Piano Theory Lessons

Make sure to print out some printable staff paper before you begin! Sharpen your pencil, and make sure to practice to write the notes, clefs etc. as you learn about them, this will make all you learn easier to remember.

The Elements of Music

Within each element, or "building block", there are more concepts:

• Melody involves how tones are organized in patterns of high and low pitch. In this group we find music scales and music intervals.

• Harmony is as Melody based on pitch, but in this group tones are combined in different ways. Music chords and harmonic intervals belong here for example.

• Rhythm is the group of elements that deal with duration, or how long or short a note is. Here we find beat, time signature, meter and many, many more elements dealing with rhythm.

• Dynamics refers to how loud or soft the music is. There are plenty of words describing dynamics and other music terms - so it is worth getting a handy music dictionary for that, for example: Alfred's Pocket Dictionary of Music

• Timbre or Tone Color refers to the specific sound of the tone, in other words what instrument/s is/are playing (or voice, or anything else with sound!). In this group you learn about the different instrument groups, individual instrument sounds etc.

• Texture is how the musical melodies and harmonies- are “woven” together. For example: Monophony (single voice or melody), Homophony (a main melody together with harmony or chords), Polyphony (many single voices or melodies played (or sung) together, neither being “the leader” (Like a Fugue).

There are also plenty of musical signs and symbols, as well as rules on how to write it all down on paper! Music theory is a fascinating subject to any music lover.

Music theory books: Here is a great music theory book for beginners: Alfred's Essentials of Music Theory: A Complete Self-Study Course for All Musicians (Book & 2 CDs)

Free Piano Theory Lessons for Beginners

1. How to Read Piano Notes:
   Learn the basic stuff of piano theory, like note names, the staff, note values etc.
   
   
2. Note Values and Rests
   Learn more about different note values and rests, their names and how to count.
   
   
3. Music Scales:
   Find out how to combine the notes to create different scales; major scales, minor scales, blues, modal and more!
   
   
4. The Key Signature:
   Learn about the key signatures, the order of the sharps and the flats, the relative major and minor keys and more.
   
   
5. Music Intervals:
   Intervals are distances between notes. Learning how to identify intervals, helps you to quickly read notes, among other things!
   
   
6. Circle of Fifths:
   This is a super tool for understanding key signatures and more, invented by Pythagoras in the 6th Century B.C!!
   
   
7. Virtual Piano Keyboard
   Take a break, have some fun with a virtual piano game!

Piano Playing Questions and Comments

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Learning music theory made easy and fun. Music theory is essential for mastering your instrument, but it shouldn't have to be so hard. Easy articles and lessons help you make sense of it all. Visit Music Theory for Musicians here.

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