Why? How? Ask the right questions and you can get the right answer
May I try to guess the questions you have?
1. Why is learning and practicing scales so important?
Because most of the music you enjoy is based on the major/minor system, and learning the scale and chord patterns gives you a head start in playing the music you hear and enjoy.
2. Why should I practice slowly, and how slow is “slow?”
You need to practice slowly because the brain has to be trained; play slowly so the brain does not learn mistakes (it is equally adept at learning something the wrong way!). You save time as well as effort.
Cloudy Day
Track 41 
Purchase a metronome; or use the metronome on your keyboard. Set it to the lowest number (40 beats per minute on a non-digital one). That is slow! I find that when I warm up my fingers and hands with five-finger patterns, starting at 80 and letting the metronome tick two times per note keeps me slow enough.
3. Why don’t the fingers of my left hand (or right hand) work properly?
The hand you do not write with, and sometimes the hand you do write with, has never had to do the small finger motions required for playing the piano. Patience! It may take weeks and months for you to feel comfortable playing the piano. As you slowly progress you need to recall that when you began you could not read a note of music, or play music. Appreciate each step of progress as it comes. Also, enjoy the process, and the way all of life’s little problems (and sometimes big ones) seem to fade into the background, while you focus and concentrate on a new language that dictates the way your fingers move.
Walking
Track 42
Try your hand (so to speak) at analyzing a piece of music
When you look at a piece of music, there is much to deduce about how it will sound before you play one note on the piano.
The title often tells you what kind of mood to set. If it is an abstract title, like Sonata, or Prelude, then look below the title on the left, just above the music. Whatever is written there should tell you what kind of mood to set. But it may be Italian words! A music dictionary will quickly divulge the meaning of the word(s).
The clef signs tell you the general area where you play, but be sure to look through the piece to the end. The clef signs can change!
Song
Track 43
The key signature, which you discovered in the circle of 5ths, can tell you what the key is, and which notes/keys to sharp or flat. I like to play the scale of the piece I am practicing, so I can settle into the sound and finger patterns of the key.
The time signature tells not only how many beats are in a measure, but if the beat is divided into two notes or three notes (compound meter). Look at the first two measures and tap out the rhythm three or four times to get an idea of the sound.
Look for parts or measures that are alike or almost alike. Mark them so you know they will have the same or a similar sound.
If the piece is eight measures long or less, you can mark some finger numbers in by naming the direction and interval from one note to another.
If the piece is longer, divide it into sections, analyze each section and practice each section.
Without a Care
Track 44
Use your practice time wisely
I have learned over the years that I must get the most out of the short time I have to practice. I have to list my long-term and short-term goals, either in my head or on paper. If I have a choice of times, I must choose a time when my practicing does not disturb anyone else in the household, and a time when I am most alert.
It helps to practice at the same time of day, if that is possible. Also, an electric keyboard with earphones makes it possible to practice just about anytime, anywhere.
Organizers
There are many ways to organize your practice time. You may wish to keep a journal of your practices so you can log your accomplishments, and disappointments.
Go to a music store and explore their assignment books. One book may have an assignment page for each week, with staff paper across from it for writing out scales, etc.
Space
Another may be a real practice record, in which you may record the day’s goals and progress, and the week’s goals and progress. This gives you a perfect opportunity to reflect on your practice time and on your progress. It helps push you toward more complicated music and thinking.
RED●LIGHT
Like writers and composers, you need to work at your “art” every day. Some days your practice may seem completely worthless, and you may have felt you accomplished nothing; but often, the next days practice will be wonderful and fulfilling. Every goal you made for yourself will have been accomplished!
Track 45
The same sound coming from the piano all the time can become boring
Listen carefully to a recording of piano music. Whether it is new age or classical or jazz, the sound is changing constantly from soft, to loud, to very loud, to medium soft. These are called, “dynamics.” The composer or arranger usually uses abbreviations for Italian words (yet again!) to mark the dynamics: P for piano (soft), F for forte (loud), mezzo, used with P or F, for medium, PP for pianissimo (very soft) and FF for fortissimo (very loud).
Often it is up to you, the piano player, to add dynamics (if not marked), or to vary the dynamics.
Footsteps
Track 46
When you are relaxed and in a comfortable playing position, you can get a “forte” sound by putting more weight behind the hands and fingers. Lean slightly toward the keyboard, and your shoulders and upper body add to the weight.
Less weight in the keys means a softer sound. But remember that the key must sink all the way into the keybed. You will have the feel of how deep the keybed is when you exercise each finger.
ZOOM
Do you see where the name of your instrument comes from? The keyboard instruments that were in use before the piano could only be played at one dynamic level. Pressing the keys with a lighter or heavier touch made no difference in the sound.
On the “fortepiano”, you are able to increase the sound by using a heavier touch.
Echoes
Track 47
Important directions to add variety to your tempo
Often in music, the abbreviation “rit” appears at the end of a section or at the end of the piece. This is the abbreviation for the word “ritardando,” or “ritenuto,” which means to gradually slow down.
If “rit” appears in the middle of a piece, it is sometimes followed by “a tempo” which means to return to the original tempo. Of course, the word tempo means time, or in our case, the beat—how fast or slow it is. When a whole section is marked slower than the original tempo, a return is marked “Tempo 1.”
Sometimes in the middle of a piece, a note has a fermata sign over it. Think of the end of the National Anthem, on the phrase, “o’er the land of the free.” The note with the word, “free” usually has a fermata sign over it; when we sing it, we hold the word “free” a little longer.
When there is a fermata, the beat stops, then continues “a tempo” (unless it is at the end of the piece). How long you hold the fermata note is dependent on what kind of note is held, how fast the tempo is, and your personal taste.
ZOOM
An opposite direction in the music is “accel.”, short for accelerando, which obviously means to accelerate or go faster gradually. How much faster? That is a subjective decision. In fact all these terms are left up to the performer, with advice from teachers, other performers, or friends.
Fiesta Time
Track 48
Pieces that use all, or most, of what you have learned so far
I have used some music from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, plus another song from Stephen Foster. Look at the slurs to help with parts, or sections. Study the intervals to help with finger numbers. Work out each hand carefully, by itself. Make sure each hand is easy before trying it hands together.
Slurs not only instruct you in seeing parts of a piece of music, they instruct you to play the notes under them smoothly and connected (legato). Think of singing a melody; where is it natural to breathe (I realize one may not be able to hold the breath for as long as a phrase!)?
Phrases in music are like phrases in a language. When you listen to a person talking, notice the rise and fall of the words, the emphasis on some words and not on others, the period at the end of a sentence. How do you finish a sentence? Does the voice rise, or does it go down to a softer tone? If the voice rises at the end, is it a question?
Old Folks at Home
Track 49
Listening to these variations will help you hear where the rise and fall of the phrases are. Good playing imitates the human voice, at its most eloquent, of course!
ZOOM
To help the performer, composers put different marks for extra stress. An accent (<) over or under a note means to give that note a little extra stress, but not a lot. Sforzando (sFz), or forzando (Fz) means more stress than the regular accent. Sometimes you may see “subito piano.” This means “suddenly quiet.” Crescendo means to grow louder gradually Decrescendo means to grow quieter gradually.
Melody for Two Hands
Track 50