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How to Play A Piano / Keyboard

nowing how to play either piano or keyboard will allow you to perform increasingly complex pieces and improve your musical ability. Both instruments require the same fundamental techniques and function in the same tactile manner. Both instruments use a clavier, or set of keys, to produce pitches and require great finger independence to play melodic lines smoothly and easily. Learning how to employ these techniques will help you increase your skill and versatility.

Step 1 Sit at the keyboard or piano with proper posture. Sit tall and allow your elbows to fall just below the line of the keys. Your arms should be free to move up and down the keys.

Step 2 Practice finger exercises to increase your finger independence. Place all five fingers of one hand on the keys of the instrument and slowly press down each key five times, without moving any other fingers. Start with the thumb and work toward the index finger. Then, switch hands and do this again.

Step 3 Play major and minor scales using the appropriate fingerings. The fingers of each hand follow a numbering convention from one to five, starting with one on the thumbs and ending on five with the pinkies of both hands.

Step 4 Perform advanced Hanon finger exercises and incrementally increase the speed each time. Begin with a slow tempo and then increase the speed by two beats per second each day until you can play each exercise at the recommended tempo.

Step 5 Learn easy piano pieces that require you to play hands together. Play each exercise with each hand independently until you can play each hand separately with confidence, then play with hands together.

Practice daily for at least 30 minutes. Daily practice will provide you with the right amount of repetition to improve.

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