3 Principles of Potent Piano Practice
April 27, 2011Pianists have one thing in common. We all wish to improve our ears, improve methodology and play cool solos. At least if you’re in to up to date music, you know what I am talking about. And regardless, even if classical is more your thing the quintessence of what I am making an attempt to say remains the same. The overbearing query is always ; what is next? What does one need to work on to be well placed to play the things one wants and reach new levels of musical delight and liberty of expression?
Well, you might try prayer. Dear god, permit my piano to be a trifling extension of my arms. Motivate me with easy mastery. An irresistible brook of groovy notes flowing from the base of my comatose mind, through my instrument, transforming into perfect sound waves…and the audience goes ballistic!
OK , that might or might not work so let’s give god a day off and take matters in to our own hands in the interests of this manuscript.
The Trail to Blissful Piano Playing – First Steps…
1) Know the difference between practicing and playing.
When you are playing you are expressing yourself. Your are in the moment. Mistakes do not exist. Everything that happens is part of the plan. When you are practicing you are in the lab. You are experimenting. Mistakes jump at you ear because you are listening for them. When you encounter them you take educated action to break down the habit of playing it wrong, replacing it with a new habit of playing it right.
2) Make up your own practice routines.
Just do it. Base them on the circle of 5ths, scales and whatever you can think about. Make them part of your daily practice and stick with them, although they can sometime be tedious. Rather than falling for that first enticement to lay it off because of tedium, try staying with it for just a little longer. That is normally all that it takes to forget you are bored and keep up the work. Routinized practice done with good focus pays of dividends in your playing, as you’ll no doubt discover if you do it.
3) Make friends with your ego.
When it comes down to remaining objective about your playing and properly identifying what requires work, your ego is just about always in the way. Perhaps you are feeling like the king of the planet as you play that pentatonic blues lick, but actually your rhythm could be absolutely off and you might be sounding atrocious. These kinds of things have a tendency to surprise folks. Rather like the reaction some of us have when we hear our own voice on a tape recorder. What? Do i sound like that? Is that me?
These elements are meant as a framework for you to build on. All pianists are different and everybody must develop their own tricks, ideas and philosophies. I’m of the opinion that a good method of learning is to observe the way skilled musicians think about practicing. The difference between being stuck with your instrument and positive musical development, fairly often boils down to habits, convictions and understanding and applying the psychology of those that are great.
If this has sparked your curiosity, go to 1on1 Piano Lessons to find more inspirational articles about the art and craft of playing piano, as well as practical how-to guides, lessons, note charts and a free E-book that takes you on a small field trip inside the head of some of the true piano masters of our time. Click here for Piano Lessons.
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