There are typically three pedals on a piano. From left to right, the first pedal is called the soft pedal (or una corda), the sostenuto pedal (usually found in American-made grand pianos), and the …
Should I buy an acoustic or digital piano?
If you’d have asked me that question 15 years ago I would have said the words ‘acoustic’ without blinking. However, technology has moved on so much recently that I’ve completely gone the other way – …
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How important are scales when learning the piano?
Although scales may seem rather boring, they are extremely important. To be able to play the piano well you need to have good dexterity in your fingers, and the best way to build up that strength is …
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Why are your fingers numbered when learning the piano, and how does it work?
Your fingers need to be numbered primarily to help identify which fingers should or could be used on a certain note, or set of notes. For example, typically when reading from sheet music the …
What does 4/4 mean and what is a time signature?
What is a time signature? If you look at a piece of music you will notice that at the beginning there are some numbers which sit on top of each other. This is a time signature, and tells the reader …
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Should I take piano exams, and are they important?
The answer to this really does depend on what you ultimately want to achieve, and how much practice and effort you have time to put in. Speaking from experience, taking piano exams can be fun, …
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