2/10/2013

Advice for Piano Beginners

By Cathy Rodriguez


For beginners, the first day of piano lessons is always full of mixed emotions such as anxiety, excitement, and eagerness. Evidently, the first day most students find piano complex, which is the main cause why most new students quit piano lessons within the first few days of starting their lessons.

As any professional athlete, the best piano players have invested hundreds of hours to refine their musical talents to play the piano better with each passing year. They still study famous piano songs such as "Fur Elise," they still study sheet music, and they still practice on a daily basis, and even music history.

Very few people know who Bartolomeo Cristofori was - he was the inventor of the piano. He was an Italian music shop owner who introduced this instrument to the public in Padua, Italy at the beginning of the 1700's. At that time the piano was an exclusive acquisition due to its hefty price tag and it was mostly seen as a social status symbol. In addition, the components of the piano were slightly different materials.

Initially, the keys in the instrument were made of ivory but now they are made of plastic. The piano is mostly made out of wood but other metals such as copper are used to build it. Believe it or not, almost all parts of the piano move when you play a song because of the hundreds of strings attached to the piano keys.

Piano owners are required to take excellent care of their pianos to protract their durability. For example, new pianos must be tuned every three months the first year after their purchase and every six months thereafter. The reason is that weather conditions will make the strings loosen up a bit and lose their optimal sound pitch. Evidently, a professional will need to be hired to tune up the piano when necessary.

For those who want to learn how to play a piano, I highly recommend knowing the following information before taking your first piano course. The first fact is that all standard pianos have 88 keys that consist of only white and black colors, while most keyboards tend to have at least 61 keys. The piano music alphabet is quite easy to remember as it only ranges from letters A to G. Also, I highly recommend playing with the keys to start recognizing their different sound. For example, the notes on the left side have a deeper pitch that will get lighter as the keys more to the right. Eventually, the goal would be for you to be able to recognize the sound of each note on the piano.

Body posture and hand curvature are equally important when learning how to play piano. Your body must always portray confidence, skill, and passion. Your hand must always be positioned on the piano keys with no fingers flying out in the air away from the piano. If you are struggling to find that perfect curvature in your hand when playing songs, then I recommend you the following tip. Sit down and lightly place your hands in your knees. Maintaining that same, shape move your hands and place them carefully on the piano ensuring to maintain the same shape at all times. That is it.

I am heartbroken to learn new students, especially children, will drop after their first piano lesson. I strongly believe this is because the standard music notation is boring, unexciting and very complex to beginners. What I do recommend before quitting is to think about all the great musicians you admire. Reality is that they have spent hundreds of hours honing their skills to become better and better at every concert they perform. There are not different that you - they simply invested all that time to become successful and you too can become great!

As you can see, learning how to play the piano requires persistence, a huge time investment, and a strong desire and interest for music. What I recommend everyone interested in learning to play this instrument is to dedicate at least thirty minutes daily to learn something new every day and familiarize with sheet music, piano notes, and getting used your hand and finger movement. Playing the piano should be fun, exciting, and romantic so enjoy and have fun!




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