The Parts of a Piano

Series Summary

The piano is easily one of the most recognizable musical instruments in the world. Since the early 18th century, musicians have used the piano to compose a myriad of musical compositions. Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, and Haydn all created sublime masterpieces for the piano. Creating music on the piano is a challenging and rewarding endeavor, given the incredible octave range of the piano and dynamic adjustment.

In this free online video series about musical instruments, learn how to play the piano from expert piano player and professional musician Athena Reich. Athena will teach you basic piano lessons such as proper posture and correct hand positions for the piano. She'll show you how to practice correct finger techniques to enhance your manual dexterity and facilitate muscle memory. You'll also learn more advanced piano techniques such as how to harmonize on the piano, how to play the 7 scale notes, how to use piano pedals, and how to play chromatic tones. Wrap it up with how to play melodies and harmonize with melodies and how to compose your own music on the piano. You'll be playing in no time!

Video Transcript

"In this segment, we re going to talk about the parts of the piano. In front of me are the keys all types of keys white keys and black keys. Down here we have the low keys. These are low notes--so it s down the keyboard. All the way up here we ve got the high notes making high sounds, high tones. These are the high notes and of course the notes in the middle. As you can see, there are white keys and there are black keys. Now, how does a piano work? If I open the lid of the piano, you ll see that each one of these keys attaches to a string I mean to a hammer and if I play the key, it makes the hammer hit the string and that s exactly how a piano works. Now down here, these are pedals. On the right is the sustain pedal. If I play a note and hold the sustain, it holds the note even without me holding my hand. If I play the left pedal, it makes the note softer."