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?
xpda's user avatar
  • 1,082
21 votes
6 answers
9k views

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 ...
Money Pits's user avatar
20 votes
4 answers
40k views

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 ...
Shevliaskovic's user avatar
17 votes
10 answers
60k views

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. ...
aozora's user avatar
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15 votes
8 answers
25k views

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 ...
Maurycy's user avatar
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14 votes
5 answers
13k views

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?
Lenny's user avatar
  • 1,160
10 votes
2 answers
6k views

Half notes with slashed stem

How should I play the half bass notes with the slashed stem? See please the attached image:
vagoo 's user avatar
  • 101
8 votes
4 answers
978 views

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 ...
Florian Brucker's user avatar
8 votes
1 answer
16k views

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 ...
r4.'s user avatar
  • 251
6 votes
4 answers
12k views

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 '...
flute's user avatar
  • 61
6 votes
5 answers
64k views

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 ...
Kat's user avatar
  • 215
4 votes
2 answers
18k views

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?
user21052's user avatar
4 votes
4 answers
2k views

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.
klippy's user avatar
  • 311
3 votes
1 answer
5k views

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?
Tyler Durden's user avatar
1 vote
2 answers
1k views

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?
Lance's user avatar
  • 11
48 votes
8 answers
192k views

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 ...
mrstein2's user avatar
  • 583
38 votes
9 answers
11k views

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. ...
iddober's user avatar
  • 6,612
33 votes
9 answers
19k views

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 ...
W4uoe9A's user avatar
  • 431
29 votes
7 answers
13k views

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 ...
Ivan Kapitonov's user avatar
23 votes
5 answers
10k views

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 ...
iddober's user avatar
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22 votes
6 answers
17k views

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 ...
fons's user avatar
  • 328
20 votes
9 answers
31k views

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 ...
Shashank Sawant's user avatar
20 votes
6 answers
12k views

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 ...
Jordan's user avatar
  • 303
18 votes
2 answers
17k views

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 ...
iddober's user avatar
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17 votes
2 answers
3k views

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 ...
Ramillies's user avatar
  • 6,310
17 votes
2 answers
6k views

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 ...
neuviemeporte's user avatar
15 votes
4 answers
26k views

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 ...
iddober's user avatar
  • 6,612
14 votes
3 answers
8k views

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?
Andrej Zelman's user avatar
13 votes
3 answers
8k views

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, ...
user avatar
13 votes
3 answers
770 views

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 ...
mins's user avatar
  • 377
13 votes
2 answers
29k views

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 ...
antiskidwarpdrive's user avatar
12 votes
3 answers
36k views

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!
MoritzLost's user avatar
12 votes
7 answers
4k views

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 ...
azheglov's user avatar
  • 259
11 votes
7 answers
15k views

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 ...
jack9292's user avatar
  • 111
9 votes
1 answer
1k views

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 ...
Luke_0's user avatar
  • 7,459
9 votes
1 answer
3k views

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 ...
jahu's user avatar
  • 193
9 votes
5 answers
1k views

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 ...
Tung D. Nguyen's user avatar
8 votes
3 answers
524 views

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 ...
John's user avatar
  • 1,237
8 votes
14 answers
10k views

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 ...
Vilx-'s user avatar
  • 613
7 votes
3 answers
18k views

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 ...
Tyler's user avatar
  • 73
7 votes
3 answers
1k views

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 ...
Ellie's user avatar
  • 255
7 votes
1 answer
21k views

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 ...
Splendonia's user avatar
6 votes
5 answers
1k views

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?
GrandAdagio's user avatar
  • 1,651
6 votes
1 answer
1k views

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?
Abraham Zhang's user avatar
5 votes
3 answers
4k views

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 ...
Caters's user avatar
  • 6,524
4 votes
3 answers
9k views

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 ...
Rich's user avatar
  • 563
4 votes
5 answers
1k views

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? ...
Some Dude On The Interwebs's user avatar
4 votes
3 answers
7k views

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 ...
Nadfee's user avatar
  • 159
2 votes
2 answers
140 views

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 ...
user73969's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
3k views

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 ...
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