+ ____ _ _____ _ _ ____ ____ ____ _ _____ +/__ __X \ /|/ __/ / \__/|/ \/ __\/ _ \/ _X \ / __/ + / \ | |_||| \ | |\/||| || \/|| / \|| / | | | \ + | | | | ||| /_ | | ||| || /| |-||| \_| |_/\| /_ + \_/ \_/ \|\____\ \_/ \|\_/\_/\_\\_/ \|\____X____/\____\ + ____ _ ____ _ ____ _____ _____ ____ ____ _ _ _ _____ +/ __\/ \/ _ \/ \ /|/ _ \ /__ __X __// _ \/ _X \ /|/ \/ \ /|/ __/ +| \/|| || / \|| |\ ||| / \| / \ | \ | / \|| / | |_||| || |\ ||| | _ +| __/| || |-||| | \||| \_/| | | | /_ | |-||| \_| | ||| || | \||| |_// +\_/ \_/\_/ \|\_/ \|\____/ \_/ \____\\_/ \|\____X_/ \|\_/\_/ \|\____\ + ____ ___ _ ____ _____ _____ _ +/ ___\\ \/// ___X__ __X __// \__/| +| \ \ / | \ / \ | \ | |\/|| +\___ | / / \___ | | | | /_ | | || +\____//_/ \____/ \_/ \____\\_/ \| (c) Mindscape For the NINTENDO ENTERTAINMENT SYSTEM. Released in 1990. [[FAQ]] [[Getting Started]] [[Getting the Most from Your Game]] [[Software Usage]] [[Shooting Gallery]] [[Rhythm Practice]] [[Roboman]] [[Sheet Music]] [[Flashcards]] [[Practice Room]] [[Section 1: Starting With The Basics]] [[Section 2: The White Keys]] [[Section 3: The Black Keys]] [[Section 4: Rhythm]] [[Section 5: The Staff]] [[Section 6: Notes on the Treble Staff]] [[Section 7: Playing in Different Hand Positions]] [[Section 8: Accidentals]] [[Section 9: More About Rhythm]] [[Section 10: The Miracle Equation]] [[Section 11: The Bass Staff]] [[Section 12: Accidentals on the Bass Staff]] [[Section 13: Key Signatures]] [[Section 14: More About Staff Notation]] [[Section 15: Ledger Lines on the Treble Staff]] [[Section 16: Ledger Lines on the Bass Staff]] [[Section 17: Imitating Rhythms]] [[Section 18: More Imitative Music]] [[Section 19: Two-Handed Playing]] [[Section 20: Time Signatures]] [[Section 21: Chopsticks Revisited]] [[Section 22: Fun with Notes and Rests]] [[Section 23: Canon in D]] [[Section 24: Rockin' Keyboards]] [[Section 25: Playing in 2/4 Time]] [[Section 26: All That Jazz]] [[Section 27: Different Playing Styles]] [[Section 28: Practice Makes Perfect]] [[Section 29: Triplets]] [[Section 30: Long Live the King]] [[Section 31: Broken Octaves]] [[Section 32: Using the Foot Pedal]] [[Section 33: My Funny Valentine]] [[Section 34: Star Wars]] [[Section 35: La Bamba]] [[Section 36: The Final Challenge]] [[Credits]] ==FAQ== These are the most common questions that get asked about Miracle Piano Teaching System: a) Can I play without the keyboard? No! No, you can not! You must have the keyboard attached to the game system. b) Is there an emulator that plays this game? Yes, I dunt know which one but they will all stop when you need to use the keyboard. c) How much does it cost to buy the game? These days maybe $100 unless you are lucky and find at some carboot sale. d) Is it easy to learn the piano? Like most "get fit quick" programs you actually have to learn a lot and these lessons just try to drive you on. If you put a lot of effort into it then sure you can learn, but it sounds much easier than it really is!!!! e) How many lessons are there? How long will it take to get through? 36 lessons, but you surly can't just breeze through and actually be good at it right away, unless you actually can play piano alredy in which case why are you playin'???? f) Do you recommend the game? No, mainly a collector's item. Might be worth a lot of money one day if you own a complete set. g) Is this is certified course? No, although before the company would give you some kind of options to mail in some forms. h) Why is your name PianoChampion? Aem, because I own this game. i) Are those mini-games cool or what? Yeah, "awesome" :throws away Wii: j) Is this the same game as the Genesis and Super Nintendo release? I don't know, probably almost the same. There is also a PC version butt I believe it is different. WHAT FOLLOWS IS THE INFO FROM THE MANUAL WHICH IS VITAL TO UNDERSTAND BEFORE AND WHILE YOU PLAY THE GAME. ==Getting Started== Welcome to the Miracle Piano Teaching System! You are about to take a complete beginner's piano course. In the months to come, your Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) will provide hundreds of lessons to teach you every aspect of playing piano. These lessons will be tailored to your individual needs. The Miracle listens to your playing, identifies problem areas, and provides special exercises to overcome them. In the process, you'll play many different types of music, including Classical, Jazz, and Rock & Roll. People learn at different rates. An average student with no prior musical knowledge should complete the course in six to twelve months. After that time, you will be able to: - Read music notation - Play with two hands using chords and common rhythms - Learn new pieces of music on your own - Perform with other musicians Open your package. Your Miracle Piano Teaching System package consists of the following: - The Miracle Keyboard - Keyboard Overlay - Foot Pedal - Earphones - Keyboard Power Supply - Miracle Cable (for connecting the Keyboard to your NES) - The Miracle Cartridge - Manual - A Warranty Registration Card If you bought this second hand and miss any of the above, you lost some value. You need most of the items but can use the software without the registration card, manual and even the earphones. Locate the keyboard (and the NES) where you can sit comfortably with your feet on the floor, and with the TV directly in front of you. The TV should not be higher, lower, or off to the side. A desk is a good place. Other good places include card tables and keyboard stands. The kitchen table works too, although you may need to sit on a phone book or pillow so your arms are at the right height. Avoid the living room coffee table if possible. It will give you backaches, and your feet can't rest flat on the floor. No matter what table you use, position the Miracle keyboard at the edge nearest you. That way, you don't have to stretch to reach the keys. Once you've found a place for the Miracle keyboard, setting it up is easy: 1. Plug the wide connector on the Miracle cable into the "Miracle Port" on the back of the keyboard. Plug the other end into Controller Port #1 on the NES. Don't use the #2 Port.. It won't work. Do not plug ANY cable other than the Miracle Cable into the Miracle Port. Doing so can severely damage the Miracle and will void your warranty. 2. Connect an NES game controller to Port #2 on the NES. 3. Plug the keyboard power supply into the wall, and then into the "Power" connector on the back of the keyboard. The On/Off switch is next to the power connector. 4. Turn the Miracle keyboard on. The instrument and volume indicators will light up. Make sure that sound comes out of the built-in speakers when you strike a key. Adjust the volume as necessary. The foot pedal is not used until later lessons. Don't worry about connecting it now. To start learning with the Miracle, insert the Miracle cartridge into the NES and turn on the power. Press the "SELECT" button to get past the title screens. ==Getting the Most from Your Game== With a little bit of patience, dedication, and regular practice, you'll soon be playing piano. The Miracle helps you every step of the way, providing Lessons that make learning and practicing fun. To get the most out of these Lessons: - Practice a little every day. You don't need to spend hours and hours. 45 minutes to an hour is ideal. Even 15 minutes of practice is better than none at all. You'll learn to play sooner by practicing regularly. - At first, you'll feel like doing as many Sections as you can before you get bored or tired. That's okay, but you will learn sooner if you completely master the Lessons of one Section before proceeding on to the next. To do so, try using the Miracle like this: 1. Complete a Section. 2. Go to the Practice Room and play all of the pieces from that Section until you can do them really well. 3. Redo the Section, just to make sure you've got it right. If you've practiced enough, the second time through won't take long at all! 4. Go on to the next Section. - There may be times when you can't seem to get through a Lesson, and begin to think "I'll never get this!" This happens to everybody, and usually means that it's time to give your mind a rest. Play some music you already know, play another NES game, or get away from your NES entirely. Remember, if you don't get it now, you will get it eventually: an hour from now, tomorrow, or next week. - Use the Practice Room. It is often easier (and less frustrating) to work on the more challenging pieces there than it is to repeat Lessons. With all of the Miracle's Activities available, you can practice in a wide variety of ways. For example, if you're having trouble with the right hand notes in La Bamba, select Right Hand practice and work in either the Shooting Gallery or Practice Notes. If you're having trouble coordinating both hands in Star Wars, select Both Hands practice and work in Practice Rhythms or with Roboman. The Practice Room also contains many pieces not used in the Lessons. To learn any piece by using only the Practice Room, first learn the left hand rhythms, then learn the left hand notes, and then play the entire left hand part with the Toolworks Orchestra. Next, repeat this three-step procedure with your right hand, and then repeat it again with both hands. - When learning rhythms, use Roboman at first. As you get better, switch over to Practice Rhythms. If you make too many mistakes and want to start again, press the "B" button on the NES Controller. You might also try listening to the rhythm of the piece by selecting Demonstrate the Piece. - When learning pitches, use the Shooting Gallery at first. When you can hit most of the ducks with the first shot, switch over to Practice Pitches. Take all the time you need, but try to keep in mind the rhythms you already learned. - If you have trouble when using the Toolwooks Orchestra, don't be afraid to take a few minutes to go back to Practice Pitches or Practice Rhythms. - In the later part of the course, expect to find Sections that take a week or more to get through. These Sections are designed to sharpen your skills and are intentionally more challenging. They take time to master, so don't get discouraged. With practice, you'll get it! The Miracle keyboard does not need to be connected to the Nintendo to operate. In fact, you'll find it an excellent stand-alone keyboard that offers a wide variety of features: - 128 different instrument sounds (patches), each fully accessible from the buttons on the top panel. - Sixteen voices. The Miracle can play sixteen different notes simultaneously, in stereo. - Velocity sensitive keys. This means that the harder you strike a key, the louder it sounds. - MIDI support, enabling you to connect the Miracle to a sequencer, computer, or other MIDI compatible device. - Split keyboard function. The left half of the keyboard can sound like one instrument while the right half sounds like a different one. - Performance and Library modes, which allow you to play using a combination of the many instruments and sound effects. ==Software Usage== When you turn on your game, from the first screen, you tell the game your age and set the Section of Lessons you want to work with. The game offers slightly different training for children than it does for adults. The material covered is the same, but the text of "Child" format is easier to read. Teenagers should press "B" to select the adult text. Pre-teens should press "A". The mode you select is highlighted with a yellow dot. The Lessons in the course are broken down into 36 Sections. As you begin each practice, you will want to go back to the Section where you left off. The Section where the game will start appears in yellow on the Welcome screen, at the lower-left of the arrow keys. To select a different Section, press the UP and DOWN arrow keys. Then press START to begin. Chalkboard screens explain what to do in each Lesson. They also provide interesting trivia related to the material in that Lesson, and talk about your progress. After reading a chalkboard, you'll press a button on your controller to continue. Available functions appear at the bottom of the screen. These functions are: A Begin the Activity for this Lesson B Go back to the previous Lesson SELECT Go to the Options Screen. This screen lets you jump between Lessons, hear the music for the current Lesson, or go to the practice room. The Section and Lesson number appears at the bottom right corner of the Chalkboard. When you have finished, this number lets you know where you stopped. Use it to return to that Section the next time you use the game. Options Screen. This screen appears when you press SELECT from a Chalkboard screen. It provides the following options: NEXT LESSON Jump ahead to the next Lesson. PREVIOUS LESSON Redo the previous Lesson. WELCOME SCREEN Go to the Welcome screen to change the Section number or enter your age. PRACTICE ROOM Go to the Practice Room. LISTEN TO THE PIECE Listen while the game demonstrates the piece that you're learning to play. After the demonstration, you automatically return to the Lesson. CONTINUE Return to the Lesson where you left off. Move the yellow arrow to your selection using the UP and DOWN arrow keys. Then press A to go to that selection. During all Activities except Flashcards, the NES Controller has the following options: B Restarts the Activity at the beginning. START Pauses the Activity. Press Start again to resume. SELECT Returns you to the Chalkboard for the Lesson. ==Shooting Gallery== This is an arcade-style game that helps you associate keys on the keyboard with notes on the staff. Ducks swim across the lines and spaces of the staff from right to left. Armed with green tomatoes, you must hit each duck by playing the note that it swims across. If you press the correct key, the duck quacks and disappears. If you miss, the tomato splats against the scale on the note you played. The number of throws per duck varies from Lesson to Lesson. That number is displayed as a stack of tomatoes at the right side of the screen. ==Rhythm Practice== This is exclusively for practicing rhythms. In it, you tap out rhythms using only one key, concentrating on when and for how long you press that key. Any single note on the Miracle keyboard may be used with this Activity. However, once selected, strike only that one key to tap out the rhythm. When tapping out a rhythm to a two-handed piece, select a key on the left half of the keyboard for your left hand, and on the right half of the keyboard for your right hand. The large numbers on the Rhythm Practice screen represent beats (ticks of the metronome). In some Lessons, smaller numbers appear between the larger numbers. They represent subdivisions of each beat. The yellow arrow moves one beat at a time. Since there may be more than one note per beat, this is not necessarily the same as one note at a time. The amount of time that you hold each note is indicated by a blue line, a note of a specific time value, or both. Notes and lines that appear above the beat numbers are played with the right hand. Notes and lines that appear below the numbers are played with the left hand. ==Roboman== This teaches you the concepts of rhythm. The screen is divided into two sections. The bottom part of the screen works exactly like the Rhythm mode screen, except that a blue vertical line replaces the yellow arrow. The rest of the screen shows you Roboman: a robot in a piano factory. To move through the factory, Roboman must build bridge segments under his treads. Otherwise, Roboman crashes to the floor and must start back at the beginning of the measure in which he fell. After three falls, he is sent off to the junk heap and the game ends. Roboman builds bridge segments as long as a key is held down on the Miracle keyboard. As he builds, however, he uses up fuel. To replenish this fuel, you must make Roboman grab the power plugs that dangle from the ceiling. Do this by striking a key as Roboman passes under a power plug. A fuel gauge appears at the left side of the screen. When Roboman has a full tank, the gauge is blue. As fuel is used, however, the gauge starts turning red. When completely red, Roboman is out of fuel. He falls apart and the game is over. When Roboman starts up again after falling off a bridge, his fuel is not replenished. The counter above the fuel gauge has two functions. At the beginning of each run, it displays the number of chances Roboman has left to make it through the factory. During the run, it displays the number of power plugs Roboman has grabbed. ==Sheet Music== This presents music to you exactly as it would appear in sheet music. Sheet Music Lessons teach you to combine pitch and rhythm. Green arrows indicate which note(s) you should play. As you play, the on-screen keyboard shows you which keys you've pressed. ==Flashcards== Flashcards test your understanding of what you've learned. All questions are multiple choice. Use the up and down keys on your NES controller to move the on-screen arrow to your guess. Then press the "A" button. If you guess wrong, use the up and down keys to try a different answer. When you guess right, press the "A" button to move on to the next question. ==Practice Room== In the Practice Room you can practice any piece of music in the course, using the different Miracle Activities. It's a good idea to visit here often. Practice sharpens your skills so that you can tackle more advanced Lessons. You get to the Practice Room from the Options Screen. The Level number next to each piece is the Section in which the piece is introduced. Using the "UP" and "DOWN" arrows on the NES Controller, position the yellow arrow next to the piece you want to practice, or beside "NEXT SCREEN" to see a different menu of choices. Then press the "A" button to go to your selection. Selecting "EXIT" and pressing "A" returns you to the Lessons. After selecting a piece, the PRACTICE ROOM menu appears. The line below the words "PRACTICE ROOM" indicates the hand with which you will practice. If the piece you selected was from a Lesson in which you used only your right hand, this line says "(RIGHT HAND)". Likewise, if the piece was from a left-handed Lesson, the line says "(LEFT HAND)". If the piece was from a Lesson that worked witl both hands, however, you may choose to practice with your left or right hand, or both. Use the "SELECT" button to choose which hand to practice with. The name and function of the first selection on the Practice Room menu changes depending upon the piece of music you've chosen. TOOLWORKS ORCHESTRA appears when the piece is available with full accompaniment. This gives you practice playing with others. SOLO PERFORMANCE appears when the piece is played in the Lesson without accompaniment. If the Miracle played one hand for you in the Lesson, it will also do it here. The Activity used also depends upon which piece is selected. Finger Numbers INote Names is used with pieces from Sections 1 to 4. All other pieces are presented using Sheet Music. ==Section 1: Starting With The Basics== On every piano keyboard, the black keys come in groups of two and groups of three. The white key to the left of each two-note group plays the musical note C. There are five C's on the Miracle keyboard. Middle C is the musical note C that is closest to the center of the keyboard. On the Miracle keyboard, Middle C is the white key at the exact center, located one key to the right of the Volume LED's. A number identifies each finger on your hand: 1 - Thumb 2 - Index Finger 3 - Middle Finger 4 - Ring Finger 5 - Pinky These Finger Numbers show you which finger to use to play a specific note. For now, place each finger on a specific key and keep it there. The finger numbers show you which keys to press to play the music in the Lessons. Later, you'll use finger numbers to help play more advanced music. In many sports you hold yourself in a position or stance so that you are ready when something happens. Piano playing has a "ready" position too. To hold your hands and fingers in the "ready" position: Hold your arms so that they hang comfortably at your side. Hold your hands so that your wrists are not bent. Curl your fingers as if you were holding a tennis ball. Your thumb and index finger should form the letter "C. Your fingers should bend downward toward the keys from your knuckles. This ready position helps improve your playing by giving you better control with less effort. Do not worry if the ready position seems awkward at first. With practice, the position becomes natural. As you play, be especially aware of your wrist. It should act as a shock absorber between your hand and your arm. Avoid sudden shifts and twists, and try always to return to a level ready position. If you have trouble, the Penny Test might help. Place a penny on the back of your hand, between the knuckles and the wrist. Then start to play. When you play with proper hand and finger position, the penny won't fall. Tempo is the speed that you play. To play in tempo means to play without accidentally slowing down or speeding up. With the Miracle, you'll play new pieces at a slow tempo to become familiar with them. As you progress, the Miracle increases the tempo, speeding up your performance. The Metronome is a device that makes evenly spaced tick sounds, which musicians call beats. These beats help you keep in tempo. In many Lessons, the Miracle turns on its built-in metronome to help you keep in tempo. Lead (rhymes with feed) Beats are the series of ticks you hear on the metronome before you start to play. They provide the tempo to play at, before you begin. Many Rock songs begin with lead beats, either as drum beats, or as a band member shouting "One, two, three, four..." Each metronome Lesson in this Section begins with four lead beats. Later, you'll run into music that uses two, three, or even six lead beats. This Section teaches you to play the composition Ode to Joy. 01.01 WELCOME - Introduces the Chalkboard and the use of the Nintendo Game Controller with the Miracle. 01.02 FINDING MIDDLE C - Introduces Middle C on the Miracle Keyboard. Use the on-screen picture of the Miracle keyboard if you have trouble finding Middle C. 01.03 PLAYING BY NUMBERS - Introduces Finger Numbers. It's important here to get into the habit of using the correct fingers in one hand position. This habit pays off later when the music becomes more challenging. 01.04 NUMBER PRACTICE - Exercise in playing music with Finger Numbers. As you play, concentrate on the numbers at the top of the screen. Use the on-screen keyboard if you get out of position. 01.05 FINGER SHAPE - A repeat performance of the tune from Lesson 1.04. This time, concentrate on keeping your fingers in the ready position. 01.06 THE METRONOME - Introduces and demonstrates this valuable tool. Notice that the Miracle plays its notes at exactly the same time as the metronome ticks. 01.07 YOUR TURN - Exercise on playing in time with the metronome ticks. Listen carefully to the four lead beats to get the correct tempo (speed). If this Lesson gives you trouble, try doing it without looking at the screen. Just use your ears and your own sense of timing to know when to press the keys. 01.08 ROBOMAN - An arcade game to practice keeping in tempo. While the metronome ticks, Roboman rolls down the piano factory corridor. At each tick where Roboman passes under a power plug, press a key to extend him to the plug to get fuel. At the same time, he'll build a bridge that lets him move forward. If you don't press a key in time, Roboman crashes to the floor below. 01.09 FINGER PRACTICE - Another performance of the tune from Lesson 1.04, but now, in time with the metronome. Place your thumb on Middle C and your other fingers on the next four white keys to the right. After the four lead beats, follow the finger numbers at the top of the screen to play. 01.10 YOUR FIRST SONG - Using Finger Numbers, you play Ode to Joy from Beethoven's ninth symphony. The metronome is turned off, to let you concentrate on the melody. Practice this Lesson until you have a feel for the notes. Press the "B" button to repeat the Lesson. 01.11 BEETHOVEN PRACTICE - Playing Ode to Joy with the metronome turned on. If you know Beethoven's version, you may notice that the Miracle's rhythm is slightly different. If you stumble because of this, try concentrating on the metronome tick. Remember to play one note per tick. 01.12 BEETHOVEN WITH ORCHESTRA - While you play Ode to Joy, the Miracle plays along with you. Playing with an orchestra is a lot of fun, but some people find it tricky at first. If you have trouble, try to ignore the accompaniment. Concentrate on playing in time with the metronome ticks. ==Section 2: The White Keys== The notes on your keyboard repeat in groups of twelve. Each group uses seven white keys and five black keys. In each group, the names for the white keys are the first seven letters of the alphabet: A, B, C, D, E, F and G. These names repeat, in order, over the whole keyboard. The first note on the keyboard is C. So is the last. In fact, there are five different C's on the Miracle keyboard. As you know, the one in the middle is called Middle C. Previously, you've played using finger numbers. The Miracle told you which number to play, and you knew which finger to press. In this section, you'll learn how to play Mary Had a Little Lamb using note names. When the Miracle tells you which note to play, you'll know which key to press. Recognizing which notes to play by their names is an important skill: in most music, your fingers rarely stay over the same keys, so finger numbers won't help much. Knowing the note names is also useful when talking or writing about notes. They are a basic part of the language of music. The first verse of Mary... is considered by many to be the best known four line verse in the English language. Few people, however, know all of the verses: *Mary had a little lamb, With fleece as white as snow, And everywhere that Mary went, The lamb was sure to go. *It followed her to school one day, That was against the rule. It made the children laugh and play, To see a lamb at school. *And so the teacher turned it out, But still it lingered near, And waited patiently about, Till Mary did appear. *Why does the lamb love Mary so? The eager children cry; Why Mary loves the lamb, you know The teacher did reply. 02.01 SEVEN WHITE KEYS - Introduces the names of the white keys and has you play every C on the keyboard. Remember that a C is the key to the left of each group of two black keys. 02.02 LETTER NAME PRACTICE - Introduces a new finger position. Place your thumb on the A, two white keys to the left of Middle C. 02.03 PLAYING BY LETTER NAMES - Introduces playing notes by letter name, instead of by finger number. If you need help, the on- screen keyboard still displays the finger numbers. 02.04 REALLY USING LETTERS - A repeat performance of the tune from Lesson 2.03, but this time without the finger numbers. Remember to keep Middle C under your middle finger. If you really get stuck, hit the "B" button and review the last Lesson. 02.05 PLAYING BY LETTER NAMES - Practice with a different hand position. 02.06 PLAYING BY LETTER NAMES - Using letter names to play Mary Had a Little Lamb. Don't be surprised if you hear a few extra notes. These extra notes were added so that you can play one note per beat. 02.07 ROBOMAN - Tempo practice to the tune of Mary Had a Little Lamb. This time, notice that if you don't hold a key down long enough, Roboman doesn't build a long enough bridge under his treads. If you hold down a key too long, Roboman wastes fuel building bridges on top of other bridges. 02.08 MARYS METRONOME - Playing Mary Had a Little Lamb with the metronome turned on. Concentrate on both the correct notes and the correct rhythm. 02.09 THE MIRACLE BAND - The Miracle joins in while you play Mary Had a Little Lamb. Be sure to concentrate on playing the proper notes in time with the metronome ticks. ==Section 3: The Black Keys== Moving a Half Step means moving to the key to the left or right of the last key pressed. For example, the black key to the right of Middle C is a half- step up from Middle C. The same key is also a half-step down from D. Incidentally, two half-steps make a whole step. Think of a whole step as the distance between two white notes that have a black note between them. Sharps are the black keys on your keyboard. Each sharp takes its name from the white key on its left. For example, the black key that is one half-step up from Middle C is called C-Sharp (written as Cb). To help remember where the sharp is, think of what happens when you sit on something sharp: you jump UP. In this case, up is up the keyboard, or to the right. For example, a Db is one key up (to the right) from D. When you talk about notes that are one half-step down from a white key, they are called Flats. This means that Flats are also the black keys on your keyboard. Don't let this confuse you. Each black key really does have more than one name. It's the flat for the key above it, and the sharp for the key below it. To help remember which side of a white key its flat is on, consider that if you get a flat tire, the tire goes down. For example, a Db is one key down (to the left) from D. So far, you've only practiced playing with your right hand. You've learned how to hold that hand in a ready position and you've strengthened your fingers in the process. In this section, your left hand gets some practice. The same rules regarding hand position apply: * Hold your arms so that they hang comfortably at your side. * Hold your hands so that your wrists are not bent. * Curl your fingers as if you were holding a tennis ball. Your thumb and index finger should form the letter C. * Your fingers should bend downward toward the keys from your knuckles. Later, you'll learn to play with both hands at the same time. After your left hand goes through basic training, your right hand gets a chance to try more advanced positions. This time you'll play a melody with some of your fingers on black keys and some on white keys. You'll place your thumb on E, your index finger on G#, your middle finger on A, your ring finger on B, and your pinky on Db! 03.01 LEARNING SHARPS - Introduces sharps and assigns a black key to each finger of the left hand. 03.02 PLAYING SHARPS - You play Old MacDonald with your left hand, using black keys only. When playing black keys, use the pads of your fingers instead of the tips. This keeps your fingers from accidentally sliding off the black keys. No finger numbers appear on the screen in this Lesson. If you need a reminder for your finger position, press the "B" button to return to Lesson 3.01, in which you get into position. 03.03 LEARNING FLATS - Introduces flats and shows you a hand position that combines both black and white keys. 03.04 PLAYING FLATS - You play Jingle Bells with your left hand, using both black and white keys. If you get out of position, use the "B" button to return to Lesson 3.03. 03.05 SHARP & FLAT SOUNDS - Demonstrates that the same note can be called both a sharp and a flat, and introduces half-steps. 03.06 TIME FOR A QUIZ - Flashcards quiz you about sharps, flats, and half-steps. Answer by moving the on-screen arrow to the correct answer by using the up and down keys. Then press the "A" button. If you get an answer wrong, use the up and down keys to try a different answer. When you answer correctly, press the "A" button to move on to the next question. 03.07 PLAYING SHARPS & FLATS - Introduces a more advanced position for the right hand, combining both black and white keys. 03.08 PLAYING SHARPS & FLATS - You play The Worms Crawl In without the metronome. Don't worry about tempo or rhythm. Concentrate on playing the right notes. ==Section 4: Rhythm== So far, you've played one note for every beat of the metronome. In most music, however, you must play some notes faster and some notes slower. The relationship between faster and slower notes is called rhythm. Think of rhythm as the speed at which you play individual notes. Be careful not to confuse rhythm with tempo. Tempo is the overall speed for an entire piece of music. In other words, tempo determines how fast the beats are. Rhythm determines how many notes are played during each beat. One of the most important rhythmic concepts you will learn is how to divide a beat into equal parts. Beats may be divided into any number of equal parts, although two, three, and four parts are most common. In this Section, the Miracle teaches you how to divide beats into both two equal parts and three equal parts. If you have trouble dividing the beats, try this exercise for dividing beats into three parts per beat: 1. Tap your foot in a comfortable and even tempo. Consider each tap equal to one beat. 2. Say "1-2-3 1-2-3 1-2-3" repeatedly, trying to say the IV at exactly the time you tap your foot. The "2's" and "3's" should come between the taps. 3. Slow down or speed up your counting as needed. If you're counting too slowly, you'll tap your foot before getting back to "1." If you're counting too fast, you'll say "1" before tapping your foot. Make sure you say the numbers evenly - don't say "1-2-3" and then take a big pause before saying the next "1-2-3." Use the above exercise to divide a beat into four parts by counting "1-2-3-4" instead of "1-2-3." To divide a beat into six parts, count "1-2-3-4-5-6." Naming: There is a name for each different speed that a note can be played at. Notes played at one note per beat are called quarter notes. So far, you've played only this type of note. Notes played at a speed of two per beat are called eighth notes. This is because they last half as long as quarter notes: 1/2x1/4=1/8 By the same reasoning, notes played at a speed of four per beat are called sixteenth notes. Tapping: Tapping means playing a single note on the keyboard (such as Middle C), in time with the rhythm of a piece of music. Use it to familiarize yourself with the rhythm of a piece. Tapping can make learning a new piece of music easier, because you don't have to learn both the rhythm and melody at the same time. Once the rhythm becomes familiar, you can better focus your concentration on which notes to play. 04.01 DIVIDING BEATS IN 2 - Demonstration of dividing each beat into two equal parts. Notice how the beats are evenly spaced and the notes are evenly divided within the beats. 04.02 PLAYING EIGHTH NOTES - Introduction to playing rhythms with eighth notes (two notes per beat). Many beginners find it tricky at first to divide beats evenly. If you have trouble, say "1" during each metronome tick of the lead beats. When the piece starts, say "1-2" for every beat, making sure you say the "2" between the beats. 04.03 THE ROBO-MAN STORY - Practicing eighth note rhythms with Roboman. Remember to use only one key to play the rhythm. The Miracle plays the right notes no matter which key you press. 04.04 TAPPING - Introduction to tapping. The Miracle plays the right notes, but you have to keep in rhythm. Remember to play two notes per beat. 04.05 BEATS IN 3 PARTS - Demonstration of dividing beats into three equal parts. 04.06 YOUR TURN - Practice at playing three notes per beat. If you have trouble, try thinking or saying "1-2-3" in time with each beat. 04.07 BACK TO ROBO-MAN - Using Roboman to practice playing three notes per beat. 04.08 DIVIDING BEATS INTO 3 - Tapping practice at three notes per beat. Concentrate on the rhythm. The Miracle plays the proper notes. The music, incidentally, is "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" by Johann Sebastian Bach. It begins with three lead beats. ==Section 5: The Staff== Every language has two forms: spoken and written. English writing uses letters to form words. Ancient Egyptian writing used pictures to form ideas. Music uses a special type of writing called Staff Notation. A Staff is a set of five, evenly-spaced horizontal lines. Each line of the staff represents a different note. Each space between the lines also represent a note. Notes that appear near the top of the staff are higher-pitched notes. Notes that appear near the bottom of the staff are lower-pitched notes. Staffs did not always look like they do today. When Italian monk Guido d'Arezzo invented the staff in the early 11th century, he suggested using either three or four line to a staff. In the 17th century, the five-line staff became the standard for musical notation. The position of a note on the staff determines only which note to play. It provides no information about rhythm. For rhythm, it is the symbol that represents a note that determines how fast or slow to play it. The quarter note symbol looks like a solid black circle with a vertical stem growing out of one side. Other notes, such as eighth notes and sixteenth notes have their own unique symbols, which you'll learn later. Reading a staff is like reading a book. You start at the left and read to the right. When you get to the end of the line, you go down to the next staff and start again. Later, when you encounter more challenging music, you'll see two staffs that are connected by vertical lines. The top staff shows what notes to play with your right hand while the bottom staff shows what notes to play with your left. When two or more notes on either or both staffs line up vertically, it means to play them at the same time. 05.01 READING MUSIC - Introduces the concept of the staff. 05.02 NOTES ON THE STAFF - Playing Ode to Joy by reading the staff notation. A finger number appears under the note you must play. It only moves when you play the correct note. NOTE: The black circles (notes) indicate pitch only. Concentrate on which note to play, instead of the rhythm at which you play it. 05.03 MUSICAL MALLARDS - An arcade game that teaches how to read music. Throw a tomato to hit the left-most duck by playing the note that the duck swims across. The stack of tomatoes at the right side of the screen shows the number of tries per duck. If you miss a duck, the tomato splats on the staff. Use the splat to decide if the note you played was too high or too low. 05.04 MORE MALLARDS - More practice tossing tomatoes at ducks. This time though, you'll play a new tune, Journey. Begin with your thumb on Middle C. 05.05 USING THE TREBLE CLEF - Practice playing Journey by reading staff notation. Start with your thumb on Middle C and concentrate on playing the correct notes. Don't worry about rhythm. 05.06 ADDING THE METRONOME - Introduces quarter note and fingering notation. This is your first performance reading from full staff notation. There is pitch and rhythm information for each note, and fingering notation (finger numbers) wherever the pitch changes. You'll play Journey with the metronome turned on. Because every note is a quarter note, play one note per beat. 05.07 DUET DUET - The Miracle joins in as an invisible left hand while you play Journey with your right. Concentrate on playing the right notes and keeping in rhythm. ==Section 6: Notes on the Treble Staff== A Clef is a symbol that appears at the left of each staff to indicate what notes the lines and spaces of the staff represent. They come in several varieties, and each type assigns a different set of notes to the staff. Two types of clefs are used with piano. These are treble clefs and bass (pronounced base) clefs. Treble clefs resemble an ampersand (&) with a fish hook at the bottom. Bass clefs look like a giant comma, followed by a colon. A Treble Staff is a staff that begins with a treble clef. Notes on the treble staff are always played with the right hand. The lines on the treble staff (from bottom to top) are the notes E, G, B, D and F. The E is the E just above Middle C. The F is the highest F on the Miracle keyboard. To remember the notes on the treble staff, remember the phrase "Every Good Boy Does Fine." The spaces on the treble staff (from bottom, up) are the notes F, A, C, E. These notes are easy to remember, because they spell the word FACE. 06.01 THE TREBLE STAFF - Introduces the treble staff and the notes for each of its lines. 06.02 PLAYING ON TREBLE LINES - Practice in playing notes from the lower four lines of the treble staff. Hit B to return to Lesson 6.01 if you have problems. 06.03 SHOOTING GALLERY - Throwing tomatoes at ducks provides more practice in playing notes from the lower four lines of the treble staff. You get a lot of tomatoes to throw per duck, but work on keeping your splats to a minimum. 06.04 LINE QUIZ - The Chalkboard introduces the Treble Clef symbol, and Flashcards quiz you about the lines of the Treble Staff. 06.05 TREBLE STAFF SPACES - Identifies the notes for each space in the treble staff. 06.06 TREBLE STAFF SPACES - Practice in playing notes from the four spaces of the treble staff. Hit "B" to return to Lesson 6.05 if you have problems. 06.07 SPACE QUIZ - Flashcards quiz you about spaces on the treble staff. 06.08 LINES & SPACES TOGETHER - You play Northwood, using notes that appear on the treble staff. The piece is written in one hand position, and you'll use your knowledge of the treble staff (and the help of finger numbers) to figure out what that position is. 06.09 LINE & SPACE DUET - The Miracle is your invisible left hand as you play Northwood with the metronome turned on. If you have trouble, press "B" to return to Lesson 6.08, and practice until you feel more comfortable with this hand position. 06.10 MORE LINES & SPACES - This is your first performance using more than one hand position. You'll play For Laura, using your thumb to play two different notes. If you have problems, make sure your pinky is on the C above Middle C. Your thumb moves back and forth between E and F. 06.11 LINES AND SPACES IN TIME - You play For Laura in time with the metronome. Don't be thrown off by the six lead beats or the different symbols in the music. Concentrate on playing the correct notes, at the rate of one per beat. 06.12 LINE AND SPACE DUET II - The Miracle joins you in a performance of For Laura. Don't let the accompaniment distract you. As before, concentrate on the metronome and remember to play one note per beat. ==Section 7: Playing in Different Hand Positions== In the music you've played so far, you've needed only one or two hand positions per piece. Most music, however, requires many hand positions. Your hand must constantly move from one position to the next. Pianists make the most mistakes during these transitions. Moving from one hand position to another can be tricky, so you need to be careful to make sure you don't lose your bearings. One way to make these transitions easier is by reading ahead while you play. Reading ahead in music, is like flipping to the back of a mystery novel to find out "whodunit." When reading music, glance ahead to where the next hand position is indicated. The transition is easier when you know what's coming up. Another way to simplify transitions is to move to the new position as early as possible. If your hand is already in place for the first note in a different position, there is less chance of making a mistake. If you can, try to position all of your fingers for the new hand position, not just the finger for the first note you'll play. If you look at a piece of music, you'll notice patterns of rising and falling notes. This is true of all music, although the patterns of each piece differ. Think of notes forming patterns in the same way that letters form words. Learning to recognize these patterns teaches you to think in groups of notes, rather than individual notes. With experience, you will no longer think about the specific notes you play. Instead, you'll directly translate the shapes of these patterns into hand movements. This makes your performances more fluid, and the music much easier to play and remember. 07.01 HAND POSITIONS - Introduces frequently switching hand positions. When changing positions, it's easy to lose your bearings. Be sure to follow the fingering very carefully. 07.02 MOVING HANDS - Practice switching hand positions with the metronome turned on. Finger numbers only appear where the fingering is not obvious. This is standard in piano notation. Numbering every note clutters the score, making it harder to read. 07.03 FASTER NOTES: FOR SUE - The Miracle demonstrates a faster piece named For Sue. During the demo, notice how the notes of the melody fall into a regular pattern. In this case, the notes come in groups of three. Each group goes up the keyboard one note at a time, or down the keyboard one note at a time. Always try to look for patterns. You'll find learning pieces much easier. 07.04 MANY HAND POSITIONS - A chance to practice For Sue without the metronome or accompaniment. As you play, try to feel how the notes go up or down from the first note in each group. 07.05 SLOW HAND CHANGES - You play For Sue with the metronome. The tempo is slow, to let you get used to changing hand positions while keeping in tempo. No rhythm markings appear. Play quarter notes, one note per beat. 07.06 TWO NOTES PER BEAT - Another performance of For Sue with the metronome. This time, however, you'll play two notes per beat. If you have trouble, try thinking (or saying) "1-2" for each metronome tick. 07.07 MOVING HAND DUET - The Miracle joins you for a full-speed performance of For Sue. Remember to play two notes per beat. If you have trouble with the fingering, concentrate on putting the correct finger on the first note of each three-note group. ==Section 8: Accidentals== Simply put, Accidentals are flats and sharps. Accidentals appear on the staff as a note preceded by the flat symbol (b) or the sharp symbol (#). Earlier, you learned that all black keys play flats and sharps. However, not all flats and sharps are on black keys! Remember that a flat is one half-step below (one key to the left of) its unflatted neighbor. The key to the immediate left of Middle C is a white key, B. That means that B can also be called Cb. Likewise, the key to the immediate left of F is E. That means that E is also Fb, Likewise, because sharps are one half-step above their unsharped neighbors, C and F can also be called B# and E#. As you've learned, good hand position is extremely important for playing with accuracy and control. This is especially true at the times when you must stretch out your fingers to reach all of the notes within a hand position. The pieces in this session require such stretches. When making the stretches, concentrate on keeping your hand level with your arm. This means don't bend your wrist, and make sure your knuckles are higher than your fingers. Larger stretches are easier to make if you keep your body close to the keys. When changing hand positions, you must frequently move your thumb to a place that is currently under the palm of your hand. Although you can do this by shifting your entire hand at once, the notes you play will connect more smoothly if you do a Thumb Under instead. This means, move your thumb to the new key before moving your fingers. Once your thumb is in place, you use it as a reference point to move the fingers. This move is called a thumb under because your thumb moves under your fingers to the the new postion. Keep your hand level and straight when doing thumb unders. Make sure not to twist your hand or swivel your wrist. 08.01 READING FLATS - Practice at reading flats on the treble staff. There are a number of different hand positions, and some require tricky stretches. This is an important lesson and you should practice it until you can play it with ease. 08.02 READING SHARPS - Practice at reading sharps on the treble staff. The second line of the piece has a thumb under which moves the right hand into a higher position. Move your thumb under your palm so that you don't twist your wrist and arm unnecessarily. This is also an important lesson and should be practiced until you can play it smoothly. 08.03 FLATS QUIZ - Flashcards quiz you about flats. 08.04 FLATS ON WHITE KEYS - More practice at reading flats on the treble staff. Don't forget that Ct's and F/s fall on white keys. Be prepared for some tricky stretches here too. Practice this piece until you can play it smoothly. 08.05 READING SHARPS - Practice reading sharps on the treble staff while tossing tomatoes at ducks. Don't forget the Bj's and Ej's fall on white keys. 08.06 QUIZ: FLATS & SHARPS - Flashcards quiz you about flats and sharps. 08.07 PLAYING SHARPS & FLATS - Practice reading music that has both sharps and flats. You'll play Sharps 'N Flats, a piece that really tests your knowledge of accidentals. Don't be discouraged if it takes some work to get it right. Also, be prepared for a big thumb under in the second half. 08.08 ADVANCED ACCIDENTALS - Playing Sharps 'N Flats with the metronome turned on. Play one note per beat. 08.09 ADVANCED SHARPS & FLATS - The Miracle provides an eerie accompaniment as you play Sharps 'N Flats. ==Section 9: More About Rhythm== Earlier, you divided beats into two parts and into three parts. You mentally counted "1-2" for the two part beats and "1-2-3" for the three part beats. The same technique applies for dividing beats into four parts. For every beat, count "1-2-3-4." When you play four notes every beat, you are playing sixteenth notes. They get their name because they are played one-fourth as long as quarter notes (which are one note per beat). So far, you've played music made up entirely of quarter notes, entirely of eighth notes, and entirely of sixteenth notes. The rhythm of music with each of these types of notes is different because each quarter, eighth and sixteenth notes each have different lengths. Quarter notes are fairly long notes because you can only play one per beat. Eighth notes are shorter in length. Two eighth notes can fit into one beat. Sixteenth notes are even shorter. You can play four per beat. An Ostinato rhythm is a rhythmic pattern (a group of notes and rests of different lengths) that repeats over and over again. The word "Ostinato" comes from the word obstinate, which means "stubborn." In this section you'll practice tapping a piece with an Ostinato rhythm. 09.01 DIVIDING BEATS IN 4 - Demonstration of four notes per beat. As the Miracle plays, count "1-2-3-4" for each beat. 09.02 SIXTEENTH NOTES - Introduces tapping out the rhythm of sixteenth notes. Many find it tricky at first to make four taps per beat. Use the lead beats and your "1-2-3-4" count to get in sync. 09.03 HEARING RESTS - Demonstration of a rhythm that incorporates rests. Even though there isn't any sound during a rest, it is just as important to feel the length of a rest as it is to feel the length of a note. Try to feel the rest on the second part of each beat. 09.04 PLAYING RESTS - You play the rhythm that the Miracle just demonstrated. If you have trouble with the timing, try counting either "1-2-3-4" or "l-rest-3-4." If you're still stuck, press the "B" button to go back to Section 09.03, and listen to the rhythm. 09.05 PLAYING NOTES AND RESTS - Practice at "figuring out" a rhythm. You do this in two steps: 1. Divide each beat evenly, based on the shortest note or rest. If the shortest note lasts one-quarter of a beat, divide the beat into fours and count "1-2-3-4." 2. Play notes on the correct subdivisions. Say the numbers where they exist and say "rest" where rests exist. If you get stuck in this lesson, think "Rest-Rest-3-4." 09.06 HEARING NOTE LENGTHS - Practice playing rhythms with notes of different lengths. Longer notes are actually just a bunch of shorter notes held together. If you have trouble during this lesson, think "1-Hold-3-4." 09.07 LONG & SHORT NOTES - A Roboman session for practicing rhythms with notes of different lengths. Use the same rhythm you used in Lesson 09.06. During the lead beats, think "l-hold-3-4." 09.08 OSTINATO RHYTHM - Demonstration of an Ostinato rhythm. Music with Ostinato rhythms are relatively easy to learn because one short rhythm repeats throughout the entire piece. As the Miracle plays, notice how the notes change, but the rhythm remains the same. 09.09 TAPPING OSTINATO RHYTHM - Tapping practice with Ostinato rhythms. Remember to think "1-Hold-3-4" for each beat. ==Section 10: The Miracle Equation== So far, you've mastered playing different notes at a steady rhythm, and different rhythms on a single note. To play music, you must combine these skills. We call this combination of notes and rhythms the Miracle Equation. Think of it as: Notes + Rhythm = Music In this session, you'll learn to play For Denise. This piece combines notes of different pitch with an ostinato rhythm. Combining pitch and rhythm is a new skill, and it can take a little practice to get the hang of. If you have trouble at first, don't get discouraged. With a little practice, it will soon become easy. 10.01 OSTINATO RHYTHM - Practice at tapping out ostinato rhythms. This lesson is a review, identical to the last lesson of Section 9. 10.02 NOTES AND FINGERING - You play the notes to For Denise with the metronome turned off. There are some tricky hand position changes. Practice them until they become easy. 10.03 WHAT IT ALL SOUNDS LIKE - Demonstration of For Denise, played in the ostinato rhythm from Lesson 10.01. Later in this Section, you'll play the right hand part of this piece. 10.04 NOTES AND RHYTHM - Practice playing For Denise in rhythm. The tempo is very slow for your first performance. Remember to think "1-Hold-3-4" for each beat. 10.05 OSTINATO & ACCOMPANIMENT - The Miracle plays left-hand accompaniment to your performance of For Denise. If you have trouble with the notes, go to the practice room and rehearse by choosing Practice Notes, Try practicing with the "1-Hold-3-4" rhythm. ==Section 11: The Bass Staff== In piano notation, the bass (pronounced base) staff is the staff that appears below the treble staff. This type of staff is normally associated with the male voice and low-pitched instruments. On the piano, it is associated with the left half of the keyboard. Notes on this staff are played with the left hand. These notes traditionally make up the bass line or accompaniment of a piece of music. Notes on the treble staff are generally referred to as the melody. The lines and spaces on the bass staff have note names different from the lines and spaces on the treble clef. Each bass staff begins with a bass clef symbol. This symbol looks like a giant comma, followed by a colon. The bass clef symbol is sometimes called an F clef, because the note that falls between the two dots is an F (the F below Middle C). The lines on the bass staff (from bottom, up) are the notes G, B, D, F and A. The E is the E just above Middle C. The G is the lowest G on the Miracle keyboard. To remember the lines on the bass staff, remember the phrase "Great Brains Don't Forget Anything." The spaces on the bass staff (from bottom, up) are the notes A, C, E and G. To remember the spaces on the bass staff, think "All Cars Eat Gas." Earlier, you learned how finding patterns of notes makes reading music faster and easier. Another way to speed your reading is to play by interval. Playing by interval means associating the relative distance between two notes on the staff with two notes on the keyboard. It's like reading a map in which you see an inch and know it means a mile. Then if something looks like two inches, you know it means two miles. You can read music the same way. For example, the distance on the staff between E and B is the same as the distance between F and C, as well as G and D. They are each four notes apart, both on the staff and on the keyboard. Whenever you see notes that are that distance apart on the staff, you'll know that the second note to play is four notes away from the first. It's all just a matter of getting a feel for how far apart things are on the staff. As you play more, you'll automatically begin to play by interval. The lessons in this section help get you started. 11.01 THE BASS STAFF - Duck hunting on the bass staff. If you miss ducks, try to get a feel for how far you missed by. This teaches you to associate the distance between notes on the staff with the distance between keys. 11.02 LINES ON THE BASS STAFF - Introduction to the notes along the lines of the bass staff. This piece has many hand position changes so pay extra attention to the fingering. Don't forget that your pinky (5) is on the left side of your thumb (1)! 11.03 BASS QUIZ - A flashcard quiz about the lines on the bass staff. Remember "Great Brains Don't Forget Anything." 11.04 SPACES IN THE BASS STAFF - Introduction to the notes on the spaces of the bass staff. 11.05 BASS STAFF REVIEW - A flashcard quiz about the spaces on the bass staff. Remember "All Cars Eat Gas." 11.06 BASS STAFF MUSIC - You'll play Eighty Eight using just your left hand. Notes appear on both lines and spaces. Don't forget to look for patterns. You'll see that each group of four notes is on either lines or spaces, but not both. This piece may take some extra practice so don't hesitate to repeat it. You'll learn a lot. 11.07 BASS STAFF DUET - The Miracle plays right hand as you perform Eighty Eight. If you have trouble, repeat Lesson 11.06 until you can play it fluidly. ==Section 12: Accidentals on the Bass Staff== Accidentals (Flats and Sharps) appear and are played on the bass staff exactly the same as they are on the treble staff. When reading music with accidentals, don't forget that some flats and sharps are on white keys. The keys Cb, and Fb, are the same as B and E. The keys B# and E# are the same as C and F. Hand position changes between white and black keys can be tricky. When playing on both white and black keys, keep your fingertips close to the edges of the black keys at all times. This means that while playing white keys, keep your fingers near the center of the keys. This makes the transitions from white to black much easier. It also saves a lot of energy because you don't have to move your hand constantly forward and back. Frequently, you'll have to play with splayed out (stretched) fingers. When playing this way, you should be aware of two factors that can disrupt your ready position. First, the knuckles of your hand tend to collapse. Don't let them. Try to keep the knuckles as high as you can, being careful not to raise your wrist. Second, splayed-out fingering tends to pull the weight of your arm away from your hand. This makes it especially hard to play with the weaker fingers. Try to be sensitive about how much weight is on your fingers so that you don't pull away when you stretch. Your ring finger and pinky (4 and 5) are your weakest fingers. To compensate for this weakness, keep the weight of your arm shifted onto those fingers. The extra weight helps build strength in these fingers, and also makes it easier to play. 12.01 BASS FLATS - Practice playing flats on the bass staff. When striking black keys, use the pads of your fingers instead of the tips. You fingers should be less curved than they are when playing white keys. 12.02 WHITE KEY FLATS - Flashcards quiz you about fiats on white keys. 12.03 BASS SHARPS - Practice playing sharps on the bass staff. This piece begins with an unusual fingering. Take time and practice until you can get it right. Try to play evenly while your hand expands and contracts throughout the piece. 12.04 BASS SHARPS AND FLATS - Practice playing the bass line of For Jessica, which includes both sharps and flats. Be extra careful of the fingering. Also, be prepared for the parts which use your 4th and 5th fingers. These parts are especially tricky. Practice until you can consistently play without errors. 12.05 BASS SHARPS AND FLATS - You perform the For Jessica bass line with the metronome turned on. The rhythm is a simple one note per beat. Give extra attention to the parts with the large stretches and the parts that use the 5th finger. If these parts give you too much trouble, repeat Lesson 12.04. 12.06 BASS MUSIC - The Miracle joins in, adding the melody of For Jessica to your bass line. If the tempo is too fast, rework Lesson 12.05 until you feel more comfortable. ==Section 13: Key Signatures== In many pieces, a note on a line or space of the staff is consistently sharp or flat. In these pieces, the presence of a large number of # or b, symbols make the notation cluttered and difficult to read. Key signatures simplify such notation. In this system, a note which is consistently sharp or flat appears without # or b symbols. Instead, the symbol is placed next to the clef, on the line or space that the note falls on. A# symbol tells you to play every note with the same note name sharped. Ab symbol tells you to play every note with the same note name flatted. The key signature is the section of the staff where this group of # or b symbols appear. Sometimes the music calls for a note that cancels the effect of the key signature. In other words, a note that isn't sharp or flat, even though the key signature tells you to play it sharp or flat. Such notes are called naturals. On the staff, the "natural" symbol b appears next to such a note. Like individual sharps and flats, naturals are accidentals. This is because they are something different from what you would normally play. By the same token, notes that are played sharp or flat because of the key signature are not considered accidentals (they are normally played flat or sharp). 13.01 KEY SIGNATURES - Introduces how key signatures replace the symbols associated with individual sharps and flats. The Miracle demonstrates a piece that incorporates a key signature. 13.02 MORE ON KEY SIGNATURES - Left hand pitch practice with key signatures. Be sure that you play all F's as F#'s. 13.03 NATURALS - Introduces naturals to cancel the effect of the key signature for a single note. You'll learn the notes to a piece with two sharps in the key signature: F# and C#. 13.04 REVIEWING ACCIDENTALS - Flashcards quiz you about key signatures and naturals. 13.05 SHARPS, FLATS & NATURALS - You'll learn the bass line to a jazz piece, Top Ten. The key signature has two sharps and the piece has several naturals. Be extra careful of the fingering. Try to make your transitions smooth while playing the stretches. 13.06 THE ACCIDENTAL METRONOME - Another performance of the Top Ten bass line. This time, the metronome is turned on. If you have trouble, repeat Lesson 13.05 until you can play it smoothly. 13.07 KEY SIGNATURE FINALE - You will play the Top Ten bass line while the Miracle provides accompaniment. Don't let the off-beat rhythm of the accompaniment throw you off. This rhythm, called syncopation, is common in jazz and other forms of popular music. You'll learn more about syncopation later. For now, concentrate on maintaining an even one note per beat. ==Section 14: More About Staff Notation== You may have noticed that the notes in staff notation are broken into small groups, separated from each other by a vertical line. Each of these groups is called a Measure, also sometimes referred to as a Bar. The line that separates measures is called a Bar Line. Measures break up a piece into small parts, making it easier to read. Without them, yc would easily lose your place. The length of a measure is determined by a set number of beats. This number varies from piece to piece, but generally remains constant within a piece. Common numbers c beats per measure are 3, 4, and 6. You'll learn more about beats per measure later. Incidentally, the number of lead beats for a piece is always the same as the number of beats per measure. Measures and accidentals relate in a special way called the Previous Accidental Rule. This rule states that whenever an accidental appears in a measure, the accidental remains in effect for that particular note, for the rest of the measure. This means that if the first note in the measure appears as a C# and the third note in the measure appears as a C, both notes are played as C#. Only the first note has a #. before it. In the above example, if the third note in the measure really was supposed to be a C, it would appear in the notation as a C#. The Previous Accidental Rule applies to all accidentals: sharps, flats, and naturals. An Octave is the distance from one note to the next note above or below it that has the same letter name. There are four octaves on the Miracle keyboard, which enables you to play a wide range of music. A standard piano keyboard covers slightly more than seven octaves. Key signatures affect all octaves. Accidentals affect only notes with the same letter name that are in the same octave as the accidental. This means that a note that is sharped or flatted in the key signature, is played sharped or flatted in every octave. For example, the treble staff contains two F's. If the key signature shows a sharp on the top line (an F), both F's are played as F#'s. On the other hand, suppose F's are not sharped in the key signature, and an F# appears as an accidental on the top line of the staff. In this case, a note in the bottom space of the staff (an F) is not affected because of the Previous Accidental Rule. This is because it is in a different octave. 14.01 GINA'S LAMENT - Introduces the concept of breaking longer pieces into short segments. You'll learn the notes to the first quarter of Gina's Lament. Don't forget to look at the key signature: both B's and E's are flat. Practice until you can play it smoothly. 14.02 MEASURES AND BAR LINES - Introduces Bar Lines and Measures as you learn the notes to the second quarter ofGina's Lament. Keep you eyes open for naturals in this part, and practice until it's smooth. 14.03 ACCIDENTALS AND MEASURES - Introduces the Previous Accidental Rule while you learn part three ofGina's Lament. Remember that when accidentals appear inside a measure, they remain in effect until the end of the measure for that particular note. Because of this rule, the fourth note of this section is an E(,, rather than an Ei. The same ride applies to the last note of each measure in this Lesson. 14.04 OCTAVES - Introduces Octaves. This lesson contains only a chalkboard. There is no activity. 14.05 ACCIDENTALS AND OCTAVES - Demonstrates the relationship between octaves and accidentals while you'll learn the last part of Gina's Lament. You'll have to be alert, because notes affected by the key signature appear in two different octaves. Also, remember that an accidental in one octave does not affect a note of the same letter name in a different octave. This part of the piece has some tricky stretches and thumb unders. Practice until you can make these transitions smoothly. 14.06 ACCIDENTAL SUMMARY - Flashcards quiz you about key signatures and accidentals. If you have trouble, remember: *Sharps and Flats in the key signature affect all notes with the same letter name. *Accidentals in the measure override the key signature. *Accidentals in the measure follow the previous accidental rule, which causes the altered note to stay changed for the remainder of the measure. 14.07 MAKING ACCIDENTAL MUSIC - You'll play all ofGina's Lament with the metronome turned on. The rhythm is an easy one note per beat. Nevertheless, the piece is pretty long, so don't get discouraged if it takes awhile to play the piece smoothly. 14.08 THE ACCIDENTAL ORCHESTRA - You'll play Gina's Lament with the Miracle providing full accompaniment. ==Section 15: Ledger Lines on the Treble Staff== Ledger Lines are short horizontal lines above or below the staff, which extend the staff up or down. They are used with notes that have higher or lower pitches than the notes on the staff. Middle C, for instance requires a ledger line. Ledger Lines were not used extensively until 1523 when Italian organist Marco Antonio Cavazzoni published a collection of keyboard pieces entitled Ricercari, motetti, canzoni. Although these sound like types of pasta, the name refers to three forms of music that were popular in Cavazzoni's day. Prior to the use of ledger lines, composers approached the problem of out of range notes by moving the clef to a different line on the staff. This effectively assigned different notes to each line. However, staffs with constantly changing notes made the notation difficult to read. Two ledger lines above and below the treble staff (and the spaces between them) are sufficient to represent the other notes associated with that staff. The two ledger lines below the treble staff represent Middle ( and the A below Middle C. The two ledger lines above the treble staff also represent A and C, but two octaves higher. In fact, the C is the highest note on your Miracle keyboard. A Third is the distance between two adjacent lines on the staff or ledger lines. This distance is called a third because it involves three notes: the one on the lower line, the one on the space, and the one on the upper line. The distance between two spaces is also considered a third. Thirds are a commonly used interval in music. When looking through notation for patterns of rising and falling notes, you'll find many patterns made up of thirds. As a result, recognizing thirds and associating them with a distance on the keyboard makes playing and reading notation easier. Thirds are also important in the formation of chords (two or more notes played at the same time). You learn more about this later. 15.01 LEDGER LINES ABOVE - Introduces ledger lines above the treble staff. If you have trouble, read the ledger lines by counting up from the notes that you already know. You know that the top line of treble staff is an F. That makes the first ledger line above the staff, two white keys higher than F (an A). This kind of reading by interval is much quicker than counting up from the bottom of the staff. 15.02 LEDGER LINES BELOW - Introduces ledger lines below the treble staff, and the concept of thirds. If you have problems, try to play by interval, using the distance between notes, instead of thinking about specific note names. Start at E and follow the notes down one at a time. Because there are no large leaps, this piece is easy to read by interval. 15.03 LEDGER LINE QUIZ - Flashcards quiz you about ledger lines and thirds. 15.04 DUCKS AGAIN - Ledger line practice in the Shooting Gallery, to the tune of Rosebud. Don't forget that the key signature affects the notes in every octave. Those Fjj's and C^'s apply to ledger line notes as well. 15.05 ADDING SOME RHYTHM - Rhythm practice. You'll tap out the ostinato rhythm used in Rosebud while the Miracle supplies the notes. The piece has a short-short-long rhythm of eighth and quarter notes. If this gives you trouble, you might want to practice working with rhythms for awhile in the Practice Room. 15.06 NOTES AND RHYTHM - You'll play Rosebud in the ostinato rhythm with the metronome turned on. If you have trouble, work on Rosebud in the Practice Room using the Practice Notes option. 15.07 TREBLE STAFF FINALE - The Miracle is your invisible left hand as you perform Rosebud. By now, playing with accompaniment should be easier, but if you have trouble, repeat Lesson 15.06 until you can play the piece smoothly. ==Section 16: Ledger Lines on the Bass Staff== Ledger lines on the bass staff work in the same way as they do on the treble staff. Two ledger lines above and below the bass staff are sufficient to represent the notes on the Miracle keyboard. The two ledger lines above the bass staff represent Middle C and the E above Middle C. The two ledger lines below the bass staff also represent C and E, but two octaves lower. In fact, the C is the lowest note on your Miracle keyboard. Note that the ledger line for Middle C on the bass staff does not appear at the same location on the notation as the Middle C for the treble staff. Don't let this confuse you. The note is the same. Middle C is always Middle C. Playing ledger lines often involves counting up from the staff and counting down from the staff in thirds. In fact, it is so common that reading music becomes easier if you master counting up and down in thirds from any given note. You should recall that a third is the distance between two lines on the staff. Try practicing counting in thirds away from the keyboard, lb do this, choose a note and then try to count three thirds up and then three thirds down. For example, if you choose G, going up you would get G-B-D-F and going down you would get G-E-C-A. Try it starting with D, B, or E. A Chord is two or more keys pressed at the same time. In notation, they appear as two or more notes stacked on top of each other. In this Section, you'll play the bass line to a piece written for the Miracle course entitled Bull Frog. This bass line combines single notes and two-note chords (sometimes called Double-Notes by musicians). The notes of each chord in Bull Frog are separated by a third. Chords composed of thirds are among the most common types of chords used in American and European music. 16.01 BASS LEDGER LINES - Introduces ledger lines above the bass staff. Keep in mind that the first ledger line above the bass staff is Middle C. 16.02 BELOW THE BASS STAFF - Introduces ledger lines below the bass staff. Watch for a previous accidental in the second measure of the second screen. 16.03 REVIEW TIME! - Flashcard quiz on counting in thirds and on ledger lines on the bass staff. 16.04 INTRODUCTION TO CHORDS - Introduces the fingering of chords. Note that when the Miracle indicates the finger number for a left hand chord, it displays only the number for the lowest pitched note on the staff. For example, if you have a chord made up of a C and an E, the Miracle just displays the finger number to use for the C. The Miracle displays the number of the highest pitched note for right hand chords. 16.05 DUCK CHORDS - Practicing chords in the Shooting Gallery. 16.06 THE WHOLE ENCHILADA - Rhythm practice tapping out the ostinato rhythm to Bull Frog. Note that the activity displays the blue rhythm lines below the beat numbers. This indicates that the rhythm is for the left hand. 16.07 BASS LEDGER LINES - Pitch practice with the bass line of Bull Frog. The metronome is turned off. Notice that there is no bar line at the end of either set of staffs. This means that the measure for the first set continues on the second set of staffs, and the measure for the second set continues on the next screen. Keep this in mind when playing that first note on the second set of staffs. Because the previous accidental rule applies, that note is really an Eb. 16.08 PITCH & RHYTHM - Playing Bull Frog with the metronome turned on. Remember to play one note for beats 1 and 3 and two notes for beats 2 and 4 of every measure. If you have problems, work on Bull Frog in the Practice Room until you can play both the rhythm and the pitch smoothly. 16.09 OSTINATO & ORCHESTRA - The Miracle provides full accompaniment to your performance of the Bull Frog bass line. You'll discover that the Miracle is capable of making quite an interesting variety of sounds. ==Section 17: Imitating Rhythms== An Imitative Piece is a unique type of music, usually involving two musicians. One musician plays a sequence of notes with a particular rhythmic pattern, then the other musician plays a sequence of equal length, using the same rhythmic pattern. In many cases, the sequences also have identical melodies. Imitative pieces can by played on a piano by one person by playing the odd measures with the left hand and the even measures with the right. Imitation pieces can sometimes be tricky to play, because the rhythm of each set of measures might be different from the set before it. A good way to keep in rhythm is to count the beats. For example, if the piece has four beats to a measure, count "1-2-3-4" for each measure. To be effective, you must count during every measure, whether you are playing in that measure or not. 17.01 IMITATIVE RHYTHMS - Rhythm practice tapping out an imitative piece. When the green pointer is on a rest, the Miracle taps Middle C to the rhythm that you will play in the next measure. The Miracle is pretty picky for this Lesson, so play exactly what you heard, and keep an eye on the pointer. It provides a visual clue to when you're supposed to play. 17.02 THE NOTES - Pitch practice on the notes that go with the rhythms in Lesson 17.01. The fingering is pretty easy, but soon you'll be playing it with some tricky rhythms. Make sure you can play the piece smoothly. 17.03 DUELING PIANOS - It's you versus the Miracle as you combine the rhythms and pitches from the previous two lessons together. The challenge is to play exactly the notes and rhythms that you hear. ==Section 18: More Imitative Music== Earlier, you were told of the Miracle Equation: Notes + Rhythm = Music This equation sounds very simple, and the concept of it is. The hard part is putting the equation into practice. It's like playing a new Nintendo game. It's easy to understand, but at first it takes a little practice to play it well. This Section concentrates on building your skill at the Miracle Equation. You'll learn to recognize a beat pattern, and then apply it to notes of different pitch. Later, when you learn to read rhythms in notation, you'll be able to apply the skills you've gained here to help you quickly learn any piece. 18.01 MORE IMITATIVE PIECES - Rhythm practice with imitative music. Don't be misled by the Miracle playing different pitches than the Middle C's that you play. Concentrate on extracting the rhythms. You'll work with the pitches later. Incidentally, these rhythms are a bit trickier than the ones in Section 17, so don't worry if it takes a few tries to get it right. 18.02 HERE ARE THE PITCHES! - Pitch practice with the notes that you'll later combine with the rhythms you just learned. The hand positions aren't too hard, but some of the pitches try to throw a curve at you. Make sure you don't forget about the previous accidental rule. 18.03 MIRACLE MADNESS - You'll combine the rhythm from Lesson 18.01 with the pitches from Lesson 18.02. Don't let the Miracle throw you off. The pitches it plays in its measures are different from the pitches that you play in yours. Just make sure you imitate the same rhythm. ==Section 19: Two-Handed Playing== Playing with two hands is not nearly as confusing as it might first seem. In many things you do every day, your hands do two different things at once. When playing most Nintendo games, for example, your left hand is doing something with the arrow keys while your right hand switches back and forth between the "A" and "B" buttons. Playing with both hands is very similar. It takes a little while to get coordinated, and then becomes relatively easy. As you know, music forms patterns of rising and falling motion. In two-handed pieces, the bass line and the melody each have their own pattern. These patterns may be similar, in that both bass line and melody rise and fall at the same time, or they may be dissimilar. The melody might rise while the bass line falls, for example. Parallel Motion describes those times when the bass line and melody rise and fall at the same time. Contrary Motion describes those times when the bass line rises while the melody falls, or vise-versa. Frequently, the bass line and melody of a piece will display examples of both parallel and contrary motion. In this Section, you'll play pieces of all three types. The pieces may take some getting used to, so don't get discouraged if it takes a while to get the hang of it. You're giving yourself a real workout, training your mind and your muscles to move together in a new way. With a little time and practice, you'll get it right. 19.01 PLAYING WITH TWO HANDS - Introduction to playing with both hands. You play a piece that is completely in parallel motion. In fact, the left and right hands do exactly the same thing, but one octave apart. 19.02 WITH THE METRONOME - You'll play the parallel motion piece from Lesson 19.01 with the metronome turned on. Even though you'll only play one note per beat, it may take a while to get the hang of it. Practice until you can do it smoothly. 19.03 CONTRARY MOTION - Introduction to playing pieces with contrary motion. Each hand uses only one hand position, and they are exactly an octave apart. Since the contrary motion starts on the same finger, both hands will use the same finger throughout the piece. If you use the thumb on one hand, you'll use the thumb on the other. Don't forget to check the key signature. 19.04 CONTRARY WITH METRONOME - You'll play the contrary motion piece from Lesson 19.03 with the metronome turned on. 19.05 2-HANDS, 2 POSITIONS - You'll play Chimp, a piece that combines both parallel and contrary rhythms. The left hand remains in the same hand position throughout the piece, but the right hand changes position several times. Be careful not to move the left hand when you move the right hand! Many people find that this lesson takes a bit more practice than most of the others. If you have trouble, go to the Practice Room and play Chimp using the Practice Notes option. First, practice the left hand part only. Then practice the right hand part only. When you can play both smoothly, give it a try monkeying around with both hands. 19.06 ...WITH METRONOME - You'll play Chimp with the metronome turned on. ==Section 20: Time Signatures== In Sheet Music and Rhythm Practice Activities, you've probably noticed the two large numbers that appear in the first measure of every piece. These numbers together are called a Time Signature and they tell you two things. The upper number tells you how many beats there are in a measure. For example, a "3" means three beats per measure while a "4" means fours beats per measure. The upper number is also the number of lead beats to use before starting the piece. The lower number tells you what kind of note equals one beat. A "2" means every half note gets a beat. A "4" means every quarter note gets a beat. An "8" means every eighth note gets a beat. Although they look like fractions, time signature names aren't pronounced like fractions. Instead, you say the top number and then say the bottom number. For example, "3/4" is pronounced "three-four time." That time signature, incidentally, means that there are three beats to a measure, and each quarter note gets one beat. Different time signatures change the feel of the rhythm in a piece. All waltzes, for example, have the same rhythmic feel to them. This is because all waltzes are in 3/4 time. So are polkas. Marches, such as Sousa's Stars and Stripes Forever are always in 4/4 time. This time signature provides a steady, even numbered beat which is easy to march to. Most Rock & Roll songs are in 4/4 too. By far, 4/4 time is the most commonly used time signature. As a result, 4/4 is often referred to as Common Time. In notation, the time signature for common time sometimes appears on the staff as 4/4 and other times as a large letter C. Both symbols mean the same thing: four beats to a measure with each quarter note getting one beat. Half Notes are notes that are played twice as long as quarter notes. On the staff, they look like hollowed-out quarter notes. In common time, each half note lasts two beats. In this Section, you'll play the first part of Chopsticks, a piece in 3/4 time with both half notes and quarter notes. This part of Chopsticks makes extensive use of contrary motion. Chopsticks was first published in England in 1877 as The Celebrated Chop Waltz. The French call the piece Cotelettes which means Cutlets. The traditional way to perform Chopsticks breaks all known rules of piano playing: it's usually performed with just two outstretched fingers! However, you won't play it that way here. The Miracle's Chopsticks is a little different from the traditional version. In this Chopsticks, the bass line is played an octave lower. This results in a fuller sound than the traditional version, which gets emphasized when the Miracle Orchestra joins you later on for a performance of both halves of the piece. 20.01 CHOPSTICKS - Right hand note practice for the first part of Chopsticks. Notice that there is only one hand position for this part of the piece. 20.02 TIME SIGNATURES - Introduces Time Signatures. Because the top number in the time signature is a 3, you know that there are three beats per measure. You also know you should expect 3 lead beats when you start the piece. Count "1-2-3" for each measure. 20.03 LEAD BEATS QUIZ - Flashcards quiz you about time signatures. 20.04 CHOPSTICKS - LEFT HAND - You'll play the left hand part of Chopsticks with the metronome turned on. This activity challenges you to play the notes and rhythm without practicing the notes first. Keep in mind that there's only one hand position. If the rhythm goes too quickly, you can still Practice Notes on this piece in the Practice Room. But see if you can sight read the piece correctly the first time through. 20.05 TWO-HANDED CHOPSTICKS - You'll play the first part of Chopsticks with both hands. Don't forget that there is only one hand position for each hand. While playing, try to pick out how your hands move in relation to one another. Notice how your hands move in parallel motion in measure six, and contrary motion in measure eight. Recognizing patterns like this will make it easier to play with both hands. 20.06 HALF NOTES - Introduces half notes as you get tapping practice for the next part of Chopsticks. Tap with your right hand only, and remember that half notes last for two beats. ==Section 21: Chopsticks Revisited== As you've already learned, rests are moments of silence in music. A Quarter Note Rest (also called a Quarter Rest) is a moment of silence that lasts as long as a quarter note. In the finale of Chopsticks, you'll see several quarter note rests. The finale of a piece or major section of a piece is called its Coda, which means tail in Italian. Codas generally use a pattern of notes or rhythms that is different from the rest of the piece, in order to create an impression of finality. The length of Codas vary from piece to piece. They may be many measures long, or just a few. Some pieces have no Coda at all. The coda to our version of Chopsticks is seven measures long. 21.01 MORE CHOPSTICKS - You'll play the next part of the middle part of the Chopsticks bass line with the metronome turned on. Pay special attention to the fingering so that you don't run out of fingers. Put your thumb on G as it goes down from C in the opening. 21.02 STILL MORE CHOPSTICKS - Youll play the middle part of Chopsticks with both hands. The metronome is turned off to let you concentrate on the fingering. Notice that all but the last four measures are in parallel motion. Make sure you learn the correct fingering now, so that you can play smoothly when the metronome is turned on. 21.03 EVEN MORE CHOPSTICKS - You'll play the middle part of Chopsticks with the metronome turned on. If you have trouble, go back to Lesson 21.02. 21.04 QUARTER NOTE RESTS - Introduction to Quarter Note Rests. You'll play the Coda (ending) of Chopsticks in which the lefl and right hands play an imitative rhythm. 21.05 COMPLETE CHOPSTICKS - You'll play Chopsticks in its entirety. Be ready to repeat most (but not all) of the first part, after playing the middle section. This repeated section goes right into the Coda. 21.06 CHOPSTICKS AND ORCHESTRA - A performance of Chopsticks with accompaniment from the Miracle. You've probably never heard Chopsticks like this before! ==Section 22: Fun with Notes and Rests== Whole Notes are notes that are played four times as long as a quarter note. They are called whole notes because they have the longest duration of any normal note in piano music. Because whole notes are the longest, all of the other notes are named in relation to whole notes. That is why notes that are played half as long are called half notes and notes that are played a quarter as long are called quarter notes. Whole notes appear on the staff as a hollow circle. In 4/4 time, they take up an entire measure by themselves. Although whole notes are the longest note used with the piano, there actually are notes of longer duration. A Double Whole Note is a note played twice as long as a whole note. These notes appear rarely, and only in music with very unusual time signatures such as 4/2 time. Orchestral scores or contemporary avant garde pieces may occasionally use time signatures of this type. Traditionally, however, such time signatures are not used for the piano. A Half Note Rest (also called a Half Rest) is a moment of silence that lasts as long as a half note. It appears in notation as a short horizontal line that sits on top of the center line of the staff. A Whole Note Rest (also called a Whole Rest) is a moment of silence that lasts as long as a whole note. It appears in notation as a short horizontal line that hangs under the fourth line on the staff. Whole note rests are slightly wider than half note rests. A Sequence is a pattern of notes and rhythm that repeats three or more times with each repetition beginning one note higher or lower than the previous. For example, a sequence of quarter notes might be C-D-E-F for the first repetition, D-E-F-G for the second, and E-F-G-A for the third. There is no maximum number of notes in the pattern of a sequence, nor is there a limit on the number of repetitions. The ability to recognize sequences (or any other type of musical pattern) helps make reading and playing pieces easier. 22.01 MORE SYMBOLS - Introduction to whole notes and half rests. You'll play the right hand part of Space Cadet with the metronome turned on. Note that the music on the second screen contains a four note sequence. 22.02 ...LEFT HAND - YouH play the right hand part of Space Cadet with the metronome turned on. Notice the sequence of half notes on the second screen. 22.03 NOTE REVIEW - Flashcard quiz on notes and rests. 22.04 ...BOTH HANDS - Practice playing Space Cadet with both hands. The metronome is turned off, but try to play in rhythm as best you can. Watch out for the hand position changes on the second screen. 22.05 ...WITH METRONOME - Playing Space Cadet with the metronome turned on. Don't forget to raise your right hand during the rests. In the second measure, practice raising your right hand exactly when your left hand plays the second note. 22.06 SPACE CADET FINALE - The Miracle Orchestra joins you in a performance of Space Cadet. You'll hear the Miracle produce some interesting sounds on this one. ==Section 23: Canon in D== Eighth notes appear on the staff as a quarter note with a small flag at the end of the stem. These flags work well for single notes, but not as well when several eighth notes appear one after another. With a lot of flags, the notation becomes crowded and hard to read. The solution is to use beams. When two eighth notes appear together, their flags are replaced by a thick line that connects the two stems. This line is called a Beam. Whenever you see two or more notes beamed with a single line, play eighth notes. Contrapuntal literally means in counterpoint, or in opposition to. In music, it refers to playing two or more entirely independent parts (melody line, bass line, etc.) at the same time. This kind of hand independence is a skill that improves with experience. The best way to learn contrapuntal pieces is to get a feel for the separate movements of each hand. Do this by practicing separately with each hand until the movements become automatic. A Theme is the main melody of a piece, for which the piece is known and recognized. Usually, the theme either starts the piece or is brought in after a brief musical introduction. A canon is a special type of Contrapuntal piece in which the theme of the piece is played by each of the parts, but at different times. Often, the two parts are a measure apart. Think of it as an imitative piece in which the first hand leads the other throughout the piece. In this Section, you will play Canon in D, the most famous work of Johann Pachelbel. Canon in D contains some challenging hand position transitions. In the bass line, there are transitions where it is impossible to reach the notes without physically lifting your hand from the keyboard. 23.01 CANON IN D - LEFT HAND - Left hand note practice for Canon in D. Watch out for the two sharps in the key signature. Also, this piece has some very tricky hand positions. For some, you'll have to lift and move your hand. Practice connecting the notes as smoothly as possible. 23.02 CANON IN D - LEFT RHYTHM - You'll play the left hand part of Canon in D with the metronome turned on. Be prepared for the notes to get abruptly faster on the second screen as you switch from playing quarter notes to playing eighth notes. Anticipate the eighth notes by thinking "1-2" for each beat on the first screen. 23.03 CANON IN D - RIGHT HAND - Note practice for the right hand part of Canon in D. You'll notice that the music repeats quite a bit. The first three lines are identical. The chords on the second screen repeat on the third screen as well. When playing the chords, remember that the finger number is for the top note of the chord. Also, don't forget about the key signature. 23.04 CANON - RIGHT RHYTHM - You'll play the right hand part of Canon in D with the metronome turned on. Be patient and wait for the whole note rests at the beginning of the piece. It's not nearly as long as most orchestra members have to wait. Sometimes they have to count hundreds of bars before they come in! Count "1-2" for each beat of the right hand too. That way the eighth notes on the second screen won't take you by surprise. Try to play the chords so that they flow together smoothly. 23.05 CANON IN D - PRACTICE - You'll play both parts of Canon in D, but with the metronome turned off. Putting both left and right hands together in any contrapuntal piece takes practice. Don't be concerned if it takes a while before you can play this smoothly. While you're working on it, you might notice that the left and right hand switch parts when you get to the eighth notes. Your right hand plays what your left hand was playing and vise-versa. You might also notice that the melody in the first two-measures that the left hand plays is repeated in the piece no less than five times! 23.06 CANON IN D - FOR REAL - You'll play Canon in D with the metronome turned on. Take your time, and don't forget about the eighth notes on the second screen. 23.07 CANON IN D - FINALE! - The Miracle joins you in a final performance of Canon in D. You'll notice that the Miracle adds two more contrapuntal parts to the piece. This large amount of counterpoint is very typical of Baroque period music. ==Section 24: Rockin' Keyboards== An Eighth Note Rest (also called a Eighth Rest) is a moment of silence that lasts as long as an eighth note. It appears in notation as a symbol that resembles a fancy "7." When you play rests, raise your arm and hand to lift your fingers from the keys. Try not to bend back your wrist, especially with longer rests. When you bend your wrist, you lose your ready position, which makes further playing more difficult. Often, you will have to play music in different octaves with the same hand. These jumps between octaves should be prepared as early as possible. If there is a rest between the two hand positions, use the rest to move to the new position. In this section, you'll play a Rock & Roll tune. The piece is called Frightnight, and has a spooky, Halloween-ish sound. Like most Rock tunes, Frightnight is in 4/4 time. As you practice, you'll probably agree that it sounds spooky, but you may wonder where the Rock part is. You'll find out in the last lesson when the Miracle joins in. It's another example of how contrapuntal parts can come together to create interesting sounds. 24.01 EIGHTH RESTS - Introduces Eighth Note Rests. You'll tap the left hand rhythm to Frightnight. Don't forget to play the eighth notes shorter than the quarter notes. 24.02 LEFT HAND NOTES - You'll play the left hand notes to Frightnight with the metronome turned on. Learn the opening measure well it's repeated eleven times throughout the piece! Also, be ready for the hand positions changes and the eighth notes that are on the second screen. 24.03 RIGHT RHYTHM - Rhythm practice with the right hand part of Frightnight. There are notes and rests of many different types here, so it may not be as easy as it looks. Thinking "1-2" for each beat will help you get in sync with the eighth notes. 24.04 RIGHT HAND NOTES - You'll play the right hand notes to Frightnight while the Miracle plays the left hand for you. Even though you don't have to play the left hand, try reading both parts. It's good sight- reading practice. 24.05 FRIGHTNIGHT - BOTH HANDS - You'll play both parts of Frightnight. Try to make it sound like it did in Lesson 24.04 when the Miracle played with you. During the parts with the familiar repeating left hand pattern, concentrate on your right hand so that you can anticipate the changes. 24.06 ROCK 'N ROLL MIRACLE - It's time to Rock & Roll! You'll play Frightnight as the Miracle jams with you. Be prepared to hear some pretty unusual sounds come out of your keyboard. ==Section 25: Playing in 2/4 Time== 2/4 Time (pronounced two-four time) means that there are two beats per measure, and that each beat equals one quarter note. In this Section, you'll play a piece written in 2/4 time that youll probably recognize, Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. 25.01 TWINKLE, TWINKLE - You'll tap the rhythm parts for both hands of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star at the same time. Use a note below Middle C for the left hand and a note above Middle C for the right. Since the piece is in 2/4 time, there are only two beats per measure, and only two lead beats before the piece begins. 25.02 LEFT TWINKLE - You'll play the left hand part of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star with the metronome turned on. As you play quarter notes, hold them as long as possible before you raise your fingers for the next note. When you play the eighth notes and rests, raise your fingers for the second half of each beat. 25.03 RIGHT TWINKLE - You'll play the right hand part of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star with the metronome turned on. Take note that the chords on the second screen are thirds. When fingering thirds, use every other finger. In other words, if the finger number says "5", use your pinky and middle finger. If it says "4", use your ring finger and your index finger. If it says "3", use your middle finger and your thumb. 25.04 TIME SIGNATURE REVIEW - A flashcard quiz on time signatures. Watch out for questions with more than one correct answer. 25.05 TWO-HAND TWINKLE - You'll play both parts of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star with the metronome turned on. Don't forget the F| in the key signature when you get to the chords. 25.06 TWINKLE WITH ORCHESTRA - The Miracle accompanies you in a unique arrangement of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. It won't sound like a children's song to you this time! ==Section 26: All That Jazz== A Tie is a curved line that connects two or more notes of the same pitch. These Tied notes are played as a single note, lasting for the time it would take to play all of the notes separately. For example, in 4/4 time, a quarter note tied to an eighth note is played as a single note lasting a beat and a half. Likewise, two eighth notes tied together are interpreted as a quarter note. Tied notes enable composers to use notes of lengths for which there is no notational symbol. For example, there is no symbol for a note that is the length of a quarter note plus a sixteenth note. If a composer wanted to use such a note, he would write it as a quarter and sixteenth note tied together. Tied notes are also useful when a composer wants to write a note that would exceed the length of a measure. For example, two tied quarter notes are used in place of a half note when the half note would appear on the fourth beat of a measure (in 4/4 time). A dotted note is a note that is played for one-and-a-half times its normal length. A dotted half note is equal to a half note tied to a quarter note. A dotted quarter note is equal to a quarter note tied to an eighth note. Dotted notes are oflen used instead of their tied equivalents to avoid cluttering up the score. 26.01 ALL THAT JAZZ! - YouH tap out the right hand rhythm to Channel 11. There are several tied notes on the second screen, so the display may be a little confusing. For each set of tied notes, only one eighth note and the half note next to it are tied. Remember to hold the key down for the duration of both notes. 26.02 SYNCOPATION - Introduces the term Syncopation while you combine the notes and rhythm of the right hand part of Channel 11. 26.03 DOTTED NOTES - Introduces dotted half notes, while you tap out the left hand part of Channel 11. Play each dotted half note as if it were a half note tied to a quarter note. 26.04 QUIZ TIME - Flashcards quiz you about dotted notes. 26.05 LEFT HAND NOTES & RHYTHM - You'll play the left hand part of Channel 11 with the metronome turned on. The walking bass line in this piece is very typical of Jazz, and is often played by on a Bass. 26.06 TWO HAND RHYTHM - You'll tap out the rhythm for both the left and right hand parts of Channel 11. Pay special attention to the rests. 26.07 CHANNEL 11 - TWO HANDS - You'll play Channel 11 with the metronome turned on. 26.08 JAMMIN' ON CHANNEL 11 - The Miracle joins you in a final performance of Channel 11. As you play, try to notice the syncopations that the Miracle plays off-the-beat. ==Section 27: Different Playing Styles== Touch (sometimes called Articulation) refers to how the piano is played. Notes can be played softly or loudly. They can be played smoothly so that they seem to flow from one to the next, or they can be played crisply so that each note seems to have a life of its own Each of these touches has a name, so that a composer can indicate how his piece should be played. So far, you've concentrated on playing pieces smoothly, so that each note seems to connect to the next. This style of playing is called Legato. Staccato is a touch in which the notes are not connected. Each note is short, crisp and bouncy. The sound from such a note stops before the next note begins. In this Section, you will play Toccata. This 2/4 piece contains three notes chords that should be played in a staccato style. Fingering for three notes chords on the treble staff is simple. The notation tells you which finger to use for the highest note. For the lowest note, use your thumb. Use the finger that seems most comfortable to play the middle note. When switching from one chord to another, aim for the correct note for your thumb. This gives you the most accuracy. Toccata contains several recognizable patterns that make learning the piece much easier: 1) Most of the single notes are the same notes that make up the chord that follows them. 2) During the measures with chords, the right hand pinky plays the same note as the left hand, but one octave higher. 3) The right hand holds the same chord fingering throughout the piece. Although different notes are played, the shape of the right hand can remain unchanged. 27.01 STACCATO TOCCATA - You'll learn the fingering to the right hand part of Toccata. Notice that the single notes are the same pitches as the chords that follow them. 27.02 TOCCATA RIGHT HAND - You'll play the right hand part of Toccata with the metronome turned on. Remember that you don't have to change hand positions for the first chord of each two chord set. 27.03 TOCCATA MELODY - You'll play the bass melody to Toccata with your left hand. You'll see some dotted quarter notes. Play these for the length of a quarter note plut an eighth note. 27.04 TOCCATA RHYTHM - Tapping practice for the left and right hand parts of Toccata. If the two different rhythms seem awkward at first, try breaking each beat down into the four possible combinations: rest, right (hand), left (hand), both (hands). 27.05 REVIEW - Flashcards quiz you about dotted notes, touch and chords. 27.06 TOCCATA TOGETHER - You'll play both parts of Toccata with the metronome turned off. This piece is much easier to play when you recognize the relationship between the hands. Notice how the top note of the right hand is almost always exactly an octave above the left hand note. ==Section 28: Practice Makes Perfect== Learning piano is like learning to play a Nintendo game. First, you learn the rules and find out what buttons to press to do what you want. Then you start to play, although not nearly as well as your friend who bought the game months ago. As you play more and more, you gain the coordination to get past obstacles that were once difficult. Then you look for ways to do it easier and better. Piano playing is very much the same. You've learned all about key signatures, time signatures, ledger lines, treble and bass clefs, accidentals, and the different lengths of notes from wholes to eighths. Now you need to coordinate all of the things together to form a piece of music. One of the trickiest things to coordinate when playing with both hands is changing hand positions accurately. When you move one hand to a new position, your body frequently wants to move the other hand too. Also, there are usually some stray fingers that don't want to get over the right keys. This is natural, and it takes practice to train your body to get the hang of it. A good way to teach your hands to go where you want them is to be aware of what's happening at every moment in a piece. When your right hand moves, think "In this part my right hand moves and my left hand stays put." When you are conscious of each moment, you are less likely to make a mistake. Then as you practice, your coordination improves. Eventually, independent movement of your hands becomes second nature. 28.01 PRACTICE AND PRACTICE! - You'll play the right hand part of an eight measure piece with the metronome turned on. You understand the symbols and the concept of counting. Now you must put those two together to learn how to sight read. Concentrate on reading the rhythm before reading the note. It's much easier to recover from playing the wrong note than it is to recover from losing the rhythm. 28.02 TWO HAND RHYTHMS - Tapping practice for the rhythms of both hands. This piece has a lot of different rhythms, making it challenging to play with both hands. Try to reduce the hand movement of each beat down to rest, left, right or both. 28.03 BASS CLEF PRACTICE - Left hand practice playing a piece with many different rhythms. Make sure to hold the half notes and whole notes for their full durations. On the second screen, you'll find places where the same notes are played one after another. Use times like these to look ahead in the notation and see what's coming up. 28.04 ALL TOGETHER NOW - You'll play both parts of the eight bar practice piece. The Miracle is very strict here about how you play the rests. Be sure to hold each note exactly its proper length. 28.05 TEST TIME - Flashcards quiz you about time signatures, note lengths and dotted notes. 28.06 YOU GOT RHYTHM - You'll tap out both parts to a different practice piece. This one has a slightly faster tempo. You should getting used to tapping with both hands, but that doesn't mean not to concentrate. Watch the pointer and think rest, left, right or both 28.07 MELODY LINE - Right hand note practice. There are some tricky hand positions here and a number of jumps, so keep track of where your fingers are. 28.08 MELODY IN TIME - The Miracle adds the bass line as you play the melody from Lesson 28.07 with the metronome turned on. Make sure to check the time signature so you know how many beats to count in a measure. If you get behind, try to skip ahead to a later point in the notation and begin when the Miracle catches up with you. This is good practice for when you are performing with others. They won't stop just because you made a mistake. 28.09 SWITCHEROO - This time the Miracle adds the melody and you play the bass line. Be ready for a tricky transition at the end of the piece. Youll have to pass your hand way over your thumb to play it smoothly. 28.10 THE EIGHT BAR TEST - You'll play both melody and bass line for the eight bar practice piece from Lesson 28.07. To give you a chance to coordinate your hands, the tempo is slower than it was in the previous two lessons. ==Section 29: Triplets== Triplets are three notes played in the same time it would normally take to play two. They appear in notation as a set of beamed notes with a small "3" above the beam. Finger Independence is the ability to move each finger independently of the others. It makes playing easier because each finger can hold its own. Without this skill, the movement of one finger reduces your ability to move the others. Although it's a skill that improves with practice, everybody starts out with some degree of natural finger independence. The exercises in this Section help you improve your finger independence. After completing this Section, use the exercises each day as a warm-up routine. Practice with each hand, and concentrate on the following: 1) Hold the tied whole note down throughout the exercise. Don't let your finger lift up. 2) Play the triplets evenly. 3) Keep the weight of your arm constant. Keep the same amount of weight on the weaker fingers as on the stronger ones. 29.01 TRIPLET EIGHTHS - You'll play triplets with the fingers of your right hand as your thumb holds down a whole note. Don't be concerned if it takes a while to get the timing right. Try thinking "1-2-3" for each beat. 29.02 FINGER BUSTER #2 - You'll play triplets with the fingers of your right hand as your pinky holds down a whole note. This exercise is a bit more challenging than Lesson 29.01. Keep practicing. 29.03 FINGER BUSTER #3 - You'll play triplets with the fingers of your right hand as your index finger holds down a whole note. You may discover that your pinky is stronger than you think. In fact, it actually has more natural finger independence than either your index or ring finger. 29.04 FINGER BUSTER #4 - You'll play triplets with the fingers of your right hand as your middle finger holds down a whole note. This exercise is the most challenging yet! Let's see how quickly you can get through it. 29.05 FINGER BUSTER #5 - You'll play triplets with the fingers of your right hand as your ring finger holds down a whole note. Although the transitions between your middle finger and pinky are tricky, most people find this easier than the exercise in Lesson 29.04. Now for a real challenge: try these exercises with your left hand. Use the notes C-D-E-F-G. Just hold one of the fingers down and play triplets with the rest. Unless you are left-handed, you'll probably find that it takes the left hand a little longer to do what you want it to. Nevertheless, this hand needs to develop finger independence too. Make sure that it gets equal practice time! ==Section 30: Long Live the King== Hound Dog was one of Elvis Presley's biggest hits, topping the charts in 1956 for eleven weeks. However, Elvis wasn't the first to record the song. 30.01 HOUND DOG! - You'll use your left hand to tap out the bass line rhythm to Hound Dog. Don't forget to play the tied eighth and quarter notes as a single note. That note is a syncopated note, since it starts between two beats. 30.02 RIGHT RHYTHM - You'll use your right hand to tap out the melody to Hound Dog. Don't forget to lift your hand for the rests. Also, watch for the eighth notes that start on line two. After the syncopated pattern on the first line, they come as a surprise. 30.03 HOUND DOG BASS - You'll play the bass line of Hound Dog with the metronome turned on. The Miracle plays the right hand part for you. You'll notice that the two hands quickly develop very diverse rhythms. Don't let the Miracle distract you. 30.04 HOUND DOG MELODY - You'll play the melody of Hound Dog with your right hand, while the Miracle plays the bass line with the left. If have trouble, go to Hound Dog in the Practice Room, select Right Hand, and choose Practice Notes. 30.05 RHYTHM CHECK - YouH tap out the rhythm of Hound Dog with both hands. Be ready for the second line of screen three—the tied eighth notes could be confusing! If you have problems, select Listen to the Piece from the Options Menu to get a better idea of how it all fits together. This is a challenging piece to tap. Don't get discouraged if it takes a while to get it. Be patient and repeat the lesson until you can do smoothly. You may even want to divide your practice into two or three sessions. 30.06 HOUUUND DAWG PRACTICE - YouH play both the melody and the bass line to Hound Dog with the metronome turned on. If you have trouble, select Practice Notes for "both hands" in the Practice Room. As you work with this piece, the Miracle will have you play it at a number of tempos. You'll discover that slow practice can really pay off. 30.07 MIRACLE ELVIS - The Miracle joins you in a Rockin' performance of Hound Dog. Make The King proud! ==Section 31: Broken Octaves== Broken Octaves are patterns of notes that alternate back and forth between two octaves. These patterns are common to bass lines. Play Broken Octaves with the thumb and pinky. Try to keep your pinky straight and your thumb hooked slightly inward. Also, make sure your knuckles do not collapse. This strengthens your fingers and provides more control. While playing, use finger pressure rather than hand movement to strike the keys. Try to avoid rotating your wrist excessively. Sixteenth Notes are the fastest notes you'll play in this course. As you know, their duration is only one-fourth as long as a quarter note. In staff notation, sixteenth notes look like eighth notes with two flags coming from the stem. Sixteenth notes are usually beamed in groups of four, or in a group of two plus an eighth note. When beamed, two thick lines connect the sixteenth note stems. In the Section you'll play Technotron. This Rock piece, written especially for the Miracle Course, combines a Broken Octave bass line with a melody containing short sixteenth note bursts. The sixteenth notes in the beginning of the piece are challenging. Don't hesitate to take a trip to the Practice Room. 31.01 TECHNOTRON - You'll play the bass line to Technotron with the metronome turned on. Most of the left hand part is easy because it is so repetitive. However, be ready for the two tied eighth notes. Shift your hand position down and make sure to keep the pinky straight. Strike the key with the tip of your finger to avoid mistakes. 31.02 SIXTEENTH NOTES - The Miracle demonstrates the rhythm of Technotron. Use this demonstration to familiarize yourself with the sound of the piece. Listen carefully to the passage with the ties and dotted notes. 31.03 YOUR TURN - You'll tap out the right hand rhythm to Technotron. Getting the sixteenth notes right might take a little practice. The first note you hear should be a high note. If not, it means you've started late. 31.04 TECHNOTRON: THE NOTES - Pitch practice for the right hand part of Technotron. Pay close attention to the finger numbers. Notice that your hand can stay in the same position for each sixteenth note group. Practice until you can play this smoothly. 31.05 TECHNOTRON: RIGHT HAND - You'll play the right hand part of Technotron with the metronome turned on. The Miracle joins in on the bass line. The chords in the middle section have almost identical spacing. Hold your fingers in a fixed position when playing them. 31.06 TECHNOTRON: BOTH HANDS - You'll play both the melody and the bass line of Technotron with the metronome turned off. This is perhaps the most useful Lesson in this Section. If you practice until you can play it smoothly, playing the piece in rhythm will be easy. 31.07 TECHNOTRON TRIAL - You'll play both parts of Technotron with the metronome turned on. The tempo is slow for the first time through. If it gives you trouble, you probably didn't practice Lesson 31.06 long enough. Go back to that Lesson and practice until it seems easy. 31.08 TECHNOTRON - The Miracle accompanies you in a final performance of Technotron. ==Section 32: Using the Foot Pedal== Modern pianos have either two or three foot pedals. The left pedal is called the Una Corda or soft pedal. When this pedal is pressed, the piano puts out less volume. If a middle pedal is present, it is the Sostenuto or sustain pedal. This pedal sustains the sound of the note being played beyond the time when the finger is lifted from the key. Only notes being played when the pedal is first pressed are affected. There is no effect on notes played while the pedal is pressed. Musicians often use this pedal to sustain a single note or chord while switching to a distant hand position. The right pedal is the Damper or loud pedal. While this pedal is down, any note played is sustained until the pedal is released. This enables musicians to blend sounds together, creating an effect that cannot be duplicated by any other instrument. For this reason, the Damper is often considered the most important pedal on the Piano. The pedal that comes with the Miracle functions as a Damper pedal. Connect it by plugging it into the "Foot Pedal" jack on the back of the Miracle keyboard. Either hole on the connector can plug into either pin. The key to using the Damper pedal is knowing when to use it and how long to hold it down. The latter is very important. If the pedal is not held long enough, the notes fail to flow together. If held too long, the sound becomes muddy and generally unpleasant. Developing the skill of knowing exactly when to press and raise the Damper pedal requires both practice and experience. The Lessons in this Section get you started. In this Section, you'll play a well-known English carol, Greensleeves. 32.01 GREENSLEEVES - You'll use both hands to tap out the rhythm of Greensleeves. At this point in the course, you'll have to play the rhythm perfectly to get through the Lesson. Make sure you pay extra attention to the tied notes and the rests. 32.02 USING THE PEDAL - Introduction to using the Damper pedal. You'll practice pedaling while playing the right hand part of Greensleeves. The Miracle adds the left hand part for you. If you have trouble coordinating your foot with your hand, practice with only your hand until you know the piece. Then, work on adding the pedal change at the beginning of each measure. 32.03 MORE PEDAL WORK - You'll play the left hand part of Greensleeves while the Miracle plays the right. Don't forget to pedal at the start of each measure. 32.04 GREENSLEEVES - PRACTICE - You'll play both parts of Greensleeves with the metronome turned off. The many flats in the key signature makes this a fairly tricky piece, so take your time and practice until you can play it smoothly. Watch for the B^'s and E^'s, and be prepared for tricky fingering on the double notes in the middle of the piece. 32.05 GREENSLEEVES SLOWLY - You'll play both parts of Greensleeves at several different tempos. 32.06 WITH ORCHESTRA... - The Miracle joins in to accompany you in a performance of Greensleeves. ==Section 33: My Funny Valentine== In this Section, you'll play a Broadway show tune called My Funny Valentine. The song has an expressive, slow melody that makes it an ideal solo piece for the piano. 33.01 MY FUNNY VALENTINE - The Miracle demonstrates My Funny Valentine. Listen carefully to get a feel for the piece. 33.02 YOUR FUNNY VALENTINE - You'll play the bass line to the first half of My Funny Valentine while the Miracle plays the melody. Use the Damper pedal and change on the first and third beat of every measure. There are a number of recognizable patterns in the bass line. Notice that the first note of every measure is the lowest and the third note of every measure is the highest. Also notice that the first note of every measure is a half step lower than the first note of the previous measure. This type of pattern is called a Chromatic Bass Line, and is frequently used to add feeling to a piece. 33.03 RIGHT HAND NOTES - Right hand pitch practice for the first half of My Funny Valentine. When playing the thirds (the two-note chords), remember that the finger number applies to the top note. The other finger should be the one that is two fingers away. For example, if the finger number is "5", use your pinky and middle finger. 33.04 RIGHT HAND IN TIME - You'll play the melody to part one of My Funny Valentine while the Miracle plays the bass line. 33.05 MY FUNNY TWO HANDS - Two-handed pitch practice for the first half of My Funny Valentine. The most challenging parts are the jumps between distance hand positions. Before making the jump, make sure you know where you are jumping to and what finger you need to use. 33.06 IN TIME, WITH PEDAL - With both hands and pedal, you'll play part one of My Funny Valentine with the metronome turned on. Make sure to make the pedal changes on the first and third beat of every measure. 33.07 VALENTINE - PART II - You'll tap out the left hand rhythm to the second half of My Funny Valentine. Be ready for everything from sixteenth notes to whole notes. Remember that sixteenth notes come four to a beat. If you have trouble, let the Miracle demonstrate the rhythm for you. Return to the Chalkboard, go to the Options Menu, and select Listen to the Piece. 33.08 II - LEFT HAND NOTES - Pitch practice for the bass line of the second half of My Funny Valentine. Be ready for some tricky hand position jumps around the fourth and fifth screens. 33.09 II - LEFT HAND IN RHYTHM - You'll play the bass line for part two of My Funny Valentine with the metronome turned on. Concentrate on the rhythm. If you have problems, review Lesson 33.07. 33.10 II - RIGHT HAND - Pitch practice for the melody of the second half of My Funny Valentine. The two note chords on the last two screens are especially tricky. Work on them slowy at first, until you have them under your fingers. 33.11 II - RIGHT IN RHYTHM - You'll play the melody for part two of My Funny Valentine with the metronome turned on. Double check your fingering and the rhythms of the double notes at the end of the piece. 33.12 II - TWO HAND RHYTHM - You'll tap out both the bass line and melody of My Funny Valentine. You'll notice that each new screen appears before you finish playing the last measure of the previous screen. This is to help you boost your ability to read ahead. 33.13 II - ALL THE NOTES - You'll play the bass line and melody for part two of My Funny Valentine with the metronome turned off. Pay extra attention to measure boundaries and previous accidentals. There are a few instances where the previous accidental rule affects bass line notes that occur between screen flips. 33.14 PART II IN TIME - You'll play the second half of My Funny Valentine with the metronome turned on. 33.15 MY FUNNY VALENTINE - A solo performance of My Funny Valentine in it's entirety. Because it's a long piece, take special care to keep the tempo steady. ==Section 34: Star Wars== Sometimes a piece requires you to repeat the same note several times quickly. This can give a finger a real workout when repeating short duration notes at a fast tempo. The best way to play such notes is with your thumb, moving as fast as you can. There are times, however, when this is not possible. An alternate way to play repeated notes is to use your thumb, index, and middle finger in a special way. Keep these three fingers curved inward in the normal ready position, but position the tip of your middle finger on the very outer edge of the key. Play the note with your middle finger, while drawing it off the keyboard. As it slips off, play the note again with your index finger, while drawing it off the keyboard. As your index finger slips off, play the note with your thumb. Compound Time Signatures are time signatures in which the number of beats per measure can be evenly divided by 3. For example, 6/8 time is a compound time signature. Compound time signatures are often very hard to count in the normal way. Imagine trying to keep up "1-2-3-4-5-6" rapidly for hundreds of measures. When playing in compound time signatures, it is much easier to divide each measure into groups of three. 6/8 time would then have two beats (of three eighth notes each) per measure. Count "1-2" and play three notes per beat. In this Section, you'll play the main theme from the 1977 movie Star Wars. This theme contains repeated notes and is played in a compound time signature, 6/8 time. 34.01 THEME FROM STAR WARS - You'll tap the right hand rhythm of Star Wars. 34.02 STAR WARS MELODY - Pitch practice for the melody line of Star Wars. You'll find a number of hand position jumps while playing chords. Prepare for these carefully by getting into position for the new chord as early as possible. 34.03 MELODY IN RHYTHM - You'll play the melody of Star Wars at a slow tempo. The Miracle plays the bass line. 34.04 BASS WARS - You'll play the bass line to Star Wars with the metronome turned on. Use the repeated note technique when it's time to play the notes up to speed. 34.05 STAR WARS RHYTHM - You'll tap out the melody and bass line rhythms of Star Wars. You'll notice that this piece is pretty fast at full speed. If you have trouble, go to the Practice Room and work on the rhythm of each hand separately. 34.06 STAR WARS NOTES - You'll play both the melody and bass line of Star Wars with the metronome turned off. You'll notice that the left hand takes over the melody in the middle of the piece. Concentrate on the left hand during this passage. 34.07 USE THE FORCE, LUKE! - You'll play Star Wars at a variety of tempos from very slow to full speed. 34.08 ORCHESTRA WARS - The Miracle accompanies you in a final performance of Star Wars. May force be with you! ==Section 35: La Bamba== In this Section, you'll play a Latin-style Rock tune called La Bamba. This piece will challenge you with a little bit of everything you've learned so far. Expect to practice for a couple of weeks before you can play it smoothly. 35.01 LA BAMBA - Listen for the syncopation as the Miracle demonstrates La Bamba. It starts in the first measure of the second screen, with a dotted quarter note next to an eighth note. This syncopated rhythm repeats throughout the piece. 35.02 EL ROBO HOMBRE - Roboman returns to help you practice the rhythm of the La Bamba melody line. Remember to hold down for the full length of the dotted notes, and to lift your fingers during the rests. If you have trouble, try playing by using the rhythms displayed at the bottom of the screen. 35.03 LEFT HAND RHYTHM - You'll tap out the bass line of La Bamba. If the syncopated rhythms give you trouble, try selecting Listen to the Piece from the Chalkboard's Options Menu. 35.04 LEFT HAND NOTES - Pitch practice for the bass line of La Bamba. 35.05 RIGHT HAND NOTES - Pitch practice for the melody of La Bamba. You'll notice that the melody is very repetitive, and keeps jumping back and forth between the Middle C octave and the one above it. 35.06 LA RIGHT RHYTHM - You'll play the melody of La Bamba with the metronome turned on. The last few screens have some tricky syncopation. Try to play the syncopated notes directly between the beats. 35.07 TAPPING BOTH HANDS - You'll tap out both the melody and bass line to La Bamba. The syncopation makes this piece a challenging one to tap. You'll know if you get out of sync because the melody will sound peculiar. 35.08 ALL LA NOTES - Two-handed pitch practice on La Bamba. There is some very tricky fingering, so pay extra attention. Work on this Lesson until you can play the notes without having to think about them. 35.09 LA BAMBA SLOWLY - You'll play La Bamba at several speeds, beginning with a very slow tempo. Make use of the time provided by the rests to move to new hand positions. 35.10 LA BAMBA CON SPICE - The Miracle adds a spicy accompaniment for your final performance of La Bamba. ==Section 36: The Final Challenge== A Sixteenth Note Rest (also called a Sixteenth Rest) is a moment of silence that lasts for the same duration as a sixteenth note. In this Section, you'll play the Habanera from Carmen. 36.01 YOU'VE COME A LONG WAY - Listen while the Miracle demonstrates The Habanera. Pay particular attention to the rhythmic pattern that appears in the third measure of the melody. 36.02 CARMEN: HABANERA - You'll tap out the left-hand part of The Habanera. The bass line has a dotted ostinato rhythm which continues throughout the piece. 36.03 LEFT HAND NOTES - Pitch practice for the left-hand part of The Habanera. Some of the stretches are so long that twisting your wrist is unavoidable. When doing this, try to keep your arm and wrist flexible as it follows the hand from the low to the high notes and back down again. 36.04 LEFT HAND IN RHYTHM - You'll play the left-hand part of The Habanera with the metronome turned on. Try to play as Legato (connected) as possible. If you have small hands, try playing the 2nd note of each measure a little shorter and jumping to the upper note. This Lesson is an excellent warm-up exercise to develop the strength you will need to play even more advanced pieces in the future. 36.05 POP QUIZ! - Flashcards quiz you about dotted notes. 36.06 RIGHT HAND RHYTHM - You'll tap out the right-hand part of The Hal. nera. Notice that the piece is filled with four measure rhythmic patterns that repeat over and over again. Concentrate on learning this pattern and the rest will be easy. 36.07 RIGHT HAND NOTES - Pitch practice for the right-hand part of The Habanera. Be ready for the double note chords on the last few screens. Give these extra attention so that you'll be prepared when you add your left hand. 36.08 RIGHT HAND IN TIME - You'll play the right-hand part of The Habanera with the metronome turned on. This lesson should give your skills a challenge. If you have trouble, work on the fingering in the Practice Room until you can play it every time without mistakes. 36.09 TWO HANDS IN RHYTHM - You'll tap out the rhythm of The Habanera with both hands. You'll discover that those Latin pianists keep their hands busy! Be ready for the sixteenth notes in the fifth measure. If you have trouble, freeze the screen by pressing the "START" button on your NES Controller, so you can work on the tricky spots with the metronome turned off. The keyboard won't make any sound so you'll have to feel the rhythm. 36.10 CARMEN PRACTICE - You'll play The Habanera with the metronome turned off. Take as much time as you need going over the notes. Don't move ahead until you are absolutely sure of the fingering. 36.11 CARMEN SLOWLY - You'll play The Habanera at various tempos with the metronome turned on. Be especially patient at the slower tempos. Because you've heard the piece at faster speeds, there is a natural tendency to speed up. 36.12 STANDING ROOM ONLY - Your final performance of the Miracle Piano Teaching System course. The Miracle provides accompaniment as you play The Habanera. Try to stay loose as you play those large stretches in the left hand. ===Credits=== This is my guide, but I did not make the game. Credit goes to Mindscape for this. Parts were taken from their manual to use as reference for the reader. _(~~Don't steal my guide please~~)_ -PianoChampion90 -2009 EOF