Two ways of playing melodies with the right hand on the piano are explained and illustrated in this music book. The first is called the close way as the fingers are kept close together. The second is the open way as the fingers are open and spread out. One way is called close fingering and the other open fingering.
Close fingering is good for playing tunes as they are read on sheet music. Open fingering with the right hand is more for playing solo, improvising and accompanying other singers or musicians.
In this book, the fingers of the right hand are numbred one to five, with the thumb being one and the little finger five. So the pointer is two, the middle finger three and the other finger four, That is 1, 2, 3, 4 from left to right on the keyboard.
As you read in this book about how to place your fingers, follow along by placing your fingers on the keyboard itself. It helps to print this page for your music stand.
Fingering explained in this book is for melodies in the key of C. Yet much the same fingering is used in any key. Playing in other keys begins on the root note of that key, the root or tonic being the note the key is named after. For example, note F is the root of chord F and the key of F.
Melody playing generally is centred on note middle C on the keyboard. Middle C is shown in the middle of music staff drawn here.
