How to Play the Piano With Expression

Have you ever wanted to play your piano with more feelings and expression?

After all, music is the language of the heart and most of the time the music that we love the most strikes some kind of a chord in our emotional selves, inspiring us and filling us with passion and energy.

Learning the notes and rhythm of a piece is necessary and that's usually what we focus on first when we start to learn a new piano piece.

Once we have those aspects down though we then get to move into the next stage, which is incorporating feelings into our piece. This is the expression part of playing the piano.

So just how do you insert expression into your piano playing? Let's find out!

First, we'll take a look at Dynamics and what they are in piano music.

Dynamics are simply how loud or soft you play your piano music.

Dynamics will always be written in your piano music showing you what level of loud or soft to play; so you won't have to worry about guessing which one you are to play in a specific passage. Dynamics will be marked underneath the passage that they apply to, as seen in image 2.

There are several different levels of loud and soft that we can play on the piano.

Below you will find each listed with the formal name, the symbol used in your piano music, and what it stands for.

• Loud
  
  • Forte - F = Loud
  • Mezzo forte - MF = Medium Loud
  • Fortissimo - FF = Very Loud
• Soft
  
  • Piano - P = Soft
  • Mezzo piano - MP = Medium Soft
  • Pianissimo - PP = Very Soft

Before we learn how you play dynamics on the keyboard, let's learn one more important ingredient for playing more expressively in your piano playing.

Now we'll find out what Articulation is.

Articulation is how long or short you play a note.

Sometimes we play notes longer and sometimes we play them shorter according to how the articulations are indicated in the music. Like dynamics, articulations will always be written in your sheet music, so you won't have to figure this part out on your own either.

There are a couple of main types of Articulation to learn that will greatly help you play more expressively.

• Legato
  • Legato is when we play a note for a long time and keep our finger pressed down on the key for the duration of the note.
• Staccato
  • Staccato is when we play a note for a very short amount of time by quickly striking the note with our finger removing it as soon as we hit the note.

If you notice in the image, the word Legato is written on top of the notes. This is how most articulations that are written out will appear in your music. Later on, we'll learn about other articulations that are notated right above or under the notes.

Now let's learn how to practice Dynamics and Articulations using a very easy scale...the C Major Scale.

*First of all, if you're just starting out playing the piano and don't know any scales yet, take some time to learn the C Major Scale (it's the easiest one to learn). In the "Practice with Me" Video in the next step, you'll find some help with that before you start working on the Dynamics and Articulation exercise that I go over with you.*

If you are familiar with the C Major Scale, you're ready to start practicing Dynamics and Articulations and it's very easy to do!

To practice Dynamics while playing your scale:

• Start at Middle C and press very very gently on that key. Now, as you start going up the scale towards the next C, press harder with each note so that your volume increases as you climb up the scale with the top C being the loudest. Do this with just one hand at first.
• Now, you're going to come back down and do the same. Start the loudest by pressing the hardest on the top C, and decrease your finger pressure with each note as you come back down the scale, with the Middle C being the softest note of all. Again, do this with just one hand.
• You can even reverse the dynamic pattern by starting loud and getting softer as you go up the scale, and then reverse that coming back down.
• Once you're comfortable doing this with one hand at a time, make sure you do it with both hands to reinforce those patterns.

To practice Articulations while playing your scale:

• Again, you want to start with Middle C. Using one hand, try playing Legato notes, meaning they will be long, smooth and very connected to each other. Play each note of the scale this way; going up and coming back down.
• Next, try playing each note of the scale Staccato. Starting with Middle C, quickly strike each note of the scale going up and down. Make sure you don't leave your finger on the note for any length of time.
• Now mix it up, and try playing up your C Major Scale with Legato notes, and play Staccato notes coming back down the scale.
• Once you're comfortable doing this with one hand, do it with both hands together so you'll improve your coordination and it will be easier to play these in other music that you want to learn.

Now we need to learn how to combine practicing and playing Dynamics and Articulations at the same time.

Playing Dynamics and Articulations in our piano pieces is fun and allows us to input our feelings into our music which makes our piano playing much more expressive and fun to listen to.

Up to this point, you've learned the basics of what Dynamics and Articulations are, where they are in your music, how to play them, and you have an easy scale to practice them with on your own.

Now I'd like to invite you to come and Practice With Me!

This video goes over everything covered here plus we'll practice together C Major Scale playing both types of dynamics and articulations at the same time.

I also have extra help for those that are new to scales that will get you familiar with the notes and how to play the C scale in no time.

Learning how to play the piano with more expression will take your playing to a new and exciting level where you feel more connected to your piano and gain more joy from your playing!