Tetris Theme: the opening

Lesson 8 · about 15 minutes · the first four bars of the Virtual Piano arrangement

Today's win: play the first four bars with both hands, three clean runs in a row. That is the opening hook; the rest of the arrangement can come in the next lesson.

1 · Warm-up: Mad World, cold

Octave 0. Play lesson 7's intro straight into the verse once from memory. No score or key-name hints; open the score afterwards only to check.

2 · From the website's labels to staff music

The Virtual Piano sheet uses computer-key labels instead of staff notation, so I've converted the notes to the score below. You don't need to learn the source's labels or symbols. Each row here has eight evenly spaced steps: count them “1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &”. I've put only the bass notes up one octave so they fit your 37 keys; their note names stay the same.The notes are from Virtual Piano's Tetris Theme (Alternative); its sheet has no conventional staff.

Leave the keyboard at Octave 0 and Transpose 0. The PSS-A50's keys run from C3 to C6, which covers this version. The drill grades note names, so the bass can be played in the playable octave shown here.

3 · Find both hands

Left hand: pinky on E3, thumb on B3. The bass uses three keys in that position: E3, A3 and B3.
Right hand: thumb on A4, then one finger per white key up to pinky on E5. The tune begins on E5 and moves down to B4 before climbing again.

The source gives notes, not fingers; these hand positions are suggestions for this keyboard.The note sequence is transcribed from the first four rows of Virtual Piano's sheet. The one-octave bass shift is to keep the line within the PSS-A50's range.

Tinted: left-hand bass position and the right-hand notes used in these four bars.

4 · Read the first bar

Each row of the source is one bar. Count eight evenly spaced steps in each bar. The left hand plays a note on every step; the right hand plays where the table has a dot. A dash means the right hand waits while the left hand keeps the pulse.Virtual Piano lists this sheet at 120 BPM and a target length of 47 seconds. Eight eighth-note steps per row match that duration across the 24 rows.

Count	1	&	2	&	3	&	4	&
Right hand	●	–	●	●	●	–	●	●
Left hand	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●

5 · Right hand alone: all four bars

Play the melody across the whole opening, without the bass. Keep your right hand in the A4–E5 position and follow the score bar by bar. Start at 70; when the notes feel familiar, work up toward 85.

6 · Left hand alone: the bass pulse

Now play only the bass. There is one note on every eighth-note count; change between E3, A3 and B3 at the bar lines. Keep the pulse steady rather than rushing to match the melody.

7 · The opening, both hands

Put the hands together for all four bars. At a few moments, play two different keys with the same note name in different octaves at the same time. Keep the left-hand eighth-note pulse even while the right hand plays its tune. Use Slower if the hands tangle; once clean, work up to 85. The source page marks 120, so save that speed for when this passage feels settled.

8 · Check yourself

9 · The next three days

Tomorrow: Mad World intro into verse cold, then Tetris right hand and left hand separately, score names hidden.
Day after: play the Tetris opening with both hands at a comfortable tempo; focus on the steady left-hand pulse.
Day 3: try the same four bars with the source page at its listed tempo of 120, stopping if the rhythm gets rushed.

Primary source: Virtual Piano's “Tetris Theme (Alternative)” sheet Virtual Piano · note labels, 120 bpm. Use the score here for practice; the source uses a different keyboard-label notation.

Does the steady bass pulse make the right-hand notes easier to place, or does it compete for attention? Tell me which bar felt least secure, and I can make the next lesson start there.

Previous: Lesson 7 (Mad World, the intro) · Continue Tetris: Lesson 10, bars 5–8 · Other song: Lesson 9 (Old MacDonald) · Reference: Keyboard map · Glossary