shopping online 47
The MIDI Places You Can Go 48
A MIDI primer 48
Keyboard to computer 49
Keyboard to keyboard 50
MIDI and music notation 50
Chapter 4: Taking Good Care of Your Keyboard 51
Providing a Good Place to Live 51
Making It Shine: Cleaning Your Keyboard 52
Calling In a Pro for General Checkups and Serious Repairs 54
Tuning acoustic keyboards 54
Keeping digital keyboards happy 56
Dealing with serious keyboard problems 57
Taking the Worry Out of Moving Your Acoustic Piano 58
Chapter 5: Eighty-Eight Keys, Three Pedals, Ten Fingers, and Two Feet 59
Finding the Keys, Easy Peasy 59
The white keys 60
The black keys 62
Discovering What Your Parents Never Told You about Posture 63
To sit or not to sit: Thats the real question 64
Sitting down: Chairs versus benches 65
Using stands and racks 67
Paying Attention to Hand Positioning 68
Arch those hands and fingers 68
Fingering 69
Giving your hands and fingers a rest 70
Pedal Power: Getting Your Feet in on the Action 71
Piano pedals 72
Digital keyboard pedals 73
Part 2: Deciphering Squiggles on Paper to Create Sound75
Chapter 6: Reading Lines and Spaces 77
Your Guide to a Piano Score 78
Employing a staff of five lines 78
Hanging from a clef 80
Double Your Staff, Double Your Fun 85
Grand staff and ledger lines 85
Climbing up the staff and beyond 87
An octave above, an octave below 87
Punctuating Music: Bar Lines 88
Continuing to Read: Dont Stop 89
Chapter 7: Joining the Rhythm Nation 91
Eyeing Tempo: The Beat Goes On 92
Measuring the beat using tempo 92
Grouping beats in measures 93
Serving Some Musical Pie: Basic Note Values 94
Quarter notes: One piece at a time 95
Half notes: Half the pie 95
Whole notes: The whole pie 96
Counting all the pieces 97
Faster Rhythms, Same Tempo 97
Eighth notes 98
Sixteenth notes and more 99
Listening for the Sound of Silence: Rests 100
Whole and half rests 100
Quarter rests and more 101
Counting Out Common Time Signatures 103
Common time: 4/4 meter 104
Waltz time: 3/4 meter 104
March time: 2/4 meter 105
6/8 time 106
Playing Songs in Familiar Time Signatures 106
Chapter 8: Changing the Beaten Path 111
Getting a Jump on the Start: Pickup Beats and Measures 111
Adding Time to Your Notes with Ties and Dots 113
Linking notes using ties 113
Extending notes using dots 113
Playing Offbeat Rhythms 116
Triplets love chocolate 117
Swing and shuffle time 118
Syncopation 120
Playing Songs with Challenging Rhythms 121
Part 3: One Hand at a Time131
Chapter 9: Playing a Melody 133
Let Your Fingers Do the Walking 134
Getting into the Right Position 135
C position 135
G position 140
Shifting your hand position as you play 141
Crossing Your Fingers and Hoping It Works 142
Crossing over your thumb 142
Passing your thumb under 143
Playing Melodies in the Right Hand 144
Chapter 10: Scaling to New Heights 149
Building a Scale, Step by Step 150
Stepping Up to the Majors 151
Understanding major scales 152
Trying a major scale exercise 154
Exploring Minor Variations 155
Natural minor scales 155
Harmonic minor scales 156
Melodic minor scales 157
Trying minor scale exercises 158
Showing Your Rebellious Side with Blues Scales 160
Playing Songs Made of Scales 161
Chapter 11: Hey, Dont Forget Lefty! 165
Exploring the Keyboards West Side 165
Moving into position 166
Getting used to the new neighborhood 166
Tackling Some Left-Hand Melodies 169
Practicing Some South-Paw Scales 170
C, G, and F major 170
A, E, and D natural minor 171
A harmonic and melodic minor 172
Trying Accompaniment Patterns 172
Three-note patterns 173
Four-note patterns 174
Adding the Left Hand to the Right Hand 177
Sharing the melody in both hands 178
Melody plus one note 178
Melody plus three-note accompaniment pattern 180
Melody in unison octaves 180
Playing Songs with Both Hands 182
Part 4: Living in Perfect Harmony187
Chapter 12: The Building Blocks of Harmony 189
Measuring Melodic Intervals 190
Interval shorthand 191
Seconds 192
Thirds 193
Fourths and fifths 194
Sixths and sevenths 196
Octaves 197
Combining Notes for Harmonic Intervals 197
Playing two notes together 197
Adding intervals to the melody 198
Harmonizing with the left hand 200
Playing Songs with More Harmony 202
Chapter 13: Understanding Keys 209
Homing In on Home Key 209
A whole ring of keys 210
Using keys to play music 211
Reading key signatures 212
Leaving and returning to the home key 217
Playing Songs with Key Signatures 218
Chapter 14: Filling Out Your Sound with Chords 221
Tapping into the Power of Chords 221
Dissecting the Anatomy of a Triad 222
Starting Out with Major Chords 223
Branching Out with Minor Chords 224
Exploring Other Types of Chords 225
Tweaking the fifth: Augmented and diminished chords 225
Waiting for resolution: Suspended chords 227
Adding the Seventh 228
Reading Chord Symbols 229
Playing with Chord Inversions 232
Putting inversions to work 233
Flipping the notes fantastic 233
Playing Songs with Chords 235
Part 5: Technique Counts for Everything241
Chapter 15: Dressing Up Your Music 243
Playing Dynamically 243
Starting with basic volume changes 244
Widening the range 244
Making gradual shifts in volume 245
Articulating the Positive 246
Interpreting articulation symbols 247
The power of articulation 248
Controlling the Tempo 249
Putting the Pedal to the Metal 250
Using the damper pedal 250
Getting the hard facts on soft-pedaling 251
Eyeing the middle pedal 252
Touching on Grace Notes 253
Tackling Trilling 254
Dazzling Your Audience: Gliss 255
Trembling Tremolos 257
Dressing Up Your Songs 260
Chapter 16: Great Grooves 267
Great Left-Hand Accompaniment Patterns 267
Fixed and broken chords 268
Chord picking 270
Octave hammering 270
Bouncy rock patterns 272
Melodic bass lines 275
Applying Great Intros and Finales 277
The big entrance 279
Exit, stage left 281
Playing Songs with Left-Hand Grooves 284
Chapter 17: Perusing the Aisle of Style 287
Taking Aim at Classical Music 287
Playing the Blues 290
Clues for the blues 290
12-bar ditties 290
Changing it up 291
Rockin around the Keys 293
Rocking ingredients 294
Slamming and jamming 294
Youre a Little Bit Country 295
Country-style cooking 295
Finger-pickin good 295
Pop! Goes the Piano 297
Popular picks 297
Topping the charts 297
Soul Searching 298
Saving your soul 298
Motown sounds 299
Funky sounds goin round 300
All That Jazz 300
Jazzing it up 301
Its up to you 301
Substituting chords 301
Playing Songs in Favorite Styles 304
Part 6: The Part of Tens311
Chapter 18: Ten Ways to Improve Your Practice and Performance 313
Be Comfortable at All Times 313
Shut Off the Distractions 314
Make a Schedule and a List 314
Get into Deconstruction 315
Use a Metronome 315
Rehearse Your Dress Rehearsals 315
Know Your Performance Piano 316
If You Memorize . 316
Preempt Post-Performance Syndrome 316
Smile and Take a Bow 317
Chapter 19: Ten Ways to Supplement This Book 319
Working through Method Books 319
Using Reference Books 320
Buying Music to Play 321
Types of printed music 321
Arrangements and transcriptions 322
Fake books 322
Where to buy printed music 323
Gigging with Others 324
Piano duets 324
Chamber groups 325
Bands 325
Checking Out the Masters 325
Johann Sebastian Bach 325
Ludwig van Beethoven 326
Johannes Brahms 326
Frederic Chopin 326
Franz Liszt 326
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 327
Sergei Rachmaninoff 327
Attending Live Concerts 327
Listening to Recordings 328
Perusing record stores 328
Shopping online 328
Visiting the library 329
Exchanging music with friends 329
Exploring Piano Sites on the Web 329
Enjoying Pianos on the Big Screen 330
Realizing Youre Not Alone 331
Chapter 20: Ten Questions to Ask Prospective Teachers 333
Whom Else Have You Taught? 333
How Long Have You Been Teaching and Playing? 334
How Much Do You Expect Me to Practice? 334
Would You Mind Playing Something for Me? 335
What Repertoire Do You Teach? 336
How Do You Feel about Wrong Notes, Mistakes, and Slow Learners? 336
What Methods Do You Use to Teach Piano? 337
Where Will the Lessons Take Place? 337
How Much Do You Charge? 338
Do You Have Student Recitals? 338
Appendix: About the Website: Audio Tracks and Video Clips 339
Index 345
