Easy Piano Lessons

This book and audio CD is an ideal primer for musicians of all levels from the complete novice to the expert payer who has never acquired sight reading skills. This information for any instrument or even is you don’t play an instrument at all.  Exercises can be performed just as effectively using the voice alone.  Hear the exercise on the Audio CD which accompanies the book.

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By Lynne May

In this Easy Piano Lessons article we will learn about Sharps (#) and Flats ().

As you may have read in an earlier article on this web site the white keys are labelled A, B, C, D, E, F and G. The black keys also use these labels with one addition they are either Sharp (#) or a Flat ( ) of the note name. So for example if you locate the C white key there are 2 black key to its right, the first of these black keys (the one actual next to the C key) is called C# (C sharp). The next black key just to the right of the D white key is called D# (D sharp). The sharp therefore meant raise a note by half a step.

The Flat symbol means lower a note by half a step, so the black key to the left of the white D key is called D (D Flat). This means therefore that the black keys actually have two names in this example C# is also D (up a half step from C or down a half step from D).

All sharp and flat notes are played on the black keys with the exception of B#, C, E# and F. As you will know there is no black key between the B and C white keys and the E and F white keys. There is in effect only a half step between these notes, so for example a B# is actually the C white key.

When a note on a sheet of music is a sharp or a flat the sharp or flat symbol appears before the note.

There are different scales that you can play on the keyboard. The C Major scale is played by playing the 8 white keys starting from the C key.

Another scale is the G Major scale, when you play this scale you start on the G white key, but you play F# and not F. When a Composer writes a piece of music in G Major rather than put a sharp sign in front of every F, they write a Key Signature after the Clef sign.  So the G Major Key Signature just has a single # on the F.

As there are no sharps of flats in the C Major scale there are no sharps of flats in the Key Signature after the Clef sign.

This was another easy piano lesson in which we learnt about sharps and flats and is another step in learning how to read piano music. But we have still only scratched the surface and for a full teach yourself piano course, click the following for a full set of easy piano lessons.

In an earlier post on how to read piano music, I told you about the Bass and Treble Clef, and how the names of the different notes on the piano keyboard relate to the lines and spaces on the Grand Staff. We are now going to understand how to read the Time Signatures written on the Grand Staff.

The Time Signature of a piece of music is given by the two numbers written by the Treble Clef, as you will see in the pictures below. To understand what these numbers mean you must also notice that on a sheet of music there are vertical lines draw across the Bass and Treble Clef at regular intervals, dividing the music up into regular blocks, which are called Measures. The vertical line is called the Bar.

Each individual Measure lasts for the same time duration, and can consist of a combination of notes and rests.

The time signature, also known as a “meter”, tells the musician how many notes are in a measure.

When playing music musicians learn to count beats; a beat is the name for a unit of music.  Some musicians use a metronome, a device that ticks out beats, and will tick according to which timing you have set. Counting beats starts when the first note is played.

Let us now look at some timing signatures to understand what they mean.

This is the two four time signature, which means that there are 2 beats per measure and the 4 indicates that a quarter note gets played on each beat.

This is the three four time signature, which means that there are 3 beats per measure and 4 indicates that a quarter note gets played on each beat.

This is the four four time signature, which means that there are 4 beats per measure and lower 4 indicates that a quarter note gets played on each beat.

This is the six eight time signature, which means that there are 6 beats per measure and 8 indicates that a eight note gets played on each beat.

There are more time signatures. A common time signature is the 4/4 time signature as it is easier to count.

The following are the rules of the 4/4 time signature:

• There are 4 beats in one measure.
• When you play a single whole note, count out 4 beats.
• When you play a single half note, count out 2 beats.
• Play a quarter note, on each beat.
• Two eight notes fit into 1 beat
• Four sixteenth notes fit into 1 beat

When learning to play the piano / keyboard, count aloud to get used to the rhythm. Also some keyboards come with a built in digital metronome that will tick at the rate you can set.

Well done you have learnt about time signatures part of the process of learning how to read piano music, for a full teach yourself piano course, click the following for easy piano lessons.

In an earlier post on how to read piano music, I told you about the Bass and Treble Clef, and how the names of the different notes on the piano keyboard relate to the lines and spaces on the Grand Staff. We are now going to understand how to read the notes, written on the Grand Staff.

Just like reading this text, you read music from left to right along the Grand Staff. The notes you play are indicated by the different dots (the notes) you see on or between the lines. However, there are different types of notes that indicate how long a note must be play. How long to actually play a note will be explained more fully in another post about Time Signatures, but lets not worry about this at the moment. The names of the different musical notes are:-

Whole Note.

Half note, this note will be played for half the duration of any Whole notes, so that means that 2 Half notes take the same time as 1 Whole note.

Quarter Note, this note will be played for just a quarter of the time you would play a Whole note, so that means that 4 Quarter Notes take the same time as 1 Whole note.

Eight Note, this note will be played for just an eight of the time you would play a Whole note, so that means that 8 Eight Notes take the same time as 1 Whole note.

Sixteenth Note, this note will be played for just a sixteenth of the time you would play a Whole note, so that means that 16 Sixteenth Notes take the same time as 1 Whole note.

There will also be times in the music when no notes must be played and these are rest. Just like the musical notes listed above there are different symbols for the different periods of time to rest as follws:-

Whole rest

Half rest

Quarter rest

Eight rest

Sixteenth rest

You have started the process of learning how to read piano music, for a full teach yourself piano course, click the following for Easy Ppiano Lessons.