Piano Scales FOR KIDS: Essential Guide to Learn How to Play Scales and Best Finger Positions

By Jessica Gilbert

The piano is a longstanding, classical, and revered instrument. Invented in the 1700s by Bartolomeo Cristofori (1655-1731) of Padua, Italy, with plenty of hammers and planters to boot, the piano came to be quite popular in the homes of many a Western brood by the end of the nineteenth century. When someone thinks of a classical composer, it woul

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jessica Gilbert
• Release date: Jul 24, 2023
• ISBN: 9781088221334

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Introduction

The piano is a longstanding, classical, and revered instrument. Invented in the 1700s by Bartolomeo Cristofori (1655-1731) of Padua, Italy, with plenty of hammers and planters to boot, the piano came to be quite popular in the homes of many a Western brood by the end of the nineteenth century. When someone thinks of a classical composer, it wouldn’t be unusual to go to Bach, Beethoven, and the like and easily associate them with piano. Many believe that piano sets the standard for musicians, laying the foundation for instrumental affinity. What does that mean, exactly? The piano is awesome. But you knew that already. Yet, what makes a good pianist great? What are the tools used to get you from here to there? While playing is, of course, supposed to be fun, sometimes a bit of direction is what we need to get to the next level.

The basic keyboard, housing case, lid, pedals, keys, hammers, and strings still make up the majority of the modern piano’s design and componentry. This piano has withstood the test of time and largely remained intact, with the exception of electric keyboards and some piano types.

How exactly does a piano work? How does it create such lovely tunes and tones? Let’s see how all piano parts work to create one of the most enduring and identifiable instruments in contemporary music.

There are several components of the piano that we should consider before moving forward. What stands out to you when looking at a traditional piano? Traditional is sort of based on an individual perspective, but if someone were to ask you to draw a picture of a piano, what kind of piano would come to mind first? The keyboard part of the piano is where the musician and the instrument meet. There are black and white keys, which indicate that a note is meant to be sharp or flat, depending on the direction the music is going (usually ascending would mean a note would be sharp, and descending would mean the note is flat). Black keys are often enharmonic on their own, while white keys are natural.

The housing, case, and lid are considered the largest part of a piano. Think of it as an actual house. The housing of a piano is contingent on what kind of piano it is, and it changes due to this in size and stature.

When you open the lid of a piano, what do you see? Hammers and strings. These pieces control the keys. They’re covered in soft felt lining, so avoid hard contact between the keys and the pianist. Check out a video of what it looks like when the hammers are in motion as a pianist plays.

If you’ve ever wondered what a piano tuner does to increase the effectiveness of a piano, quite the sight! Strings can be tightened or loosened depending on what is needed. While the piano may look like a sturdy and non-changing piece of equipment, plenty of details can be fine-tuned in their own way to assist the desired sound. Only a true professional can tune a piano and must be consulted before going about a tuning adventure of your own. Unlike other instruments with strings, like guitars or violins, the average person would not know what part should be fixed within a piano. Since the piano is both delicate and heavy, it takes a while to find your instrument ready for a tune-up.

When you lift your fingers off the keys, a damper eases in the vibration of the individual notes, so there isn’t an unattractive bleeding-over of noise.

Pianos generally have two or three pedals. If you’re playing a traditional non-electronic piano, it’s more than likely that your instrument has pedals at your feet. The pedals rest in, and each has its own. The soft pedal, also called una corda, is far left. In grand pianos, each note is almost plucked when using the soft pedal. If you were to try to play piano a bit quieter for whatever reason, you could use the una corda pedal for this purpose.

There’s the sostenuto pedal in the middle, which is the most commonly used pedal that helps enforce a deep bass-centric sound while also holding onto a specific sound that’s followed by other separate musical notes. An example of this would include playing a D major chord, wanting to hold onto that sound, but then wanting to not muddy up or blend the other notes that came afterward.

Finally, the damper pedal is to the far right of the pianist. The damper pedal actually sustains whatever the last inflection was that was made by the pianist.

As we’ve said, the damper pedal is the most used, but favor one pedal over the other. Think about the language that comes with these different pedal names to help you further understand and connect with the meaning of what each pedal does on its own. Typically, pedals are played separately. Much like when someone drives an automatic car, pedals are not played with both of your feet. Pedals are played one by one for distinct reasons, as we said. Practice the motion of pressing down on a pedal. Get the feel for what sort of awareness would need to happen for both your hands, fingers, upper and lower body, along with your brain, for all of those pieces to work at the same time. As many people before you have learned this skill, so can you! Don’t try to overwhelm yourself with the comparison of a concert pianist who easily switches from pedal to pedal. You’ll get there.

Unlike other instruments, the piano has an impressive number of individual parts as a whole, with a resounding 12,000 individual pieces. Think about taking this synchronicity into life itself.

Unlike some of the pianos we see today, or some instruments we see in general on the shelves, especially if they’re electronic, the first pianos were actually handcrafted by those in the trade. Once the popularization of the piano took over after the French Revolution in the late 1700s (1789, to be exact), the need for pianos increased. Since pianos were originally made for entertaining only a small audience of people, generally in a living/entertainment space in the home, it wasn’t until later that the demand for a louder instrument came into play. Once this was communicated, there was an increase in tension on the strings, which led to louder pianos and a sustain that lasted longer than a brief second or two.

Did you know that pianos weren’t always offered in the upright variety? It took quite a long time to get pianos in that just about a century, to get pianos in the homes of many more who could afford it and afford the space. Check out the giraffe piano if you’re ever interested! Imagine that a grand piano’s grand outset pieces are flipped upward, like a giraffe. These kinds of pianos were decorated and adorned in spectacular ways.

Speaking of giraffe pianos, did you know that there are, in total, four different types of pianos with even more variations? There are about 1500 different variations of instruments. Let’s explore all the different types of pianos and see which category your current instrument fits in.

Grand pianos usually stick out as the most recognizable type of piano, and for a good reason. They are large in stature and have an effortless, loud, and arguably rich sound that their counterparts may not have. Since the strings are horizontal, they’re longer than others. Grand pianos’ hammers provide a bit more give since gravity affects its horizontal structure differently, resulting in a crisp sound.

Think about tonal control within instruments. What gives the musician an ease with their instrument, translating into a stellar performance? Of course, the principles we will go into this book will absolutely assist in this, but there is a responsibility from the instrument that gives way to this general feel. Many pianists claim that their favorite type of piano to play is the grand piano. Its acoustics are sharp and smooth and can quite literally fill a grand room with beautiful sound. Have you played a grand piano yourself? What was your experience?

The grand piano is known for its superior acoustic performance. On top of its glossy and elegant look, this kind of piano is most often used in live performances. Elton John typically plays a grand piano, and so has Lady Gaga and many others! Who else can you name that you’ve seen play a grand piano? Their popularity is certainly apparent!

Since the grand piano has such a large soundboard, this means that the volume and tone are greater than their counterparts. Not all grand pianos are created in the same size; depending on that factor, the sound will fluctuate. Finally, grand pianos display our easily recognizable 88 keys.

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