Pianuvo Academy: Year 1 course outline

The Academy is a step-by-step piano course that listens as you play. Year 1 takes you from sitting at the keyboard for the first time to reading both clefs, playing hands together in several keys and performing a first sonatina. It uses the same falling-notes display as the rest of Pianuvo, with short lessons, scored exercises and a daily practice plan. Free, no account.

Open the Academy Years 2–4 are being written.

The ten units of Year 1

1. Unit 0: First week at the piano
   You sit well, use finger numbers, find any C, D, E, F and G, keep a steady beat, and play a melody in C position with either hand. 4 lessons
2. Unit 1: Pulse and rhythm through playing
   You read quarter, half, dotted half and whole notes and their rests, count in 4/4, 3/4 and 2/4, and play short pieces in C position in time. 5 lessons
3. Unit 2: Reading landmark notes
   You read notes on the grand staff from three landmarks (middle C, treble G and bass F), step and skip from them, and play in C position, middle C position and G position. 4 lessons
4. Unit 3: Hands together, eighth notes, p and f
   You play simple pieces with both hands together, read and play eighth notes, and play softly (p) and loudly (f). 4 lessons
5. Unit 4: Intervals, first chords, legato and staccato
   You name and play 2nds to 5ths, play C, F and G triads in the left hand, and play smoothly or detached. 4 lessons
6. Unit 5: Sharps, scales and G major
   You know half and whole steps, play the C major scale with thumb-under fingering, and read and play in G major (F♯). 4 lessons
7. Unit 6: Ties, dotted rhythms, upbeats and phrasing
   You play ties, dotted-quarter rhythms and pickups, and shape tunes in phrases. 4 lessons
8. Unit 7: F major, flats and changing dynamics
   You read flats, play in F major, use mp, mf, crescendo and diminuendo, and count eighth rests. 4 lessons
9. Unit 8: Minor keys and a Baroque minuet
   You hear and play major versus minor, play A minor (natural and harmonic), and learn a short Baroque-style minuet in two voices. 4 lessons
10. Unit 9: Toward the sonatina, and Year 1 review
    You play an Alberti bass, recognise A–B–A form, and play a short sonatina movement. Then you review the year and retake placement. 4 lessons

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