Hello there! Some of you who are reading this may be wondering: "Can I be able to play the piano? Will I be successful if I try? When will I become as good as those guys on TV? Can I make a career out of it?"
All of these answers and more can be answered only when you know what kind of piano education you're gonna get. If it is good, many of those questions will have answers to "YES!". If you get a bad piano education, you're gonna get those questions answered "No, or maybe a very small chance."
This guide will help you learn the basics of piano so when you start out and learn from a teacher for the very first time, you won't be as clueless and dumbfounded as other people would be. This guide will also help you pick the right teacher so that you won't get a bad education.
Questions
Alright. Many of the questions stated above will be answered here. The first one was: "Can I be able to play the piano?" The answer is yes, after you read this guide.
"Will I be successful if I try?" Well, this question is hard to answer, because many people have different learning rates. If you try a few times, you will get the hang of it. This will mean you're successful.
"When will I become as good as those guys on TV?" This question is hard to answer too, because I don't know what kind of teacher you will have. Maybe in about 3-4 years, you will be that good.
"Can I make a career out of it?" YES YOU WILL! Many people seek everywhere for a piano teacher. They can charge up anywhere from $50-$75 every hour lesson. You can teach about 5 people a day, and that would get $250 at least (in your own home, too)
"How do I start?" Well, first you should get a piano (this would cost around $1000-$2000). Then read the next part of the guide.
The Basics
The piano is made up of many black and white keys. There are 52 whites and 36 black, making a total of 88 keys. A set of keys is made up of an A to G key. Each white key is one letter, so:
On all pieces of music there are 5 horizontal lines. If you have noticed, there is 2 of these connected together by {. The top one of them is called the treble clef, the one with this sign:
You read the lines from bottom to top. The very bottom line would be an E note, then next would be G, then next would be B, then D, then F is the very top. Your teacher will tell you which E to start with, and remember that you are ascending. You start the E from the middle of the keyboard, 26 white keys from the left This is a piano staff that shows which notes are where:
There is another staff too, the bass clef. It is just like the top staff, with different notes. Bass clef looks like this:
They have notes too, and you start the G 14 white notes from the left:
There are many different kinds of notes. In this guide we will learn the basic ones, which are quater notes, half notes, and whole notes. Later, perhaps, you will learn the other kinds of notes:
There are these things that are sharps or flats and naturals. They look like this:
Sharps and flats raise a note up or down a half-step. Sharps raise them up, flats lower them. Naturals canccel out a sharp or flat. On the chart is an example:
Time signatures are important too. On a piece of music, they tell you what notes get what beat. There are only four you should be concerned of now. 2/4 3/4 and 4/4. 4/4 might look like this:
In case you're wondering, a measure is the space from one bar line to another:
That is basically it for the lessons. When you get a teacher, you can ask him/her about scales.
Books to buy
I suggest a great book to buy is the "Basics of Keyboard Theory Prepatory Level" by Julie Mclntosh Johnson. It has all the things in this guide, and you can test yourself by answering the questions. It also teaches you as well. It costs about $5-$10. Your teacher will tell you what other books to buy as well.
Tips for picking a Teacher
Many teachers are very good to choose from, there is not many tips for picking them. The only thing I could think of is to ak them if they send their students to the Certificate of Merit evaluation, because that will be very important in your career.
