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Playing the Piano with Color Coded Rhythm, Fingering, and Notes - Piano, Bench, and Mic

Playing the Piano with Color Coded Rhythm, Fingering, and Notes

/ Color Coding / By / ADD, ASD, Autism, Color, Guitar, Instrument, Keyboard, LD, Multisensory, Piano, Special Needs
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Estimated reading time 3 minutes

Table of Contents

Introduction

Can’t read piano music? (Or does your child have difficulty reading music?) Color coded notes and rhythms can help! Keep reading to learn about playing the piano with color coded rhythm, fingering, and notes.

Don’t have a keyboard? This online keyboard will help:

This post uses music terms. For definitions, see the Glossary at the end of the article.

Playing the Piano with Color Coded Rhythm, Fingering, and Notes - Piano Student - How to Play Piano (Kid’s Color Coded Piano Hand Placement)

Playing the Piano with Color Coded Rhythm, Fingering, and Notes: The Hand Position

Mobile users: for best results reading the music, tilt your screen 90o to the right.

Playing the Piano with Color Coded Rhythm, Fingering, and Notes - C Position - Playing Piano with Color Coded Left Hand Notes and Rhythm - Piano Major Scales (Basic Fingering Concepts)

Hand Icon (churien.deviantart.com/art/hand-template-blank-272630198) by Churien is licensed under CC BY (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0). Modified by Geoffrey Keith.

Before you can play the piano with color coded notes or rhythm, you need to know where your hand goes on the keyboard. In this post, you’ll use the right hand (RH) in C position.

The C position diagram above shows the placement for both hands. However, you’ll just play the notes to the right side of the diagram using this fingering:

  • First Finger: The thumb goes on the C (orange) key
  • Second Finger: The pointer finger goes on the D (gray) key
  • Third Finger: The middle man goes on the E (red) key
  • Fourth Finger: The ring finger goes on the F (pink) key
  • Fifth Finger: The pinky goes on the G (green) key

If you get confused on your fingering, you can also apply colored stickers to color code the fingers:

Pop Goes the Weasel and Playing the Piano with Color Coded Rhythm, Fingering, and Notes

First, try counting and clapping the rhythm:

  • Red = clap
  • Blue = don’t clap
  • Brown = rest = opposite clap

In Pop Goes the Weasel you’ll have three counts per bar. For more information on color coded clapping:

Try to play the piano with the color coded notes and rhythm:

  1. Say the note names while playing, going from left to right.
  2. Then, play the melody while counting the rhythm.
  3. Next, play and say the finger numbers – the black numbers.
  4. Do your best to keep a steady pulse.

I’ve made a soundtrack that shows you how Pop Goes the Weasel should sound.

  • DON’T LISTEN TO THE SOUNDTRACK BEFORE ATTEMPTING THE SONG.
  • Instead, listen to the soundtrack afterward to make sure you’ve played the song right.

Once you have Pop Goes the Weasel down, you can then try reading the quiz below. Remember to say the note names as you play.

Pop Goes the Weasel Arrangement:

Playing the Piano with Color Coded Rhythm, Fingering, and Notes - Pop Goes the Weasel RH line 1
Playing the Piano with Color Coded Rhythm, Fingering, and Notes - Pop Goes the Weasel RH line 2
Playing the Piano with Color Coded Rhythm, Fingering, and Notes - Pop Goes the Weasel RH line 3
Playing the Piano with Color Coded Rhythm, Fingering, and Notes - Pop Goes the Weasel RH line 4
Playing the Piano with Color Coded Rhythm, Fingering, and Notes - Pop Goes the Weasel RH line 5
Playing the Piano with Color Coded Rhythm, Fingering, and Notes - Pop Goes the Weasel RH line 6
Playing the Piano with Color Coded Rhythm, Fingering, and Notes - Pop Goes the Weasel RH line 7
Playing the Piano with Color Coded Rhythm, Fingering, and Notes - Pop Goes the Weasel RH line 8

Playing the Piano with Color Coded Rhythm, Fingering, and Notes: Notes Quiz

Playing the Piano with Color Coded Rhythm, Fingering, and Notes - Quiz line 1
Playing the Piano with Color Coded Rhythm, Fingering, and Notes

Final Thoughts on Playing the Piano with Color Coded Rhythm, Fingering, and Notes

The more you play the piano with the color coded rhythm, fingering, and notes, the better you’ll get at playing.

  • This multisensory teaching strategy will help any reluctant reader to interact with the score better.
  • In addition, color coding is my go-to strategy when teaching kids with ASD, LD, ADD, and special needs.

When ready, a student can begin the process of graduating from the colors. These posts give you a step-by-step guide to learning how to read a color-free score:

Have fun playing!

Related Posts:

© 2023 Geoffrey Keith

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Glossary

 

I’d Like to Know the Meaning of the Word Cadence [Video] - Triangle

I’d Like to Know the Meaning of the Word Cadence [Video]

“I’d like to know the meaning of the word cadence. How does it differ in language vs music?” Candence in music and language both have to do with regulating the flow of sound. However, even though the definitions are related, they’re not the same. Keep reading to learn more. Estimated reading time 3 minutes.

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Once Sheet Music is All Digital, Why Not Always Colour-Code Notes - Computer Power Symbol

Once Sheet Music is All Digital, Why Not Always Colour-Code Notes?

“Once sheet music is all digital, why not always colour-code notes?” Since most sheet music can now come in digital format, will there be any good reason not to color code the notes all the time? I’ve long advocated using color coding for helping special needs students to learn music from sheet music. However, the opening suggestion (by a person on social media) goes one step further. It proposes making a permanent change to how people read sheet music. Click to find out the arguments for and against adopting universal color coded music notation. Estimated reading time 2 minutes.

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How to Hear the Notes When Harmonizing

Have you ever listened to a chord and couldn’t pick out the notes? Or maybe you’ve tried to hear the inner parts, but couldn’t? If you want to harmonize in tune, you need to be able to hear the parts. Read more to learn how to hear the notes when harmonizing. Estimated reading time 6 minutes.

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