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    The Only Basic Piano Instruction Book You'll Ever Need: Learn to Play--from Reading Your First Notes to Constructing Complex Cords
    The Only Basic Piano Instruction Book You'll Ever Need: Learn to Play--from Reading Your First Notes to Constructing Complex Cords
    The Only Basic Piano Instruction Book You'll Ever Need: Learn to Play--from Reading Your First Notes to Constructing Complex Cords
    Ebook182 pages1 hour

    The Only Basic Piano Instruction Book You'll Ever Need: Learn to Play--from Reading Your First Notes to Constructing Complex Cords

    By Brooke Halpin

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    About this ebook

    Lots of piano books offer either in-depth analysis or quick gimmicks that don’t really teach music theory. But The Only Basic Piano Instruction Book You’ll Ever Need is different. For students who want to learn the basics and dive right into playing, this book skips all the unnecessary trivia on the history of pianos and avoids lengthy digressions on classical and contemporary musicians. Instead, it focuses specifically on piano instruction and includes: The basics of musical terms, definitions, note-reading structure, and time and key signatures The foundations for chords and more complicated note constructs Exercises and sample pieces of music that range from playing simple notes to combining harmony and melody Perfect even for those starting from scratch, The Only Basic Piano Book You’ll Ever Need makes learning to play a cinch.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSimon & Schuster
    Release dateJun 22, 2006
    ISBN9781440517808
    The Only Basic Piano Instruction Book You'll Ever Need: Learn to Play--from Reading Your First Notes to Constructing Complex Cords
    Author

    Brooke Halpin

    An Adams Media author.

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      Book preview

      The Only Basic Piano Instruction Book You'll Ever Need - Brooke Halpin

      The Only

      Basic Piano

      INSTRUCTION BOOK YOU’LL EVER NEED

      Learn to Play—from Reading Your First Notes to Constructing Complex Chords

      BROOKE HALPIN

      9781593373801_0004_001

      Adams Media

      Avon, Massachusetts

      Copyright © 2006, F+W Media, Inc.

      All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher; exceptions are made for brief excerpts used in published reviews. Contains portions of material adapted and abridged from The Everything® Playing Piano and Keyboards Book by Brooke Halpin, © 2002, Adams Media Corporation.

      Published by Adams Media, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, Inc., 57 Littlefield Street, Avon, MA 02322. U.S.A. www.adamsmedia.com

      ISBN-13: 978-1-59337-380-1     Printed in Canada.    J I H G F E D C

      ISBN-10: 1-59337-380-5

      eISBN: 978-1-44051-780-8

      Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data available from publisher.

      This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information with regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional advice. If legal advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought.

      —From a Declaration of Principles jointly adopted by a Committee of the American Bar Association and a Committee of Publishers and Associations

      Music copyright © Halpin House Music. All Rights Reserved.

      This book is available at quantity discounts for bulk purchases.

      For information, please call 1-800-289-0963.

      CONTENTS

      Introduction

      Chapter One: How to Choose and Care for Your Piano

      Before You Go Shopping for a Piano

      Settle on a Size and Style

      New or Used?

      Acoustic or Digital?

      Making Your Final Decision

      Taking Care of Your Piano

      Keeping Your Piano in Tune

      Chapter Two: Learning the Basics

      The Language of Music

      The Notes on the Keyboard

      Putting Your Fingers on the Keys

      Understanding the Symbols

      Moving Around the Keyboard

      Understanding Octaves

      Playing Your First Simple Tune

      Half and Whole Notes

      Adding the Fourth and Fifth Fingers

      Practice, Practice, Practice

      Finding a Good Piano Teacher

      Chapter Three: Time to Add Your Left Hand

      Playing the Bass Line

      Playing Octaves with the Left Hand

      Playing Eighth Notes

      Playing with Both Hands

      Putting the Thumb Under the Fingers

      Leaping over the Thumb

      Putting It All Together

      Chapter Four: Sharp Key Signatures

      C Major

      Understanding the Circle of Fifths

      G Major

      D Major

      A Major

      E Major

      B Major

      F-Sharp Major

      Continuing the Circle of Fifths

      Chapter Five: Flat Key Signatures

      Understanding the Circle of Fourths

      F Major

      B-Flat Major

      E-Flat Major

      A-Flat Major

      D-Flat Major

      Enharmonic Equivalents

      G-Flat Major

      Chapter Six: A Lesson in Chord Basics

      Major Chords

      Minor Chords

      Playing Chords in a Major Key

      Diminished Chords

      Augmented Chords

      Root Position and First- and Second-Inversion Chords

      Chords in a Minor Key

      Chords in the Right Hand and in the Left Hand

      Chapter Seven: Four-Note Chords

      Making Four-Note Chords

      Playing Four-Note Chords with the Right Hand

      Playing Four-Note Chords with the Left Hand

      Four-Note Chord Exercises

      Breaking It Down

      Pulling Everything Together

      Chapter Eight: More Advanced Chords and Techniques

      Major Sevenths

      Minor Seventh Chords

      Harmonic Minor Sevenths

      Dominant Seventh Chords

      Seventh-Chord Inversions

      Other Types of Chords

      Abbreviated Chord Symbols

      Improvisation

      Appendix: The Only Piano Quiz You’ll Ever Need to Take (in This Book)

      Introduction

      Ray Charles. Elton John. Vladimir Horowitz. Billy Joel. You.

      Question: What do these five people have in common?

      Answer: All of them, at one point in their lives, didn’t know how to play the piano.

      It’s true, you still don’t know how to play the piano, or at least play more than a little, and everyone else on the list eventually went far past that point. But even Mozart had to start somewhere. (Of course, he had the advantage of starting by age three.)

      Listening to the glorious music of your piano heroes can be inspiring—it’s no doubt part of what inspired you to pick up this book—but also daunting. More so than with any other instrument, the way that ten fingers can use a piano to create a cascade of musical sound can seem miraculous, and beyond the capability of someone without remarkable talent. This can be true even if you have limited goals. You aren’t trying to race through a Beethoven sonata at breakneck speed like Horowitz, but you’d like to know how to play a simple Bach prelude. You don’t hope to tour the world as a famous singer-songwriter; you’d be happy to play Just the Way You Are in your living room.

      The important thing to remember is this: You have what it takes. You have that piano in the family room that you’ve been meaning to play, or you have the willingness to go out and find the right piano to buy or rent. You have an appreciation for the music a piano can make, and the desire to create some of it yourself. And you have The Only Basic Piano Instruction Book You’ll Ever Need. Put it all together, along with some dedicated practice time, and you will be able to achieve at least some of your piano-playing dreams.

      In this book, you’ll start with the basics of selecting and caring for a piano, learn what you need to know about music terminology and notation, and begin to play the piano—first with your right hand, then your left, and finally with both. Later chapters will explore the mysteries of key signatures, sharps, flats, chords, and more. Along the way, you’ll do exercises—eighty in all—that make the concepts clear and gradually develop your abilities. There may be times when your new second language of music is hard to understand (root position? enharmonic equivalents?), and when your own progress is hard to see. Don’t worry. Just take a deep breath, and go back through the exercise or that section of a chapter one more time. And keep playing.

      one

      9781593373801_0010_001

      How to Choose and

      Care for Your Piano

      BUYING A PIANO can be a major decision financially, and learning to play one takes a significant investment of your time. Before you rush off to purchase an impressive grand piano that’s too big for your budget and your living room, or a worn-out upright that’s quite cheap (but, unfortunately, unplayable), consider the following advice on how to select and care for the piano that’s just right for you.

      Before You Go Shopping for a Piano

      You should first determine which room in your home or apartment is best suited to accommodate a piano. (You should try, for example, to place the piano far away from the television.) For the professional musician who spends a lot of time playing the piano, it might be best to put the piano in a spare room or guest bedroom.

      Next, figure out how much money you are willing to spend. If you have a big apartment or home and really want a grand piano but have a small budget, you can make a down payment and finance the remaining balance.

      What you’re willing to pay for a piano will also determine whether you buy a new or used piano. New pianos are generally more expensive than used or restored pianos. An exception would be a rare restored piano, which might cost considerably more than a new piano.

      Settle on a Size and Style

      What you can afford to spend, along with the space you have available, will usually determine the size of the piano. The most affordable pianos are spinets and consoles, which are the smallest acoustic pianos made. Spinets are good for beginners, but very few piano manufacturers make new spinets. Consoles are the next size up and cost a little more than spinets. Studio pianos are even bigger in size and price. Upright pianos are taller and more expensive than studios.

      All of the above varieties are vertical pianos, meaning that the soundboard and the piano strings are placed vertically. Grand pianos, which are the most expensive, have strings that run horizontally. They range in size from petite (or baby) grands to concert

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