Piano For Dummies

Contents

• 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 Piano 5
• 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 Gettin
• 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
• 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 Deal
• 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: That's the real question 64 S
• Part 2 : Deciphering Squiggles on Paper to Create Sound 75
• 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
• 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 Who
• 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 choc
• Part 3 : One Hand at a Time 131
• 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 P
• 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 Mel
• Chapter 11 : Hey, Don't Forget Lefty! 165 Exploring the Keyboard's 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
• Part 4 : Living in Perfect Harmony 187
• 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
• 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: A
• Part 5 : Technique Counts for Everything 241
• 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
• 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, s
• 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 You're a Little
• Part 6 : the part of Tens 311
• 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 Pe
• 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
• 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
• Appendix About the Website: Audio Tracks and Video Clips 339
• Index 345