You're On Your Way To Playing Piano Like You've Always Dreamed!

Lesson One -

"The Crash Course In Exciting Piano Playing!"

You're On Your Way To Playing Piano Like You've Always Dreamed!

     Week one's journey into the world of piano starts at the very beginning: the piano keyboard. After a brief review of the texts and their methods, you'll be introduced to the keys themselves, learning quickly to find middle C and to identify a number of notes in the C major scale.

     Duane explains right-hand fingering techniques, register and basic musical notation before walking you step by step through the melodies of your first two songs. But melodies are only half the battle; the lesson then moves on to the chords and left-hand accompaniment that a full, complete sound requires. Using the "pointer" method -- a method by which chords and their fingerings are learned -- Duane shows you several in a set of C major scale family chords, giving you the ability to play well-known songs like "Merrily We Roll Along" and "Lightly Row" with both hands.

     If you're saying "I don't want to learn silly little songs like that", remember that we are learning principles we can then apply to any song -- including all the songs you will someday love to play!

     After being taught the fingerings and structure of your newly learned chords, you'll move on to the fundamentals of music theory and sight reading. New terms such as staff, clef, measure and bar line are explained fully, as are their sister concepts rhythm, melody, harmony, time signature and note values. Duane shows you the essentials of music reading and guides you through several songs geared toward exercising your knowledge, stopping along the way to explain any new concept or idea. It's a slow, careful method of learning the basics, one punctuated by a short quiz to test what you've learned thus far.

     The last several minutes of this first lesson move in for a close-up, giving you a bird's eye view of Duane's hands as he again demonstrates the chords, fingerings and exercises included in this lesson. It's a chance to see, in detail, what your hands really should be doing and a valuable tool for understanding and reviewing the techniques introduced in your first week, as well as a "preview of coming attractions" -- exciting techniques you will learn later on.

    And remember -- you don't have to commit yourself to a full year -- you can "sample" the course by signing up for just the first month. But if you do, I warn you -- you will be hooked because you'll start to see that you really can learn to play the piano -- it's not just a wishful dream.