--- title: Piano description: The piano is a versatile keyboard instrument central to music theory and performance. Learners will understand keyboard geography, hand positioning, sight-reading, basic music theory, and two-handed coordination to play classical pieces, contemporary songs, or improvise melodies. category: music-audio subcategory: instrument-training difficulty: beginner, intermediate, advanced url: /subject/piano --- # Piano The piano is a versatile keyboard instrument central to music theory and performance. Learners will understand keyboard geography, hand positioning, sight-reading, basic music theory, and two-handed coordination to play classical pieces, contemporary songs, or improvise melodies. ## Available Resources 13 Books • 3 Courses • 16 Websites ## Websites ### 1. MuseScore A community library of user-uploaded and transcribed scores, playable in the browser with adjustable tempo and instrument playback. Useful for finding arrangements of popular and modern pieces that are not in the public domain. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://musescore.com/ **Tags:** sheet-music, notation, scores, arrangements, practice-tools ### 2. Piano Street A long-running piano community offering a difficulty-graded digital sheet music library, recordings, and active forums where students and teachers discuss repertoire, technique, and instruments. Useful for gauging piece difficulty before choosing what to study next. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.pianostreet.com/ **Tags:** sheet-music, classical-piano, repertoire, piano-forum, difficulty-grading ### 3. IMSLP The Petrucci Music Library, a volunteer-run archive of public-domain scores and recordings covering most of the classical canon. Lets you locate historical editions of a work and compare engravings before deciding which edition to practise from. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://imslp.org/ **Tags:** sheet-music, public-domain, classical-repertoire, scores, score-archive ### 4. forScore The premier digital sheet music reader for iOS — annotate, bookmark, and organise scores with page-turn pedal support. ~£15 one-time purchase. Replaces a music stand full of paper. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://forscore.co/ **Tags:** sheet-music, app, iOS, piano ### 5. Modacity The best practice organisation app: timer, recorder, metronome, drone generator, and deliberate practice guidance grounded in cognitive science. Created by a former Hong Kong Philharmonic horn player. ~£7–10/month. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.modacity.co/ **Tags:** practice, piano, app, deliberate-practice ### 6. Piano World Forums The gold standard piano community since 1997 — 100,000+ members, 3 million+ posts, participation from tuners, dealers, manufacturers, and professionals. Strongest for acoustic and digital piano purchasing advice. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://forum.pianoworld.com/ **Tags:** piano, community, forums, purchasing ### 7. Henle Verlag — Piano Difficulty Ratings Henle's 1–9 difficulty scale for classical piano pieces, cross-referenced with ABRSM grades — invaluable for choosing repertoire at the right level. Henle Urtext editions are the scholarly standard for classical piano. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.henle.de/us/levels-of-difficulty/ **Tags:** piano, classical, repertoire, difficulty-rating ### 8. Royal Conservatory of Music — Examinations Canada's dominant piano certification system (twelve levels; RCM Level 10 ≈ ABRSM Grade 8), growing in the US. Its syllabus provides finer gradation than ABRSM and a complete progression roadmap. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.rcmusic.com/learning/examinations **Tags:** piano, graded-exams, syllabus, Canada ### 9. ABRSM The Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music — 93+ countries, 600,000+ candidates annually. Free syllabus PDFs serve as curated progression roadmaps even without sitting exams. Also hosts a teacher-finder. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.abrsm.org/ **Tags:** piano, graded-exams, syllabus, teacher-finder ### 10. Mutopia Project Freshly typeset classical scores under Creative Commons licensing — higher visual quality than IMSLP scans, though much smaller in scope. Free public domain piano repertoire. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.mutopiaproject.org/ **Tags:** sheet-music, free, classical, piano ### 11. PianoGroove Subscription site of structured video courses on jazz piano, covering chord voicings, jazz harmony, reharmonisation, comping, improvisation and tune arrangements, with sheet music for each lesson. Suited to adults who read basic notation; learners can voice lead-sheet chords and play standards in jazz style. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.pianogroove.com/ **Tags:** jazz-piano, chord-voicings, jazz-harmony, comping, jazz-standards ### 12. Playground Sessions Subscription software that pairs video lessons with a MIDI keyboard, scoring each note you play in real time and unlocking popular songs as your reading and technique improve. Progress runs through structured levels rather than open-ended practice. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.playgroundsessions.com/ **Tags:** piano, app, structured-learning, MIDI ### 13. Synthesia Guitar Hero for piano — falling coloured notes on a virtual keyboard. One-time £25 purchase. Import any MIDI file for a virtually unlimited song library. Best as a supplement, not a primary method. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.synthesiagame.com/ **Tags:** piano, app, MIDI, visual-learning ### 14. Piano Marvel The most academically rigorous piano app. Its SASR (Standard Assessment of Sight Reading) scores accuracy in real time across 25,000+ songs. Free tier includes 150 songs, 200 exercises, and 3 SASR tests per day. ~£15/month full access. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.pianomarvel.com/ **Tags:** piano, app, sight-reading, intermediate ### 15. Simply Piano by JoyTunes The most downloaded piano learning app — 100 million+ downloads. Highly gamified, listens via microphone or MIDI, 5,000+ songs. ~£15–17/month. Good for first contact with the keyboard; does not teach technique. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.hellosimply.com/ **Tags:** piano, app, beginner, gamified ### 16. pianotv.net PianoTV.net serves as an online hub for piano learners, featuring video tutorials and lessons from the PianoTV channel. It covers technique, theory, sight-reading, practice tips, and repertoire guidance to help users improve their piano playing. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://pianotv.net **Tags:** websites, music-performing-arts, instruments ## Courses ### 1. Pianote A subscription video platform teaching piano from first chords through popular styles, with structured lesson paths, play-along songs, and instructor feedback on submitted videos. Covers technique, chords, and reading music alongside each other rather than in sequence. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.pianote.com/ **Tags:** piano-lessons, video-lessons, technique, chords, online-platform ### 2. Flowkey Piano Lessons An app that listens through the device microphone and waits for you to play the correct notes, pairing an interactive song library with short technique courses. Suited to learning pieces by following the score onscreen at your own tempo. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.flowkey.com/ **Tags:** piano-lessons, sight-reading, practice-app, song-library, self-paced ### 3. Piano Techniques for Modern Music (Berklee / Coursera) A Berklee-taught course covering posture and hand position, tone production, finger independence exercises, common chord progressions and cadences, and first steps in improvising over popular song forms. Auditable at no cost; graded assignments require payment. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.coursera.org/learn/piano-techniques-for-modern-music **Tags:** piano, free, online-course, Berklee ## Youtubes ### 1. Mangold Project Video lessons centred on chords, harmony, and jazz voicings, each demonstrated with an on-screen keyboard and running notation. Aimed at players who can already read a little and want to understand why progressions and voicings work the way they do. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.youtube.com/user/MangoldProject **Tags:** piano, classical, youtube, beginner ### 2. Bill Hilton Piano **Author:** Bill Hilton Long-running YouTube channel of piano tutorials by British teacher Bill Hilton, focused on playing from chord symbols and lead sheets, left-hand accompaniment patterns, cocktail and stride jazz, blues, and simple improvisation. Beginners learn to turn chord charts into full-sounding two-handed arrangements. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.youtube.com/@billhilton **Tags:** piano, lead-sheets, chord-playing, cocktail-piano, piano-improvisation ### 3. Paul Barton Piano 2,000+ videos of classical tutorials and full performances from Bangkok. A gentle, patient teaching style with ~700K subscribers. Also known for playing Beethoven for rescue elephants. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.youtube.com/@PaulBartonPiano **Tags:** piano, classical, tutorials, youtube ### 4. Learn Piano with Jazer Lee Focuses on the psychology of adult learning — habit correction, technique streamlining, and the mental game. A primary resource for busy adults fitting practice around work. ~755K subscribers. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6tpkZhNpJiTnlUgoiUe9QQ **Tags:** piano, adult-learner, technique, youtube ### 5. Piano Superhuman Tutorials - Learn Piano Easy Free video lessons from a degree-trained teacher covering technique, ear training, chord theory, and practice strategy, pitched at adults starting or restarting piano. Much of the material previews a paid course, so the free tier is uneven in depth. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.youtube.com/@PianoSuperhumanTutorials **Tags:** piano, beginner, adult-learner, youtube ### 6. Josh Wright Piano DMA from University of Michigan, Billboard #1 classical artist. 700+ videos on classical technique with dual camera angles showing exactly how hands move. ~195K–200K subscribers. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.youtube.com/@joshwrightpiano **Tags:** piano, classical, technique, youtube ### 7. Nahre Sol Juilliard-trained pianist and first Creator in Residence at Hamburg's Elbphilharmonie. Her '13 Levels of Piano Technique' is a landmark. Bridges classical technique and modern composition. ~826K subscribers. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8R8FRt1KcPiR-rtAflXmeg **Tags:** piano, classical, technique, youtube ## Books ### 1. The Complete Collaborator by Martin Katz **Author:** Martin Katz The definitive Oxford University Press text on collaborative piano — playing with singers, instrumentalists, and ensembles. The best form of music-making is with other people; this book is where pianists learn how. **Difficulty:** Advanced | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/0195367952?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** piano, collaborative, accompaniment ### 2. The Pop Piano Book by Mark Harrison **Author:** Mark Harrison A reference on contemporary keyboard style covering chord voicings, rhythmic patterns, and left-hand figures across pop, rock, R&B, gospel, and country, with written examples and recorded tracks demonstrating each technique in musical context. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/0793598788?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** piano, pop, contemporary ### 3. How to Really Play the Piano: The Stuff Your Teacher Never Taught You **Author:** Bill Hilton Self-teaching book for adults who want to play pop, rock, jazz and blues from chord symbols. Covers lead sheets, chord voicings, left-hand accompaniment patterns and rhythm, so readers can build their own arrangements of songs without relying on fully notated scores. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/0956220401?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** piano, lead-sheets, chord-voicings, accompaniment, pop-piano ### 4. The Musician's Way by Gerald Klickstein **Author:** Gerald Klickstein Klickstein turns deliberate-practice research into concrete routines for musicians: structuring practice sessions, working out interpretation, memorising securely, preparing for performance, managing stage anxiety, and avoiding the injuries that end playing careers. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/0195343131?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** practice, music-education, performance ### 5. Fundamentals of Piano Practice by Chuan C. Chang (3rd edition) **Author:** Chuan C. Chang A physicist's systematic analysis of efficient piano practice — hands-separate work, mental play, and memorisation techniques. Free at pianopractice.org. The most accessible serious practice resource for self-learners. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** http://www.pianopractice.org/ **Tags:** piano, practice, technique, free ### 6. The Art of Piano Playing by Heinrich Neuhaus **Author:** Heinrich Neuhaus A philosophy of piano pedagogy from the Moscow Conservatory teacher who produced Gilels, Richter, and Radu Lupu. Centres on understanding a work's artistic meaning before touching the keys. **Difficulty:** Advanced | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/1871082455?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** piano, pedagogy, technique, advanced ### 7. Czerny: Collected Studies — Op. 299, Op. 740, Op. 849 (Schirmer Library Vol. 2108) **Author:** Carl Czerny The 336-page Schirmer combined volume of three Czerny étude collections bridging mechanical exercises and actual music: Op. 849 (beginner), Op. 299 (intermediate), Op. 740 (advanced). **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/1495004260?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** piano, technique, etudes, classical ### 8. The Virtuoso Pianist by Hanon (Schirmer Complete Edition) **Author:** Charles-Louis Hanon The most widely used piano technique book ever written: 60 systematically sequenced exercises for finger independence. Start after at least a year of study — earlier risks ingraining tension rather than fluency. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/0793525446?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** piano, technique, exercises ### 9. John Thompson's Adult Piano Course, Book 1 **Author:** John Thompson The most compact adult piano method, recently re-engraved with online audio featuring adjustable playback speed. By a concert pianist who headed conservatory departments in three US cities. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/1783057513?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** piano, beginner, method-book ### 10. Bastien Piano for Adults, Book 1 **Author:** Jane Smisor Bastien, Lisa Bastien, Lori Bastien Covers the broadest stylistic range of any adult method — classical, folk, ragtime, blues, boogie, and jazz — with answer keys for self-correction. Revised 2021 with Interactive Practice Studio access. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/0849773024?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** piano, beginner, method-book ### 11. Alfred's Basic Adult All-in-One Piano Course, Level 1 **Author:** Willard A. Palmer, Morton Manus, Amanda Vick Lethco A systematic, traditional approach with isometric hand exercises and smooth chord theory progression across three levels. More methodical than Faber; ideal for adults who prefer clear logical structure. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/0882848186?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** piano, beginner, method-book ### 12. Adult Piano Adventures All-in-One Lesson Book 1 **Author:** Nancy Faber, Randall Faber The current gold standard method book for adult beginners, integrating theory and technique exercises directly into each lesson with companion video. By MTNA award-winning educators Nancy and Randall Faber. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/1616773022?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** piano, beginner, method-book ### 13. Piano Technique **Author:** Walter Gieseking, Karl Leimer Two short treatises by Gieseking and his teacher Leimer on learning scores away from the keyboard: silent analysis, memorisation before playing, and critical listening for tone, rhythm, and pedalling. Expect concentration exercises rather than finger drills. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/0486228673?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** books, music-performing-arts, instruments --- *This content is part of Dantes.io - Your Treasure Map to Knowledge* *Curated by humans at Dantes.io. Personal study use welcome; republishing this curation requires permission (team@dantes.io).* View this page online: https://dantes.io/subject/piano