The Piano School Triad Tutorial

After my students learn their major and minor pentascales beginning on white keys, C through B, we begin studying triads. So, what is a triad?

Here is a highly in-depth definition I found in my tattered Harvard Concise Dictionary of Music:

And here is the highly-friendly definition you will find in the back of your assignment book:

When you play all three of the triad notes at one time, it's called a "block triad."

My students learn to play a triad pattern as soon as they are able to play block triads. The pattern can seem a little daunting at first, but once it is mastered, the same pattern can easily be used on all of the 14 triads my young students learn for a triad award called "Triad Tzar." Here are all 14 triads. (This page is also in your assignment book.)

To assist with triad training (preparation for playing block triads) and with learning The Piano School triad pattern, here is a video tutorial:

The great thing about learning to play triads is that once you know them, you begin to recognize them when they show up in your music...which is pretty much all the time in some method books. It becomes a piece of cake to you because you've been there before!

So go play some triads and be a happy pianist!