Pianist's Handbook E-Book

Matti Carter

• Herausgeber: Books on Demand
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 77

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2019

Beschreibung

Pianist's Handbook is Matti Carter's guide for pianists and musicians about piano playing and music theory. Here is what you will receive: - 10 chapters on the basics of piano playing and music theory - 60 music theory and piano playing exercises consisting of 20 easy, 20 intermediate and 20 challenging exercises - 45 playable piano pieces divided into 15 easy, 15 intermediate and 15 challenging pieces - Notation examples and images - A list of different types of chords and their position on the keyboard - A list of intervals - 40 examples of typical accompaniment patterns - All the different major and minor scales, triad arpeggios and cadences for piano - An appendix listing common musical notation and vocabulary

Leseprobe

TABLE OF CONTENTS

FOREWORD

WORKING INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE USER OF THIS BOOK

THEORY

1.1 POSTURE

EXERCISES

1.2 PIANO KEYS

1.2.1 KEY RATES

1.2.2 OCTAVES

1.2.3 STEPS

1.2.4 EXERCISES

1.3 CLEFS

EXERCISES

1.4 NOTES AND TIME VALUES

1.4.1 BASIC NOTE VALUES

1.4.2 DOTTED NOTES

1.4.3 RESTS

1.4.4 TUPLETS

1.4.5 TIME SIGNATURES

1.4.6 EXERCISES

1.5 FINGERING

EXERCISES

1.6 INTERVALS

EXERCISES

1.7 SCALES

1.7.1 THE MAJOR SCALE

1.7.2 THE MINOR SCALES

1.7.3 BLUES AND PENTATONIC SCALES

1.7.4 WHOLE AND HALF TONE SCALES

1.7.5 MAJOR KEY MODES

1.7.6 EXERCISES

1.8 KEYS

1.8.1 KEY SIGNATURE

1.8.2 THE CIRCLE OF FIFTHS

1.8.3 MODULATION

1.8.5 EXERCISES

1.9 CHORDS

1.9.1 MAJOR AND MINOR TRIADS

1.9.2 OTHER TRIADS

1.9.3 FOUR-NOTE CHORDS

1.9.4 EXTENDED CHORDS

1.9.5 CHORD INVERSIONS

1.9.6 SCALE DEGREES

1.9.7 EXERCISES

1.10 ACCOMPANIMENT

1.10.1 ACCOMPANYING FROM CHORD SYMBOLS

1.10.2 IMPROVISATION

1.10.3 CHORD PROGRESSIONS

1.10.6 EXERCISES

PIECES

2.1 EASY

2.2 INTERMEDIATE

2.3 CHALLENGING

MATERIALS.

3.1 CHORD BANK

3.2 CHORDS ON THE KEYBOARD

3.3 INTERVAL BANK

3.4 ACCOMPANIMENT PATTERNS

3.5 MAJOR AND MINOR SCALES

APPENDIX 1: NOTATION AND VOCABULARY

SLURS AND ARTICULATION

MARKINGS

DYNAMICS

CHANGING DYNAMICS

TEMPO INDICATIONS

FIXED TEMPO

CHANGING TEMPO

VOCABULARY

APPENDIX 2: ANSWERS TO THE EXERCISES

PIANO KEYS

CLEFS

NOTES AND TIME VALUES

INTERVALS

SCALES

KEYS

CHORDS

FOREWORD

This book will provide you with some of the necessary elements for developing your skills on the piano and learning the basics of music theory. The book is targeted across a range of abilities: beginners, intermediates and advanced musicians. It is primarily designed for pianists, but also for anyone else who is generally interested in music theory.

The main goal of the book is to develop the reader’s musical understanding, knowledge and piano playing skills. The book is designed to help the reader understand the most important areas of music theory, and teaches how to apply them in practice. If improving as a piano player is your primary goal, knowledge of music theory can help you significantly speed up your improvement as a player. This is why you should make use of the wide theory base and the vocabulary of the book, so that you can enhance your experience as you learn new pieces on the piano.

The book is divided into three main categories: theory, pieces and materials. The theory section comprises 10 different chapters, each of which covers a specific topic. At the end of each chapter there are exercises related to the topic. The chapters contain a lot of general information, but the examples and exercises are more detailed, and completing them is important for learning and understanding the concepts, as well as developing your skills as a player.

The exercises of the theory section are divided into three skill levels: easy, medium and challenging. About half of the exercises are music theory related, and the other half focus on piano playing skills. Most of the easy exercises can be found in the first chapters at the beginning of the book, while the harder exercises are in the later chapters.

The book is designed to offer new concepts and challenges for all skill levels. One of the goals while creating the book was to arrange the chapters into an order that will guarantee you the fastest possible development of your piano playing skills. That is why, if you are a beginner, it is recommended to go through the book one chapter at a time, starting from the very beginning. If you are an intermediate or advanced player, you may want to skip the basic information at the beginning and jump straight to the chapters and exercises that are more challenging for you.

After the theory section there are 45 playable pieces composed especially for this book. Just like the exercises, the pieces are divided into three different skill levels: easy, medium and challenging. The pieces are related to the previously presented music theory, and you can use the theory as a tool to help you learn by playing the pieces.

The final section of the book “Supporting materials” consists of useful information, theory and examples that may come in useful for any pianist or musician in improving their art. The beginning of the section presents 40 different accompaniment modules for those who are interested in learning accompaniment by the piano. The accompaniment modules are categorised into different musical styles. This section also catalogues the most typically used chords in tonal music, all the different interval types, all the major and minor scales, explanations of common markings in music notation and the definitions of different music-related terms.

WORKING INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE USER OF THIS BOOK

For beginners:

Read through the first chapters and examples of the book several times.

Complete the exercises at the beginning of the book to become familiar with sight reading and other basic music theory concepts and skills.

Focus primarily on the easy exercises and pieces.

Learn one thing at a time, don’t rush forward too quickly.

Play through the examples slowly and with the right technique.

Read the parts of the book that you can understand; don’t rush into areas that are too difficult for you. Remember that learning the piano is a long term process.

Once you have mastered the easy exercises, try doing the harder ones.

Always try to combine the music theory concepts with your piano playing, so that you will understand them better and learn more effectively.

Practise your playing regularly, don’t get stuck with just the theory!

For intermediate and advanced musicians:

You can start straight from the exercises of your specific playing level

Regardless of your starting level you still shouldn’t forget the basics, such as your technique and playing posture. It is important to go back and remind yourself of them occasionally.

Practise the accompaniment models on a regular basis. Create your own accompaniments.

Develop your sight reading skills for both music notation and chord symbols.

Use the book as a tool to help you learn pieces outside the book.

Learn one item at a time

Focus specifically on playing in the right time, and use a metronome to help you improve at it.

Try singing the melodies of the pieces, and practise playing the pieces as musically as possible.

Think of how you could apply the concepts of the book to your own music.

Compose your own pieces using the theory that you learn from the book.

The point is not to understand everything at once, so move slowly, one item at the time!

Difficulty level of exercises:

1. THEORY

1.1 POSTURE

The first habit a pianist should develop is the correct posture for playing. The most important aspect of posture is that the movement of the fingers on the keys is as natural as possible while the other body parts are relaxed. Your playing is most natural when your hands and shoulders are in a resting position.

The piano bench should be set to the right height so that your hands can be placed comfortably on the piano keys, making playing as easy as possible. The piano bench is placed in front of the piano in the middle, so that playing middle C is easy, and both hands are able to reach the highest and lowest octaves. The lowest notes are located on the left side of the piano and the high notes are located on the right.

While playing the piano, one should remember to keep a good posture at all times to avoid getting stiff. The hands should be placed on the piano keys so that relaxing them will make the keys press down automatically. Your feet should reach the ground firmly, so that they can support your posture and seating position. Your feet should also comfortably reach the pedals.

The correct use of your fingers is very important while playing. It’s important to play using the tips of your fingers, which will allow you to develop your touch. Keeping your fingers in a natural, curved shape while playing the piano will allow you to develop great touch and get the best possible results. It’s difficult to play with flat fingers, but you shouldn’t curve your fingers too much or play with your fingernails either. You will be better off keeping your fingernails short, so that they won’t get in the way while playing.