Self-Training Piano Lessons (Part 2)

Friday, December 01, 2006

Getting Ready for Self-Training Piano Lessons (Part 2)

Learning to play the piano was not an easy task many decades ago if the student could not access a physical instrument for training. Today, however, the lack of a real piano to play on is compensated with either virtual or an inexpensive electronic keyword.

In fact, tonal possibilities can be explored in depth when there is not a chord instrument to practice, allowing the development of techniques that no school or private teacher can provide you with.

Assuming that you have gathered your learning materials, let's study the musical alphabet to identify the essentials of piano octaves. Another point of consideration for the training phase is getting video lessons on DVD.

Even without a keyboard, this useful aid will let you see how the scale degrees of the chromatic scale are distributed. Visual learning is one of the best training methods on any subject.

Piano notes are laid one after another in symmetrical repetition, creating a musical interval between tones. Each interval is part of different octaves consisting of eight pitches.

The piano has 88 keys, 52 white notes and 36 black notes. Each octave has 7 white notes and 5 black notes; hence, the total of octaves on a piano is 7 octaves 1/4.

The only exception to this rule are the Bosendorfer pianos, manufactured in Austria since the late 18th century, first associated with Franz List and then official Imperial piano of Emperor Franz Josef in the middle 19th century. These pianos were manufactured until the present with 88, 92 or 97 keys.

Either way, keys are distributed from left to right starting from C to C, and then repeating one tone above in each new octave. You will basically have to focus your learning from middle C to C above; this is the middle part of the piano, as explained before.

Observing the correct position of your fingers into the corresponding keys, you will begin your training by building major and minor piano scales, this is the different block of the octaves, but concentrating on diatonic scales.

Do you remember that we talked about learning some of the music basics? Here is where you will begin to learn, if not already. A diatonic scale is made of 5 whole steps and 2 half-steps consisting of adjacent keys on the piano keyboard.

Whole-steps consist of 2 half-steps or semi-tones, always in the same direction, this way you will find that major scales and minor scales are diatonic in essence. We will discuss about these scales and finger position next.

Meanwhile, Doing research within your community may bring you to a piano for practicing, since some communities have piano rehearsal rooms, which is another good alternative if you do not have a piano of your own.