How to Play the Piano

The piano is one of the most popular instruments because of its ease in learning and versatility. It is used as an accompaniment for other instruments or for singers. The tone is amazing, and the type of music you can use it to play is endless. It is also an important foundation for all musicians, even if their "main" instrument is not piano.

Steps

1.Speak to your parents, if you are a child interested in learning, and ask them if they can buy you a piano. Keep in mind that pianos can be very expensive, so they may be hesitant and require you to prove your dedication to play piano first. Once you (or your parents) buy one, the next step is to arrange for music lessons. Look for a teacher who is in the National Teachers Association or who has other accreditations, or been referred to by another student. Lessons should include time spent learning chords, theory and improvisation, not just learning pieces by rote. Understand that in learning the piano, you are also learning the language and history of music. It takes time and effort to learn this "foreign language" and musical understanding means more than just playing a few pieces well. True mastery of music is a lifelong process. It takes many years to become a good musician.

2.Understand that you must practice every day for at least thirty minutes or more. Your fingers will "rust" if you do not play for even a week. At first, practicing might be a pain and you might get very frustrated. As your skills grow, you will become facile and playing piano will become pure enjoyment. It's best to warm up at the beginning of every practice session with scales, warm-up exercises,and relatively easy pieces. These will stretch your fingers and hands and help you play with your hands relaxed. (When you play, you should be able to see your finger bones move. Let your hand just hang and move only your fingers)

3.Remember that when your teacher asks you to learn a hard piece, it's worth the effort and will make you a much better piano player. While there are many ways to practice, here's a good one for beginners. First try to sightread the piece without worrying if you make mistakes. Then practice each hand independently. Break the music into segments and learn the right hand part. Learn segment by segment, then connect them together. Once you've mastered the right hand play through the entire piece. If you make a mistake start over from the beginning. This might try your patience a bit but it will enable you to get through the entire piece flawlessly. Once you've mastered the right hand, repeat the process with the left hand. Then, repeat the process again, this time for both hands.

4.Take a new piece apart, by learning one or two measures at a time, and going over it again and again. The next day do the same thing with a few other measures, and then include the last measures and play them all, together. By practicing this way, you can spend quality time listening to how they sound, and making sure your fingers know what and where to go. Never learn an entire piece all at once.

5.Try not to "learn" your mistakes. Playing the piano is an automatic process like walking (you don't think about each step you take, you just walk). Because of this, past mistakes have a tendency to come back when you play the piece later on. To avoid this, do the following: When you are learning a new piece, break it down into simple parts that you can practice without making a lot of mistakes. And play slowly. For example, practice each hand separately. After you have determined the fingering you are going to follow, play both hands together in short sections. Eventually put the sections together. Do not try to play at normal speed until you are secure in your fingering and notes. Then increase the speed gradually. Play the piece over and over until you memorize it and you can play fluidly.

6.Improvise and think notes. "Thinking Notes" means that you know every single note that you're playing. While that sounds easy, it can be very hard. Play a piece that you have memorized and can play very well. Now, name every note that you played without looking at piano. Then, take a melody you've heard on TV or somewhere else and try to play it using your ear. Learn to know all the notes that you're playing. While playing by ear is good, it's a lot better if you know every note that you play.