1. Senior Project:
Learning to play piano

2. Did you ever take piano lessons as a
child?

3. Hello, my name is Alex Gainey.
For my Senior Project I learned how
to play the piano. I have always been
interested and amazed by musical
instruments, like drums and especially
the piano.

4. Research Paper
► Formy research paper I found the
commonality between learning to play the
piano or any musical instrument and
increasing grades and IQ. Statistics have
shown that learning to play piano or reading
music has increased brain development.

5. Research Cont’d
The effects of learning to play piano and reading
music on me were noticeable. I was more
organized with my work and also I was
managing my time better with school work and
my job.

6. My expectations
► My first expectations of learning to play the
piano were stressful to think about.
► I thought that with my school, football and
work schedule I wouldn’t have had time to
learn or even practice.

7. First lesson
► My first lesson was very eye opening.
► I met at my facilitators house and we
immediately began.
► I learned the first most basic note. Which is
the middle “C”.
► Then I learned about the how the left hand
plays the Treble Clef and right plays Bass
Clef.

9. Second Lesson
► At my next lesson we practiced and went
over what I had previously learned in the
first lesson.
► I then learned to play with my right hand.
This was difficult for me, because I am left
handed.

10. Third Lesson
► I learned to play actual songs with my left
and right hand at different times.
► My left hand I was very good at. But my
right I was still having problems with.
► The first song I fluently learned was the
famous “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”.

11. Fourth Lesson
► In this lesson with my facilitator, she
taught me to play with both hands at the
same time.
► Trying to play both hands at the same time
was very difficult. I would read a note and
play something absolutely different.
► I would restart every time I messed up.

13. Fifth Lesson
► My fifth lesson I just kept practicing what I
had already learned.
► I kept repeating hand exercises to help me
get better with hand eye coordination and
playing.

14. Sixth Lesson
► Inthe past lessons I was learning to play
notes with both hands on piano, but it was
time to move on.
► I was now learning a whole new concept.
► This concept was CHORDS.
► Chords are used to make the music sound
smoother.

16. Seventh Lesson
► The next thing to learn was playing chords
and notes at the same time.
► This was the most difficult task I had to
learn.
► I have a disability that prevents me from
being able to comprehend a lot of things to
doing them physically.

17. Eighth Lesson
► Learning my song for my senior board
presentation.
► This song is very well known. It’s the
“When the saints go marching in”.

18. Key to successfully playing piano
► Practice is the key factor to becoming good
at piano. Repetition of notes, chords and
songs is the KEY.

19. Challenges and Problems
► The main challenges I had was Time!
► At the time of lessons I was playing football
and coaching a youth football team.
► So I had to prioritize my time wisely.
► I also suffered two concussions during
football, so I was not able to make some of
the lessons or even practice.

20. My Facilitator
► My facilitator is a teacher at Creekview in
the Special Ed. Department.
► Mrs. Sue Ellen Turner
► She has over 40 years experience playing
piano and around 15-20 years teaching
piano to all ages.

21. I would absolutely recommend taking piano
lessons and I am considering keeping up with
this through the summer and possibly into
college.
Learning to play piano has totally changed my
hand eye coordination and also has helped me
in keep grades up in high school.

22. Thank you for your time and
patience

23. I will now answer any questions you
may have at this time.

24. ► At this time I will be playing my piece for
you.