key-notes

Question: Mr. Frantz,

I’d like to start by mentioning how impressed I am with your website. It is extremely informative and comprehensive.

My question pertains to correct octave technique....

Question: Hello. I too am a late beginner – started just before I turned 18. So far I have managed to play Mozart’s Rondo Alla Turca and some other easy pieces. But the thing I really...

Question: Hello Albert,

Firstly, thanks for the lessons and advice coming in regularly, it certainly is a great help and also scary to realize how much I still need to learn.

As a retired citizen,...

Question: Hi Albert,

My question relates to staccato double notes played softly. Is finger staccato the best technique for this?

– Tony (England)

Albert’s reply: It’s not...

Question: I’ve read a few times on your site about how everyone has a limit to how fast they can play. This really bothers me. Like I know it’s about playing everything musically first...

Question: I am a senior citizen who has dreamed of learning to play the piano since childhood. I have learned a lot on my own, and started taking lessons two years ago. I am very frustrated and...

Question: As I depress the piano key using the 5th finger, the 2nd knuckle (middle knuckle) collapses and the first knuckle (nail knuckle) over-curls to compensate for it. (See the above picture.)...

Question: My technique goes just so far and then I get stuck. What can you offer in the way of determining fingerings, being able to move about the keyboard freely and easily with precision,...

Question: Hi, I am a pianist and also a student, and I wonder every day in my life, why don’t I “get there”? I mean, I play the pieces, I play recitals and concerts, but I...

Question: Hi Albert,

What are the chords that I really, really need to know as an intermediate piano player? Here’s my guess: Major, minor, diminished, augmented, major and minor 6th, major...

Question: I had been formally trained in piano quite a long ago for a short duration of time. I have not been so much in touch with it since then, but I have always been into music.

Recently I...

Question: How can I transpose a hymn in any key into the key of C? My friend plays the organ by ear and can only play in the key of C, so I need to know how to transpose to the key of C…...

Question: I was wondering how to transpose C major into the key of F major, on scales.

– Alana (Dubai)

Albert’s reply: Scales are the way to transpose! You have to make sure you know...

Question: Hello Albert. Thanks a lot for putting together this helpful website.

My question regards transposing music. Would you say it is best to memorize a piece of music in its original key...

Question: What’s a tonic?

Albert’s reply: The tonic is the first note of any scale. If the key is C major, then C is the tonic. If you’re in A-flat major, then A-flat is the...

Question: I am confused about sonatas. I’ve read that sonata is a single-movement piece, but others say that it has several movements… or was it only a single movement earlier on and...

From the Italian sonare meaning simply “to sound,” the sonata has undergone enough changes throughout music history to fill several encyclopedic volumes, as some scholars have indeed...

Question: Some time ago, I read your interesting article about ‘Sonata Form’ simplified.

What’s the relationship between sonata and symphony, both regarding form and other...

Question: Hi, I am wondering how to get better at playing pieces in different keys. Different keys have different chords, which have different fingerings. For example, I am good at playing songs...

Question: Hello Albert,

About theory, what book would you suggest to purchase please? I need a book which will carry me through to the highest level. Most books one finds on the internet are just...

Question: Which minor scale… natural, harmonic, or melodic, should I be practicing on when playing the major scale, then to its relative minor scale?

– Richard (North Carolina, USA)

Question: Hi Albert,

I’m just beginning to play. Is there such a thing as a paper/cardboard thing you put on the keyboard with the notes on it?

Thanks,

– Gigi

Albert’s reply:...

Question: My idea of teaching music theory through piano was always burning in my mind… at last I think I found the right place to learn more.

I am interested especially in harmony,...

Question: Hi, I just wanted to ask some short questions:

1. Explain the following time signatures and tell where the accents fall in each: 2/4, 3/4, 4/4.

2. What are accents and what effect do they...

Question: I’ve often read that to play the piano properly, you must be proficient in key identification (knowing what the key is, based on the number of sharps or flats it has). As long as I...