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Gaili Schoen is a passionate piano teacher and learning science researcher. She has written a piano instruction series called Upper Hands Piano: A Method for Adults 50+ to Spark the Mind, Heart and Soul. Learn more at UpperHandsPiano.com. Follow her blog for free monthly sheet music and practice tips: UpperHandsPiano.com/blog.

Latest Posts By Gaili Schoen

10 months ago

Piano Lesson 14: A New Note: Bashful Bluebird B, and a Posture Check

It’s super important to maintain good posture at the piano. Hiking up your shoulders or hunching your back over the keys can cause neck, back and shoulder pain, so you want to keep your shoulders relaxed, your back straight, and your elbows slightly…

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10 months ago

Piano Lesson 13: Random Notes, a Drinking Song, and Piano Puzzling!

It is lucky Lesson 13, and we are going to continue learning the Bass notes C, D, E, F and G this week. Sometimes our ears help us to remember melodies so that we are not practicing our reading skills as much. This week we will be playing random…

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11 months ago

Piano Lesson 12: Dessert D

It is the first day of summer as I am posting this in the USA, woohoo! I hope that you are warm and safe wherever you are, and you are enjoying playing music on your piano or keyboard. I think music makes everything a bit better, don’t you?

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11 months ago

Piano Lesson 11: CHORDS, CHORDS, CHORDS!

Many of you report to me that you are taking your lessons more slowly than I am posting them, and that is great, and completely expected! There is no set timeline for your learning as long as you are able to maintain consistent practice…

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11 months ago

Piano Lesson 10: WALTZ WEEK!

It’s WALTZ WEEK for our Sixty and Me Piano Lessons! This week we will be playing three Waltzes on p. 39-40 in Upper Hands Piano, BOOK 1. Waltzes are pieces written in a ¾ Time Signature (which means 3 beats per measure) that are played…

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12 months ago

Piano Lesson 9: The Dynamic Duo: P and f

When the piano was invented by Bartolomeo Cristofori in Italy in the early 1700s, it was a revelation! The instrument that preceded it, the harpsichord, was much less expressive. No matter how forcefully one pressed a key, the volume remained the same…

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1 year ago

Piano Lesson 8: A Murder Ballad and Goodnight Ladies!

It’s Lesson 8 and today we’re debuting a new note Bass F in the song Goodnight Ladies. Remember the song Goodnight Ladies from the musical The Music Man? I loved the original film starring Robert Preston, Shirley Jones, Buddy Hackett…

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1 year ago

Piano Lesson 7: Steps, Skips and More Joy

Beethoven advised his students to work hard at learning how to play music, but also to notice the profound beauty of the music, and to connect to it emotionally. He believed that music could elevate humans to the level of gods!

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1 year ago

Piano Lesson 6: What Is a Pickup? (Hint: It’s Not a Truck or a Flirtation)

In music there are stronger beats and weaker beats. In 4/4 time (4 beats per measure), beat 1 is generally the strongest beat and beat 3 is the second strongest. This point is well illustrated in this video. When conductor Gustavo Dudamel turns around…

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1 year ago

Piano Lesson 5: Reading Bass G, New Exercise #2, and a St. Patrick’s Day Bonus

The focus for Lesson 5 is reading Bass G. I showed you how to play Left Hand ‘G’s in Lesson 4 and in today’s lessons you will be reading that G note in the Bass Staff! You will play Bass G in The Irish Washerwoman, a fun and popular traditional Irish jig…

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