Here’s a collection of very simple tunes for beginner pianists, using just the 5 notes which were shown in Piano Notation Basics Part 5. The free PDF can be downloaded from below the video, or via the Sheet Music section.
Finding Your Way 1, as mentioned in the video, is available from the link here (more details and video coming soon).
This link will take you to the Piano Pictures website, where you can download your free PDF.
New to the piano and not sure about notation? This series of 6 videos will tell you everything you need to know to start reading notes with confidence.
These videos are suitable for beginners of all ages and will be a useful resource for music teachers. Pause the videos at appropriate moments for comments, discussion or activities.
Part 1 introduces staves (the lines on which music is written) and clefs (the signs which tell you whether to play high notes or low notes).
Part 2 looks at note heads and stems, and explains what it means to say that notes are ‘on lines’ or ‘in spaces’.
Part 3 explains ‘the beat’ in music, and introduces time signatures and bar lines.
Part 4 introduces simple note values with some musical examples, and explains how finger numbers are used.
Part 5 shows you how to name and find some notes on the piano.
Part 6 is a review of things which were covered in the previous videos.
For ‘Getting Started On The Piano‘ (mentioned in Part 6), see the next post.
In the Bleak Midwinter is a setting of a poem by Christina Rosetti (1830-94). The music is by Gustav Holst (1874-1934), who is best known as the composer of the orchestral suite The Planets. The sheet music can be downloaded below (underneath the video) or via the Sheet Music page.
This arrangement stays fairly close to Holst’s original setting for 4-part choir. A light touch on the sustaining pedal may be helpful in places, but be careful not to overdo the pedalling.
An arrangement of the traditional carol The Holly and the Ivy, in the key of G major. Sheet music can be downloaded below (underneath the video), or from the ‘Level D’ link on the Sheet music page.
This well-known traditional carol, which is often called Deck the Halls, needs no introduction. The free sheet music can be downloaded below (underneath the video) or via the Sheet Music page.
In this arrangement, both hands stay in position most of the time. But watch out for the right hand thumb-under in bar 11. Notice that all the notes in bars 11-12 can be found in the middle of the 2-octave scale of G major.
Here’s a spooky piece which has been specially written for animatedpiano.com . The free PDF sheet music can be downloaded below (underneath the video) or via the Sheet Music page. Goblins and Ghosts! is a staccato study which will need careful counting. Remember that the spaces between the notes are just as important as the notes themselves!
If you enjoy Goblins and Ghosts!, why not make a video of yourself playing it and upload it to YouTube? For extra effect you could dress up in a Halloween costume! But don’t worry if you’re not able to learn it in time for Halloween, it would be good at any time of the year.
Do you wish you had a piano scale book that could play each scale to you, show you the notes on the keyboard and help you to prepare the fingering? If so, we think you’ll like the new series of scale videos from animatedpiano.com! This video introduces them and shows some examples.
The complete list of scale videos can be found on this page: Scales, chords and exercises. It will be updated when new videos are available.
This piece can be played as a solo or as a duet part for Jingle Bells (level A0, featured in the previous post). It may look a bit complicated, but don’t panic! Just remember that fingers 2 and 3 of each hand are on black keys. The only exception is in bar 7, where the right hand plays D natural.
Here is the sheet music and the video:
Here is the teacher reference sheet for Jingle Bells (level A0) and One-horse Open Sleigh (level A3):
What, yet another version of Jingle Bells for easy piano? Yes, but this one’s a bit different. It’s a very simple ‘pre-notation’ arrangement, which is centered around Middle C. Hand positions are shown in the video.
A companion piece, ‘One-horse Open Sleigh’, is coming up in the next post, together with a teacher reference sheet for both pieces.
This next video tells you exactly what it says in the title. You may find this fun to watch even if you already know how to number your fingers.
