PIANO-BY-EAR LESSON #1 - Understand the Keyboard Design

You must first have a clear understanding of the piano keyboard, the note arrangements and guidelines.

The Keyboard is made up of BLACK & WHITE NOTES. Most people call them keys, but the proper name for each of them is NOTES.

The BLACK NOTES form a pattern, Groups of THREE'S & TWO'S. This becomes the map of the piano keyboard. Everything about the piano revolves around the two groups of Black Notes.

The Black Notes are raised higher than the white notes.

The Black Notes are shorter than the white notes.

The Black Notes are BETWEEN the white notes.

All of our Home Study Courses start here to help you understand the instrument that you are using.

PIANO-BY-EAR LESSON #2

In order to play the piano, you need to know the names of the notes. With the notes you will form chords, which you will play songs with. Therefore, the most important part of this course is knowing the note names.

The keyboard contains only 12 notes: 5 black notes and 7 white notes. The white notes are the only named notes on the keyboard, and they are located by their relationship to the black notes as follows:

A - To the right of the Center black note

G - To the left of the Center black note

B - To the right of the group of 3

F - To the left of the group of 3

C - To the left of the group of 2

E - To the right of the group of 2

D - In the center of the group of 2

PIANO-BY-EAR LESSON #3

There are many principles that govern the function of music. One of them has to do with the arrangement of the notes and their relationship to each other. I call it the principle of DISTANCE. We must use this principle to understand the identification of Sharps and Flats

The distance from any note to the note DIRECTLY NEXT TO IT is a HALF-STEP. When you move UP a 1/2 STEP from ANY OF THE 7 LETTERED WHITE NOTES, the note you move to takes on the name of the one you left, plus the word SHARP, which is signified by the # symbol. Flats are found by moving DOWN a 1/2 STEP from ANY OF THE 7 LETTERED WHITE NOTES, and the note you move to takes on the name of the one you left, plus the word FLAT, which is signified by this symbol b.

In order to go any further, it is necessary for you to understand all of the possible note names. Take time to study the names of the notes. First the plain lettered notes, then the sharp note names, and finally the flat note names. When you are confident about the note names, then you are ready to go to the next level where we will make chords.

Kids Play and Accompaniment PBE courses will give you a test via the enclosed Video Tape. This is the most important area of development for you to excel in playing without difficulty. The songs enclosed in the Kids Play course will also help you to learn all of these notes, including the sharps and flats.

PIANO-BY-EAR LESSON #4

The next step of development is to understand that we need to group notes together to establish CHORDS. Chords will be the fabric of our playing. In order to play songs, we will need to use chords with rhythm to accompany melodies.

A CHORD IS A GROUP OF NOTES

The foundation of all chords is the MAJOR CHORD. To establish a Major Chord, which is a combination of three notes, we have developed a simple method called the 4-3 Method. It works by putting your right thumb on the name of the chord you want to create, this is your first note. Then count up 4 half-steps with your next finger to find your second note. Finally, count up 3 half-steps with your next finger to find your third and final note of the Major Chord.

PIANO-BY-EAR LESSON #5

Songs are sang and played in KEYS. A Key is a GROUP OF CHORDS. We have already learned the 12 Major Chords. We now need to find out what chords come together to create a KEY. The following is the formula necessary to determine which 3 Major Chords are necessary to play songs in a KEY.

Play the KEY chord; raise the 2nd note a half-step. Your fingers will then identify the 3 Major Chords for that KEY. Write in the chord names for all of the Major Keys, then practice moving from one chord to another, until you are very comfortable in all 12 keys.

This is where your PRACTICE TRACKS become extremely important to your development. The Accompaniment PBE course has specific tracks that allow you to develop a clear understanding and flow of the three Major Chords in all keys.

PIANO-BY-EAR LESSON #6

Playing BY EAR is using your knowledge of chords with rhythm to accompany melodies. You will not be playing the melodies of songs, only playing chords rhythmically while someone supplies the melody. The chords you play will blend with the melody.

To begin to explore playing by ear, you must now provide a melody and use the chords that you have now established as the three necessary for the key you are playing in. I suggest starting with the key of F.

Listen to the melody and start playing the I chord until it doesn’t blend anymore. At that point, change your chord to either the IV or V chord. Each time the chord you are using no longer blends, change it to one of the other ones.