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Manuals, how-tos and plain-English explainers. Short, and written to answer the question in the first line.
Tools you can play
Manual
How to
- How to play piano online with your computer keyboardOpen the piano, press any letter key, and it sounds. The bottom row of letters is the lower octave, the top row the higher one, and Shift is the sustain pedal.
- How to play pianoFind middle C, rest your right thumb on it, and play the five white keys under your fingers. Add three left-hand chords and you can play thousands of songs. That really is the first lesson.
- How to connect a MIDI keyboard to a computerPlug the keyboard into the computer with a USB cable, open a page that listens for MIDI, allow it when the browser asks, and play. Most keyboards need no driver.
- How to set up a MIDI keyboardPlug the sustain pedal in, connect the keyboard to your computer with a USB cable, then switch it on. Open something that makes the sound, allow MIDI once, and play.
Explainers
- What is a virtual instrument?A virtual instrument is a program that makes the sound of a music instrument. You play it from a computer keyboard, a MIDI keyboard or a screen, and the sound comes out of your speakers instead of a body of wood and strings.
- How many keys does a piano have?A standard full-size piano has 88 keys: 52 white and 36 black, running from A0 at the bottom to C8 at the top. That is a little over seven octaves.
- What is a MIDI keyboard?A MIDI keyboard is a keyboard that makes no sound of its own. It sends messages (which key, how hard, pedal down) to a computer or a sound module that turns them into sound.
- Percussion instruments: what they are, the main types, and ones you can playA percussion instrument is one you play by hitting, shaking or scraping it. Drums, cymbals, shakers and xylophones are all percussion, and it is the oldest family of instruments there is.
- Trumpet notes: a fingering chart for every noteA trumpet plays every note with three valves and your lips. Seven valve combinations, each on a few different lip notes, cover everything from low F sharp to high C.
- Recorder notes: a fingering chart for every noteA recorder plays each note by covering holes: a thumb hole on the back and seven on the front. Cover all of them for low C, then lift fingers from the bottom up to climb the scale.