Learning to play piano or any musical instrument needs knowledge of the code that allows music to be read and to make sense.
1. Music is played at a speed depending on the type of music it is. To achieve this two things are written on the music. The first is to split the ledger lines (also known as the staff or stave) into sections with vertical lines. These are called bars or measures. Local to the clef on the left of the ledger lines, a time signature is placed there to show the timing of the music. This could be 4/4 or 3/4 or other such numbers. In the case of 4/4 this would mean that each section between the bars would have 4 beats or counts in each section. The other 4 would indicate the type of note that each of the beats would be. In this example the beats are quarter notes so are short notes meaning that the music would be of an average speed. If the time signature had been 4/2 there would still be 4 beats in each section but the number 2 represents a 1/2 note which is slower than a 1/4 note resulting in a slower speed.
2. The pitch between notes can have half pitch notes. These are called sharp notes or flat notes. They are represented on the music by the sign # for sharp and b for flat. Sharps and flats can be confusing as the same half note can be called sharp or flat. For example the half note above G is G# the whole note above G is A. The half note below A is exactly the same note as G#. This time we call it Ab.
3. Understanding where the half pitch notes on piano are is very easy. All you do at this stage is either go to the next black key to left or right of a white key this is counting up in half notes, Progressing from left to right the black notes will be called sharp and if progressing from right to left the black notes will be called flat.
4. Music can be played in a number of ways. Bright, sad, soft, loud, aggressively, to name just a few. In addition to the notes and timing the music has comments written on it. These can be whole words but are generally shortened to a single letter. An example would be (f) meaning fortissimo or loudly, or (p) meaning pianissimo or softly. There are many more that will need to be learned as your learning increases.
5. Not all music is suitable to be played by all instruments. The piano cannot bend strings as a guitar can or other such things. A guitar cannot play 5 bass notes and 5 upper pitch notes at the same time such as a piano can. A violin cannot play three or four notes at the same time to form a chord which flat string instruments can. The choice of music needs care to ensure it is suitable for your instrument.
Should you be interested in learning more try this link http://www.free.jackieclarkmusic.com/
Jackie Clark has been teaching piano, keyboard and guitar for over 30 years in several countries. She has a 100% success rate with pupils taking exams in traditional teaching methods and also has on line courses of instruction
http://www.jackieclarkmusic.com/
