Piano Basics

In the past century, dozens of books have been written that are designed to teach piano. Within these books are time-honored practices and principles of learning how to play. Almost invariably, these books contain information on scales, notes, chords, and songs which the learner is expected to master. And, those books lead the reader through the same basic sequence of learning the piano- from the parts of music to the whole, from notes to scales to chords, from the pieces of written music to the whole. And for the most part, these books are very thorough.

Why is that 90% of those who try these books never play the piano again after their initial encounter with the instrument? While it is possible to come up with a variety of reasons, including the inherent difficulty of the instrument, lack of talent on the part of the learner or lack of disciple, none of these explanations are really satisfactory. Some learners have the discipline to overcome all sorts of obstacles to learn melodies, simple songs, and even difficult pieces. And it is rare that even the least talented learner can't acquire some skill on the instrument, if they have work ethic.

This book is remarkably different for three major reasons.

First, this book is based on the assumption that "the keyboard is the book." (Or, the book is the keyboard.) The music is not in the notes on the page, for they are just marks. THe music is in the mind of the learner and in the sounds produced through the mind to the fingers to the keyboard and back again.

Second, this book builds on the traditions of the past. It is not that all of the books, instructors and past methods are wrong. But it does mean that they may have fallen short of the goals they reflected.

Third, this book is based on how learners learn; not just on how notes, scales, and chords are presented. Many of the past books assume that it is up to the learner to fill in the blanks. Throughout the book, there will be found explanations on how to learn and what happens when a person is learning new information.