Premier Piano Course, Lesson 1B

Dennis Alexander

Sometimes called upbeats or pickup notes; a note or series of notes that precede and give stress to the first downbeat of a piece.

An accompaniment that uses a variety of blocked intervals with a relatively equal rate of occurrence. 

Half notes whose lengths are increased by half; equal to three quarter notes.

Indications placed above or below notes instructing the player to hold those notes longer than their original notated length.

A sign placed in front of a note that lowers its pitch by a half step.

Notes whose lengths are equal to one half the value of a whole note.

A type of articulation indicating the player to play smoothly and seamlessly, with the notes slightly overlapped.

A simple melody line shared by both the right hand and the left hand.

Symbols that indicate playing a note or range of notes either an octave higher or lower than notated.

Notes whose lengths are equal to one-fourth the value of a whole note.

An Italian term meaning "delaying"; an indication instructing the player to decrease speed, often gradually.

Also called the damper pedal, it is the rightmost pedal on the piano and used to sustain notes by moving the dampers away from the strings.

Symbols indicating that two notes are to be played as one with the value equal to their sum.