Learning the piano as a beginner has its own challenges, especially if you’ve got a busy schedule and a limited amount of resources to dedicate to it. But when there’s a will there’s a way, and Simply makes that way a lot more, well, simple.

Piano exersizes for beginners should be fun and inspiring, challenging and engaging. That’s why we made Simply Piano instructional, straightforward, and super entertaining. It covers all the fundamentals but doesn’t drown you in technique.

It’s everything you need to start your piano journey. 

This blog compiles some of the initial and essential topics that you’ll learn when you start to play piano with JoyTunes. Reading this will help you breeze through the first few lessons on the app!

Body posture

The art of playing piano starts before you even touch the keys! The way you sit at the piano has a significant impact on how you play. It’s essential to develop good sitting habits right from the beginning so you don’t have to skip piano lessons due to a bad back! The instruction for posture can be summarized into five words: don’t slouch and don’t arch.

When you first look down at the keys, the most natural thing to happen is to round your shoulders and slouch.

First, plant your feet firmly on the ground.

Then, imagine a puppet string gently pulling the center of your head upwards.

Relax your abdomen.

Now, softly tuck your chin.

But careful, though! You’re too rigid if your chest sticks out and your lower back arches.

Let the sit bones become heavy on your seat.

Imagine you have weights hanging from your underarms. 

Hand posture

Hands to a piano are like legs to a bicycle! They must be strong, fit, and at ease. Healthy hand posture is essential so you don’t cramp up early in piano lessons.

Have your arms at approximately 90 degrees to the piano. Check that your wrists are level. If they’re too low, you’ll struggle to hit the keys with power, and your playing will be clumsy if they’re too high. Find the Goldilocks zone! 

Ear training

When you start to play piano, you must understand what you hear.

The process of connecting theoretical knowledge with sound is called ear training. It’s similar to learning a language. The building blocks of ear training are:

• Pitch – The highness or lowness of sound frequencies.
• Notes – The twelve frequencies of Western music.
• Intervals – The spaces between notes.
• Scales – A series of seven notes with specific intervals that help build melodies.
• Chords – A combination of two or more notes you play simultaneously to create harmony.

You can learn about it in Ear Training for piano beginners. 

Basic chord progressions

Once you’ve got a handle on these foundations of ear training, the JoyTunes online app teaches you to play stuff that sounds like music! This is all about getting into chord progressions – what makes a song a song! 

To build a chord progression, select a scale like C major. Then, build chords on different scale degrees using the 1-3-5 formula.

There are so many simple chord progressions you can play with family or jam to with friends. 

Take the 1-4-5 progression, for example. With these three chords, you can play hundreds of different songs:

1: C major (C, E, and G)

4: F major (F, A, and C) 

5: G major (G, B, and D)

Check out Piano Music for Beginners for a complete guide to learning some basic but beautiful songs on the piano!

Finger speed

It’s all well and good to understand chord progressions, but to execute them, your fingers need to know how to dance! Building up dexterity in your fingers happens naturally over time, but it’s good to isolate and develop it. 

The best exercise for this is playing scales with a metronome (a device that plays a beat to help you play in time). We have one built into the JoyTunes learning program! 

Let’s start with the most straightforward scale, the C major scale. Remembering that we number fingers one to five – here are the correct finger placements for playing the C major scale with your right hand:

Play the scale up and down. Be sure to play it in time, one note per click of the metronome. Don’t forget to use the correct sitting and hand posture. When it feels comfortable, speed up the metronome and see if you can keep up!

Counting whole notes

Now that you can loosen up your fingers and play in time, you have to learn about how rhythm divides and articulates in the language of music. 

Put the metronome on a tempo (speed/pace) of 60 beats per minute. Make sure to set the time signature (a division of beats) to 4/4, which means there are four beats in a bar.

A whole note is worth four beats. It looks like this:

This means, if you play one note (any note!) every four beats, you will play whole notes. Try this with the metronome and see how it feels!

Counting half notes

Half notes are double the speed. They look like this:

This means you’ll be playing one note for every two beats. You can try this at different tempos by changing it on the metronome. It can be confusing, but make sure you distinguish the division of beats from the tempo or pace. 

Counting quarter notes

As you might predict, quarter notes are double the speed of half notes! That means you’ll be playing one note per beat. They look like this: 

The language of musical rhythm continues to divide beats into smaller and smaller parts, including eighth, sixteenth, and thirty-second notes! But for beginners at the piano, it’s best to get comfortable with whole, half, and quarter notes. Practice them with the metronome, practice playing your scales on these rhythms, and you’ll have a strong foundation.

Ready to put your piano lessons into action?

This might feel like a lot of information. 

And it is! 

The early days of learning piano can be overwhelming and frustrating. There’s so much new language, technique, and attention to detail. 

However, Simply Piano gives you genuine results in a steady, satisfying, and at-your-own-pace way.

FAQs.

The post Where to get started: Piano for beginners appeared first on Learn to Play an Instrument with step-by-step lessons | Simply Blog.

Wondering what the best piano applications for kids in 2022 are? Let’s explore a list of the best apps to start learning piano.

Learning to play the piano through an app can be fun for kids and a time-saver for their parents. Instead of spending a few hours a day running kids to piano lessons across town, your kids can use that time to practice piano. 

Apps are designed to be fun and friendly. Most of them prepare material in simple soundbites. The child can play through different skill-building exercises and piano pieces, then move on when they master a lesson. 

If your child loves playing video games, a piano app can be a fun and motivational tool for learning to play the piano. We’ve put together a list of the best piano applications for kids today.

How to find the best piano applications for you.

With so many piano apps for kids available, the choices can be overwhelming! Different piano apps focus on various skill levels and learning goals. Some are more game-oriented, and others put a greater emphasis on piano notes and theory.

The good news is there are plenty of options to choose from! The following criteria can help you narrow down your choices.

The five best piano applications for kids today.

1. Simply

The Simply Piano app is a well-known app popular with children and adults. The music selections range from pop songs on the radio to the classics.  You can learn where the notes are on the piano, how to read sheet music, and how to play the treble and bass clefs. 

This app is compatible with acoustic pianos, electric keyboards, and digital pianos. It uses a microphone to listen as you play and gives you valuable real-time feedback. This can help you recognize and correct your mistakes as you go. 

If you don’t have a piano yet, this app can still walk you through the basics. The Touch Course allows a phone to serve as a backup piano that a child can take with them on the go. 

With the Simply Piano app, you can even purchase a family package. The whole family can learn piano on personalized profiles at a reduced rate.

Playing the piano has never been easier with this piano app. With over ten million downloads, Simply Piano is one of the most popular apps on today’s market. 

2. Flowkey

Flowkey is a simple yet comprehensive learning platform for kids. This app includes piano theory, some history of the instrument, and a good selection of tunes to play on the piano. 

Flowkey is helpful for both beginning piano students and those with more advanced skills. Kids can build their repertoire as they play and master various songs in the program. 

Whether you have an acoustic piano or a MIDI keyboard, this app can keep your fingers on the right keys. It uses a microphone to listen to the notes you play and lets you know when you strike a wrong chord. 

You can watch videos to learn more about the piano and play along with the music on your device. The Flowkey app works on both Android and iOS devices and is a great supplemental learning tool for children enrolled in piano lessons.

3. Pianokids

Pianokids target a younger audience. It uses simple practice exercises to teach kids notes —breaking down simple music lessons with educational games and puzzles. 

Young children play music and games directly on a tablet or phone. You can also print off worksheets from the app. The Pianokids app inspires a love of music in children and teaches them short soundbites of information. 

If you are looking for a way to introduce your child to music early, this app can be a fun-packed way for a kid to learn.

4. Gismart Piano

Gismart Piano can be a fun tool for kids who love to learn through play. This app turns a phone into a piano keyboard and uses games to teach your child piano.

 Even if your child isn’t familiar with music or keyboards, they can still play along with the app’s guidance. Kids can choose to play games or record their own songs. 

Gismart Piano allows a child to experiment with sounds in different octaves on the piano or other instruments. Some sounds that the app includes are the grand piano, guitar, harpsichord, organ, and accordion.

This app is more of a game than an instructional program. However, through games and experimentation with sounds, your child can develop a love for music that can spark a life-long interest in the piano.

5. Playground Sessions

With Playground Sessions, kids start in Bootcamp to learn the basics. Bootcamp takes a kid from ground-level skills to advanced levels. 

Once kids succeed in a level, they can unlock more learning tools and games to advance. Each child gets a score and points for their performance to mark their progress on a level. Your kid can even compete against others as they level up.

This app includes the opportunity for supplemental courses, in-depth theory, and improvisation. 

It can be a good fit for kids who love a challenge and competition.

However, unlike other apps, Playground Sessions is exclusive to MIDI keyboards and is incompatible with acoustic pianos. 

Download an app, and your kid can start playing today!

Apps can be a fun way for kids to learn piano. These kid-oriented platforms allow kids to succeed without the fear of failure. You can combine an app with in-person lessons or allow your child to be the master of their progress. 

For more ideas on encouraging your child’s learning experience, you can also check out this Ultimate Guide to Beginner Piano Lessons for Kids. 

Download your app of choice, and your child can start learning to play piano today! 

FAQs.

The post The Best Piano Applications for Kids in 2022 appeared first on Learn to Play an Instrument with step-by-step lessons | Simply Blog.