With years of teaching the piano and many more years playing the piano, I have accumulated a list of piano skills. If you play the piano you will either learn, or be able to:
| Piano Skills | Primer (Level pre-1) | Beginner (Levels 1-2) | Late Beginner (Level 3) | Intermediate (Level 4-5) | Late Intermediate (Level 6) | Advanced (Level 7+) |
| Knows finger numbers | x | x | x | x | x | x |
| Knows musical alphabet | x | x | x | x | x | x |
| Basic staff awareness | x | x | x | x | x | x |
| Basic keyboard awareness | x | x | x | x | x | x |
| Can play one hand at at time | x | x | x | x | x | x |
| Has proper hand placement and form | x | x | x | x | x | x |
| Developing rhythm and steady beat | x | x | x | x | x | x |
| Generally plays music from method books | x | x | x | x | x | x |
| Generally practices 10-15 mins/day | x | x | x | x | x | x |
| Bass and Treble Clef | x | x | x | x | x | |
| Plays both hands together | x | x | x | x | x | |
| Play rhythms more comfortably | x | x | x | x | x | |
| Keeps steady beat | x | x | x | x | x | |
| Left hand plays mainly basic chords | x | x | x | x | x | |
| Dynamics and articulations | x | x | x | x | x | |
| Can play C, G, and F key signatures | x | x | x | x | x | |
| Generally practices 15-20 mins/day | x | x | x | x | x | |
|
Major and minor chords, scales, and arpeggios
|
x | x | x | x | ||
| Left hand becomes more complex | x | x | x | x | ||
| More complex rhythms introduced | x | x | x | x | ||
| Can play songs with 2 flats/sharps | x | x | x | x | ||
| Technique developing | x | x | x | x | ||
| Sight reading developing | x | x | x | x | ||
| Musicality developing | x | x | x | x | ||
| Generally practices 20-30 mins/day | x | x | x | x | ||
|
Harmonic, melodic minor chords, scales, and arpeggios
|
x | x | x | |||
|
Left hand and right hand can play independent of each other
|
x | x | x | |||
| Knows music theory and notation well | x | x | x | |||
|
Growing knowledge of chords and progressions
|
x | x | x | |||
| Technique more solid | x | x | x | |||
| Musicality more solid | x | x | x | |||
|
More music played away from method books
|
x | x | x | |||
| Generally practices 30-45 mins/day | x | x | x | |||
| Can play most songs of any repertoire | x | x | ||||
| Sight reads comfortably | x | x | ||||
| Knows music theory thoroughly | x | x | ||||
| Excellent technique | x | x | ||||
| Excellent musicality | x | x | ||||
| Generally practices 60+ mins/day | x | x | ||||
| Advanced knowledge of theory | x | |||||
| Can play any song of any repertoire | x | |||||
|
Can sight read intermediate songs very well
|
x | |||||
| Can play in all key signatures | x | |||||
|
Advanced rhythms, technique, and musicality
|
x | |||||
|
Generally, you know you are advanced if you don’t need to ask what level you are at
|
x | |||||
| Generally practices 2-3 or more hours/day | x |
Additional piano skills could include knowledge of composers and past musical eras.
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How to Improve Your Piano Skills
PianoTels
Tel loves her life as a piano player, a piano teacher, and a mom. Amid piano blogging, piano teaching, and piano playing, she loves a chance to fit in a good exercise class, volunteer at her kids’ school and at her church, and go on long dates with her husband. Full bio at About Tel.
hi can you email me tips on sight reading daily please if you could it would help me alot
thank you for considering
hi can you email me tips on sight reading daily please if you could it would help me alot
thank you for considering and have a good day
hi my name is arianah can you email me tips on sight reading daily please if you could it would help me alot
thank you for considering and have a good day
how can i grasp to play a song on a piano after listening to the music or a song
how can i grasp to play a song on a piano after listening to the music or a song at initial stage
Great question! You are talking about playing by ear. First, figure out the melody. Then, you can add left hand basic root chords. The more you practice and do it, the more you get an ear for it and can do it more and more!