Improve Your Left Hand Playing

In Beginner Piano Lesson 3 we looked at how to play faster notes and how to change the volume of our playing.
In this Beginner Piano Lesson No. 4, we are going to have a go at another left hand piece, which will help you do the following:

1. Read and play eighth notes (quavers)
2. Play smoothly

Let’s have a look at the piece:

Have a look at the sheet music.
Remember to look at the tempo marking (how fast it should be played) and the dynamic marking (volume).
This is how the piece should sound:

In the first 2 piano lessons, we played half notes (minims) and quarter notes (crotchets).
In this piece we are introduced to eighth notes (quavers).
Here is a table showing the length of each of the note values:

Now have a look at the 1st 2 bars of the piece.
The 1st bar is quite easy because it is just Middle C repeated 4 times as quarter notes. This means that each note sounds on the beat.
In bar 2, the 1st 4 notes are eighth notes (minims). Each note is worth half a beat and so they sound every half beat. (When eighth notes are next to each other the tails are joined together to form a bar)

Have a go at clapping along with the demo track above and see if you can clap the rhythm of the notes correctly.
When you can clap the rhythm correctly, then have a go at playing the 1st 2 bars on the piano.
When you can play the 1st 2 bars, move onto the next 2 and so on until you can play the whole piece.

A great technique on the piano to learn is how to play notes smoothly – this is called legato.
This piece is very reflective and needs to be played smoothly.
In order to do this you need to try and concentrate on leaving as little gap as possible between the notes when you lift up your fingers and resound them. Try to stay as relaxed as possible when you are doing it.
Here is an example of the 1st 4 bars played detached and then played smoothly (legato). It is the 2nd sound (legato) that we are trying to achieve.

As usual, I have produced a backing track for this relaxed and reflective piece.
Here is how it should sound:

Now it is your turn:

In this lesson’s extension task we are going to have a go at playing the same piece of music, but with our right hand and an octave higher.
This will introduce you to some new notes in the Treble Clef as well as developing your right hand legato technique.
Have fun!