Beginner's piano course

Beginner's piano course with WYSIWYP

This is an example of how a beginner's self-study course for the piano might look. It assumes no previous knowledge of music theory, reading sheet music, or playing the piano. As a self-study course, it is aimed at students who are capable of learning without a music instructor for guidance. The obvious caveat is that without an instructor, misunderstandings and poor playing technique will not be corrected. In the future, if the WYSIWYP notation is successful, it is hoped that it will be adopted by music instructors for students struggling to learn to read traditional sheet music.

Here are a series of links to the lessons of the course. Each link opens into a new window.

  1. Course overview

  2. Posture for the piano

  3. Very basics of music theory, the keyboard, and WYSIWYP

  4. Scales and scores

  5. SNapp basics

  6. Playing from the C position

  7. Note duration

  8. The Grand Staff

  9. Intervals and chords

  10. Playing intervals and chords from the C position

  11. Practice playing intervals

  12. Practice playing chords

  13. The C Major chord

  14. The G7 chord triad

  15. The F Major chord

  16. Playing from the G position

  17. Practice playing from the G position

...to be continued.