How to Practice: All Levels (plus Bonus Beginner Lesson)

 

For my blog posts, I use free stock photos for the cover picture, or I draw my own if I can't find what I'm looking for. I found this picture and thought, "Huh, I don't think I have explained how to sit at a piano yet." This girl in the picture above is a perfect example of how to not sit at a piano.

Bonus Lesson Time (Beginners)!

I'm sure this girl is doing her best, but for now let's see what she can improve. She is slouching. This is a no-no when practicing or just sitting at a piano. When sitting to play the piano, you need to have a straight back. Good posture shows confidence and can even boost your confidence if you don't feel it. It's a good habit and helps when playing the piano. 

Her wrists are low and her thumbs are hanging off of the piano. This is a huge no-no when playing the piano, even more than the slouching. It's extremely difficult to play efficiently and even reach the keys if the wrists are hanging low and the thumbs aren't at the ready for when you need them. She should have her wrists level with the keys and thumbs on the keys with all fingers slightly curved. No flat fingers! I usually tell my beginner students who struggle with this to try and balance a pen or pencil on their wrist for a nice straight wrist. 

Lastly, it looks like her feet may be crossed or dangling. When playing the piano, your feet should always be flat on the floor or on the pedals. If the person playing is too young to have their feet on the floor, they should simply keep their legs and feet uncrossed. 

I did not at all plan on going over this, but this girl was just a perfect example.

How Often to Practice

When practicing in general it's good to set aside at least 15-30 minutes of time four or five days a week, depending on your level, to practice. For my younger students, usually between the ages of four and ten, I ask that they practice at least 15 to 20 minutes a day, four days a week. Preferably five days if they can manage. For more advanced students, I think an hour of practice or more five days a week is perfect.

Over the few years I have been teaching, I have found it to be very hard to get some of my students to practice consistently. Which, of course, is essential to progressing and remembering what they've learned. The best advice that I have for anyone reading this that struggles with practice is two things:

1. You must be disciplined. If you truly want to learn and progress with the instrument you're learning, sometimes you just have to make yourself do the thing you don't feel like doing. Like a lot of things in life, you have to do things you don't feel like doing. 

2. If it's a child that's learning and they just have a hard time focusing for long periods of time or are restless, it's okay to take breaks. Break up the practice time into chunks throughout the day. If you're too busy, that's when the discipline and prioritizing come back into play again.  

What to Practice

If you are my student, I always say to practice everything I have assigned to you which usually includes technique, lesson book, theory, and performance. Always practice what your teacher tells you to. They want the best for you! 

Starting with scales or a warm-up is great to get your fingers ready and warmed up for the songs you're learning. It's not required, but I find it's helpful for technique practice and getting the stiffness out of your fingers. 

When practicing a song that you're working through and learning, it's best to start with the hardest part first. In other words, the part you're struggling with the most and want to practice the least. Go slowly when practicing those difficult parts so you can watch for all those musical details and get it correct. It's better to play slowly and get it right than to play quickly and get it wrong. If you're having an especially hard time, practice hands separately a few times and then together very slowly. You can go faster later when you start to get the hang of it.

I will admit I have a hard time doing this too. I always want to rush through and not care about the mistakes because that's what's easy. But, again, that's where discipline comes in! It's not easy, but it is the correct path to becoming a great musician. Go slow and get it right and work your way up to the correct tempo (tempo is the term for speed in music). 

Summary: 

• Don't sit at the piano like the girl in the first photo. 
• Practice at least 30 minutes 4-5 days a week if you're over the age of 10. If you want to make your teacher proud, practice more than 30 minutes or at least 30 minutes even if you're under the age of 10!
• Make yourself practice even when you don't feel like it. Be disciplined.
• Start with some scales or a warm-up that your teacher may have assigned.
• Start with the most difficult part of the song you're learning FIRST. 
• Go slowly when first learning a song and go a little faster when you start to get the hang of it.

I hope you enjoyed this lesson. Make your teacher proud and remember to go practice!

Measures and Time Signatures: Beginner Level

 
To begin this lesson, I am going to explain measures. And I don't mean the measuring that you do with a ruler with inches and stuff like that. I mean measures... you know, the musical kind. 

In music, there are measures in every song you see. It doesn't matter what instrument you play. Measures will be there. As shown in the picture above, you can see the bar lines or measure lines. Each line divides the music into sections. These sections are called measures. I am explaining measures first because you will need to know this to really understand time signatures. In each measure there are a certain number of beats that you can see. It will always be consistent. In the treble clef section (if you don't remember what that is, see my other lesson on Treble and Bass Clef) there are four beats per measure. I know this because two half notes equal four and four quarter notes also equal four (see Note Values lesson for a refresher).

In the bass clef section below, each measure has three beats. Even if there is no time signature, you can tell how many beats are in each measure by counting the note values. 

Time signatures look like a fraction, as you can see in the picture above. I drew out two of the most common time signatures you will see. A time signature tells you how many beats are in each measure and what note will get the beat. This is essential to know if you want to play with good rhythm... and honestly is essential for being a good musician in general. Counting and rhythm are two peas in a pod and are a must when playing and learning an instrument.

The top number of a time signature tells you how many beats are in a measure; the bottom tells you what note gets the beat. In the example above, the treble clef section should have four beats per measure. Can you guess how many beats the bass clef section gets? ... If you guessed three, you are correct! Now, the bottom number of both, I decided to keep the same to keep things simple. Things start getting kind of crazy when the bottom number starts to change. I will do a deeper dive in a later lesson.

 In this example the four on the bottom simply means that the quarter note gets one beat, so it is normal. You may be thinking, "Wait a minute. The note values that I just learned can change?" And the answer is yes. It can change. Confusing, I know. That's why I kept it simple! 

In summary all you need to remember is this:

A measure is a section of music between two bar lines.

A time signature tells you how many beats are in each measure. That will guide you in counting as you play. 

I hope you enjoyed this lesson. Remember to go practice!

Beginner - Level 1: Dynamics

 

Dynamics: how loud or soft you play a note

In short, dynamics are the symbols that tell you how loud or soft you are meant to play a particular section of music. Sometimes the entire song if it's a short song. You will always want to look out for those dynamic symbols; they add a lot of personality to music than just plain monotone music!

The Dynamic Symbols and What They Mean

Forte -- f: This simply means loud. Press harder into the keys for this. No banging though! Always keep your fingers close to the keys.  

Fortissimo -- ff: This is extra loud. Press even more into the keys. 

Piano -- p: This means soft or quiet. Press the keys gently/ lightly while still pressing to the bottom of the keys. 

Pianissimo -- pp: Extra soft or quiet. This requires the soft pedal which is the pedal all the way to the left of the three pedals. Press the left pedal to make the keys sound even softer.

Mezzo Piano -- mp: Medium soft, or as I like to call it: kind of soft. This is just a step up from quiet. Press just a little more than you would for piano.

Mezzo Forte -- mf: Medium loud, or kind of loud. This is just a step down from loud. Play a little softer than you would for forte. 

In another lesson I will explain what the pedals of the piano do. I hope you enjoyed this mini lesson and remember to go practice! 

Beginner Level: Notes on the Staff

 

The Staff

The staff is the lines you see on sheet music. There are 5 lines and 4 spaces for each clef. The treble clef and bass clef both have their own staff next to them. The staff helps you determine where a note is on the piano! The higher a note is on the staff, the farther to the right the key you need is. Each line and space on the staff is a different key on the piano. If a note moves from a line to a space or vice versa, it is a step on the keys (think two white keys back-to-back). 

This is only focusing on white keys for now. The black keys I will save for another lesson! If a note moves from a line to a different line directly above or below it, this is a skip. Think one white key, then skipping exactly one white key. The same applies for two space notes. This is so, because you are skipping a line or a space. 

The best way to think about it is this: Each line or space on the staff represents a different white a key on the piano.

Components of the Staff

There are a few things to know about the staff in addition to just what it is. The brace (shown in the above picture) is what connects everything. It's really only there to make things look neat and tidy. It's not always there, but you will see the brace a lot of times. The repeat sign shown to the right of treble clef staff is there when the song repeats itself. If you ever see a repeat sign at the end of a line of music, you play that exact line over again from the beginning. The middle C shown above is a note that both clefs share. When you see those "cat whiskers" at the center of both clefs, it will always be middle C no matter what clef you're in. Don't forget to watch what hand needs to play that middle C though! What hand plays that note does change from song to song for various reasons. 

I always tell my student that the middle C is identified by its "cat whiskers" because cat starts with C and that middle note always kind of looked like a cat to me, especially when it's a whole note! Middle C is exactly what the name implies... the C closest to the middle of the piano! 

Treble Clef Notes and How to Memorize Them

When reading notes on the staff, we typically go from the bottom up because that's from left to right on the piano (Like reading a book!).

 For the treble clef spaces, it spells FACE from the bottom up. If you see a note in that first space, it's an F that is closest to the treble clef. If you see a note that is in the second space, it's an A (skip one key to the right from your F and you're there) and so on. 

For the treble clef line notes, it doesn't really spell anything, but we do have a saying that makes it easier to remember: Every Good Boy Does Fine (on a line) or E G B D F also from the bottom up. 

At this point you can start to notice and see how each line and space is just one white key at a time in the order of the musical alphabet.

The Musical Alphabet: The alphabet in music goes from A to G and starts over back to A after the G.

A B C D E F G A B etc.

Bass Clef Notes and How to Memorize Them

For the bass clef spaces, the saying goes: All Cows Eat Grass or A C E G. For the bass clef lines, the saying goes: Good Boys Deserve Fudge Always or G B D F A. I learned the bass clef line notes in a slightly different way. The saying I was taught was Good Boys Do Fine Always. I have had several people tell me that they find it easier to learn the bass clef lines by using the phrase with "fudge" in it because the treble clef and bass clef line sayings are so similar. So, use whichever you find easier. It works both ways! 

One More Thing...

If you noticed that in the treble clef there are two F and E notes and in the bass clef there are two A notes and were confused... here's your explanation!

As I said at the beginning of this lesson, each line and space is a different white key on the piano. The higher you get on the staff the higher (or more to the right) the key is on the piano. Same goes for the lower notes. The lower a note is on the staff the lower (or more to the left) a key is on the piano. 

So, that first F, the F in FACE, on treble clef staff is closest to the middle C. The other F that is above that first F is the next F key above it. It's higher! The same idea applies to the two bass clef A's. 

I hope you enjoyed this lesson and found it helpful. Remember to practice!

Beginner Level: Note Values and Their Names

 

What are Note Values?

Note values tell you how long you should hold a note on a piano, or really any instrument. It tells you how long to sustain the note and how many beats it gets. A beat is another way of saying the amount of time to hold a note. Note values are also directly connected to rhythm. Rhythm is what keeps a song structured and making sense without letting the music get all jumbled and chaotic. Without rhythm, a song simply does not make sense! 

The Note Values and Their Names

Below is an explanation of each basic note, its value, and its name that I drew myself!

Eighth Notes

Eighth notes I included as a bonus because most of my students do not learn this until late level one or level 2. So, it's not quite beginner, but very close. To count an eighth note, you need to count with what I call "ands". Every other note (quarter, half note, dotted half, and whole) you can count without the ands. For example: one, two, three, four. As you would expect. For eighth notes, you would count a little differently because they do not get a full beat.

Let's say there are four eighth notes for a total of two beats. This is how you would count that: one and two and

When I write in the beats on sheet music for my students, I always write the ands as plus signs, so it would look more like this: 1 + 2 + . It's just easier that way! 

I hope you enjoyed this beginner lesson on note values and their names. Remember to practice!

Back to the Basics: Treble Clef and Bass Clef

 Treble Clef

When reading piano music, there are two clefs: treble clef and bass clef. What are clefs? I'm glad you asked! Clefs in music tell you where the notes are on the piano itself. There are a lot of keys on the piano, 88 to be exact. The treble and bass clef help you navigate what keys you need to play in a song. 

The treble clef generally tells you to play any notes that are from middle C and up (to the right). Now, there are some exceptions given there are ledger lines, but that is getting out of beginner territory so we shall keep it simple! Treble clef is middle C and up! The right hand plays the treble clef more often than not. Again, there are some exceptions, but this is the general rule. 

Bass Clef

The bass clef is basically the opposite of the treble clef. The bass clef tells you to play any notes that are from middle C and down or lower (to the left). The left hand normally plays the bass clef notes. Most people struggle with reading bass clef notes at the beginning of learning the piano. I've seen many students of mine get frustrated or struggle a lot especially with this particular clef. I think it's because most people learn about the treble clef in school or when they're kids, but the bass clef isn't usually covered as much. In addition to that, a lot of instruments -- I would say the majority -- only use the treble clef in the sheet music. 

So, bass clef isn't as popular as the treble clef but is still vital to learn when reading piano music. In summary: 

• Treble Clef - Middle C key and up. Right hand plays.
• Bass Clef - Middle C key and down. Left hand plays.
• Clefs - Tells you what keys specifically need to be played when reading music.

I hope you enjoyed this beginner lesson and remember to go practice!

Welcome: A Little About Me

 

A Little About Me: Introduction

My name is Jamie Hendricks! I am a piano teacher for all ages and have been playing the piano since I was about 8 years old -- 14 years of playing the piano now if you want to do the math! I graduated from high school at Arkansas Virtual Academy and immediately started working part-time as a piano teacher at Stephanie's Musique. 

I have taken piano lessons from the age of 8 to a year after I graduated high school at the age of 19. During those years I would perform twice a year in front of an audience and had lessons in music theory, technique, and performance. I have been in one National Piano-Playing Audition and passed into the Piano Guild with a certificate. I have also attended a Music Academy for a short time with brief lessons in college level music at John Brown University. 

I have been trained for a few months in the summer on how to teach private piano lessons and jumped into teaching in the fall semester of 2021. I have been teaching ever since. 

Why Piano?

I chose to take piano lessons when I was a kid and have always loved it. It is very challenging, but also very rewarding! I love to express myself through music and create a story through my playing. 

About This Blog

This blog is something that I wanted to do for fun in addition to my teaching job. It will include mini music lessons, posts about different composers and their life and more. I have always wanted to delve into different composers, and this will give me the push to do so! 

I hope whoever comes across this blog enjoys the posts. Remember to go practice!