Time To Play A Musical Instrument
What Do You Want to Play?
A Guide to Different Instruments and Their Pros and Cons
A PROMISING PIANIST?
The piano is one of the most popular instruments to learn. Many of you may have had the opportunity to learn the piano as a child and are now considering taking it up again, or you may have grandchildren who are learning – with a little ‘brushing up’ on your own playing, you could help them. One of the attractions is that the notes are ‘ready made’. No worries about blowing too hard or playing out of tune! No need to get it out of its case and put it together, or fiddle with your bow!
The repertoire for piano is vast and many pieces originally written for other instruments or ensembles have also been arranged for the piano so you have plenty of material to choose from.
The digital piano has also become popular. Being an electronic instrument it is able to emulate most common instruments, giving you a variety of different backing sounds and rhythms to play to. You can even play along to a full orchestra or jazz it up with the big band sound! If you like experimenting and trying out different styles, then the digital piano might be for you!
There’s nothing quite like an impromptu piano/keyboard rendition of your favourite tunes, or an old time sing along to get everyone going!
Keep your piano away for direct heat and sunlight. Changes in temperature affect the tuning. Don’t put it by a radiator!
A Bit of History
The piano as we know it has evolved over many years. It is part of the percussion family – due to the action of the hammers hitting the strings. It has the luxury of a wide range of dynamics (louds and softs) depending on how hard the keys are pressed down. The word ‘piano’ is taken from its full name pianoforte, which means literally ‘soft loud’. The range of notes covers over seven octaves (an octave is eight consecutive notes), giving a wide span from the lowest note to the highest.
The piano can be most likened to the clavichord and harpsichord, both of which were popular between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries. The clavichord produced its sound by small metal blades, called tangents, hitting brass or iron strings. The harpsichord, however, plucked the strings with a plectrum rather than using a ‘hitting’ action.
It was a harpsichord maker from Florence that first invented the piano in the 1700s. His name was Bartolomeo Cristofori. His main technical accomplishment was achieving a way of ensuring that the hammers struck the strings, and went immediately back to their resting position, allowing the strings to vibrate freely without being dampened by the hammer. This gave us touch sensitive keys – the sound is loud or soft depending on how hard you press the key down.
Gottfried Silbermann, an organ maker, was to follow Cristofori in his piano building. Silbermann introduced the first loud pedal or sustaining pedal. This allows the strings to continue to vibrate after you have released your finger from the key. If you have a piano it’s worth opening the lid and taking a look – through the cobwebs! You’ll find that each note/string has its own damper. When you press the note down the damper is released and the string vibrates and creates a sound. As soon as you release your finger from the note the damper returns to rest on the string and stops the vibration. When you press the sustaining pedal down all the dampers lift off the strings at the same time, allowing them to vibrate freely. Releasing the sustaining pedal returns the dampers to their original resting position against the strings, stopping the vibration and sound.
Source: www.quamut.com
By the late 1800s the modern day piano as we know it had come into being. A strong iron frame took the tension of thicker high quality steel strings, which could now be more numerous due to the stronger frame. If you look inside your piano you will see that each note has three strings with the exception of the lower notes that only require two. Modern pianos have around 230 strings!
Pianos today are either upright or grand. The upright is more compact, with the frame and strings being vertical, and the grand, and baby grand, is much larger, with the frame and strings strung horizontally. A grand piano needs plenty of space – not just to house the instrument, but also to allow for the sound to resonate freely.
Playing the Piano
Posture and hand position are important when learning the piano. If you aren’t sitting upright and at a suitable height you soon find your back aching! To check the height of your chair, place your hands on the piano. The backs of your hands and forearm should be parallel, forming a straight line from your elbow to the keys. Also make sure that you are the correct distance away from the keys by stretching out your arm in a straight line. Your fingertips should just reach the music page.
For a good hand position make sure that your fingers are rounded so that you press the keys with ends of your fingers rather than the pads. Avoid playing with straight fingers!
Source: www.softmozart.com
Remember to check the height of your seat and how far away you are from the music.
Advice from piano tutor books and teachers vary but it is common practice to get you comfortable with locating the middle C note first. Initially hands are often placed with two thumbs sharing the middle C note, the other fingers take a note of their own as they fall on the keys naturally. Fingers are numbered – thumbs being 1, index fingers 2, and so on. Little fingers are numbered 5. In your early playing, you will find finger numbers above some of the notes to help get you started. As you progress you will be expected to work out the finger numbers quickly by yourself.
You will not learn to play any black notes for a while, but you can use the pattern of the black notes to help you locate some of the white notes. For example, ‘D’ is the white note that sits directly between the two black notes. ‘C’ is therefore one place to the left and ‘E’ is one place to the right. ‘F’ is immediately before the group of three black notes. Use the alphabet to work out the notes – go backwards in the alphabet if you move down the piano (to the left), and go up the alphabet if you count up the piano (to the right).
Source: www.quamut.com
When learning to play the piano you will of course have two lines of music to read at the same time. The top line is for the right hand notes and the bottom line for the left. In the early stages you will only be required to play single notes, but as you progress the number of notes will increase in each hand to two, three and four. That is a lot of notes to process at once! So do learn your note recognition well. Of course, if you intend to learn by ear then the whole note reading process is avoided.
Some people have a natural ability to play by ear. It doesn’t suit everyone, so don’t worry if you try this method and find it difficult. It doesn’t take long to learn to read music, it follows a very logical pattern, and, as long as you don’t try to rattle off a flashy solo too quickly, you will build up your understanding and confidence very quickly.
The pedals are not taught in the early stages of learning. Coordinating two hands is usually enough to start off with – adding the feet comes later.
Here are a few useful websites if you want to find out more about learning to play the piano:
Going Digital
Digital pianos have sound chips and speakers to reproduce a sound as close to that of an acoustic piano as possible. There’s no doubt that they have several advantages over the acoustic piano but the general consensus is that they don’t match the acoustic piano in tone, quality or feel.
The digital piano is the only instrument that you can switch to silent and use headphones. For that reason alone it is worth considering if you are keen to learn but are worried about the neighbours. Using the headphones, you can turn up the volume as much as you like! The digital piano also has a recording facility which is very useful if you want to hear what you’ve just played or want to create some backing sounds or rhythms to play along with.
They are played in much the same way as a normal piano and all the tips and suggestions included in this section apply to both the acoustic and digital piano. If you are undecided about whether to get an acoustic or digital piano and your decision doesn’t depend on keeping your neighbours on side, then I suggest you have a think about what type of music you are most likely to want to learn. If you are a lover of classical music, then an acoustic piano would be more appropriate. If, however, you want to try your hand at lighter music then the digital piano will give you more options in terms of additional backing sound rhythms. If sound is an issue with the neighbours, then the digital piano is the one for you!
Digital pianos are smaller, lighter and easier to manoeuvre than a piano. It won’t dominate a room – as a piano would. You won’t have to pay for regular tuning or fixing broken strings, yet you have the luxury of enjoying the sound of a beautiful grand piano in your own front room – if you press the right button!
You may already have a piano in your home, in which case you can get straight on with learning and practice. If you aren’t yet a proud piano owner, then do consider carefully where you would put it – remember, don’t put it near direct heat. The larger the room the better, without too many soft furnishings as they soak up the sound.
Pros and Cons
The piano doesn’t lend itself to group playing – you can’t join the local orchestra or any other groups, unless you are up to accompanying the local choir, or good enough to do piano trios, quartets, and so on. So in that respect the piano is less of a sociable instrument than most others. If joining such groups is not on your agenda, then the piano could suit you well.
The piano doesn’t need any ‘getting ready’ unlike most other instruments. All you have to do is lift the lid and play – no tuning up to do or pieces to put together!
If you have played an instrument in the past and can read music a little, you will find yourself having to learn to read music in a different clef. The right- hand notes use a different clef to left-hand notes. All bass instruments such as the cello use the bass clef for reading notes, and all treble instruments such as the flute or violin use the treble clef. So, whether it was a bass instrument or a treble instrument that you played before, you will still have to spend some time getting to know the other clef notes.
A SENSATIONAL SINGER?
So many of us think we can’t sing. We either run out of breath or sing ‘out of tune’ – that’s when everyone turns to look at you because you aren’t singing the right notes! Often, the only times we find ourselves singing our hearts out, is at family occasions – weddings, christenings or funerals!
If you are considering developing your voice you will need to establish whether you have a bass, baritone or tenor voice if you are male, and whether you have a contralto or soprano voice if you are female. Basically, do you sing low notes or high notes more comfortably? Any singing teacher or choral conductor will be able to tell what kind of voice range you fall into within a few minutes.
I have found in my years of music teaching, that some people can pitch a note and sing it accurately. Others can hear it, but when they open their mouth to sing it something completely different comes out! Of course, that knocks confidence and reaffirms the belief that singing isn’t for them.
It is however possible to train yourself to sing in tune. A few simple vocal exercises practised regularly can make a huge improvement. Try playing a note on an instrument – any instrument – for this purpose a penny whistle, recorder or harmonica would be equally as effective as a piano. Make sure the note isn’t too high or too low for you, and sing the note back. At first you may find yourself having to swoop up or down to the note, but aim for hitting the note correctly the first time. Keep doing this until you manage to sing it bang on first time, then add another note. Play two notes and try singing them back in tune straight away. Build yourself up slowly until you can manage five or six notes. It’s all about your voice reproducing what you hear. Like most things, it takes time and practice to learn this skill.
The beauty of learning to sing is that no equipment is needed, nothing to transport to rehearsals or performances except yourself!
There is an enormous repertoire for singers covering the whole spectrum of musical styles and genres – from choral church music to operatic arias, not to mention jazz, blues and the popular tunes of your youth.
Singing offers the best opportunity for joining groups. Whether it’s your local church choir, the amateur operatic society or any other group, you will usually find something to suit your style in music. Chapter 14, titled ‘How Music Can Improve Your Social Life’, covers the subject of joining musical groups in more detail.
Learning to Sing
Your posture is very important. You need to balance your body weight evenly by standing with your feet shoulder width apart – one foot slightly in front of the other if you like, keeping your knees soft (not stiff and locked) to allow some natural movement. Arms should be loose but not tucked in close to your body as this will restrict your ribcage from expanding fully.
Avoid sitting down to sing if possible, as this can restrict your breathing. If you do have to sit to sing, then be sure to sit on an upright chair with your feet squarely on the floor.
Practise in front of a mirror to maintain a good posture.
Try to avoid any tension in the back, neck and shoulders – maintain some flexibility, keep your face and jaw relaxed. It’s very important not to close your throat when singing as it will make the high notes impossible to reach and will affect the tone quality of your voice.
If you try yawning with your finger resting on your Adam’s apple, you will feel it go up and down. The Adam’s apple, or larynx, needs to stay low if you want to reach the high notes without closing your throat. Try singing a few notes with your finger on your Adam’s apple. It shouldn’t move up more than half an inch.
When we breathe normally we generally find our chest moves up and down; this breathing method is too shallow for singers. Practise pushing your tummy out when you inhale and allowing it to come back in when you exhale. This makes your lungs expand more fully, as the diaphragm pushes down to give the lungs more room to take in oxygen.
Source: www.singintune.org
There are various exercises you can do to improve your breathing capacity, but here are a couple you can do while you are hanging out the washing or mowing the lawn!
1. Take in a deep breath and exhale slowly. Do this regularly to improve your breath control and capacity.
2. Breathe in counting to four, hold it, count to four and exhale counting to four. As you get comfortable with this, increase the counts to six and eight.
Build up your breathing techniques by doing regular exercises.
Finding your natural range is important. It’s no good trying to sing something that doesn’t fit your voice comfortably; it will sound awful and won’t be good for your voice. To start off with, you may feel unable to sing high or low notes, but with practice and a few lessons you can easily widen the number of notes you can sing comfortably and increase your vocal range.
Diction is an important part of singing. It needs to be clear and crisp. Whatever your natural dialect, you can use various exercises to work on making your pronunciation of words and lyrics unmistakeably clear. You can make up your own exercises for this but have a look at the website www.vocalist.org.uk as a guide. It is packed full of useful information about all aspects of learning to sing, and is particularly easy to digest. Click on ‘vocal training’ and then ‘exercises’ to take you straight to the tips on improving your breathing, posture, pitch and diction.
Looking After Your Voice
Although you don’t have an instrument to take care of, you do have a voice! It’s very important to keep yourself well hydrated. Plenty of water is needed to keep your voice and body in good order. General health and fitness definitely have a bearing on the condition of your lungs and vocal chords, so a good diet and regular exercise will definitely help.
Okay, you may not be performing on a stage as a professional, but taking some measures to help maintain good voice quality is essential. For example, straining to reach notes which are clearly too high for you can put unnecessary strain on your vocal chords which may take time to recover from. Trying to sing on a full stomach will make you feel heavy and sluggish – and will make your breathing system work overtime in order to compensate for your indulgence!
Don’t try to sing on a full stomach!
Certain foods and drinks can affect the voice. For example citrus drinks, caffeine and fruit can make the throat rather dry and affect its natural lubrication. Milky products can induce mucus and ‘clog up’ the throat. Excessive coughing will irritate the throat, not to mention smoking…
There are various pastilles and sprays available that lubricate the throat and resemble one’s natural mucosal secretions. You may find that it’s simply nerves which cause you to cough or clear your throat more than usual, in which case plenty of water and a spray or throat pastilles, will help to return your throat and vocal chords to their optimum state.
