Architecture of Grace
← The piano

The Piano, in pictures

Almost no reading. Keep it next to the piano. Every picture is the real piano.

★Start here · the whole piano

Top to bottom: the sound, the chords, the chord wheel, the keys, and the dial.

The whole piano: Instrument, Chords with the six pads, the Chord wheel, Keys, the Sound dial and Send to the turntables.
The whole piano. Each part is below, close up.
The Instrument menu, set to Grand piano. Instrument34 sounds in eight groups. Every one is a real recording, from the grand piano to the church organ and the bells.
Key and Mood: Major is bright, Minor is moody. Key · MoodKey moves every chord up or down. Major is bright. Minor is moody.
The six chord pads, numbered 1 to 6. The six padsTap one: a chord that fits the key. Pad 1 is home.
The pattern menu and the How the chords play menu. Pattern · How the chords playPick a chord pattern. Then pick how it plays: long, in beats, one note at a time, or off the beat.
Your chord pattern, with Play the chords, Make my own and Clear. Your pattern · Play · Make my own · ClearOne chord for each bar. Orange plays and stops. Make my own: tap pads in order.
The Tempo slider at 90 beats a minute. TempoSlower or faster.
The chord wheel in C: the six pads lit, C with the gold ring. Chord wheelEvery chord in a circle. The six light ones are your pads. Tap one to hear it.
Lower, Higher and Hold notes (pedal). Lower · Higher · Hold notesMove the keys down or up. Hold notes is the pedal.
The keys, two octaves from C3 to C5. The keysPress near the bottom for a loud note, near the top for a soft one. Slide a finger to play many.
The Sound dial from 1987 to 2026, Volume, and Send to the turntables. Sound · Volume · SendLeft: 1987 crunch. Right: clean 2026. Send makes a recording for the turntables.

1A song in two taps

Pick a pattern. Press Play. That is a song.

1 Start from a chord pattern, set to Pop. Pick a patternPop is a good first one.
2 Play the chords. Press PlayThe orange button.
3 Orange keys are playing now; the pale key fits the chord. Watch the keysOrange keys are playing. Pale keys fit the chord.
4 The pad that is playing now has a red ring. Watch the padsThe red ring shows the chord now.

2Find C

Black keys come in groups of two and three. C is just left of the two.

Every C is gold here. The names go C D E F G A B, then start again.

3Soft, loud, and the pedal

Press near the top for soft (p), near the bottom for loud (f). The grand piano also gets brighter when it is loud.
Hold notes (pedal), beside Lower and Higher.Hold notes · the pedalOn: notes keep ringing after you let go. Off: they stop. On a computer, hold Shift.

4A chord with your hand

Play one, skip one, play one, skip one, play one.

C major: C, E, G. Bright.
C minor: C, E♭, G. The middle key moves down one. Moody.

5The six pads, in any key

The numbers are steps of the scale. They mean the same thing in every key.

In Minor the pads become 1, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7, and the moody chords lead.

6The chord wheel

Every major chord goes round the outside, its minor just inside. Tap any chord to hear it.

1 The chord wheel in C: the six pads lit with their numbers, C with the gold ring. Your six padsThey sit together, with their numbers. Gold ring: home.
2 Turn to F and Turn to G. Turn the wheelOne step changes the key. The pads follow.
3 While the chords play, G is orange. Watch it playThe chord playing now is orange.

With Make my own on, a tap on the wheel adds that chord to your pattern. Any of the 24 can join.

7Make your own pattern

1 Make my own and Clear. Clear, then Make my ownClear empties the pattern.
2 The six pads. Tap padsIn the order you like. Up to 8.
3 Pad 1. End on 1It sounds finished.
4 Play the chords. Press PlayYour pattern goes round.

834 sounds, eight groups

Same keys, different color. That color is called timbre.

1
PianosHammers hit strings. Grand, upright, honky-tonk, bright, soft felt, toy.
2
Electric pianosMetal tines, reeds or a computer chip. And the funky clavinet.
3
Organs and accordionSpinning wheels or air through pipes. Never fades.
4
Mallets and bellsCelesta, glockenspiel, vibraphone, marimba, steel drums, bells.
5
PluckedHarpsichord, harp, kalimba, music box.
6
Strings and voicesSoft strings, recorded. A choir.
7
Tape keyboardsStrings and flute on tape, for prog rock.
8
SynthsString synth, warm synth, synth brass, synth lead.

9With the drum machine and the turntables

1 On the drum machineMake a beat. Press Send to the turntables.
2 Play with my drum beat, and the name of the beat. Back on the pianoPress Play with my drum beat, under Tempo.
3 Play the chords. Press PlayYour chords play in time with the beat.
4 Send to the turntables. SendOn the turntables it is under From the piano.

10On a computer

Each key shows its letter. The letters stay put when you move up or down.

The keys with their computer letters: A S D F G H J K L ; and W E T Y U O P.
The middle row plays the white keys. The row above plays the black keys.

11The lessons

Pick a lesson in the Lesson menu. Do the steps on the piano. They tick themselves.

The lesson card: three steps ticked, and the Worksheet button.
Worksheet opens the sheet for that lesson. Type on it or print it.

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