Exciting ‘Crash Course’ in Piano Playing for Adults

Week 3 Of The Exciting ‘Crash Course’ in Piano Playing for Adults

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Week Three - Crash Course For Adults in Exciting Piano Playing

After a quick review of week two's lesson, Duane begins week three by further explaining the key of C and several of its concepts: family chords, principal chords and a bit of scale structure. And while some of these concepts are simply sneak peeks at what's to come in your year-long piano training, the knowledge is valuable to a greater understanding of the songs you've played and will be playing. You'll begin hands-on practice with a new piece exercising your note-reading ability and chord recognition, one that even serves to solidify your knowledge of the C scale's inner-workings.

Practice will then continue with a discussion of the treble and bass clef -- specifically the bass, which is a brand new concept. In addition to reviewing left-hand fingerings, you'll learn to locate and read notes in both clefs using a series of tried and true anagrams. You'll then practice one song two ways: first by reading music and pointer chords only in the treble clef, then by taking those previously learned pointer chords to the bass clef staff (which is different than the treble clef staff as far as note reading is concerned). Duane slowly walks you through both versions of this song, pointing out the important similarities and divulging common tips for successfully understanding and playing in both clefs. You'll also learn the difference between reading music as it's written and in lead-sheet format, the way in which you've been playing accompaniment so far. Instead of relying on chord symbols to guide your accompaniment, you'll begin to read specific notation and understand the benefits of both techniques.

For further technique exercise, you'll be assigned a few practice songs from the supplementary book. These songs function as an essential review; while the main text's songs often focus mostly on the technique most recently learned, the supplementary songs include everything covered so far, allowing you to constantly practice and apply each week's concepts.