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with Willie Myette

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photo credit: Paul Clancy

About Willie Myette

Willie has toured both the U.S. and Europe as clinician and performer. He is a graduate of the well renowned Berklee College of Music. He has studied in New York with Fred Hersch and in Boston with Ray Santisi. Willie has produced three recordings as bandleader and his music has been featured radio stations nationwide.

Willie is also the founder of JazzPianoLessons.com, an online teaching website that makes it easy to learn Jazz, Blues, Gospel Piano and more online.

JazzPianoLessons.com has an active student base from every continent and continues to grow daily by giving students the option of learning Willie’s easy, step-by-step method online through a memebrship or via DVD.

For more information, please visit www.jazzedge.com or call 877-742-6618

Media: http://www.jazzedge.com/promo/index.php

Willie has toured both the U.S. and Europe as clinician and performer. He is a graduate of the renowned Berklee College of Music and has studied in New York with Fred Hersch and in Boston with Ray Santisi. Willie has produced several recordings as bandleader and his music has been featured on over 90 radio stations nationwide.

Willie began JazzKids® in 1996. Since then, JazzKids has grown into a program used by hundreds of teachers around the globe. JazzKids books and workshops have taught children as young as six years old how to begin improvising on their own. Teachers too have learned how to effectively teach jazz and improvisation to their own students, even if they have little or no jazz experience.

Willie’s music has been published by Alfred®, MelBay® and Hal Leonard® music publishers.

PianoWithWillie.com was formed in 2007 and since then, thousands of students from around the globe use Willie’s method to take their piano playing to the next level.

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Rhythm - Rhythm is essential for all musicians. Without a good, solid rhythm, your playing will sound dull and weak. The PianoWithWillie method focuses first on rhythm to provide you with a solid rhythmic foundation to build the rest of your practicing upon.

Technique - Technique lessons help your fingers to move faster and with more dexterity. After all, you need to not only know the notes to play, but how to execute them with ease and fluidity. Our technique lessons help you build your playing skill allowing you to express yourself more freely at the piano.

Reading - Many students prefer to learn the piano 'by ear.' However, ask any pianist who knows how to read music and they'll tell you that knowing how to read music is a definite asset to your piano playing. Our reading lessons help even the absolute beginner learn how to read music with ease.

Song - "The best part of learning to play the piano is playing the piano." says Willie. Our song lessons teach you songs in a variety of styles like Jazz, Blues, Rock, Funk, Latin and Gospel. Embedded with a lot of music theory, you'll learn songs while also learning how to learn other songs faster in the future.

Style - Our style lessons allow you to sink your teeth into a specific style of music. Our style lessons include lessons in Jazz, Blues, Rock, Funk, Latin and Gospel.

Concept - Concept lessons focus only on one aspect of piano playing. These lessons are especially helpful when you want to focus your practice on one specific area like chords, cocktail piano, re-harmonization, improvisation, etc.

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Week 1

©2012 CorePiano™ – PianoWithWillie.com – All Rights Reserved – Copying & Sharing Permitted.

Pitch is lower Pitch is higher

C CC

The piano has 88 notes. They are broken into black notes and white notes. Not all keyboards have all 88 notes. The notes to the left of the keyboard sound lower than those to the right. Remember, lower is not softer.

Think of the left side of the piano sounding like ‘el-ephants pounding on the ground’ and the right sound-ing like ‘birds chirping in the trees.’ Elephants live low (ground level) and birds high up in the trees. Voila! Now you know low sounds vs. high sounds.

One of the most important notes that we need to find at the piano is the note ‘C’. To find C, first take a look at the black notes of the keyboard. Do you spot the 2-3 pattern? They follow a pattern of 2-3, 2-3, etc. If we play the note to the left of a group of 2 black notes, that note is C.

You might of heard of the note middle C. This is a C that is closest to the middle of the keyboard. I like to tell students that it is usually close-to, or directly under the name of the piano.

Here’s a tip: try counting up in half-steps from the very far left note on the piano. If you count up 40 half-steps...you have found middle C.

Low vs. High Notes

Finding ‘C’

Where’s Middle C?


Pitch is lower Pitch is higher

C CC

The piano has 88 notes. They are broken into black notes and white notes. Not all keyboards have all 88 notes. The notes to the left of the keyboard sound lower than those to the right. Remember, lower is not softer.

Think of the left side of the piano sounding like ‘el-ephants pounding on the ground’ and the right sound-ing like ‘birds chirping in the trees.’ Elephants live low (ground level) and birds high up in the trees. Voila! Now you know low sounds vs. high sounds.

One of the most important notes that we need to find at the piano is the note ‘C’. To find C, first take a look at the black notes of the keyboard. Do you spot the 2-3 pattern? They follow a pattern of 2-3, 2-3, etc. If we play the note to the left of a group of 2 black notes, that note is C.

You might of heard of the note middle C. This is a C that is closest to the middle of the keyboard. I like to tell students that it is usually close-to, or directly under the name of the piano.

Here’s a tip: try counting up in half-steps from the very far left note on the piano. If you count up 40 half-steps...you have found middle C.

Low vs. High Notes

Finding ‘C’

Where’s Middle C?

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Week 1


When we move from one note to the very next note, this is called a half step. Here are some different examples of half steps. There are two places on the keyboard where two white notes next to each other form a half step. This happens between the notes B to C and E to F.

Whole Steps are equal to (2) half steps. Another way to think of this is a whole step moves by 2 half steps. You can also think of a whole as “having a note in be-tween.” Notice in the examples to the right how there is one note sandwiched between each whole step?

Here are some examples of whole steps.

We use our special musical alphabet to name the notes on the piano which goes from A to G. It is easier to see this if we start on C. Notice how after getting to G, we start over at A again. There is no ‘H’ in music!

Half Steps

Whole Steps

The Musical Alphabet

C D E F A B C D etc..G

E BF C


We number our fingers so that we know which finger goes on which note. The numbering system is simple: thumbs are #1...pinkies are #5. Take a look at the graphic below to see the fingering layout.

When we apply a set finger pattern to a section of music, we call this our fingering. Passages of music usually have set finger patterns because that fingering has worked for most people. For instance, if the music went from middle ‘C’ to ‘G’, you would most likely use 1 & 5 when playing with your right hand. Now, that is not to say that you can not use your thumb and ring finger, or 1 & 4. When you see a finger number written in the music, it is merely saying “Hey, this fingering works!” You’re free to change the fingering as you see fit.

Finger Numbers

1

23 4

5 5

4 32

1

Left Hand Right Hand

C G51

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CorePiano Lesson - 11

Week 2The 5 Finger Scale


We number our fingers so that we know which finger goes on which note. The numbering system is simple: thumbs are #1...pinkies are #5. Take a look at the graphic below to see the fingering layout.

When we apply a set finger pattern to a section of music, we call this our fingering. Passages of music usually have set finger patterns because that fingering has worked for most people. For instance, if the music went from middle ‘C’ to ‘G’, you would most likely use 1 & 5 when playing with your right hand. Now, that is not to say that you can not use your thumb and ring finger, or 1 & 4. When you see a finger number written in the music, it is merely saying “Hey, this fingering works!” You’re free to change the fingering as you see fit.

Finger Numbers

1

23 4

5 5

4 32

1

Left Hand Right Hand

C G51

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Week 3G Clef Guideposts



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