How to learn to play a melody on a synthesizer. How to learn to play the synthesizer, music class

I recently talked about how we bought Dasha and until recently he just stood with us as a musical toy, which we tried to do one way or another.

And then the other day I decided to start mastering the synthesizer more seriously in order to teach Dasha the basic skills of playing it. The problem is that I have no idea how to teach a child to play a musical instrument, since music is one of the most distant disciplines for my understanding.

That's why we started studying together.

We will learn slowly, but I will try to tell you about our activities and successes.

So, we started by labeling each key on our synthesizer. Firstly, it helps me a lot, and secondly, it stimulates Dasha to read syllables and identify notes.

We started our game with a poem about sounds

The birds sing loudly,

The rain is knocking on the window,

The mouse rustles in the underground,

The bell rings in silence.

(the poem is very large, so its full version is available. It is called “The First Steps of the Little Musician K. Ivanov”)

We talked about what sounds were found in it and tried to depict them using objects around us, rustling using a bag, ringing a bell, etc. We came to the conclusion that everything around us has its own sound and music can be created using various things. We sat down closer to the synthesizer and, already while reading the poem, tried to find the keys with high and low sounds on it. I suggested that Dasha make an association between a note and an animal. Honestly, I didn’t read the poem in advance and we selected the animals ourselves. Imagine my surprise when all the animals coincided with those proposed in the poem, except for the bird. We picked up a mouse instead.

Then we took turns naming the animal and taking turns picking out the notes over and over again. At some point, we began to name the note that, in our opinion, corresponded to this or that animal.

And so we wrote down all 7 notes on the easel and began to come up with associations for them: Do - house, D - turnip, etc. (associations were suggested by the authors of our musical primer).

Then we erased all the notes and after a while I asked Dasha to remember which picture the note corresponded to. She did it. Then we erased the pictures and left the notes. Which I swapped places and Dasha already remembered the picture and the association to the note.

Then we moved on to the musical staff.

The notes live in the house,

The name of the house is MUSIC STAVE.

Five RULERS were drawn -

We got a house for notes.

We drew a staff of music on a small slate board donated by Lisa (I’ll tell you about this amazing package next time 😉). Dasha herself signed the numbers of the rulers on it and we remembered that there are 5 of them, the same number as there are fingers on her hand.

To make the notes sound,

Notes need their own boss.

Get to know us – TELEBREAK CLEF –

The commander for notes is excellent!

Again, a staff was drawn on the easel and a treble clef next to it.

I drew several treble clefs from dots and Dasha began to learn how to draw them.

The easiest and most reliable way to master any musical instrument is to take lessons from a qualified teacher. A professional, experienced synthesizer teacher, who has taught dozens of beginners, will explain the basics of music in an accessible manner and teach you how to play the simplest melodies and then more complex compositions. Such training will be consistent, individually focused and effective. However, not everyone can allocate a certain amount from their personal budget for the services of a tutor. There are also people who are convinced that the best education is self-education. They are ready to acquire knowledge on their own, through trial and error, failures and achievements.

Is it possible to learn to play the synthesizer on your own?

An electronic keyboard opens up more possibilities for a self-taught instrument than an acoustic one:

• A synthesizer can support fewer octaves and, accordingly, have fewer keys compared to a classical piano, which greatly simplifies the playing process for a beginner;
• Any synthesizer is equipped with a system for adjusting timbres, styles, volume and sound duration, which allows a beginner to experiment with sounds;
• Semi-professional models include training programs, using which you can learn the instrument from scratch at home. Using a glowing keyboard, the “smart” synthesizer will tell you how to correctly play notes, create chords, and clearly follow the rhythm;
• The built-in auto accompaniment can easily complete the missing chords for the student.

There are also electronic keyboard instruments, the memory of which includes full-fledged training courses (Yamaha, Roland). By purchasing such a model, a novice musician receives an interactive tutorial as a bonus, after which the question of “where to start learning on a synthesizer” disappears by itself. By going through step-by-step lessons at home, you will learn to play separately with your right and left hands, and after some time you will learn to freely run across the keys with both hands and play your favorite melodies. The main thing is to carefully study the material of each lesson and systematically practice the game.

• Another way to master the synthesizer is to watch video tutorials. By watching the instructional videos, you will learn how to place your fingers and play the keyboard synthesizer from the notes. The advantage of this method will be saving money, as well as the opportunity to review particularly difficult moments at any time and develop missing skills. Disadvantages - not all videos are of high quality and there is no one to correct the student or evaluate from the outside.

Despite the abundance of videos and interactive training programs, self-instruction books are still found on bookstore shelves. Analysis of exercises on the keys according to the tutorial will help the enthusiastic reader develop basic skills in playing the keyboard instrument. With a serious approach, regular practice and repeated repetition of each exercise, this method will be effective.

How to play the synthesizer for beginners?

“I dreamed of learning to play modern music and finally they bought me a synthesizer. There is no limit to joy, but I don’t even know where which note is and where it’s better to start. How to master a synthesizer quickly? How much do adults need to study?

Such messages are not uncommon on music forums. Buying the desired instrument is the first step towards realizing your dream, but it is important to realize that you have a long and hard work ahead of you to “conquer” the synthesizer. When faced with difficulties, remember the Eastern wisdom “The road can be mastered by the one who walks” and under no circumstances give up musical training at school or at home. With each lesson, your fingers will “memorize” more and more chords, and you will gradually begin to feel confident in what you are doing.

To master the basics of playing music on a keyboard synthesizer, you need to go through the following steps.

1. Getting to know the tool

You installed the synthesizer on a special stand, connected it to the network and pressed the keys... Do you hear piano chords? This is the standard sound of any synthesizer. But it would be wrong to consider this instrument just an electronic substitute for a piano. The synthesizer can beautifully speak the language of the violin, guitar, and organ, that is, alone it can replace an entire orchestra.

• To select the desired “voice”, press the voice (tone) button on the instrument body. With its help, the display shows a list of tones that your model supports.
• The style (rhythm) button allows you to select the appropriate accompaniment style - disco, Latin, classical, jazz, etc. The student only needs to enter the number of a specific timbre or style on the numeric keypad.
• By clicking on volume, you change the volume of the melody, and by clicking on temp, you change the tempo of its execution.

In the instructions, a beginner will find everything he needs to know so as not to get confused at the sight of many buttons and incomprehensible inscriptions.

2. Studying notes

Everyone knows the names of the notes “do-re-mi-fa-so-la-si”. However, if a person has not studied music before, he is unlikely to say which key is “responsible” for a specific note. There is nothing complicated here - just pay attention to the fact that the dark keys are arranged in twos and threes.

• Find the nearest black “two”, and then the large white key to the left of it.
• Press the light key - you can now hear how “do” sounds - this is the beginning of the octave.
• Slowly press the subsequent ones, going through the entire sequence to the note “B”.

That's it, the octave is over. It is followed by the next one - higher in tone. The number of octaves for different synthesizers varies from 5 to 7. Thoughtfully, slowly, move your fingers over the black and white keyboard, pronouncing the names of the notes to yourself. Try to remember everything. Then test yourself: name the notes out of order and try to play them correctly on your instrument.

3. Sight reading

The most difficult thing for a beginning musician is to quickly learn to play notes. Imagine that a piece of music is a kind of text, and the notes are letters. Mastering the alphabet of music means being able to correctly play any note that you see on the sheet in front of you. Short memory songs are a great help with this. They are simple both in terms of melody - they use one note in two octaves, and in terms of content. They can be easily found on the Internet. For example, “Note E, Note E, take us to the magical house!” We will find you now, you will not hide from us.” When performing mini-songs, try to sing and look at the keys as little as possible - your attention should be focused on the sheet.

4. Play by ear

We learn notes, write notes, then play them; remember how to place your fingers... What should someone do who doesn’t want to do all of the above, but at the same time passionately wants to play their favorite hit for friends? Is it possible to play a melody without notes? How to play a song on a synthesizer by ear?

The electronic instrument is equipped with an auto-accompaniment function, which is also called “self-playing.” It will be useful to you. Using the option to automatically complete chords, you will gradually learn the location of the necessary keys, using only your own hearing and the help of your favorite synthesizer.

How to learn to play the synthesizer with two hands?

It is always very difficult for beginners to play using both hands. Why, both of them - and it’s not easy to finger the keys with one hand if you’re sitting down at a synthesizer for the first time.

Remember an important fingering principle:

• the little finger and thumb are used in the white game,
• Try to press the dark keys with your index, middle and ring keys.

Knowing this simple rule will make your first musical exercises easier.

First, you need to confidently handle the tool with your right hand. When playing the synthesizer, she plays the leading role - in most cases she performs the main melody, and the left one takes on the accompaniment function. But the auxiliary role does not mean that its development can be neglected; on the contrary, the fingers of the left hand are shown regular musical activity. Play alternately, first with your right and then with your left, touching the keys with your fingertips.

Aerobatics for a student at the initial stage is to switch to playing music with two hands. It requires good coordination of movements, which comes with constant exercise. By playing, you not only develop your talent, but also provide excellent exercise for both hemispheres of the brain.

How to learn to play the synthesizer, and even figure it out on your own? This is exactly what we will talk about today. Before we start our conversation, we’ll give you just two settings.

Well, first of all, there is one universal rule: to learn how to play the keys, you just need to one day just take it and start playing them. In fact, play is a practical activity that involves some degree of mental cunning.

Secondly, training is needed, because playing on for “young, mischievous” and completely green beginners is like playing football. Imagine how many goals a football player will score in a match if he “scores” his training. I think very little, what do you think? But constant training allows you to improve and improve your skills. The results usually don’t take long to appear - what didn’t work out today turns out great literally the next day!

In addition to these “settings,” we note that in order for you to start learning to play the synthesizer and in order to hone your skills in training, you need to have this very synthesizer. Your own instrument, with which you are free to do whatever you want. Even if it’s the cheapest model (cheap doesn’t mean bad) or even a “toy synthesizer”, that will do for a start. If you are going to buy a cooler instrument, then you can read about how to choose a synthesizer in. Now, let’s return to our main question and take a closer look at it.

Getting to know the tool

In general, it’s enough just to turn on the instrument to start playing it, but it’s not a bad idea to get to know the basic capabilities of the synthesizer better. This instrument was called a synthesizer because it combines hundreds of tones of a wide variety of musical instruments and hundreds of ready-made arrangements in all possible styles of instrumental music.

Let's see what function on the keys this or that button is responsible for. So, what can our synthesizers do:

1. Play various instrumental tones (instrument bank). To make it easier to find the timbre we need, synthesizer manufacturers group them according to certain criteria: type of instrument (wind, string, etc.), material of the instrument (wood or copper). Any timbre has a serial number (each manufacturer has its own numbering - abbreviated lists are usually displayed on the body, complete lists of codes for a bank of instruments are published in the user manual).
2. Automatic accompaniment or “self-pacing” – this feature makes playing the synthesizer much easier. With it you can play a piece in any style (blues, hip-hop, rock and others) or genre (waltz, polka, ballad, march, etc.). The best part is that you don't even need to know sheet music to create music with self-playing. You just started the process - improvise and enjoy.
3. In addition to the styles of ready-made arrangements, you can also experiment with the tempo and pitch (key) of the accompaniment being played.
4. The record button will save the melody you played. You can use it as the second part of your composition: just turn on the recording and play something else on top.

Now let's look at the operating panel of the simplest synthesizer. Everything in it is simple and logical, there is nothing superfluous. Synthesizer desktops are mostly of the same type. Look at the picture - on all other models everything is arranged almost the same:

Introduction to musical notation

Before actually sitting down at the keys, it is advisable to inquire about basic musical knowledge. Don't worry, there aren't that many of them! To help you - which our site gives to everyone. Fill out the form (at the top right of this page) to receive a simple and understandable textbook for those who passionately want to comprehend this brutal science.

What to do if you decide to learn to play the synthesizer yourself?

For those who have decided to master everything on their own, here are some tips. You need not to get carried away with theory, watching video lectures and reading thousands of books for dummies. Your musical perception is so fresh that you can learn a lot intuitively, the main thing is to practice more. This is the first tip.

In order for something to start working out, you will have to devote time to practicing the instrument - it’s very addicting, it literally “blows the roof off”, so in order not to sit at the instrument all night long, ask your relatives to tear you away from the synthesizer from time to time and put you to bed. This was the second tip.

Jokes aside, there are real problems that beginners have. Many beginners take on something that is temporarily too tough for them - there is no need to do this. If you want to play something complex, look for a simplified version of this piece, or better yet, start with single-voice melodies, simple exercises, and maybe even scales (some people like to play scales - they sit for hours without stopping).

Musicians have such a concept as fingering. This terrible word refers to the expediency of playing a particular note with one or another finger. In short: which fingers to press the buttons with? It may seem to you that this is all funny, but we cannot say enough about the importance of fingering principles.

Imagine: you need to play five notes in a row, five keys that are located one after another on the keyboard. What is the easiest and fastest way to do this? After all, you can’t use the same finger to poke all five buttons? Of course not! It is much more convenient to place five fingers of your hand (one above each key), and then use light “hammer-like” movements to touch the five keys.

By the way, keyboard players’ fingers are not called by their proper names (thumb, index, middle, etc.), but are numbered: 1 – thumb, 2 – index, 3 – middle, 4 – ring, 5 – little finger. Good sheet music for beginners has a fingering above each note (that is, the “numbers” of the fingers you need to play those notes with).

The next thing you need to learn is to play chords (three sounds played at the same time). Practice your movements clearly, moving your fingers from key to key. If some fragment doesn’t work out, play it again and again, bring the movement to automatism.

Once you have learned the location of the notes, sight-read them (that is, try to play an unfamiliar piece at an average tempo, making as few mistakes as possible). Reading sheet music is an essential skill for those who in the future want to not just mechanically perform memorized melodies, but quickly and without any difficulties play completely new pieces directly from the sheet music (this is especially useful at family meetings, parties - you can perform songs ordered by your friends).

How to play the synthesizer without knowing the notes?

Don’t know sheet music, much less have any idea how to play a synthesizer? Pamper yourself, feel like a mega-keyboardist - the auto accompaniment will help you with this. Mastering the skill of playing the synthesizer with the help of a “samograika” is as easy as shelling pears, complete the tasks according to the points:

1. Turn on the accompaniment function. We will still find all the buttons we need.
2. Know that the left hand is responsible for the accompaniment, and the right hand is responsible for the main melodic line (it is not even necessary to play the melody).
3. Select the style of piece you are going to perform. Decide on its pace.
4. Select the timbre of the instrument for the solo part (if you play a melody, if not, skip it).
5. Turn on a button like “PLAY” or “START” and the synthesizer will play the intro itself.
6. With your left hand on the left side of the keyboard (the closer to the edge, the better), play chords or simply press any key. The instrument will play the rhythm, bass, accompaniment, pedal and everything else for you.
7. You can try playing a melody with your right hand. In principle, this is not a prerequisite, because you can sing to the accompaniment you made!
8. Is the song ending? Press “STOP” and the synthesizer itself will play you an interesting ending.

In order to use all these modes, find a number of buttons on your model that are similar to those shown in the figure:

Do we study on our own or take lessons?

There are several training options, let's look at each of them.

1. Private lessons from a teacher. A good option for those who do not know how to discipline themselves. Compulsory attendance at classes and regular homework will force you to play something on the synthesizer sooner or later.
2. Synthesizer playing courses. Classes are held in the same way as private ones, only instead of one person, the teacher teaches several at once, which is not so effective.
3. Video lessons. A good teaching method: download the lesson, watch it several times and follow everything according to the teacher’s recommendations. You set the class time and deadlines for studying the material yourself.
4. Game tutorial (book, website, online magazine, etc.). Another good way to learn the features of playing the synthesizer. Choose the material you like - and go to the musical barricades. The big plus is that you can always go back and read (watch) the material you didn’t understand again and again.
5. With the help of a synthesizer “training machine”. On the display screen, the program tells you which keys to press with which hand and fingers. This method is more like coaching. You will undoubtedly have reflexes a la “Pavlov’s dog”, but this will not help you advance far in your synthesizer performance skills.

Of course, it is impossible to learn everything about how to learn to play the synthesizer at one time. But we helped solve the problems that all newbies face.

You can easily play a large number of pieces without even knowing how to read music. All you need is to print out multi-colored stickers with images of notes and stick them on the desired keys according to the diagram.

Remember! There is no black key between the notes SI and DO, MI and FA. Therefore, when laying out the keys, remember this, and also look at our diagram:

Download and print key stickers

Since the keys of a “real piano” are different in size from a children’s toy piano, we offer you several options for stickers (main notes - 2 cm wide, black keys 1.5 cm, main and black keys - 1 cm):

You can print them at any photo salon. Color printing on A4 pages.

How should you play?

Choose a song

Choose an interesting song in the “Musical Development” section and print out the game diagram. For your convenience, several schemes are offered.

An example of a diagram with numbers showing the piano keys and the notes used

Example of a detailed diagram with step-by-step keystrokes

Listen to the audio file

In order for the melody in your performance to be as close as possible to the original, you must observe all pauses, rhythm and tempo. To do this, listen to the audio file in the article.

Every creative person has wondered at least once in his life " How to learn to play the synthesizer?". Today we want to give a short introduction to this topic for beginners. This article cannot teach you how to become a virtuoso, but it will certainly give you some useful ideas and tell you where to start. It doesn’t matter whether you want to become a concert synthesizer player or a better keyboard player in a rock band, the main thing is to first take the right direction.

This is a unique and interesting tool. Many people think that it is impossible to learn to play well without long lessons with a teacher, but this is not entirely true. All you need is a little knowledge about notes, fingerings and chords, plus constant practice, and you can independently learn to play songs, waltzes and any other pieces of music on a synthesizer at home. Today there are hundreds or even thousands of online self-paced courses that will certainly help you, including on YouTube.

What you need to know before you start

First you need to get acquainted with the structure of the synthesizer, and also study the terminology. Now there are a huge number of variants of this musical instrument, but they all share the same interface.

1) Learning the keyboard. Take a look at the keyboard and notice: there are two types of keys - black and white. At first glance, it may seem that everything is complicated and confusing. But that's not true. There are only 7 basic notes that together make up an octave. Each white key can be said to be part of a C major or A minor key, and the black key represents either a sharp (#) or a flat (b). You can get to know and understand notes and their structure in more detail by reading any literature on musical notation or watching a video course.

Before you start, you should get acquainted with musical notation, but today there is no need to get too carried away - some, of course, know it, and others will be helped by the educational systems built into the synthesizer - now this is a very popular function - the notes are directly voiced by a pleasant female voice, and on the display you can see how and where it is located on the staff..

2) The next thing to do is to figure out the correct hand position and fingering. Fingering- this is the placement of the fingers. In this case, sheet music for beginners will come to the rescue, in which a finger number is indicated above each note.

3) It may seem difficult mastering chords, but with a synthesizer everything is easy and simple. After all, almost all synthesizers are equipped with a screen (usually an LCD display), which displays the entire workflow and auto-accompaniment, where you press one key and a triad (a chord of three notes) or two simultaneously for a minor chord sounds.

4) Game of songs. Playing songs on a synthesizer is not so difficult, but first you need to at least play scales - this is when we take any one key and play one or two octaves up and down in this key. This is a kind of exercise for developing fast and confident playing on the synthesizer.

From musical notation you can learn the construction of notes and now we can start playing. Music books or the synthesizer itself will also come to the rescue here. Almost all of them contain demo songs, tutorials, and even backlit keys that will tell you which key to press. While playing, try to constantly look at the notes, this way you will also learn to sight read.

How to learn to play

There are two main ways to learn to play the synthesizer.

1) Sight reading. You can start learning on your own and continuously develop your skills in the future, or take lessons and study regularly with a teacher. Having decided to study on your own, first of all, you will have to visit a music store to buy a sheet music book for beginners on playing the synthesizer. The next thing to do is to understand the correct hand position and fingering. Fingering is the placement of the fingers. In this case, sheet music for beginners will come to the rescue, in which a finger number is indicated above each note.

2) Aurally. Remembering a song and finding which notes to press on the keyboard is a skill that takes practice. But where to start? First you need to learn the art of solfeggio. You will have to sing and play, first scales, then nursery rhymes, gradually moving on to more complex compositions. The more you practice, the better the result will be, and very soon you will be able to pick up any song.

Dare, strive for the goal and you will succeed! Good luck to you in your endeavors!

Purchase

Purchase. First you need to decide on your needs and understand what types of synthesizers there are.