This course was an experiment in which I tried guide beginning students to learn and practise some fundamental aspects of piano playing without the need to learn to read music notation. I can't say that I fully endorse this course any more. There are certain aspects of it that I think people have found confusing, and the progression of difficulty is probably not as well suited to a beginner as I would have liked. However, I have decided to keep it available for now on the off chance that someone finds it interesting of finds some value in it.
Now we come to the final lesson in Step Four. This lesson will be a little different to all the previous lessons in that there will be no step by step preparation before playing the lesson music. Also, the music has been composed to allow you a chance to compose or improvise your own part. The music in this lesson is for Strings and Piano. The piano part consists of a single melody played on the black keys. You will play this melody accompanied by the strings then compose or improvise your own piano part.
Step 1. Listen to the lesson music.
Step 2. Then play the melody accompanied by the strings.
Step 3. Finally, compose or improvise your own piano part using the black keys only. Then play along with the string accompaniment in step 2.
Conclusion
This concludes Step Four of the First Steps in Piano course. In this Step you revisited the layout of the keyboard and expanded your playing experience. The part you played in the lesson music was more prominent than in previous steps, culminating in you taking a lead role in the music. This was an important step. You are now ready to start exploring music for solo piano. To that end, I would like to recommend my First Piano Book, a series of progressive solo piano pieces composed specifically for students with some playing experience but who don’t yet know how to read music notation, or who are just beginning to learn how to read. The First Piano Book is designed to bring students from the early beginner stage into the intermediate stage of piano playing through music organised in very carefully graded stages. If you enjoyed this course and the music in it, I’m sure you will find much to benefit from in the First Piano Book.