Level 1 – Repertoire, Course Lists & Discussion Space
Level 1 description
Your piano journey begins here! Get acquainted with the keyboard and start developing your technical fundamentals and musical understanding. Lay a foundation for sustained progress with our recommended courses, or fast-track your way to your favorite pieces with our accelerated course. Or, put your classical training on hold and start making music right away with our blues play-along course.
Level 1 recommended courses
Level 1 practice labs
Accelerated course
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Questions & Discussion
↓ Reply below to ask any questions about this level, or to get a second opinion from fellow users! ↓
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Hello, are there any other members in this level currently?
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Hi David - There are, but they're shy :)
Let me know if you have any questions for me. I'm working on some new Level 1 courses and it would be great to hear from you about what you're looking for. -
David Hello! I just started this level today, and have just gone through the Keyboard Choreography modules. When I did the Tonebase levels quiz it had me at Level 4/5, but, like you, I'm self teaching piano (having had lessons in other instruments) so I'm conscious that although I can play intermediate level pieces, I am without a doubt missing essential basic technique, so I've decided to start back to basics from level 1! Already it's been useful, if only to remind me to warm up! I usually just jump straight into playing whatever pieces I'm studying, without a warm up, and neglecting to study scales & arpeggios! I am very, very grateful for the structure that the levels system provides, as deciding what to study/play, and what I need to do to progress, has been a real stumbling block so far.
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Amanda Clark hello there, where can i find the tonebase levels quiz?
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Cihan It was emailed to me when I signed up. Perhaps it's gone to your 'spam' or 'promotions' folder in your inbox?
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Cihan Hi. See if this link works for you: https://tonebase.surveys.so/piano-level-quiz
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Amanda Clark Hi! Thank you for sharing your experience. The systematic approach you describe to fill in missing gaps in knowledge makes a lot of sense to me. Good to have some company here on the introductory materials.
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David Oh thank you very much :)
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David
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Keith hey David I just started here today even though I have experience for many decades playing the guitar and look forward to getting into the piano both with theory and repertoire.
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Amanda Clark Amanda Clark I can relate. I’m at level 3 after taking the quiz but am relatively new to playing the keyboard. I want to start at 1 and go through everything. I signed up for the lifetime membership.
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David Spiritually I am still at that level even though I can play some of Bach's pieces. I always wonder what I missed that doesn't make me a great player, so I go back to my roots to see what I did wrong & unlearn the bad things and habits. Having a great foundation is essential.
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Hi Ben,
Thank you for reaching out. I really appreciate the organization of the Level System outlines, since I am self-teaching; the more detail, the better for me. There are excellent lessons on ToneBase at the beginning level. I enjoy Roskell's warmup and the choreography series. The lessons on how to practice specific pieces are helpful, especially at the early level.
I grew up playing violin, left music for a while, but wanted to return to music via the piano so as to jump into polyphony (and not need and ensemble to enjoy complete works of music). For me, the challenge is reading polyphonic scores, coordination of the two hands, and spending more time making bass-clef reading as automatic as treble clef. I also struggle to perform a harmonic analysis, and a musical analysis of pieces (and there is a good ToneBase lecture on interpretive analysis).
I think a mix of technique, repertoire and harmonic analysis/applied keyboard harmony is helpful for me since I have good familiarity with classical music from my years in ensembles on the other instrument. To organize daily practice and short-term goals, I am thinking that a selection of Bach and romantic era music would help with technique and reading, along with working through the scales/arpeggios and associated cadences in the keys for each piece.
Any additional material at the beginner level repertoire and technique is, of course, welcome. Goal-setting at the beginning level is particularly challenging, but a video on ToneBase addresses this issue and is very encouraging.
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Can we do multiple courses at the same time or should we focus on the course order you specified here?
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Hello All, am I the only shocked to see that we're expected to play the scales looking at the staff notation from Level1 itself? I can't find introduction to the piano, posture, finger movement and basics like that. Am I missing something?
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I agree, as a total newbie i love the idea of not just following the notes as in other piano apps and having a deep understanding about theory and technique instead. But i still feel that the total basic here for a person that never played any instrument is quite advanc :). And yes, the outline at the top of this discussion is a good start, but it is a still bit too much to digest. I would prefere to somehow mix them together into one learning path, so there is Short lesson about how to sit and hand position, then some practise of a song with few notes, then some bit of theory behind it, then maybe some fingering excercise, etc... Having these long "courses" with one specific focus is a bit counterproductive for total beginner.
