Free piano instructions and exercises for child or beginner to learn correct position to play piano


		Follow these easy instructions to start piano self-teaching or piano home schooling. The presented piano instructions and exercises are used by Hellene Hiner during her lessons with children and beginners.

Proper body position while playing the piano
Proper arm position while playing the piano
Proper hand and fingers position while playing the piano
Practicing piano key touch

The goal of these free piano instructions is to teach you about correct posture while playing the piano. Remember that the correct piano position of the body and fingers is not something that was artificially invented, but is the most natural and effective position for piano playing, and has been developed during the long history of piano performance and education. To further improve your position and playing technique, extensively practice the piano, watch the performance of professional musicians, and use the advice and supervision of a good piano teacher.

Instruction 1. Proper body position while playing the piano

How you sit at the instrument is very important .

You must sit near the center of the piano, so the Middle C (Middle Do) is positioned at the center of your stomach.

The distance between the player and the music sheet stand has to be as long as the player's arm, stretched straight with an opened, unbent hand.

The height of your chair has to allow your hand and forearm being in a straight line while playing. If you puts your palms on the piano keyboard, your relaxed forearms must be parallel to the floor.

Your feet have to take a firm stand on the floor or a special foot stand. You have to occupy just half of the seat, and lean forwards a little to feel the support of your feet.

Instruction 2. Proper arm position while playing the piano

The correct arm position for playing the piano Your elbows must not be pressed against your sides. Think of your arms as your wings. If you can remember this, your 5^th fingers (pinkies) won't falter while playing.

Your hand, wrist, and forearm have to form a nice, gently upward, curve close to a straight line. Think of them as a bridge, and imagine people passing this bridge. You have to make sure that they wont fall off during their journey.

Instruction 3. Proper hand and finger position while playing the piano

The correct hand position on the piano keyboard

The exercise to feel the fingertip to play the piano with

To understand the proper position to keep your hand in, put your palm on a bent knee so that the hand can take the form of a semi-sphere, every finger and thumb being bent in joints to show three angles. Remember this position of the fingers - the hand has to be shaped the same when you play the piano.

When playing, try to keep your fingers closer to the black keys, because beginners tend to press the piano keys at the very end.

To understand and remember the part of your finger to play a piano key with, touch the tip of a pencil's eraser with the tip of your finger. This is the way you have to touch piano keys.

The exercise for training the correct thumb position

You must keep your thumb in its proper position on piano keys. The following exercise will help you to understand and remember this position: Press Do (C) with your 3^rd (middle) finger and the next key - Re (D) with your thumb. When you position your fingers this way, your thumb will be under the third finger. You can see that the thumb presses the piano key on its side, maybe even touching the piano key with its nail.

The practice of the White Cat - Black Cat (Chromatic scale) piano finger exercise improves the correct position of your thumb.

Instruction 4. Practicing piano key touch

When you play an acoustic piano or electric touch-sensitive piano, you must be able to press the piano keys strongly enough to produce the desired level of sound without losing control over the strength of touch. To achieve this, press the key using the weight of your whole arm, from your fingers to your shoulder. To train this touch, practice the exercise "Bridge" by playing an arbitrary series of piano keys. After playing a piano key, bounce your hand upward, and, after moving it by an high ark trajectory, land on another key to play. Older beginners may also learn to do the same exercise by playing a chord (3 keys) in different octaves.

This article was prepared with the generous help and permission of Rada Yaroslavsky

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Follow these easy instructions to start piano self-teaching or piano home schooling. The presented piano instructions and exercises are used by Hellene Hiner during her lessons with children and beginners.