Music Theory

1. The Check List when learning a new piece:

Key

Time Signature 

Composer and Date 

Style and features 

Dynamics

Tempo

Articulation

Texture

Repetitions

Mood

Climax

Tips for Completing Your Check List

Major/Minor?

List any key changes

Simple/Compound/Irregular? 

No. of beats. Type of beat.

You may need to research the date of composition.

Baroque/Classical/Romantic/20th Century?

Volume eg forte, piano, crescendo, diminuendo.

Speed directions. Metronome mark. Tempo changes.

Legato, staccato, accents, slurs etc

Thick chords. Unisons. Arpeggio movement. Polyphony.

Repeat marks. 1st and 2nd time bars. DC. DS.

Calm? Graceful? Playful? Lively? Dramatic? Sombre?

High point of the piece.


2. Music puzzles, game apps and links to improve your sight reading ability and sense of rhythm.

Hi,
I am so pleased that you enjoy playing the NoteWorks on my Ipad. I already found some similar online games so you can play at home on your computers. These games all designed to teach note recognition and improve your sight reading skills and sense of rhythm a lot.
The link is below.
http://www.musictechteacher.com/music_quizzes/music_quizzes.htm

Enjoy it.
Regards,
Yan

3.  Choose an acoustic piano or a digital piano?

Dear Parents,
I would like to remind you that unlike violin, the older acoustic pianos do not sound better when they get older. So please don't buy something too old and cheap, hard to resell later on.
Here are some tips about how to choose a digital or an acoustic piano.
http://m.wikihow.com/Choose-Between-Digital-or-Acoustic-Piano

Hope it helps.
Regards,
Yan

4. How A Scale Is Made

There are 2 ways to figure out how a scale is made. One is by knowing the key signature. When you know the key signature, you can start and end on the root note of that key. 

The other way to figure out a one of the 12 major scales is by steps. In music there are half-steps ( semi tones) and whole-steps (tones). A half-step means going to the next closest note – higher or lower. A whole-step skips one note. On the piano, a half-step is usually the next black note from a white note. A whole-step is usually the next white note from a white note.

The formula for figuring out a major scale using whole-steps (WS) and half-steps (HS) goes like this:

Root – WS – WS – HS – WS – WS – WS –HS (Root)

Root-Tone-Tone-Semi Tone-Tone-Tone-Tone-Semi Tone (Root)

5. Key Signatures

Music key signatures tell you what sharps or flats to play in a key. One way to learn how to play chords is by knowing the key signature of the root note of the chord. Key signatures also tell you what notes to play in a scale.

 Music key signatures can have only sharps or only flats. Pick any key on the piano and it has a key signature. We’re going to focus on major keys here.

C major is the only key that has no sharps or flats.

There are 7 key signatures that have sharps in them. Here they are:

G: F#
D: F#, C#
A: F#, C#, G#
E: F#, C#, G#, D#
B: F#, C#, G#, D#, A#
F#: F#, C#, G#, D#, A#, E#
C#: F#, C#, G#, D#, A#, E#, B#

Notice that all the keys repeat the sharps from the keys before. An easy saying to remember the order of the sharps is: Father Charles Goes Down And Ends Battle.

The last sharp of the key is always the note before the name of the key. For example, F# is the last note before G. D# is the last note before E. If you remember the saying, you can figure out how many sharps are in each key.

For example, “Father Charles Goes Down And”. A comes before B so, B major has 5 sharps. Because of the saying you know they are F, C, G, D, and A sharp.

Now for the flats. There are also 7 keys that have key signatures with flats in them.

Here’s a list:

F: Bb
Bb: Bb, Eb
Eb: Bb, Eb, Ab
Ab: Bb, Eb, Ab, Db
Db: Bb, Eb, Ab, Db, Gb
Gb: Bb, Eb, Ab, Db, Gb, Cb
Cb: Bb, Eb, Ab, Db, Gb, Cb, Fb

Here’s an easy way to remember the order of the flats. The first 4 flats spell the word “bead”. Then, you just need to remember G C F.

Also, the last flat in the previous key tells you what the next key with one more flat will be. For example, Eb major has 3 flats – Bb, Eb, Ab. So the key that has 4 flats is Ab.

Music key signatures are always written the same on the staff. So, if you need to write them, always put them on the same lines or spaces you see here.

When playing in a specific key signature, remember to always play a sharp or flat if it’s in the key signature. If something sounds a little off while you’re playing, check that you’re playing the right sharps or flats. If the key signature says to play an F#, every F should be an F#. 

6. ABRSM's top tips for exam success
   
    Ten top tips for practising

1. Always have a practice plan and decide what you want to achieve in each practice time
2. Sometimes, begin with the 'difficult bits' rather than starting at the beginning of a piece
3. Check your posture – the way you stand or sit and the way you hold your instrument – using a mirror
4. Practise small sections of music slowly and thoroughly before you speed them up. Remember – what you can’t play slowly, you can’t play fast!
5. If you make a mistake, correct it immediately. Don’t simply go back to the beginning for another ‘run up’
6. Be aware of the pulse of the music - it's dangerously easy to slow up for tricky bits!
7. Practise the whole ‘performance’ experience – play your exam pieces to friends and family so you experience a few nerves and learn how to cope with them
8. Listen to your tuning and always aim for a beautiful tone quality
9. Try practising your scales to a different rhythm or, for a change, start at the top note, descend and finish at the top again
10. Enjoy what you play – vary the styles of pieces that you practise to avoid getting bored

Ten top tips for exam success

1. Arrive in the waiting room at least 10 minutes before your exam is due to start. Last-minute panics do not help the playing or singing
2. Use the time before your exam to get your music and instrument ready – you can warm up silently by moving your fingers or blowing though your instrument
3. Feeling nervous before an exam is natural. Try smiling as you go into the exam room – it will help you relax
4. Make sure you are comfortable before you begin. If the stool or music stand is the wrong height, don’t be afraid to adjust it or ask for help
5. It’s fine to ask the examiner if you can warm up by playing a scale or a few bars of a piece
6. You can choose to do your exam in any order. Just let the examiner know
7. Try to keep going in the exam even if you make a mistake – it probably won’t be as disastrous as you think
8. Don't worry about pauses between your pieces – the examiner will be writing and will tell you when to start your next piece
9. Your examiner may stop you during a piece if he or she has heard enough to make a judgement
10. Remember – the examiner is on your side and is looking forward to hearing you perform.

7. Piano Fingering

Many beginning and intermediate piano students struggle with piano fingering. I often see students use awkward fingering when playing the piano.  Our fingers are of different lengths; thumbs are shorter than other fingers. Generally speaking, the thumb is the strongest finger of all. The thumb, index finger (2nd) and middle finger (3rd) are used the most for piano playing. The fourth finger is the weakest and least used. 1) Never use the thumb to play a black key. The only exception is when you're playing a piece that has all black notes. The thumb should not be used to play black keys because it's too short. The fingers most used to play black notes are the 2nd and 3rd fingers. 2) When playing the melody with the right hand and some keys are out of reach, you may move the whole hand to play the note. If the key is only a couple of steps down from the thumb, you may use the thumb as an anchor and cross the second finger over to reach the note on the left side of the thumb. You do not need to move the hand. Just move the second finger over. Once the second finger plays the key, the thumb will cross over to play the other note to the left of the key. Suggestion: Practice the scale often to know what finger to use. (Go to the scale drill lesson) 3)The same rule applies to the left hand.   4) Watch other experienced pianists whenever possible, look at their fingering and imitate their movements.