Questions tagged [piano]
For questions about music written for piano, playing the piano, maintenance of a piano, or other general questions about pianos.
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On the piano, how should you play staccato with the pedal?
In some pieces, there is a pedal designation along with staccato. How should this be played?
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Does piano soundproofing require floating walls? Getting conflicting answers from professionals
I have just placed a new hybrid piano in a small 9x13 room in my apartment. I want to use the room for playing and for singing. Costly steps have already been taken, and, much to our dismay, we ...
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What does this 'Led' or 'Σed' indication mean?
In Mark Levine's The Jazz Theory Book, there is this example to be played on the piano:
The Jazz Theory Book, figure 3-149
I've never had any piano training/lessons, so I don't really know the ...
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What to choose? Violin or piano?
First of all. I am 26 years old. I have no musical background or whatsoever. I don't know how to play any instrument. I can't even read musical notes. But I want to learn an instrument. About my time. ...
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How to learn piano improvisation
I am a self-taught piano player, played for about five years with shorter and longer breaks. I've never had any formal education, don't know chords or music theory. What should I do to learn piano ...
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What exactly do pianists/musicians memorize? [duplicate]
when memorizing music, what is it that they're memorizing?
is it the music like all the note/chord names (like E E F G G F E D C C D E E D C)? the piano keys? muscle memory?
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Half notes with slashed stem
How should I play the half bass notes with the slashed stem?
See please the attached image:
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How to play two voices with a large range in the same hand?
My copy of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah includes the following measures:
I don't know how to play the left hand. My problem is that I cannot reach from F2 to A3 (in the first bar, others ...
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What are the pentatonic scale fingerings for piano?
What is the most common fingering for the pentatonic scale? Minor and major. All of them. I don't know about standards; there are lots of different fingerings you could use. I would like to know what ...
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Piano: grand staff with two treble clefs. Where to place hands?
I'm very new at playing the piano and would love to play an easy version of Clair de lune. Please see the sheet below.
I get stuck right at the very beginning.
I think I have figured out that '...
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Difficulty playing piano due to my small hands and short fingers, anyway around it?
I have really small hands, and short fingers. On a piano I can reach an octave and a little more, but my octave is generally very sloppy. A lot of songs require some crazy octaves like Liszt's ...
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Bass clef changed to treble clef in the middle of the sheet music
The bass clef changed to treble clef in the middle of the music sheet. Do both hands play above the middle c?
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How do I play this slur in 'Cockles and Mussels'?
Do I simply play both hands legato? Does the slur mean that anything that falls beneath it for both hands are to be played legato? I thought I knew how legato worked, but I'm not sure anymore.
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What do these two notes together (same pitch, stems in opposite directions) mean in a piano score? [duplicate]
How should the two As be played with the left hand? Why is the second A even necessary?
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Some measures have extra whole notes in them. What do they mean? [duplicate]
So i am practicing sight reading and i came across these exercises that have extra whole notes in a measure. What do they mean and how do i play them?
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How do I make piano chords sound interesting when playing along with popular songs?
I'm wanting to start playing along with popular songs and the easiest way to find lyrics and music only has guitar chords. I can play those chords on the piano but it just sounds boring. How should I ...
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How do I use a metronome?
I am currently a beginner at the piano. I know using the metronome is important, but I I'm feeling reluctant to use it often, as it is difficult for me to get the music coordinated with the clicks.
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Do musicians count the meter all the time?
When I started as a beginner on the piano I just timed the notes by feeling. That is, until my teacher played back a recording of me to show me just how messed up my timings were. Since then I've ...
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Which fingering to use when playing the same piano key twice in a row?
I just started to learn piano, and I notice that practice sheet music for beginners sometimes specifies for all or some keys which fingers should hit them. It seems that some authors consistently ...
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Are Hanon exercises mindless unmusical repetiton or a great way to develop finger strength and dexterity?
There are a lot of different opinions about Charles-Louis Hanon's "The Virtuoso Pianist in 60 Exercises". Some say it is unmusical and can even lead to wrist damage, while others think they are the ...
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Origin of the asymmetrical keyboard layout of a piano
The piano keyboard has white keys based on the C Diatonic scale plus black keys, which add the remaining notes used in western music.
The asymmetrical way in which the black and white keys are placed ...
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Is there a color code for notes?
A few days ago, to learn to play music, I bought a keyboard (Yamaha, EZ-30). It has lighted keys and all light red. It somehow felt wrong that all keys light up red.
If A lights up red, then C should ...
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How to relax my wrists?
I began learning the piano recently. When I begin playing, my hands form nice 70-80 degree curves with the wrists relaxed. I can maintain this for trivial pieces with no significant hand motion. But ...
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Different types of grace notes
This is a definition of a grace note from a Thompson piano course book:
But if they don't have any time value, why do I see grace note of different time values?
In this picture there is an eighth ...
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How are very long tuplets in Romantic music played in practice?
In Romantic music, especially for piano, one can often find oversized tuplets like this one: (the excerpt comes from the very beginning of the 3rd movement of Grieg's piano concerto)
Are you really ...
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What can I do about my problems with piano scales which manifest in just one direction?
I've been practicing scales for some time now, and I found them mostly easy and fun to play. The problems begin when I have to play them faster, but oddly enough my problem manifests only when playing ...
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Pinky is raised uncontrollably when doing finger exercise
When I do finger exercises (e.g. Hanon's), my pinky finger is being raised after I play (press and release) a key with my fourth finger, and then is raised even more and is striated after the third ...
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A,B,C,D,E,F,G and H in boxes in piano sheet music, how do I play it?
Sorry I probably just too new but all of those letters are in piece I want to play. What is that letter and how should I play it?
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What staff affected by a dynamic mark?
If I see in piano sheet music, say, "mp" mark between bass and treble staves, which staff should be played in "mp" dynamics?
Reverse question: if I want to apply a dynamic mark to a specified staff, ...
13
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What is the explanation for higher harmonics not being integral multiples of the fundamental?
Looking at this file of a A4 note from a piano, I get this spectrogram (simply using Python code performing a FFT):
Piano A4 spectrum with harmonics values assuming a 440 Hz tuning
I'm trying to ...
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What do the letters above the piano staff represent?
I am a beginner trying to understand the music notation for a song I want to try. Can someone kindly tell me what are the letters above the treble clef in the following figure:
I've read that they ...
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Numbers above notes in piano sheet music?
What do vertical numbers above chords mean in a sheet music for the piano?
Never seen this before:
What do the numbers mean? How do I play it? Thanks!
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What is the proper way to play A-Flat scales on piano?
Consider four cases:
A-flat major
A-flat (natural) minor
A-flat melodic minor
A-flat harmonic minor
I start them with the third finger on the A-flat key (both hands), but I have no idea how a ...
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Becoming proficient at piano at age 30?
When I was 7 or 8 I took lessons and was not bad at piano. But my teacher and my dad was very strict and would smack me and shout at me when I got a note wrong or something. So, I became afraid of the ...
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How to play repeating notes quickly in the left hand on the piano
I've been working on Fur Elise, and I came to one section repeating a single note staccato in the bass.
How do I play this? I've tried playing it normally, but I can't sustain it for more than a ...
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How to write down a note that is sustained while there are other simultaneous pitches in the same bar?
I'm writing down piano sheet music and I'm not sure how correctly to write a specific section. The left hand is playing a little arpeggio and I want the first note to be sustained. I came up with two ...
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Should a beginner use simplified (easy) version?
My kid (6 years old) is learning the piano. Should she use the easy (simplified) version of a slightly hard piece, or an easy original piece?
I am afraid she will have problems with the original ...
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How do accidentals apply with octave signs?
In the measure below, does the natural sign still apply with the octave up sign?
The first natural sign (first blue square) means that all following E5's in that measure will be natural, so the first ...
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Acoustic piano vs digital piano: is there any solid evidence for one being better than the other?
As someone who'll have to buy a piano soon, I'm at the old question of acoustic vs digital. I've done a fair deal of research on the internet, as well as heard the opinion of a piano teacher, and ...
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How can I make videos of myself playing my keyboard?
I have a Privia PX 150 keyboard.
I want to start recording myself playing so I can show my friends and family videos of my progress.
So what I had in mind was film my hands, but record the audio ...
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Ornaments in J. S. Bach's 4th prelude
Inverted mordents and turns are frequently used in the prelude No.4 of J.S. Bach in C-sharp minor. In what follows I assume the key of the piece is known.
My first question is related to the normal ...
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1
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Is there a specific finger for playing a specific key on piano?
I'm new to piano, I can play some stuff following the sheet music, but i'm always wondering if my fingers are on the right position, so, I'd like to know if there's like a map or a way to determine ...
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Two sets of fingerings printed for one same bar?
2nd movement of Beethoven's sonata Op. 49, No. 2. Bar 7. One edition seems to show two sets of fingering numbers: 4-3-2, and 4-4-2? What does it mean?
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Meaning of 1/1 and 1/2 beneath pedaling marking
Today I saw 1/1 and 1/2 written in one of my pieces beneath the pedal markings.
Do these have a meaning or is it a misprint?
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Why are there many types of staccato?
I have seen staccato in a lot of pieces. And I have heard a ton of different ways of playing staccato.
For example here is staccato that is notated but not played as a clear cut staccato at the very ...
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Back hurts after playing piano
I'm learning how to play the piano and after practicing for an hour to an hour and a half my middle to upper back starts to hurt pretty bad. I was wondering if anyone knew what can be done to prevent ...
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Tools to improve sight-reading of rhythms
So, there are a number of tools and strategies to learn to sight-read pitch.
I mean, you just make flashcards and in a while you should be able to read comfortably all notes on all staves, right?
...
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Clair de Lune - 2 above notes
I have a few questions in mind regaring Debussy's Clair de Lune!
What does the line with the number "2" between B-G and A-F mean?
And also, should I follow the fingerings for the left hand ...
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2
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how to coordinate hands when playing very fast
The below image is measure 57 from Chopin, Nocturne in C sharp minor, and the time signature is 4/4.
I started by playing it slowly, then sped up. When I become fast enough, my hand loses control over ...
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Simple chord progression question
I am learning the piano online.
I am trying to learn chord progressions.
In this simple example the chord progression is supposed to be C F G C (I, IV, V, I).
However, in the third part (G) the ...