Lesson Plans For Kids: Preparation

Category: Lesson Plans for Kids

I know I’ve touched on the topic of teaching children in previous posts, but I thought it would be fun to have a series of posts designed to help parents and teachers come up with fun ways to teach their students and children. Children are able to learn the most when you are able to keep them engaged in the material. How do you do that? Well, you make it fun!

So, I’m going to prepare some lesson plans, and hopefully some additional downloadable material that can be incorporated into lesson plans for kids.

Before we get started there may be some basic supplies that you will want to consider:

1. A whiteboard - What classroom wouldn’t be complete without a whiteboard? It’s fun to write on, and easy to erase. A great way to provide visual stimulation. Get funky with the colours.
2. A computer – The internet is wonderful for so many reasons – there is a plethora of resources available to you and your child.
3. A method book - This may be Alfred’s or Bastien, or another method. You may choose not to use a method series, but I would recommend getting the books either way. At the very least they will provide you with songs for practicing, even if you choose not to follow their method.
4. Assignment books – This could be a notebook, or journal that you would use to coordinate assignments and progress on a weekly basis.
5. Achievement Awards – Depending on the age of child you are teaching, this could be any number of things. Some ideas are: ribbons, stickers, certificates, knick knacks, pencils, erasers, etc. These are intended to reward the child for their achievement.
6. Flash Cards – Flash cards are a fun way to do musical drills and memorization work.
7. Blank Staff Paper – Blank paper can be downloaded from any number of places. For teaching children, you want to make sure the staff is big enough for them to use.

These items will probably give you a good head start in your teaching ventures. If a specific lesson requires anything extra, I’ll mention it  in the lesson plan outline. If you have any ideas that I can use for this series, please reply with a comment or email me.

photo credit: Forty Two.

Lesson 27: Accidentals – Putting it all together

Category: Lessons

Quick! What are the five different types of accidentals?! I’ll pretend like I can hear your answer…

If you said: sharps, flats, naturals, double sharps, and double flats, you are correct! If you didn’t answer correctly, just pretend you did, and give yourself a pat on the back! I won’t know the difference!

Here is a look at all of the accidentals together.. I didn’t include any labels. Try to name the accidentals and identify what their function is.

The next challenge is to put them all together. For example: You have a piece of music with 3 flats: B flat, E flat, and A flat.  In your piece of music you encounter a B with a natural sign next to it. What note do you play? Well you would play the natural version of the key – the white key!

Try to answer theses questions yourself before you look at the answers:

• What symbol would you use to raise a flat 1 semitone?

• What symbol would you use to raise a flat 2 semitones?

• What symbol would you use to raise a flat 3 semitones?

• What symbol would you use to lower a double sharp one semitone?

• What symbol would you use to raise a double flat one semitone?

• What symbol would you use to lower a double sharp 2 semitones?

Here are the answers:

• What symbol would you use to raise a flat 1 semitone? A flat is one semitone lower than a note in its natural state. Therefore, to raise a flat one semitone, we must use a natural sign.
  

• What symbol would you use to raise a flat 2 semitones? Since a flat is one semitone lower than a note in its natural state, and a sharp is one semitone higher, if we use a sharp, the note will be raised 2 semitones.

• What symbol would you use to raise a flat 3 semitones? A natural will raise it one semitone, a sharp will raise it 2. To raise it 3, we must use a double sharp. Remember, a double sharp raises the pitch of the note by 2 semitones above its natural state.

• What symbol would you use to lower a double sharp one semitone? A double sharp is 2 semitones above the note in its natural state. A sharp is only one semitone above the note in its natural state. Therefore, to lower a double sharp by one semitone, we will use a sharp.

• What symbol would you use to raise a double flat one semitone? A double flat is 2 semitones lower than a note in its natural state. A flat is only one semitone lower. We would use a flat.

• What symbol would you use to lower a double sharp 2 semitones? A double sharp is 2 semitones higher than a note in its natural state. To lower a double sharp by 2 semitones, we would use a natural.

I hope this gave you a good idea of how accidentals work when they are all put together into the same picture. I have nothing more to say about accidentals. You know just as much about accidentals as I do now. I feel inadequate all of the sudden…

Lesson 26: More Accidentals! Double Sharps and Double Flats

Category: Lessons

Oh no… More accidentals? Yes, I’m afraid so. But this is it! After you learn about double sharps and double flats you will know every accidental that exists! That should give you a feeling of accomplishment.

Let’s review. Do you remember what an accidental is? They are symbols that are located WITHIN a piece of music that modify the pitch of a note. If you need to review how accidentals work, check back on Lesson 22: Key Signatures and Accidentals. So far we learned about 3 types of accidentals: SHARPS, FLATS, and NATURALS. Each of them has a different purpose.  A SHARP accidental is used within a piece of music to RAISE the pitch of the note by one semitone. A FLAT is used to LOWER the pitch of the note by one semitone. A NATURAL symbol can be used in front of a note to change it back to it’s NATURAL state.  You can click on the highlighted words to review the lessons.

OK, on to the new stuff. DOUBLE SHARPS! You don’t see them very often, but they do exist (kindof like Big Foot .. dun dun duuunnnnn).. A double sharp is an accidental that RAISES the pitch of a note by TWO semitones (or ONE whole tone). This differs from a regular sharp which only raises the note by ONE semitone. Take a look at the image below to see what a double sharp looks like. Kindof looks like an ‘X’, and it is placed in front of the note you wish to change.

A DOUBLE FLAT actually looks like 2 flat symbols. Way too logical. I bet you can guess what a double flat does… It LOWERS the pitch of a note by TWO semitones (or ONE whole tone).  Again, peek at the image below to see what a double flat looks like. Exciting stuff.

Now you know your accidentals. All of them. It almost makes me want to sing. Next time we’ll put them all together. FUN!

Here is a fun (or not so fun) fact: Sharps and flats are not always accidentals, while naturals, double sharps, and double flats are always used as accidentals.. Can you think of a scenario where sharps and flats would be used as something other than accidentals?

Lesson 25: T-T-T-Triplets!

Category: Lessons

The best things in life come in threes… Like… umm…uhhh… Well, maybe the best things in life don’t come in threes.  So this introduction isn’t going to work very well… But I’m pretty much committed to it now. I’ll make it work. Here goes…. Although the best things in life usually don’t come in threes, some notes do. (Awesome.)

So far we’ve figured out how to fit one note into the duration of one beat, using a quarter note. To fit two notes into one beat, we can use two eighth notes. To fit four notes into one beat, we can use four sixteenth notes. All of this we have learned in previous lessons. But… and you can probably see where I am going with this… how do we fit THREE notes into a beat? *insert anticipatory pause here…*

We can use TRIPLETS! The use of triplets tells the musician to play THREE notes in one beat.  Triplet notes look like 3 notes that are connected together using a bar. Additionally, the number “3″ is displayed above or below the notes, depending on their position in the staff.  See the image below for two examples of triplet runs.

Now that we know what the triplet looks like, we need to know what to do when we encounter triplets. There are different ways to count triplet notes, but I like to use the phrase “One-and-a  Two-and-a  Three-and-a Four-and-a… ” etc.  If you have triplet note runs, it can sound a lot like a gallop. Just try repeating the phrase “One-and-a Two-and-a Three-and-a Four-and-a” over and over again. You’ll be lucky if you don’t end up galloping around the room by the time you are done.   Now, you don’t HAVE to use the “one-and-a..” counting technique to count triplets. Some people like to say “trip-uh-let” when they encounter a triplet run. This doesn’t make much sense to me because the word triplet only has two syllables. But hey, whatever works for you!

So, in the phrase above, try to count out the rhythm using the method summarized in Lesson 14, including what you learned about triplets in this lesson. It will sound a lot like this: “ONE TWO THREE-and-a FOUR. ONE TWO THREE-and-a FOUR”. Remember to tap your foot slowly and evenly, and that each number will fall on a foot tap. Pretty soon I hope to get some worksheets up in the download section so you can practice your triplets!

Lesson 24: Rhythm Review – Whole, Half, Quarter, Eighth, Sixteenth, Dotted Notes

Category: Lessons, Reviews

Its been a long time since I’ve talked about rhythm and the time values of notes. So perhaps a mini-refresher lesson is in order. (I know it is for me.) So far we have learned about the following notes:

• whole notes
• half notes
• quarter notes
• eighth notes
• sixteenth notes
• dotted notes

I’ll go over these one by one during this lesson so that we can move on to more complex rhythms during the next lesson.

OK, lets start with WHOLE NOTES.  The whole note looks like a white circle with no stem; the simplest note there is. The whole note is worth 4 counts.

Next, we discussed HALF NOTES. The half note is white with a stem. It is worth 2 counts. That means in the same time that you play one whole note, you could play two half notes.

QUARTER NOTES are worth one count. It is a black note with a stem. You can play 2 quarter notes in the time it takes to play a half note, or you could play 4 quarter notes in the time it takes to play a whole note.

The diagram below displays the whole note, half note, and quarter note, and how they would be counted in a piece of music.

Now it gets a little more difficult. An eighth note is worth half a count. This means two eighth notes can be played in the same time as it takes to play a quarter note. It makes things a little more difficult to count, but you can use the technique discussed in Lesson 14 (Figuring out rhythm). The eighth note is a black note with a stem and a flag. The flag can either be a fancy flag that is not attached to it’s neighbor, or they can be connected together with a bar (see the image below).  These two notations are equivalent, however the notation on the right is used more often when there are multiple eighth note runs. It just looks cleaner, and it can be easier to read.

So the SIXTEENTH note is worth half of the value of an eighth note. This means that 2 sixteenth notes could fit into an eighth note, and 4 sixteenth notes could fit into a quarter note. Again, it is more difficult to count than the other types of notes, but to help count these notes you can use the technique discussed in Lesson 14. The sixteenth note is a black note with a stem and two flags (as shown above). Like the eighth note, the flags can be (and often are) connected together if more than one sixteenth note occurs in a row.

Now for the DOTTED NOTE.  A dot can be slapped onto any note: whole notes, half notes, quarter notes, eighth notes, etc.  Putting a dot behind a note changes the duration of the note by increasing it by half of its original value.  For example: A whole note is worth 4 counts;  A dotted whole note would increase the duration of the note by half of it’s original value (+2), so a dotted whole note would be worth 6 counts. A dotted half note would be worth 3 counts. A dotted quarter note would be worth 1 and a half counts. (This is where it gets fun.) A dotted eighth note would be worth 3 quarters of a count, and on and on it goes.

Lesson 14 does not cover how to count dotted notes.  Keep you eyes peeled and your ears tuned for the next lesson where I will explain how to count out the most common dotted notes and commonly-used rhythm patterns that use dotted notes.

Lesson 23: Tones, Semitones, Chromatic Semitones, Diatonic Semitones

Category: Lessons

We have already been dealing with tones and semitones in previous posts without even realizing it. A SEMITONE is the smallest distance between any two sounds used in Western music.  It is the smallest distance between any two adjacent keys on the piano, whether they be black and white, or white and white. We have already touched this concept when learning about sharps, flats, and accidentals.

A TONE (or WHOLE TONE) is equals to two semitones (in the same direction). Pick a note on the keyboard, now find the next semitone to right.  Move right one more semitone, and you’ve got a WHOLE TONE.  You can do the same thing in the opposite direction.

Now that we have fleshed out the intracacies of the Western concept of a semitone, we can delve a bit further.  A semitone comes in two “flavours”: chromatic and diatonic.  When a semitone contains two notes with the same letter name, it is called a CHROMATIC SEMITONE. See below for examples of chromatic semitones. As you can easily see, the notes of a chromatic semitone are the same, but one is altered with an accidental.

A diatonic semitone occurs when a semitone contains two notes with different letter names.  See below for examples.

A chromatic semitone can be manipulated to be a diatonic semitone and vice versa. Remember, that most notes can be referred to by different note names.  For example E# and F are the same note.  Take a look at the two intervals below.  They are equivalent, but one is a chromatic semitone, and the other is a diatonic semitone. Try to identify tones and semitones on the piano keyboard. The more you practice the easier it will become.  It is very important to grasp this concept fully, as it will form the foundation of many future lessons in musical theory.

Lesson 22: Key Signatures and Accidentals

Category: Lessons

Key signatures tell us which sharps and flats to play consistently in a piece of music. But just because a piece of music has a key signature, does not mean that no other sharps are flats are allowed. Often, a piece of music will have a combination of a key signature and ACCIDENTALS which are sharps, flats, and naturals that are located in the piece of music. An accidental is located in front of a note, and alters the pitch of the note for the remainder of the measure. (If you remember naturals in Lesson 21, all accidentals act much the same way.)

There are several particulars you should know about accidentals:

• Accidentals do not affect the same note in a different octave
• Accidentals are not repeated on tied notes.
• Accidentals affect the pitch of the note for the remainder of the measure

So you’ve learned the basics of accidentals – basically they are SHARPS, FLATS, and NATURALS that can be strewn throughout a piece of music (rather than being in the key signature).

But wait! There is more!  We haven’t learned of every type of accidental.  Soon we will learn about DOUBLE SHARPS, and DOUBLE FLATS, which alter the pitch of a note by 2 semitones instead of 1.  I’m sure you are looking forward to learning about that, but I will leave that for the next lesson.
photo credit: oh_candy

Lesson 21: Key Signatures and the Natural Sign

Category: Lessons, Music Theory

Now that we know all about key signatures, we really need to know more about playing music with a key signature. Remember that a key signature consists of 1 or more sharps or flats. This group of sharps or flats is located at the beginning of the music. And what does this group mean? Well, it means the notes located in the key signature are ALWAYS played sharp or ALWAYS played flat. Or are they….. *insert eerie music here *….

Well, in fact, you can change the note back to it’s original or NATURAL state IN the music. How, you ask? Well, I’ll tell you! With a NATURAL sign. Nice and intuitive, right?  In case you haven’t guessed already, a natural sign looks like the symbol on the left.   OK, so how does this work?  Lets say you have a key signature that contains an F# and a C# (Like the music below).  In the music below, in the second measure the first C is marked as a natural.  These means it should not be played sharp, but in it’s natural state: on the white key.  In FACT, and this is an interesting and important tidbit to know, when a note is marked natural, it remains natural for the rest of the measure!  So, in the piece of music below, BOTH of the C’s in the second measure should be played natural.  Similarly, in the 3rd measure.  In the 4th measure, the first C should be played sharp, and the second C should be played natural.

OK folks, well thats how naturals work with a key signature. Check out the worksheets section for downloads of practice sheets.

Lesson 20: Key signatures

Category: Lessons

Key signatures are a very important topic, but difficult for some to grasp.   The key signature tells you what notes (sharps or flats) will be played consistently during the piece of music.  The key signature is denoted by a group of sharps or a  group of flats positioned after the clefs and before the time signature.  Key signatures will never mix sharps or flats.  Whats more, the sharps or flats in a key signature are always presented in the same order!  That is, the first sharp is always F#, the second sharp is always C#.. and on and on.  Never will you have a key signature with only a C#.  F# ALWAYS has to precede it.  These are the rules – take ‘em or leave ‘em.  But if you leave them, you would be wrong.  Actually, not wrong – just not conforming to the standards of Western music.

So how do you remember the order of sharps and flats in a key signature? Well, like we always do – with a little saying!  The saying to remember the order of sharps is:  Father Charles Goes Down And Ends Battle.  Isn’t it nice?  Well, the saying to remember flats is a little morbid, even though it is the same words but backwards: Battle Ends And Down Goes Charles’  Father .  So when you write a flat key signature, B flat always come first, followed by E, A, and so on.

These are the basics of key signatures. Remember: the key signature is there to tell you to play certain sharps and flats every time you see the note in the piece of music.  So if your key signature has an F# in it, every time you see an F in the piece of music, you should imagine that there is a sharp sign in front of it, and play it sharp.

I’ll be posting a key signature worksheet in the next little while.  So check the worksheets section for some practice!

Lesson 19: Sharps and Flats – Putting it all together

Category: Lessons, Music Theory

Now that you’ve learned all about sharps and flats, it is time to get the bigger picture.  Although sharps and flats can exist in the same piece of music (and often they do), they are like … enemies that can’t live without each other. OK, bad analogy. But you will learn that sharps and flats are similar, but opposite… I’m still not making sense…Let me start over…

I think this picture will explain it best.

So, as you can see, there are keys on the piano that can be referenced by more than one name.  The C sharp key is the same as a D flat. A D sharp is the same as an E flat, and so on…  Even the white keys can be referenced by more than one name.  C can also be called B sharp!

Now, you are probably asking, now why would someone want to use B sharp instead of C  – well.. usually they wouldn’t.  But there are some special cases where it would make sense to use a B sharp instead of a C.  We will discuss those another day,  as it is a more advanced topic.

Check out the worksheets section to get more practice with sharps and flats!

Lesson 18: Musical notation – Flats

Category: Lessons

You already know all about sharps.  They are those little signs you find in front of notes that tell you to play the key that is the next one to the right on the keyboard.  Well, there is another little symbol we will learn about today that is similar to a sharp.  This little symbol looks like the letter ‘b’ – sortof… ok – not really. A flat symbol tells the musician to play the note one semitone DOWN (or lower)

It doesn’t matter if the next key down is a black key or a white key – either can be flat.

Look in the worksheet section if you want to practice finding sharps and flats on the keyboard.

Lesson 17: Musical Notation – Sharps

Category: Lessons, Music Theory

So far we have introduced the concept of note names and found out where they are located on the piano keyboard.  Well, you may have noticed that we only covered the white keys!  You might be happy to know that a whole other world of keys exists for you to discover.  OK, you might not be so happy to know that.  But the black keys on the piano also play an important function.  In this lesson we will learn how to name the black keys.

So – remember our piano key names: A,B,C,D,E,F,G.  There are a group of two black keys and a group of 3 black keys.

First I’ll introduce the concept of a SHARP.  Have you ever heard someone comment on a piece of music, saying it was a little sharp?  This means that it was played at a HIGHER PITCH.  In musical notation, a sharp symbol is placed in front of a note to tell the musician to play on the key located UP one SEMITONE.  In Western music, a SEMITONE is the smallest step located on the keyboard – either between a black key and a white key, or between two different white keys.  On the keyboard located in this post, can you find a semitone located between two white keys?

OK, so when you see the SHARP symbol in front of a note, instead of playing the note – play the NEXT NOTE TO THE RIGHT.  That is, play the key that is ONE SEMITONE HIGHER.  This could be a black key, or it could be a white key.  If you want some practice naming sharps you can download the worksheet from this section from the worksheets section.

Try to find F#, C#, G#, D#, and A#.  And when you have mastered that – find E# and B#.  The frequency with which these sharps are used in a piece of music depends on the KEY of the music.  We will cover this concept in a future lesson.  Please mosey on over to the download section when you have a chance and practice a bit!

Lesson 16: Staccato, Legato, Slurs

Category: Lessons, Music Theory

Well, it has been a while… but so far we’ve talked about the duration of notes (quarter notes, half notes, whole notes, etc) and the value of notes (A,B,C,D…).  Well now – you must be itching to learn something new.  So here it is – drumroll please….. Introducing staccato notes!

Staccato notes

The staccato note is indicated by a dot above or below the note as seen in the picture to the left.  Staccato can mean “abrupt” or “disconnected”.   So how do you play a note in a disconnected manner?  To play a staccato note, the finger basically hits the key and lifts up again so that the note sounds short.  The DURATION of the note will remain the same.  (That is, a quarter note will still be one count, a half note will still be two counts, etc).  However, after the finger lifts off the key, there will be silence for the rest of the duration of the note.

Legato

Legato is the opposite of staccato.  When a piece of music indicates that is should be played legato, it must be played as smoothly as possible.  In musical notation, legato is indicated by a SLUR, or a curved line above or below a group of notes. These notes should be played without a break between the notes, as smoothly connected as possible.

Now you know the two most common ways of playing notes: staccato and legato.  Now there is also a SHORTER version of the staccato note. It is called STACCATISSIMO, and is indicated with little triangular spikes above or below the note.  But we’ll talk about that some other time.

Lesson 15: Common Musical Dynamic Markings

Category: Lessons, Practice and Performance

We have already had an introduction to musical dynamics in the post Commonly Used Musical Terms. In case you don’t remember, or you are just tuning in, dynamics in music refer to markings that tell the musician how soft or how loud to play the music.  There are many types of dynamic markings, but we will go through some of the more common ones in this lesson.

Crescendo - a crescendo looks like a long V on its side, starting with the small end at the left, and opening up to the right.  It tells the musician to gradually get louder.

Decrescendo - is the opposite of crescendo: A long V on its side, opening to the left.  A decrescendo tells the musician to gradually get softer.

pp – pianissimo.  Very soft.

p – piano. Soft.

mf - mezzo forte.  Moderatley loud.

f – forte.  Loud.

ff – fortissimo. Very loud.

These are the most basic dynamic markings that you should know.  Remember, these markings are not absolute.  You need to interpret how loud or how soft you should play based on the surrounding dynamics.  However, in one piece of music the following is usually true:

Soft pp < p < mf < f < ff Loud

You can interpret this as: pianissimo is softer than piano, which is softer than mezzo forte.  Fortissimo is louder than forte which is louder than mezzo forte.  So mezzo forte can be seen as not too loud, not too soft – right in the middle.  See the worksheet section for worksheets related to this lesson and others.

Lesson 14: Figuring out rhythm

Category: Lessons

So far we have learned about several different types of notes: whole notes, half notes, quarter notes, eighth notes, and sixteenth notes. There are a couple of methods for counting out rhythm using these notes. The first way is to count the beat using numbers. Take a look at the musical phrase below.

OK, so before you play, look at the time signature.  The top number tells you how many beats to a measure.  The bottom number tells you which note gets the beat.  So, 4/4 time (or common time) will have 4 beats per measure, and the quarter note will get the beat.  That means every time we get the equivalent of a quarter note we should be onto the next count.  The phrase above would sound like this.  One-Two-Three and Four and, One-Two-Three-Four and, One-ee-and-a-Two-Three-Four, One-Two-Three-Four.  Keep a steady beat with your foot.  Every number falls on the beat, so it should be in time with your foot.  This is my favourite method of counting.  It allows you to understand rhythm more thoroughly, while getting practice with time signatures.

Another method of counting is to have little phrases to say for different notes. Take a look at the phrases below.

Try to count the rhythm above using this method. It is up to you which method you choose. Choose the method that feels right to you. For more practice in counting rhythm, see the worksheet section.

Lesson 13: Eighth Notes and Sixteenth Notes

Category: Lessons

Now is probably a great time to introduce two new kinds of notes to you.  The eighth note looks like a quarter note but it has a flag on it.  The sixteenth note has 2 flags. The eighth note is worth a half count, and the sixteenth note is worth a quarter count.  That means you can fit two eighth notes OR 4 sixteenth notes in the same amount of time that you would use to play 1 quarter note.

Take a look at the note hierarchy.  In this diagram you can see that a whole note is worth the same as two half notes.  A half note is worth the same as two quarter notes.  A quarter note is worth the same as two eigth notes, and so on.

With all of these types of notes, it becomes difficult to understand the rhythm.  There are several techniques you can use to count out the rhythm of a piece of music.  We will discuss these in the next lesson.

The last thing I want to talk about is when we have more than one eighth note or sixteenth note in a row.  In cases like this, instead of each individual note having a flag, the notes are joined together by bars.  For eighth notes, the notes are joined together with one bar.  For sixteenth notes, the notes are joined together by two bars.  Take a look at the phrases below.  The phrase with the flags and the phrase with the bars are equivalent even though they look different.

For more practice, check out the worksheet section.

Lesson 12: Dotted Notes

Category: Lessons

If you have seen sheetmusic before, you may have seen a note with a dot following it.  In fact, any note can hav a dot.  A DOT placed after a note OR rest indicates that the length of the note is increased by one HALF of its original value.  OK, what does that mean?  Let’s work through some examples.

The WHOLE note is worth 4 counts. A dotted whole note is worth 4 counts plus 2 counts (1/2 of the original 4 counts).  That means a dotted whole note is worth 6 counts.

The HALF note is worth 2 counts.  A dotted half note is worth….. *drumroll*….. you guessed it!  2 counts + 1 count = 3 counts!

Now it gets interesting.  A QUARTER note is worth 1 count.  So what is a dotted quarter note worth?  Well, it is worth 1 count (original value) + 1/2 count (1/2 original value) = 1 and 1/2 counts!

We’ll learn later about how to count these notes in music.  Take a look at the diagram below.

Lesson 11: Ledger Lines and Note Stems

Category: Lessons

Ledger lines are used when notes are too high or too low for the staff.  They work like staff extenders.  As you can see they are small lines, and the notes are written either in the space above the lines or on the lines.  Even middle C is on a ledger line – can you find middle in on the image to the left?

Leger lines in the bass clef are much like ledger line in the treble clef.  Middle C exists on a ledger line in the bass clef as well.  Can you find it?

The last thing that we will discuss today is note stems.  You may have noticed already that some stems point up, while others point down.  Believe it or not, there is a method to the madness – so all music is written in standard notation.  When a single line of music is written (that is one note at a time), the notes above the third line will have their stems pointing down, and the notes below the third line will have their stems pointing up.  The notes on the third line will either go up or down depending on the music, but down is preferred.

There is an exception to this rule however.  That is, whenever notes are bound together with a beam (we haven’t seen this yet, but we will), the direction of the stem depends on which note is farthest away from the center line.  The direction of all of the stems will point in the direction of that stem.  In the image to the left, find the note that is farthest away from the center line, and see what direction the stems are pointing. For more practice you can go to the worksheet section of the website to download some practice sheets.

Lesson 10: Review

Category: Lessons

This lesson is going to review what we have learned so far.  If you find you need more information, you can go back to the lesson to read the entire post.

In lesson 1 we learned how to find the white keys on the piano.  Remember, the black keys are in groups of 2 and 3.  To find the note C, find the group of 2 black keys.  The white key to the left of the group of 2 black keys is C.  The white key to the left of the group of 3 black keys is F.  Easy.  Then you can just fill in the blanks.  Remember the names of the notes are A-B-C-D-E-F-G.  These notes repeat up and down the keyboard.

In lesson 2, we learned how to sit at the piano.  Back straight, feet on floor, forearms parallel with the floor.  Remember to play with the tips of your fingers – with your hands curled like they are holding a ball.

In lesson 3 you learned about the staff, the treble clef, the bass clef, the grand staff, and middle C.  The staff consists of 5 lines and 4 spaces upon which notes are written.  The treble clef (or G clef) is used on the staff to show the notes in the upper range of the piano (usually played with the right hand).  Remember that the treble clef curls around the G-line.  The bass clef (or F-clef) is used on the staff to show the notes in the lower range of the piano (usually played with the left hand).  Remember that the two dots on the bass clef are located above and below the F-line.  When you put the two clefs together with two staves, it is called the grand staff.  Middle C is located between the treble clef staff and the bass clef staff. On your keyboard, it is the C located near the middle of your keyboard.

On to lesson 4! In lesson 4 we learned about how each of your fingers has a number. Most music will have a fingering guide which will help you play more fluently. So just remember, your thumbs are one, your pointer fingers are two, and so on.

In lesson 5, the QUARTER note, HALF note, and WHOLE note were introduced.  The quarter note is worth one count, the half note is worth 2 count, and the whole note is worth four counts.  The time signature was also introduced.  The time signature consists of 2 numbers.  The top number tell you how many beats are in a measure.  The bottom number tells you which note gets the beat.  A 4 on the bottom means that the quarter note gets the beat.

Finally, we learned the notes in the treble clef and the bass clef.  We learned that middle C was located between the two staves.

Lastly, we learned about rests.  Rests are used to signify an interval of silence in a piece of music.  The type of rest tells you how long the silence must last. The QUARTER REST is worth one beat, the HALF REST is worth two beats, and the WHOLE REST is worth four beats.

The first 10 lessons should have given you a good start to being able to read and play piano music.  For more practice check out the worksheet section.

Lesson 9: Resting is Important Too!

Category: Lessons

In music, there is a time to play, and there is a time for silence. Learning when NOT to play is just as important as learning when to play.  A musical REST is a symbol that is used to tell the musician when to STOP playing.  Even though you won’t be playing during a rest, retain your hand position so that it is easy to resume playing.

There are different symbols used to signify a period of silence.  The type of symbol tells you how long the silence is.  The squiggly rest (I know, very technical isn’t it?) is worth one count.  It is worth the same amount of time as a quarter note.  The bar that rests on the line is worth 2 counts, the same as a half note.  Finally, the bar that falls below the 4th line is worth 4 counts, the same as a whole note.

From left to right these rests are called QUARTER REST, HALF REST, and WHOLE REST.  These are the most basic types of rests.

Check out the phrase below.  Try to clap it.  Clap the notes, and rest during the rests   After you are finished with the clapping exercise, look at the worksheet section for some downloadable practice sheets.