Author Archives: Francesco L'Erario

How to use the sustain pedal: the third piece to play (part 5)

How to use the sustain pedal

In this lesson I will show you how to use the sustain pedal.
In this way you will be able to play the whole piece in a very effective way but most of all now you can play any piece you want using the sustain pedal.

Learning material of this lesson

7 videos	30 mins
1. The sustain pedal	3m 35s
2. How to use it in the right way	6m 58s
3. When to ‘change’ the sustain pedal	5m 36s
4. A preparatory exercise to use the pedal effectively	4m 28s
5. How to play the first part with the sustain pedal (only the left hand)	3m 37s
6. How to play the first part with the sustain pedal (hands together)	3m 04s
7. How to play the whole piece with the sustain pedal (hands together)	2m 57s

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How to use the sustain pedal: the third piece to play (part 4)

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How to use dynamics and tempo indications

This lesson is very important: in fact we will introduce many new dynamics and tempo indications.

Learning material of this lesson

7 videos	37 mins
1. Introduction to the new lesson	2m 00s
2. How to play the third part of the piece	3m 10s
3. We introduce the dynamics	7m 56s
4. How to differentiate the areas of a piece	4m 20s
5. Tempo indications: ‘rall’ and ‘a tempo’	9m 57s
6. How to play using both dynamics and tempo indications	2m 26s
7. Introduction to the sustain pedal	8m 21s

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Piano, how to use the sustain pedal: the third piece to play (part 3)

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How to play hands together

In this lesson we will learn to play the first and second part hands together.

We will use a preparatory exercise to learn to coordinate the two hands.

Moreover I will show you a very effective method to divide a piano piece.

Learning material of this lesson

5 videos	37 mins
1. Introduction to the new lesson	2m 57s
2. How to play hands together: a preparatory exercise	3m 15s
3. The first part (hands together)	7m 17s
4. The second part (hands together)	10m 30s
5. How to tie the first to the second part	10m 36s

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Piano, how to use the sustain pedal: the third piece to play (part 2)

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Let’s play hands separate

In this lesson we will learn how to play this piece hands separate.
But most of all we will introduce some new essential techniques that allow us to play couple of notes and repeated notes.
Have a good lesson!

Learning material of this lesson

7 videos	56 mins
1. How to play a couple of notes (the first part of the piece)	8m 21s
2. How to play a couple of notes (the second part of the piece)	6m 29s
3. How to play repeated notes: the right technique	4m 51s
4. The right hand: the first part of the piece	9m 35s
5. The left hand: the first part of the piece	7m 13s
6. The left hand: the second part of the piece	13m 04s
7. The left hand: the third part of the piece	7m 10s

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How to use the sustain pedal: the third piece to play (part 1)

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A new piece to play

Today we start an essential cycle of video lessons in which we learn to play the third piano piece.

But most of all in this lessons we will also learn many new topics such as:

How to perform a piece in ¾ time signature
How to play couples of notes
How to play repeated notes
Using new dynamics and tempo indications
How to use the sustain pedal

Have a good lesson!

Learning material of this lesson

7 videos	60 mins
1. Introduction to the new cycle of video lessons	10m 06s
2. The sheet music	5m 39s
3. How to read in ¾ time	10m 34s
4. We read the right hand staff	8m 12s
5. We read the left hand staff	4m 45s
6. How to find the notes on the keyboard	6m 55s
7. The fingering of the third piece	10m 16s
+ 1 pdf files

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The secret of really understanding modulations: the circle of fifths (part 3)

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The circle of fifths

What do we mean with the term ‘circle of fifths’?
Why the tonalities are sorted in a circle?
Why do we need the enharmonic relation to create the circle of fifths?

These are some of the questions we will answer today. Then we will understand all the practical benefits of the using of circle of fifths.
At the end of the lesson we also introduce the essential concept of ‘closely related keys’ and we find a very quick method to find all the closely related keys.

In this way, after these video lessons you are ready to use modulation in a very effective way!
To get the most of this lesson I suggest you to watch before the following videos (if you haven’t already done):

The Equal Tempered System and the Enharmonic relation (part 1)

The Equal Tempered System and the Enharmonic relation (part 2)

Learning material of this lesson

6 videos	39 mins
1. Introduction to the lesson	3m 20s
2. The fifth relation and the circle of fifths	4m 53s
3. How can we obtain the circle of fifths	7m 23s
4. Closely related keys and distantly related keys	10m 53s
5. How to understand modulations through the circle of fifths	4m 50s
6. The major scale degrees and closely related keys: a very strong relation	7m 05s
+ 1 pdf files

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The secret of really understanding modulations: the circle of fifths (part 2)

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The fifth relationship

Is there an easy way to know the key signature for every tonality?
The answer of course is yes and today I will show a step by step method to do it.

This is not the only topic we approach today: in fact we will also introduce the ‘fifth relation’ which allows us to understand more in depth modulation and how all the keys are tied to one another.

Have a good lesson!

Learning material of this lesson

5 videos	30 mins
1. Introduction to the lesson	4m 07s
2. The fifth relation between major keys	7m 09s
3. The fifth relation between minor keys	3m 36s
4. Key signature and fifth relation	5m 26s
5. A very easy method to find the key signature for any tonality	10m 02s

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The secret of really understanding modulations: the circle of fifths (part 1)

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How to understand relations between keys

What does ‘to modulate’ mean?
‘Modulation’ is the switching from one key to another.

Up to now in our video lessons we have worked only in one key at a time, but when we compose we often need to switch from one key to another. In order to be able to modulate in the right way, we need to understand in depth relationships between the different tonalities which are all tied together.

For this reason today we will start learning relations between keys that will allow us to understand modulations in depth.

Learning material of this lesson

6 videos	29 mins
1. The relations between tonalities	3m 17s
2. Different keys, common notes	6m 40s
3. A typical feature of tonalities, the key signature	4m 52s
4. Flat keys	3m 55s
5. The key signature for minor keys: permanent and temporary accidentals	4m 18s
6. Relations between major and minor keys	6m 13s

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Composition: here are the notes that make your music more effective (part 13)

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How to analyze a song

The lesson today is very important!

In fact we will analyze some very famous songs and musical pieces to understand how great composers have used all the tools that we have learned up to now.

In this way we see how these notes can make a musical piece very effective.

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Composition: here are the notes that make your music more effective (part 12)

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The ‘free notes’

Up to now in all these lessons we have composed many melodies using chord tones and all the different kind of non-harmonic tones that we have learned. But of course in this way we are using only a limited number of notes of the scale.

Can we also use all the other notes of the scale even if they are not either chord tones or non-harmonic tones?

If the answer is yes, how can we use all these notes obtaining some effective results?
So today we will focus on this essential topic and understand that all great musical pieces are made up of a well-balanced mixing of these kinds of notes.

For this reason in the next lesson we will analyze some very important songs and pieces, to understand how the greatest composers have used these notes.

Learning material of this lesson

3 videos	31 mins
1. Introduction to the lesson	3m 46s
2. What are ‘free notes’ – How to use them to compose a melody	14m 48s
3. How ‘free notes’ can change our chords	12m 33s
+ 1 pdf file