There are a few particular things that we learn during piano lessons in Folsom that can be added into our piano playing in order to take the sound into a new level. If you dwell on what we are making an effort to play, there are two different aspects to playing music well. The 1^st one is that we’re technically able to play what we are making an effort to play at the time and second, is how we convey the notes to make them sound like music rather than simply single notes played one after another.

When you initially look at a piece you see what notes you’ve to play and then dwell on where those notes are on the keyboard. However, how do you know, how to play the notes so that they make music?

The 1^st thing that you would like to look at is what articulations are written over a note or even a group of notes. Articulations tell you whether to play a note short or long, loud or soft, on its own or connected to another note.

• Dots over a note point to that it is to be played short. This is known as staccato.
• A line over a note points to that it is to be played long. This is known as legato.
• A line over two or notes together is a slur and that signifies the notes are connected to one another.
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The 2^nd thing that you would like to look at is the dynamics of the piece. These are markings that are under the notes that you are playing and can be noted in several different ways. They tell us how soft or loud to play the notes.

• Piano and forte are soft and loud in piano music. There’re several different levels for each of this starting from very soft all the way to very loud. Once you learn what sign is employed for each dynamic level, then you can incorporate those different levels of volume into the music.

• A lot of the articulations that you learn will be used in creating the different dynamic levels required in the music.

The 3^rd thing you would like to learn to add to piano playing is ornaments. They do simply what they sound like they do, they decorate the music. They add a little of “frill” to the sound.

• Examples of ornaments are grace notes, trills, and/or any other notes that are usually played faster than your regular tempo and lead into the following notes.

• In music, they‘re usually much smaller than the other notes that give us any simple approach to identify them once we know what they are.

 In your approach to learning the three additions mentioned above to your piano playing, go in the same order that they’re listed above. Your instructor delivering piano lessons in Folsom will familiarize you initially with articulations, then dynamics, and finally to ornaments that will help take your piano playing to the next level.