Introduction

The acoustic piano is probably the most familiar instrument to all of us, so let’s base our journey using it.

Below is an 88-key piano keyboard.

An acoustic grand piano has 88 playable piano keys (in this case keys refer to the 88 individual physical wooden keys, black and white).

Starting from the far left we have the low-pitched notes

And continuing to the far right the high notes.

A Played Note

A note is played on the piano by pressing down on a piano key.

When a key is pressed, it makes a sound, which we call the start of the sound. The note continues to make a sound, which we call the duration (the length of the heard sound).

When you release the key, the sound ends. This is a pretty simple concept, I know, but I want to just make sure we are all on the same page with clarity.

The time between the start of the note and the release of the note represents what is called the note duration. Just hold on to that thought, it is very important. We will be visiting the term duration quite a bit.

Here are some notes played that have the same duration:

Here are some notes played that have different durations:

LOUDNESS

How hard or soft you press down on the piano key dictates how loud or how soft a note will sound.

Here is the same note played with different levels of loudness:

I know this might all seem a bit strange to talk about, but as we will learn, a note’s duration and its loudness plays a very important part in the emotion of the sound we are hearing. Just keep that in mind.

1. The  note start
2. The  duration
3. The  release
4. And its  loudness