Beginners...You Want to Learn This!

There's one thing that most of us can agree on: If you have the right tools...you can get the job done. 

If you don't have a hammer then you can't get the nail into the wall. You can try using something else, like a wrench or a block of wood. And you might get the very tip of the nail into the wall, but it won't be in far enough to stay with any weight on it. So, you've spent all of this time trying to get the nail in using the wrong tools. As soon as you put a hammer to that nail, it goes into the wall with ease, and supports what you hang on it with no problems. 

The same applies to learning how to play the piano. The proper tools that we need to learn to play the piano successfully are the tools that Music Theory gives us and as we learn how to use these tools, we get better at learning piano and achieving our goals.

The tools that Music Theory gives us are:
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• Better understanding of what you are playing. If you know how to count a measure, play the articulation, the right key, and the right notes on the keyboard, you will play it right. If you don't know all of these things, then you most likely won't play it right; mainly because you can't translate what you are reading on the page.  
• A clearer understanding of what the Composer's intentions are which will help us play the piece more like the composer intended it to sound. 
• More musicality in your playing. This includes everything from dynamics, to articulations, to phrasing, and the emotional aspects of the piece. This will give your playing a more professional and polished sound. 
• The ability to improvise. Music Theory teaches us how to use the right notes, chords, and rhythms together so that we can make up our own music on the spot, instead of reading it from paper. 
• The ability to learn pieces faster. Once you have learned some chord progressions, rhythm patterns, key signatures, counting & time signatures, and some aspects of musicality, you will be able to read them much faster in any piece that you start to play. You can understand what you are seeing on the page instead of it all sort of jumbling together in random symbols that don't make any sense. 

~ Now if you're a beginning piano student, some of this may sound a bit overwhelming because it seems like a lot to learn. It is, but hang on...

~ if you go right here you will find a playlist of beginning Music Theory Videos that will help you learn anything you need to about Music Theory! Go through them one by one to either learn something new or reinforce what you've already learned or are currently working on. 

The more you learn Music Theory the more tools you're going to have in your piano toolbox. Think of how easy it is to build something or cook something when you have the right ingredients and the proper tools to get the job done.

Music Theory provides us with the tools to read our music faster, connect better with the intentions of the composer, put more feeling into our playing to sound more professional, and helps us to create our own music. 

Make sure you check out this video tutorial where I go over all of this information and show you how I do this on the piano with different examples of music. Also, there is a question/answer section from my Livestream students on this very topic which may prove to answer some of your own questions as you start to fill up your Piano Toolbox!

Stay Tuned to PianoLessonsOnTheWeb.com to learn much more and achieve your dream of playing the piano.