Who said we needed to learn music theory to play the piano?

A bad news just came out a few days ago. The famous musician Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou, nicknamed Vangelis, died on May 17 at the age of 79. This man with many qualities has written numerous scores for films such as Blade Runner, 1942. Christopher Columbus or Chariots of Fire, said he never received piano training. He says he never learned to read a score.

As a matter of fact, it is not necessary to know how to read a score in order to play music.

The study of music theory and its notation is widespread in the world. Indeed, it is known that it is necessary to know how to read a score in order to play music. However, it is often more of a chore than anything else and is most of the time the cause of stopping playing the piano. Music theory is exhausting and difficult for most people. But rest assures, this is not necessary.

The knowledge of scales and chords is quite sufficient. In an octave, that is to say 12 notes, there are about 6 or 7 notes that will sound correctly together. Once these are acquired, it is just a matter of repetition and learning. Our ears can easily tell what sounds good and what doesn't, so trust your ears!

Here is a list of essential chords to start playing the piano: