Journal #2 - Data & Information Gathering (Essay)

The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard and it is also one of the most popular instruments in the world because of it’s versatility and ubiquity. I enjoy playing this instrument a lot. By taking lessons, my skills have enhanced and my passion for “tickling the ivories” grew. (“Tickling the ivories” is another way of saying playing the piano.)

Playing the piano involves a lot of focus. In piano, you are required to think about how each hand needs to move separately. Reading the notes on the music staff, which creates the melody, is one of the most important things when it comes to piano because you need to translate the notes and hit the correct keys in order to produce the right sound.

When you play the piano, you also need to have some kind of control; control of timing and control of tone and dynamics. Timing is more of a mental thing. That is why piano playing requires much concentration. In addition, it enhances fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination. The control of dynamics is control of hammer velocity; how hard or soft you hit the keys of the piano. If you strike a key with a small amount of force, then the resulting sound would be soft. If you strike a key with a large amount of force, then the resulting sound would be loud. The control of tone is control of hammer acceleration; the acceleration of the hammer to the strings of the piano, which causes the deformation of the string affecting the tone.

Of course before you play the piano, you need to know the basic terms and their meanings. (Since there are a lot, I’ll just explain the most common ones.) The treble clef sign is used for right hand notes and is found on the treble staff. The bass clef sign is used for left hand notes and is found on the bass staff. When combining the bass staff and the treble staff with a brace, it makes up the grand staff. The dynamic signs such as p for piano meaning to play softly, mf for mezzo forte meaning to play moderately loud, and f for fore meaning to play loud, are very important things to remember too.

Other than just control and knowing the fundamentals of piano, as a pianist, I think it’s very important to not only just learn and memorize the song, but more beyond that, feel the music. In my opinion, there is no sense in playing a piano piece you aren’t into. It’s just a waste of time when you could be learning another song that you’d probably enjoy playing much more.

Playing the piano has its benefits. It develops your brain by engaging it to multitasking activities because you have to read the notes and simultaneously press the keys of the piano. It can also enhance school performance. Research shows that learning the piano can improve school performance because the sessions needed to learn the piano causes a long-term enhancement of the brain that involves logic and reasoning skills and cognitive skills. The things attained from playing the piano can last for a lifetime.