Christina's music and rhymes

Christina's music and rhymes CHRISTINA'S PIANO MUSIC AND RHYMES

AND THE GOSS ON TEACHING AND PLAYING PIANO

NOTE: All material in this website is copyright and is for private use only. It may not be copied or used for any other purpose without my written permission.
Any questions or comments? Contact me at chrisdebeusmusic@hotmail.com

First of all, let's get one thing straight. I am not an academic, nor some fantastic piano player and I never was a child prodigy. I am just someone who loves music in general, and the piano in particular. I am reasonably adept at playing the instrument, but had to work hard for it. As a child I dreamt of being a famous concert pianist, but although I had the love, I never had the technique, the finger speed or hand span to achieve it. I just wasn't good enough. Such is life. I was fortunate to have excellent teachers: Nancy Salas, William Scarlett and Dulcie Holland who gave me my first lessons in composition. I am also very proud to have Peter Sculthorpe as my mentor. Am I lucky or what? My own limitations as a pianist meant that I learned from my teachers how to overcome problems and over the years, as a teacher of piano, I have passed this knowledge on to my own students - and I am proud to say that some of them are better pianists than I am. The reason for creating this webpage is to share what I have learned about playing and teaching with as many people as possible. I am now mostly retired, and have time to write music. Which is fun. When it stops being fun, I'll stop doing it.

Last updated 4 October 2009.

My books and their music

The view of music as "the gentle art" goes back centuries. Keyboard instruments were perfect for young ladies who could look demure and elegant sitting at a keyboard instrument. A flute in the mouth or a violin under the chin does not have the same effect. To some extent the playing of an instrument such as piano, violin, etc. still carries this "gentle art" image, which extends to the mostly sweet and gentle titles, especially in music for children. What children really do love is Dr Seuss and Roald Dahl, but there is no equivalent of this in music. I started making up some rhymes. The first one was Cockroach Pie, quite a few years ago now. My young students loved it, and so I wrote some more. And then still more. Now I have a total of five books, with the sixth just about ready. The music in my books is in a variety of styles and many of them have lyrics. All the music has been written for the lower piano grades, including pieces of just eight bars long for beginning students

Cockroach pie and "Termite Munchies" are being distributed by All Music Publishing and Distribution Pty Ltd (AMPD) and are available from music outlets, and two compositions out of each book have been placed on the syllabus of Australian and New Zealand Cultural Arts (ANZCA). From Cockroach Pie both the title song and Dancing Caterpillars are listed for Preparatory Grade. Rag for Sarah and Under the paperbark from Termite Munchies are listed for First Grade.
The wonderful book covers were designed by the talented Katy Lambourne, who can be contacted at the_ledger_line@hotmail.com

LINKS within this page:
Hopefully Helpful Hints for beginning piano teachers.
Contents: Introducing the piano; Which way is up; Naming the piano keys; Lesson books; Technique.
The goss on counting.
Contents: Counting the beats; How to count beats; Counting quavers; Counting 6/8 time.
Note reading.
Contents: Reading; Limits of tutoring books.
All the goss on technical work.
Contents: Scales! Why scales?; Studies/Etudes; Major and minor scales; Taking scales beyond the octave; Contrary motion scales.
The who and how of piano exams
Contents: Names and URL's of exam systems; Exam list preparation; Maximising technical work points.
Hands on the keyboard.
Contents: Long, long ago...; From harpsichord to piano; Piano tuning; From fingers to forearms, elbows and shoulders; Whole arm technique.
Feet on the pedals.
Contents: The damper pedal, simultaneous/syncopated; The soft pedal; The middle pedal, practice/sustaining.
I learned the notes. Now what?.
Contents: Young students; What's the story? Bar phrasing.
The goss on dynamics.
Contents: Loud or soft?; Crescendo/diminuendo; Balancing volume between hands.

LINKS to the genealogy pages:
Kwartierstaat Schellevis and Visser.
Links to Schel(le)vis genealogy pages within this site.
Joden with the name Schel(le)vis who died in concentration camps 1940-1945.
Kwartierstaat de Beus and Lindsen.

HOPEFULLY HELPFUL HINTS FOR BEGINNING TEACHERS

Introducing the piano. Once you are familiar with the piano, it is easy to forget how strange - and kind of frightening - this large instrument may look to young children. There are a lot of things we may take for granted. Some that come to mind are:

Which way is up? Ask the child, and it will point upwards. To get the student used to the "up" and "down"on the piano, turn it into a game. The student plays any note on the piano. Then you give instructions such as take a big jump up; take a little jump down; take a little step up, etc. You can also turn this into a "Simon says" game.
Some children (and some adults, for that matter) have difficulty with "left" and "right". In that case, ask the student about the position of their piano at home (make sure to point to the correct side!). For example, if there is a cupboard on the left, and a window on the right, then their hands become "cupboard hand" and "window hand" respectively.
Some children (and some adults) have difficulty relating hands to staff, and will happily let left hand play the top staff, and the right hand gets the bass. In that case, the right hand is renamed "top hand" and the left becomes "bottom hand".

Naming the piano keys.Children know the alphabet from an early age. Luckily, the piano starts on A. You play the notes starting on the lowest note naming each piano key up to the first G. Ask the child what comes next. They will say "H". Then explain that pianos only know the alphabet up to G. Which then explains why the next note is A again. The child (with some help perhaps) continues playing and naming the piano keys all the way up.
Again turn this into a game. For example, find all the notes called "C" on the piano. Together with the child and helping when necessary, starting on the lowest note again, stop on every C and put a pencil (whatever) on the piano key. How many C's did we find? Count the pencils. Then, to your surprise, you discover that every "C" looks the same! Check this out together with the student. Aha, the piano is not just a long, long row of back and white keys, it is just lots of little keyboards stuck together! This turns the scary piano into a much more manageable instrument. You can repeat this game, to make sure all the other keys are always in the same place, and check how many D's or G's (whatever) there are.
Another game is to have turns with the student of finding the name of a randomly chosen piano key. You must close your eyes, and pick a key, any key. The other person then (eyes open!) has to work out what the name of that key is. When it is your turn to work out the name, use the same system the child uses, usually naming keys from the closest C onwards. Some children stick by starting from the lowest note on the piano. Try and ease them into improving their strategy by demonstration and patience.

Lesson books. Most people who teach piano have started the way I did, on a wing and a prayer (so to speak) without any specific training. And your first students are likely to be beginners. Which is a good place to start! Luckily, there are some good piano lesson books available. The modern piano tutors are based on reading intervals, i.e. line to space, line to line, etc, rather than finger numbers and note names. These books work well for teaching the basics. The only negative is that they introduce markings such as phrase marks at a very early stage. Most children are too busy working out the notes and fingers to be able to pay attention to anything extra. Feel free to ignore these markings: they can easily be introduced a bit later when the child has the brainspace to take them on board. Young children may have difficulty seeing notes on the staff named ambiguously "on a line" and "in a space". I usually start the young children (i.e., 6 or 7) with "squashed note" (between the lines) and a "tummy ache note" that has the line going through it. One of my young students some years ago renamed "middle C" as the "aeroplane note".

Technique Don't overburden young beginners with technical requirements. Only a small percentage of young children can play with the rounded fingers as pictured in the piano tutors. Most will play rather flat-fingered. The only two rules children need is (1)that they do not play with their fingers completely flat on the keys, depressing the keys with the underside of their finger joints and (2) that they do not rest the heel of the hand on the edge of the keyboard, which tends to happen with children who have played a keyboard instead of a piano.

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THE GOSS ON COUNTING!

Counting the beats is regarded as an optional extra by most beginners, but it must be learned along with the notes. The idea of "just playing the notes without a rhythm" does not exist at any level of playing piano. Even without counting, the notes will be played the same way every time. This creates a barrier for the correct timing, because this potpourri of long and short notes has to be unlearned before the real rhythm can be learned. Unlearning is difficult and may result in the student no longer being able to learn the correct rhythm - and that's the end of that song! I know it sounds fussy but it isn't. I wouldn't bother with it if it was!

How to count beats? Traditionally we count numbers for the beats. For beginners this may be confusing: finger numbers and beat numbers! Overload! The French time-names (are they really French? I don't know!) are often used in school music. They come in handy, although a little creativity may be required. A semibreve has a much greater chance of getting its four counts if the TA-A-A-A is replaced by a more attractive four-syllable word, for example "chocolate icecream" and for a minim, TA-A could then just be "ice-cream".
Another helpful tool is a percussion instrument, such as a small drum. Students get to play the rhythm on the drum before playing the music on the piano. Of course this gives exactly the same result as clapping rhythms, but playing the drum is fun, and clapping is not. It also allows the teacher to give children a few minutes extra "drum work" during a lesson if needed. Extra "clapping work" just wouldn't do it, would it?!

Counting quavers. This is generally done by adding a syllable to the numbers, thus giving "one-and, two-and" etc. The French time names have "ti-ti" for two quavers. Sometimes neither of these works well. I then decided to make up a "new" counting language of two-syllable words, where "apple" meant "one", "orange" meant "two", "apple" also means "three", "orange" also means "four". Thus counting four beats would go: apple, orange, apple, orange. I check that the child understands, by asking questions such as "how many noses do you have?" I show the child how there are four pieces of fruit in each bar. Some are whole apples and oranges, and others have been cut in half. When I started trying out this method I knew I was on the right path when a young student said "you can tell it's cut in half, because the peel is still stuck on". And so we learn from our students. Sometimes neither the fruit nor the French time names will do the trick. When that happens, make up a lyrics for that passage. To give a simple example: say a rhythm of "ta ti-ti ta" just isn't happening, but if you replace it with "hop skip and jump" with that same rhythm, it is very likely to do the trick.

Counting 6/8 time. Compound time consists of triplets, usually counted one-and-a, two-and-a. For some reason this does not gel with quite a few students. With the success of the apple and orange counting system, I also invented one for compound time, that is, each bar contains a kangaroo (the first triplet) and a platypus (second triplet). It works like a charm!

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NOTE READING

Serious note reading begins when the student has reached the level where both hands play the C to G span, "C position". One way of learning the notes on the staff is by writing or copying them. Which is pretty boring! A much nicer way of learning who is who on the staff, is by actually using the known notes to write music. We do this by writing "mystery music", that is, it has to be written before it can be played. It works like this:
- The student decides whether the music will be for the left or right hand (they usually pick right hand).
- The student draws the appropriate clef (close enough is good enough. Don't get fussy) and decides on the number of beats per bar.
- Student and teacher take turns at writing a bar. The student decides who writes the first bar.
- When we have a total of four bars (using only the C to G notes) it is played on the piano by the student. Some enthusiastic composers-to-be may want to add another four bars. Others don't. It is the student's choice. We may add a title (student's choice), the student's name goes on the paper as well as the date.
This exercise helps reading. It also shows children right from the start that writing music is something anyone can do. You will need manuscript paper with large staffs for the younger children. If you don't have any, then enlarge the size of regular manuscript on a photocopier. Or draw the lines on a blank sheet!

Tutoring books are a great resource, they are not a complete package. By relying exclusively on these books the student only learns to play "in the style of" these books. It is like reading books from only one author. At quite an early stage there are various styles available. My books are an example, but not the only ones. While you teach the beginners, you are also teaching yourself, and you need to establish a repertoire of pieces at the level of your students. One way of achieving this, is through piano examinations. The very early exams such as Preparatory or Preliminary Grade are great for several reasons. First of all, the children discover that sitting for a piano exam is okay and they get a great certificate afterwards. Also, the certificate will come with a report from which you can pick out any elements that you and/or the student may need to work on. Examination systems have a syllabus from which you can choose exam pieces from a list as well as a book with pieces for each grade. This gives a new teacher a choice of pieces at that particular level and an insight into the demands of that level. Of course these pieces can also be used for repertoire, that is, music you play just because you like it! These "party pieces" are important and starting a lesson with one or two party pieces sets a positive mood for the lesson. I know that some teachers teach only the pieces students will play for their next exam. After each exam the "old" pieces are discarded and the learning of the new pieces begins. These students have no repertoire. They are forever "learning" to play, and passing exams is the only goal. It is very poor teaching and students are most likely to give up the piano once the exams stop. Some teachers hold to the principle that children may not like learning to play piano, but they will be grateful later. Many children give up playing piano once they are old enough to refuse to continue with it - usually around age 14 - and the vast majority of those never play piano again. It is important that teachers allow students a choice in the compositions they are to learn. Play a few for them, and the student chooses. We must keep in mind that we can hand out the music, but student has to put in the effort of learning it. Playing a piece is fun. Learning it is just hard work! If you give students music to learn that they like, they will be prepared to work for it. It only seems fair, that way! It is important to remain aware of the word PLAY in "playing piano".

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ALL THE GOSS ON TECHNICAL WORK!

Scales! Why scales?
Why indeed? In the early 19th century tuning of the keyboard changed and it became possible to play in any key, and scales were seen as an essential introduction to these new and complex key signatures. Unfortunately in the 21st century this view remains largely unchanged and unchallenged. Playing scales or arpeggios is not a bad thing. Not really difficult either. What is difficult is the useless extensions of this in examination requirements of playing scales over 2-4 octaves hands together similar motion, and contrary motion. Playing arpeggios hands together over several octaves is not really difficult, just useless. Why are these requirements still generally regarded "as an important part of piano playing" when these are never found in the piano repertoire? I have never found any positive effect of the technical work on the student's ability to play and read music. It does lead students to avoid doing exams. So be it.

Studies/Etudes
Studies or Etudes (whatever you want to call them) were invented along with the scales. The purpose of a Study is to give practice in some aspect of technique, and there are lots and lots of Studies that are based on scale playing. The theory is that when you have a problem with a specific technical passage in a composition, you choose a Study that addresses this aspect. Of course the problem would also be solved by spending time on learning the difficult passage in the composition, which has the advantage that you don't need to learn a complete Study in order to solve the problem of maybe four or eight bars of music! This does not mean that studies are useless and ugly. There are some great Studies at all levels which deserve a place in any repertoire. Just ignore the "Study" or "Etude" title and approach these like any other composition. They're worth it!

Major and minor scales
We are stuck with scales. Face it. The way scales are set out in a syllabus is based on the majors and relative minors. This works fine in theory, because the relationship is easy to see on paper, but not when playing them. Once students are at a point where scales to be learned are increasing in number (around First and Second Grade) I found it helpful to introduce the "circle of fifths" in the sharp major scales, C major, G major, D major and A major will be enough for students to cope with at this level. These scales all have identical fingering, each new scale starts on the 5th note of the previous one, and each new sharp is right at the end of the scale. This is all visual learning. Let the student find the fifth note, let the student find the new sharp, and write down the sequence of scales and sharps as they appear.

The next step is learning how to change a major scale into a harmonic minor one. Easy peasy. All you need to do is flatten the third and sixth note of the scale (i.e. E flat and A flat for the C scale). Lo and behold: BOTH the flattened notes in the scales fall under the third finger! For both left and right hands, even. Piece of cake. Learning the melodic minor scale is more difficult and is better left until the harmonic minor scales are well established, to avoid confusion between the two. Using the same approach as before, in the melodic minor scale, the bottom half is minor, the top half is major, i.e. only one flattened note (the third). Which is easy enough, going up. What children find difficult is to flatten both the 7th and the 6th note of the scale on the way down. To say that these notes are the same as the relative major is no help at all. Does anyone think of E-flat major when playing a C minor scale? If you do, let me know! You'll be the first!
The flat keys are more difficult because of the fingering which changes from key to key. Mastering the sharp keys and having an understanding of how scales/keys relate to each other does make it easier to learn the flat keys.

Taking scales beyond the octave
Often young students have difficulty adding a second octave because they do not perceive it as a repeat of the first, particularly when playing hands together. It may help to let the student practise playing one octave only (hands together), the right hand finishing on the thumb instead of the little finger. If this does not do the trick, then let the left hand do a finger shuffle on the top note of the first octave, from thumb to little finger. Now both hands start a whole new octave, exactly the same as the first, with a (temporary) pause between the two octaves.
A student who has problems with 2 octaves going up, will also have problems going down. Once the student has mastered two octaves going up, then add only one octave going down, and add the second octave once the student has mastered the first.

Contrary motion scales
Some early contrary motion scales are easy to do over a total span of 2 octaves (i.e. one octave per hand). Children tend to like playing the contrary motion ones because it looks clever. Unfortunately the pleasure of any scales wears off very quickly.

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THE WHO AND HOW OF PIANO EXAMS

There are three different examination systems for piano available in Australia that I am aware of.
- Australian and New Zealand Cultural Arts (ANZCA) offer three syllabi, each up to Diploma level: Classical Piano, Modern Piano and Piano for All Occasions.
Modern piano covers areas such as jazz, ragtime, boogies, blues, songs and more. It is very popular with children as well as older students.
Piano for All Occasions covers areas such as Showtime, Dance, Dinner music, Special Occasion, busking and more. It is popular with more mature students who would like to work as a professional pianist for weddings and/or other celebrations. Website: www.anzca.com.au

- The Australian Music Examinations Board main focus is on classical music. They offer two levels, of which "Music for Leisure" has less stringent requirements. No diploma level for Music for Leisure. It also offers a course for Contemporary Popular Music for keyboard, which has certain electronic requirements. Website: www.ameb.edu.au

- Trinity College London is based in England but they hold exams in Australia with offices in major cities. Their focus is on classical music. Levels up to Diploma. Website: www.trinitycollege.co.uk

Exam list preparation. Many students practise their examination pieces continuously until the day of the exam. In the higher grades the compositions are long and complex. It takes a lot of work - and thus time - to learn not only the notes, but also the interpretation. Playing the music continuously is counterproductive. Once it has been studied for a while, it will become stale and boring to play. It is essential that the composition gets a holiday of several weeks at least - up to about 6 weeks - BEFORE the student loses motivation. The longer and more difficult the piece is, the more holidays it needs. During this time this music should not be played at all. There is no way that the student will forget how to play the piece. If it has had a long holiday (such as six weeks) it may take a day or so before all the notes "come back". The music will sound fresh, and students will be able to take their understanding and interpretation of the music to the next level. If there is no break in the practice routine the student will be sick and tired of playing this music by the time of the exam, and this will have a negative effect on the performance. During the holiday of one piece, the student can give more attention to another composition. Perhaps more importantly, it gives space to introduce one or more comparatively easy pieces as party pieces - just for fun. It also means that the student will be reading new music, which is important for the development of sight reading skills. Yes, there are sight reading books by the dozen, but why not play some real music instead? Always remember to keep the PLAY in playing piano.

Maximising technical work points
Many students avoid doing exams because of the required technical work. You can pass piano exam without it, but you will lose 20% of total marks, which is a big slice! Rather than counting down from the available 20 points, we start at zero and see how far we can get with it. I make up a list of all the items to be learned. The more items in one box, the more you have to learn for your points. For example, if there is only one scale in the "chromatic" box, then that one is in the "must learn" category, because you can count on the examiner asking for it. A box with only two items is also a handy one. You'll get asked one of the two! And that is the way we work through the list. When you get around to the scales, do the majors first, because they tend to be the easiest. Doing it that way will still give you a fair share of the points - and without the pain!

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HANDS ON THE KEYBOARD

Long, long ago... there were no pianos. The keyboard instruments in rich people's homes were small harpsichords and clavichords. These were lightweight wooden instruments with a very light and shallow touch, suitable for the young ladies, who would sit perfectly straight, demurely showing off their lovely shoulders, and tinkle with their pretty fingers. More often than not, they would only play with three fingers, leaving out the thumb and little finger, which made their hands look so pretty. This worked fine on harpsichords of all sizes, whether they be small virginals at home or a concert harpsichord leading an orchestra. If you ever have a chance to tinkle on a harpsichord, try it out, and you will realise how light and easy it is to play.(Yes, fusspots, the clavichord had little metal hammers which hit the strings, which gave it control from the keyboard. Its volume ranges from PPP to PP. It is a wonderful gentle little instrument. I would love to own one).

From harpsichord to piano. Then in the 18th century the piano was invented. There was (and is) an enormous difference between a harpsichord and a piano. The harpsichord is a PLUCKED instrument - like a guitar. If you pull a guitar string up a centimetre and let go you will get a certain volume of sound. Right? Pull the string up more than a centimetre, and the sound will be louder. Right? But whether you pull the string quickly or slowly, makes no difference. The one centimetre pull will still have the same volume, and so will the second pull (please don't bust your guitar strings to confirm the laws of physics!). So far so good? On the harpsichord, the quills (I suppose they were real bits of feather originally, but later made of leather) will ALWAYS pull the string the same distance, whether you depress the key fast, slow, firm or light, with your nose or with your toes. Which means you cannot control the volume by pressure on the keys. In contrast, the piano has small wooden hammers which hit the strings. You control the speed of the hammers through the keys, which allows you control the volume.

Piano tuning. Wood will shrink in a dry atmosphere, swell in high humidity. For this reason the early wooden-framed keyboard instruments need constant re-tuning. The modern piano with its iron frame is much more stable and will stay in tune for quite a while. As a piano teacher I have my piano tuned at the beginning of every school term, because the piano gets a lot of work and I believe a teaching piano should never be far out of tune. A private piano should be tuned at least once a year. I know that some unscrupulous dealers will claim that the piano is so sturdy that it will never need tuning. This is sheer nonsense. Horses patoots! In a piano - no matter how good its quality - all the strings will loosen and stretch gradually, lowering the pitch, each string at its own rate. This means the piano is "out of tune". Unless the piano is tuned, the pitch will fall so far under its original "concert pitch" of A=440 (440 vibrations per second)that it can no longer be tuned at concert pitch without real risk of breaking the frame to which the strings are attached, which is the end of your piano. Dead as a dodo. The reason for this is that the stress on a piano frame is very high. In an upright piano it is 15 to 20 tons, and up to 30 tons on grand pianos. It doesn't sound that dangerous to pull the pitch of a piano up by just a semitone. Just a blip, really, isn't it? But when you add together the increased tension of the more than 230 strings of the piano, it can add as much as two tons to the stress on the frame. Once it gets to a tone below pitch, well... would you risk it? Spend the dough at least once a year on having the piano tuned. I assure you it is worth it!

From fingers to forearms, elbows and shoulders. After 1800 the piano became the favoured instrument over the harpsichord. Various improvements had been made to the piano. It was sturdier, more reliable and had a heavier and less shallow touch. The tinkling finger technique was no longer adequate on this instrument. Pianists began to use the weight of their forearms and the flexibility of the wrist in their playing technique. During the 19th century more and more iron was added to strengthen the frame which holds the strings, which then allowed the use of thicker and stronger strings which improved the piano sound, but also made it heavier to play. As the piano became more powerful, composers wrote music that demanded even greater power. Piano playing technique developed along with the newfangled compositions and the more powerful piano. Just the weight of the forearm was no longer enough, and the whole arm, from the shoulder down, was beginning to be used by pianists in the 19th century: Franz Liszt has been reported as "shaking the octaves out of his sleeves".

Whole arm technique. First of all, check your position at the piano. Sit on the piano stool, feet flat to the floor. Now move forward until you are in a position where you will fall forward if you lift both feet. This is a balanced position. The next question is, how far from the piano and how high up? When you sit at the piano in your balanced position, put your fingers on the keys in a playing position. Now check your arms: the upper arm should be at a slight angle with the elbow a little forward. Never play with your elbows behind you! The forearm, wrist and hand up to the fingers should be either horizontal or slightly sloping downwards. Never play from "under" the keys. Now your're ready for the interesting bit! The real trick is to relax your arms and shoulders. The way the human body works, tensing the muscles in your hand (making a fist) will automatically tense all the muscles in your arm and shoulder. Which is not what you want! You want to use the WEIGHT of your arm from the shoulder. You don't want the muscles to interfere. Some people get this naturally, others have to work on it. Try this, sitting at the piano:
- Sit straight, but not stiff. Wiggle your body to make sure it is not tense.
- Pull your shoulders up (that tenses them) and then drop your shoulders, which will relax them. Make yourself aware how the relaxed shoulders feel. Remember: shoulders up=tense, shoulders down=relaxed.
- Now lift your arm, keeping the elbow below shoulder height, in a relaxed mode (which means it will be a little away from your body), the wrist in front, with the hand dangling just above the keys. Dangle your hand. If it doesn't flop around, it is tense! RELAX!! Check that your shoulders are down.
- At this point there should only be enough tension in your arm to hold it up. No extra muscle, no extra tension. Ready? Here comes the good bit:
- Relax the muscles in your arm! If you are doing it right, your hand should land on the keys, fingers first, collapse at the wrist, and slide off into your lap. (I bet you didn't let them slide... so do it again!)
- Now do the same again, but stop your hand from slipping off the keys. And whatever keys you landed on, have been played in a perfectly relaxed manner, using the weight of the whole arm. Congratulations! This is the very basis of effective piano playing. By using the large muscles of your arms rather than the puny little muscles of your fingers, you will have much better control. It may take a little time to get used to this relaxed technique, but it will definitely be worth it.

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FEET ON THE PEDALS

The damper pedal is connected to the piano's dampers which stop the strings from vibrating. Depressing this pedal will lift all the dampers away from the strings, allowing every string in the piano to vibrate. Releasing the pedal will reset the dampers. There are two different ways of using the pedal, simultaneous and syncopated.
Simultaneous pedalling is usually the first to be learned. It simply means that the hand and the foot go down simultaneously. The young children love using it.
Syncopated pedalling is more complex and learned somewhat later. It will create a smooth legato in a series of chords or notes that lie outside the hand span. In syncopated pedalling the foot goes down AFTER the hand motion. It can be practiced with either single notes or chords as follows:
- Play the chord, hold it down and depress the pedal.
- Lift your hand, but keep pedal down. The pedal is now holding the chord.
- With the pedal still holding the first chord, play the second chord. As soon as the keys are down, lift your foot and depress it again.
- If you got this part right, you will have replaced the first chord by the second chord.
- To get a rhythm going, it may help to use a simple 3-step sentence, such as "Hand, Up, Down" where "Hand" means your hand plays the chord; "Up" means pedal up; "Down" means pedal down.

- This pedal should be used with care. Lead-footing the damper pedal produces noise, not music.
- Use the pedal only where it will not create ugly dissonances.
- Never keep the pedal down in a scale-like passage unless this passage is played in the top section of the keyboard, where there are no dampers.
- Never keep the pedal down across a chord change unless the two chords will sound good together.
- Be aware of separate music phrases: it often sounds better if there is a small break (like a comma or semicolon) between them.
- Most of all: play the pedal with your EARS. Your foot just helps!

The soft pedal. Its official name is "una corda (one string) pedal". If you look inside the piano, you will find that most of the hammers hit three strings, all tuned to the same pitch. In a grand piano the action (that is, the mechanical bits and pieces that connect the keys to the hammers) is shifted over a little and as a result the hammers will only hit one of the three strings, which not only reduces the volume but creates a different sound altogether. This works beautifully in a grand piano, but does not work well in upright pianos, and therefore the soft pedal works differently. Rather than the action moving sideways, the configuration inside the piano changes and the hammers are closer to the strings and at a different angle. This means that the strings are struck by a much softer section of the hammer felt. Also this change in figuration seems to affect the power of the key itself. It does not really make the piano sound softer, but it does allow the player to play softer once the pedal is down. Strangely enough the effect of the soft pedal is usually explained this way: because the hammers are closer to the keys, they gain less speed and thus hit the strings with less power. Think about it! The speed of anything thrown, be it a piano hammer, a javelin or a watermelon, has its maximum speed at the point of release. And, believe it or not, even our clever piano is governed by the laws of physics!