PIANO MUSIC LESSONSWhat would you like to play next?This page showcases Musicarta’s free piano music lessons online. The audio files below are the performances that the linked lessons teach. The files and lessons are grouped in series – there is a short explanation at the top of each group with a link to the series home page, which acts as a combined introduction and table of contents. Click up to the Musicarta.com home page for more info about our piano music lessons online, or listen to the audio tracks below, see what strikes a chord and get started right away!
A one-page 'mini-series' aimed at explaining and teaching Enya's simple but versatile solo keyboard texture. |
’No Holly For Miss Quinn’ | ’From Where I Am’ |
‘Lothlorien’ | ’Watermark’ |
Link through to the Musicarta 'Enya' page here | Link through to the Musicarta YouTube channel here |
The Musicarta Canon Project
The Pachelbel Canon in D major is one of the most famous chord sequences of all time. Instantly recognisable and hugely popular, it’s at the heart of dozens of popular songs. Its regular patterning makes it easy to learn and a great place to start ‘messing about with chords’.Click through to the Canon Project home page (same window) to get started. Bite-size modules with full audio and MIDI support and plenty of helpful illustrations let you build up dozens of beautiful play-along keyboard textures. Release your creative potential with this new unfolding Musicarta series!
NOTE: Musicarta strongly recommends you download and use the free MidiPiano application to help you learn the Canon chords and textures. See the next-but-one section below, after Pyramids.
The Pyramids Variations is Musicarta's flagship series of free online piano lessons. This series of eight lessons starts with the simplest chords (Lesson One, below) and coaches you step by step to a grand Concert Performance (Lesson Eight), teaching you the theory basics behind popular modern keyboard styles along the way.
Lesson Nine of the Pyramids Variations is a page of 'possibilities'. By working through the build-up to the Pyramids Concert Performance (Lessons One to Eight), you will get to know the Pyramids chord sequence so well that 'messing around' and creating your own Variations becomes possible.
MUSICARTA MIDI SUPPORT
Musicarta has MIDI support for selected modules. In addition to the usual audio clips, you will find MIDI file reference numbers. These small files can be downloaded free and played on the free applications MidiPiano or Synthesia or any other MIDI application or instrument.
These applications will give you a visual display of the music as it plays with a ‘piano roll’ representation and lighting-up keys on a virtual keyboard. Watch this short demonstration video:
The demo shows some of the features that make MidiPiano an excellent addition to your learning resources.
You will find the the MIDI file reference numbers in a table to the right of the audio file. For example:
Pyramids_L4_M1 |
Full instructions for downloading and using MidiPiano and Musicarta MIDI files are available on Musicarta’s
You can download Musicarta MIDI files via the
Take time to download the player and files - MidiPiano is bound to become a great help as you build up to the Pyramids Concert performance or develop your Canon performance and improvisations.
Bookmark and visit the Musicarta home page regularly to stay up to date with Musicarta MIDI file roll-outs.
The Chord Progressions series introduces, lesson by lesson, all the essential key chords of pop and rock music – like 'One, Four and Five' (I, IV and V - C, F and G; E, A and B) – the three chords you simply must know in every key. You learn to play these chords and their inversions in real-time funky keyboard riffs that are ready to rock’n’roll.
Link through to the Musicarta Chord Finder pageand see how Musicarta's online piano music lessons can help you find the chords you need on your piano/keyboard.
Pentatonic scales are easy to learn (you can play six pentatonic scales on the white keys alone) and generate lots of music, from heavy metal through mainstream rock jamming to folk tunes.
And don’t be put off by the ‘scales’ bogey word - practising pentatonic scales is almost like practising music. Many blues and heavy metal riffs are drawn practically note for note from the pentatonic minor scale - as the riffs below should convince you - while the pentatonic major is the rock music jamming scale par excellence.
Syncopated beat and rhythm skills are vitally important to the modern keyboard player - and generate great riffs, too - but the development of natural rhythm skills is usually left to chance.
Musicarta’s Beat and Rhythm section offers a number of ways to feed your inner drummer. The two clips featured here are from the Syncopation and Anticipation series.
'Comptine' – Yann Tiersen ’s lovely piano miniature – has become a standard 'New Age' repertoire piece. It's delightful to play, and everybody will find a version within their capabilities in the Musicarta two-lesson mini-series.
The table below offers six sample variations which come at the end of the second part of the mini-series. They show what you can expect to achieve by studying a piece using Musicarta's combination of text, graphic, and audio resources.
Musical modes are scales with a different order of whole tone and semi-tone steps to those found in the modern Western major scale. The chord families derived from the modes offer interesting alternatives to conventional modern harmony and good opportunities for improvising.
Part One deals with the modes as scales. Study this module for background.
The first two riffs in the table are from Part Two of the series, which introduces the Mixolydian mode. The next two riffs are samples from Part Three and use characteristic Mixolydian chord progressions.
Parts Four and Five explore a fruitful and easy-to-grasp two-chord set from the minor modes.
Parts Six, Seven and Eight add one further chord to make a three-chord Aeolian mode set you are bound to recognise!
!! WORK IN PR0GRESS !!
This audio table of contents is regularly updated, as new material becomes available. Please bookmark and come back soon to check for recent additions – or get the Musicarta RSS feed (below navbar, left) to alert you to new postings.
