ONLINE MUSIC LESSONS v7.2
Lessons are for use with all pianos, organs and keyboards with full size keys. Note that
the
width of the keyboard for musical instruments may vary. For example, a piano has 88 keys, a portable keyboard
like a Casio has 61 or perhaps 49 keys, and the old spinet organs have 44 keys. These Lessons apply to all these instruments.
MELODY LESSON
We are going to give names to the notes in your music and names to the keys on
your keyboard and in this way we can “match up” the two and be able to play music. These names will simply be
7 letters of the alphabet:
A B C D E F G
The notes in your music are displayed on 5 lines called the Staff (shown above)
For
naming the lines, we use an easy to remember slogan:
Every Good Boy
Deserves FunThe first letter of each word forms the names of the lines
from the bottom of the staff to the top. It’s also easy to remember the names of the spaces between the lines with the
phrase “Face in the Space“. You can see that the word
FACE is spelled out in the spaces from
the bottom of the staff to the top. Notice how all of the letters of the lines & spaces together form a pattern E F G
A B C D E F. Again, from bottom to top.
The keys on your keyboard have alphabet names, too. Our home base
is known as ‘Middle C’ and can be found closest to the center of your piano or keyboard. In the figure above,
it is the third 'C' from the left. Any C key can be found by the 2 black keys to its right. Notice as you go up the
keyboard (towards the right) we progress from C D E F G A B and we’re back to C again. (after G you go to A) This
is true for the entire keyboard. The melody is played with your RIGHT hand.
SHARP - If
a ‘#’ appears in your music as shown above, notice what line or space it appears on. Here, it’s on the
F line, so we call it an F# ("F sharp") So what does that mean? Whenever you come across any F
note in your music, play the black key immediately to the RIGHT of the white key that you would normally play. See the mini
keyboard above and try it.
FLAT - If a ‘b’
appears in your music as shown above, notice what line or space it is on. Here, it’s on the B line, so we call it
a Bb ("B flat") So what does that mean? Whenever you come across any B note in your music, play
the black key immediately to the LEFT of the white key that you would normally play. See the mini keyboard above and try
it.
The blue line shown in the above figure is a LEDGER LINE or helper line
to support notes that lie below or above the staff. The note shown on this ledger line is a C ...actually, it’s middle
C, your home base. How do we know? The bottom line of the staff is an E. You then work alphabetically backward & find
that the space immediately below is a D. Consequently, the next note below that is a C. Easy stuff! Now, go to Practice Melody.
CHORDS LESSON
So far we have a melody - but what is missing? The pleasing harmony of many
notes sounding together! We now add that full sound here with the Chords lesson. The chords are located above the staff
and appear as capital letters as shown above. In your store bought music, the chords are sometimes followed by lower case
letters, various symbols & numbers. Ignore numbers.
Go to your piano or keyboard and locate middle C. Now find the
C below middle C (first one to the left) This is the area where you will be playing the chords with your LEFT
hand. For our 1st attempt, let?fs try to play a C chord as shown in Ex 1 on the Chord List below. To play, we follow the
formula on the List. It says C+4+3 Now see fig 1 shown below the Chord List. That means you play C, count up 4 keys (including
black keys) and play E, then count up 3 more keys & play G. Play all three keys at once. This happy sound is a C major
chord.
CHORD LIST Replace C with desired chord
EX
... CHORD ... FORMULA ... NAME- C or CM............C+4+3......Major
- Cm or Cmi........C+3+4......Minor
-
Cdim or C-........C+3+3......Diminished
- Caug or C+.......C+4+4......Augmented
TIP - Write out Chord List and keep near keyboard to find chords easily.
Now look at Ex 2 on the Chord List. We have a Cm or Cmi chord. The formula is C+3+4.
Refer to fig 2 above. Play C and count up 3 keys, then 4 more. Notice that we are now playing a black key. Play all three
keys at once. This is called a C minor chord and has a sad quality to it.
Now try playing the chords in Ex 3 and 4
on your Chord List. Hear those interesting & wonderful sounds! By the way, these examples are for the C chord - it works
the same way for other chords like G or A or any chord. Just substitute the new chord letter for the C. For instance, play
the F chord in the music shown below. On your Chord List, the formula is now F+4+3 We simply replace the C with the chord
we need, in this case an F. So you play F-A-C. Next, play F#dim - we boot out the C in our formula replacing it with an
F#. The 'dim' hints for us to use Ex 3 and so we have F#+3+3 See fig 3 above. Next, try Ebmi (Eb minor) in fig 4
above.
Finally, try Bb. Bb is taken as a unit and is most like Ex 1 on your Chord List as a major chord. So we have
Bb+4+3 see fig 5 - Red C indicates middle C and notice that this chord 'spills' over into the area where you play
your melody! If that happens, continue playing your chords here but play your melody higher up to the right. For example,
if the music in your melody says to play an F, play the next higher F to separate the melody & chords.
Play
the F chord 
Little hands? Play only the first 2 notes of the chord. For example,
in a C chord, just play C and E (Formula: C+4+3 but leave out the +3)
If you see numbers or any strange symbols that
you don't understand, simply ignore them! This will not interfere with your basic playing & enjoyment of your music.
Remember, the key to success is to practice, practice, practice! So, let's now go Practice Chords.
MUSIC LESSON
The notes below have been simplified into a simple egg shape.
Your store bought music will contain
notes with all kinds of shapes.
Just ignore the shapes & think of them as the simple egg shape as shown here.
Beethoven's Ninth Symphony 'Ode to Joy'
Practice Melody
Play the song above by matching up the letter names of the notes in the music with the letter names of the keys on your
keyboard. Play with your right hand. It doesn't really matter which fingers you use when playing your instrument. Whatever
is comfortable for you is best. Play the 1st note. It’s in a space. It is an A. (Remember “Face in the Space”?)
Now let’s go to your keyboard to play it. First, find your ‘middle C’ and work up (to the right) alphabetically
until you get to A. Play that A! Next note is another A. Play it. 3rd note is on a line & it’s a B. Careful!
- don’t play the usual white B key! Notice on the far left that the ‘Flat’ symbol (b) appears on the B
line. Since this is a Bb (B flat), play the black key to the left of the B. 4th note is a C - the C above middle C. Play
that, and continue with the rest of the tune. Now, practice with your own music by checking out our Music Guide.
Practice Chords
Chords shown in
the above music appear as capital letters above the 5 lines of the staff. Try them all! One chord is incorrect - Can you
find it? When done, practice with your own music. Feeling confident? Try the next lesson Practice Melody & Chords.
Practice Melody & Chords
In the above music, first chord is an F - Play that
with your left hand. While holding that chord, play the first melody note which is an A with your right hand. Continue to
hold the F chord & play the other melody notes that follow until you come across the next chord - C. Play that with your
left hand & play the melody notes that follow until the next chord. Use this method for the whole song. When done, try
practicing with your own music.
Congratulations 
You have completed the Online Music Lessons! Enjoy your new skill
of entertaining yourself, your family and friends.
Music Guide 
Your store bought sheet
music and music books must have letters ('chords') appearing above the five lines ('staff') as illustrated
in the Beethoven music above. Various symbols and numbers may also appear with these letters. Look for ‘Fake’
& ‘Easy to Play’ music. When playing store bought music you may see notes stacked one on top of another. If
so, play the top note. Music books & sheet music are available online and at stores & malls that sell CDs - check
your local yellow pages. An excellent source of music for these Lessons is:
Return to Melody lesson
l Continue with Chords lesson
