Piano Guidance
Piano Guidance
Photo: Adriana Hernandez
The black keys are in groupings and help us quickly identify the note names of the white keys. Out of these 12 notes, artists and composers usually choose from patterns of 7 main notes (called scales or modes) to compose their music.
left middle finger Section C keys are pressed by the left middle finger. The keys include the number 3 and and letters E, D, and C. Section D keys...
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An upright piano costs between $3000 – $6500 on average. High-end upright pianos average around $10,000 – $25,000. Entry level grand pianos costs...
Read More »Let’s start with a quick funny experiment: take a blank piece of paper and try drawing a piano keyboard without looking at one. (don’t look at the pic above this post – no cheating!) Did you get it right? Remember how there was a similar experiment when people were asked to draw a bicycle and some of these drawings came out hilariously wrong? Chances are that your piano keyboard didn’t come out quite right either, but no worries, we’ll make you understand it once and forever, after explaining all the keys in depth.
Grade 5 Theory is also considered to be equivalent to a GCSE in music. A pass at grades 6, 7 and 8 will earn you UCAS points (university entrance...
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Each team works 4 consecutive night shifts, followed by 3 days off duty, then 3 consecutive day shifts, followed by 1 day off duty, then 3...
Read More »The earliest keyboard instruments were small pipe organs. These early keyboard instruments had all 12 notes right next to each other. They were also laid flat on the same level and were made out of natural wood. As more notes and keys were added for lower and higher registers and with all keys looking exactly the same. There way no way to discern one key from another, which made finding the right keys quickly very difficult, if not impossible! Early instrument designers realized that there needed to be some landmarks that would allow the players to instantly see the notes without having to count them from the bottom each time. Their amazing solution was to separate the 12 keys into groups of 7 and 5 and make them look somewhat different. Separating the keys into two groups of 6 wouldn’t have worked as the pattern would be too small and simple to create bigger landmarks, or too much repetition, so they chose a 7 and 5 pattern! All of the notes without # in their name became the lower keys, and all of the notes with the # in the name were slightly raised from the others. In these early days, the black keys were the ones that were lower and white keys were higher- so the colors on the piano were reversed! It still works like that on another keyboard instrument called the harpsichord. Feel free to search for some pictures of a harpsichord on Google. You may think that switching the colors is a drastic change for anyone playing the keyboard, but amazingly enough, a musician’s brain makes the switch nearly instantly and piano players do not feel strange playing the harpsichords. Back to the keyboard layout. Now we have a pattern of alternating groups of 2 and 3 black keys that very clearly separates the keyboard in octaves (groups of 12 keys) and makes it possible to find each individual key quickly. For example, if you need to play G you just memorize that it is located between the first 2 black keys in the group of 3 black keys. Or if you need to find D# you just need to memorize that it is the right side black key in a group of 2 black keys.
So, some simple maths tells us that a 25-key keyboard has a 2-octave range, while a 49-key keyboard has 4 octaves, a 61-key keyboard has a range of...
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A proportion of 1 in 10,000 is widely reported, but not supported by evidence; a 2019 review indicated a prevalence of at least 4% amongst music...
Read More »So how can you draw the piano keyboard if you ever need to? Simple: first draw the white keys of the same exact width and then add the black keys right in the middle of the white keys. Not in the middle of all white keys though!
As you progress in your piano playing you will begin to notice that your fingers don't always do as you intend. Sometimes they do strange things....
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The first stirrings of popular or pop music—any genre of music that appeals to a wide audience or subculture—began in the late 19th century, with...
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The number actually represents how your results compare to those of other people your age. A score of 116 or more is considered above average. A...
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An instrument's level of difficulty to learn is a significant consideration when choosing a musical instrument. The violin is harder to learn than...
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