First Song on Piano

What should a piano beginner learn first?

The first thing a piano beginner should do is become familiar with the layout of the piano keyboard. When seated at the piano, the low notes are on the left and the high notes are on the right. Each key, black or white, will play a note one half-step higher than the key to its left.

When you look at a piano keyboard, you’ll notice that there are white keys and black keys. The black keys are narrow and raised compared to the white keys. Black keys also come in sets of two or three, with two adjacent white keys between each set. Recognizing these patterns on the keyboard is the first step to being able to read music.

What are the notes for hot cross buns on the piano?

In this lesson, you’ll learn to play hot cross buns on a set of three black keys. Choose any set of three black keys near the middle of the piano. Once you’ve learned the song, try playing on lower keys, or higher keys, or with both hands together on different sets of three black keys.

Is Hot Cross Buns the same tune as Three Blind Mice?

The tune for “Hot Cross Buns” begins and ends with the same phrase as the tune for “Three Blind Mice,” but these two songs sound very different in the middle. Try singing or listening to these songs and see for yourself!

What is the 80/20 rule in piano?

When learning a piano piece, identify the 20% of the piece that is most difficult for you to play. That might be the notes in a few tricky measures. It might be the rhythm. It might be that you’re rushing or pausing in a certain spot. Whatever it is, spend 80% of your practice time on that difficult part. 

It can be tempting to simply play the entire piece from start to finish over and over until you get it right, or in other words spend 100% of your practice time on 100% of the song. That may seem like the easiest way to learn, but it will actually take longer and be less effective. Practicing that way can even teach you to make the same mistakes over and over again! If you can easily play a measure without making a mistake, move on from that measure and focus instead on those parts of the piece that are still giving you trouble. This is the key to smart and effective piano practice.

What is the first key to learn on piano?

The easiest note to identify on the piano is the note D. To find this note, look for a set of two black keys. The note between the two keys is D. Every D on the piano sits between two black keys. At Hoffman Academy, we call a set of two black notes the Doghouse, and D is for the Dog who lives in the Doghouse.

How often should a beginner take piano lessons?

The answer to this question depends a lot on the age and abilities of the student. Very young students do best with shorter lessons, and may benefit from a few minutes of instruction two or three times a week. Hoffman Academy video lessons are perfect for this, as lessons or parts of lessons can be watched any time.

While most beginning piano students in private lessons will have a piano lesson once a week, this may not be the most effective way to learn. Daily practice is essential for piano students to make progress, and especially at the beginning it can be hard for practice to feel engaging for an entire week between lessons. The ability to watch 2 or 3 short lessons throughout the week is one of the great benefits of learning with Hoffman Academy. Students can move forward at their own pace, practicing for one or two days between lessons, and then watching the next lesson as soon as they are ready.

Hello and welcome. I'm Joseph Hoffman,
and today we're going to be learning about some piano basics,
and by the end of this lesson,
you'll be playing your first song on the piano.
So let's come to the piano to get started.

One nice thing about the piano
is how visually the keys are organized.
These things you push are called the keys,
and they come in just two simple colors, black and white,
and the further you go to the left, the lower the sound they make.
So this is the low area of the piano,
but if we come up to the right, we get the high notes.

Now let's experiment with your own piano.
I want you to try this along with me.
Find any key in the high area of your piano,
and play each key one at a time, moving to the right,
black and white keys,
and listen to the sound getting higher and higher
until you get to the very highest key of your piano.
Did you make it to the highest key on your piano?
You're always welcome, of course, to pause the video
if you need extra time to try something.

Now let's go back down to the low area of your piano,
and this time find a low key, any key,
and play each one moving down to the left, one key at a time,
and listen to how the sound gets lower and lower,
until you get to the very bottom note, the bottom key of your piano.

Good, now let's ta ...