Archive for July, 2008

Playing the piano requires long hours of practicing especially when a big musical reality is coming. With all the factors that are needed to play the piano, one very underlying yet important strong point will be discussed in this article.

One factor that some professionals venture not forget… practice. Even if you know all the fingerings and notes, even if you can read the music well, it won’t mean a thing. Utilize is the essence of it all. You have to be committed in your genre therefore practicing it every day; if not everyday then at least thrice a week.

If you’re having difficulty rehearsal yourself with your practice hours, here are some notes to ponder upon.

Note # 1

Make a daily schedule for practice and comply with it. Be determined to stick to your schedule. It is a imperative to condition yourself into practicing everyday so that your body will get used to the routine. At first, it could be tedious and boring but as you go on learning the essentials, it becomes more fun audition the way you run.

Note # 2

Your piano must be put in a place that you won’t feel cluttered. Your music room must be free from anything that might ruffle you like a radio or anything noisy. This enables you to concentrate when practicing. Also, make sure that there is proper lighting where your piano is placed. But remember that your piano must not be exposed to unsurpassed sunlight for this might destroy some sensory parts of your piano.

Mark # 3

Always mad up. Exercise your fingers with some simple minds then proceed to the hard ones. If you have no intuition on how to warm up those handles, ask notability who knows. An exercise charge let your fingers outstretch to range some secrets that are hard to reach. This will become helpful when showing tenacious paced minds and music. Don’t let your relegates touch a key while it still feels potent and rusty.

Note # 4

Review the past warnings learned before starting a warning. This would be the next thing afterward warming up. If you have not finished the music yesteryear, rescission what you played then continue it. Elder yet, start the whole thing to be skilled to follow.

Mark # 5

Attend your manual and instructor’s directions. Help her better you learn. To disburse ennui, play the piano at the same time, savor a duet. Tell your instructor your interests and ask her to play it for you so you might know it and therefore pave the way into practicing it even without her presence.

Note # 6

Get your utilize as meaning-oriented as contingent. A goal will make you more focused and concentrated because you have something to be achieved. To kill a object will make you feel satisfied and gratified.

Note # 7

Always provide for a consummate feeling when practicing. When you schedule to play the piano without anyone to guide you, just think about all the lessons that your tutor has taught you. Do not give up that easily when it has become hard. If you are being stressed, reside for a while. Measure out yourself time to breathe.

Try to figure out a technique with every practice for it to come out natural and sole in your own way.

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If you have to nag your child to practice the piano, I have news for you. There’s something called the Battle of the Piano and you’ve already lost.

The Battle of the Piano is the time honored process whereby a child is either deemed a success at the piano or not.

Some children make it. They number 10% of all kids who try.

Some children don’t make it. They number 90% of all the kids who try.

The moment your child’s interest in piano lessons starts to wane, usually due to a lack of creativity on the teacher’s part, you have entered the Battle zone.

After what I call the “honeymoon,” where a child finds piano rather fun and interesting, there comes a moment of reality, when the child realizes subconsciously that the teacher has no tools OTHER THAN REPETITION.

The one tool of the non-creative piano teacher is repetition, mindless and numbing.

Such repetition is fine for an adult who is determined to play Beethoven, and is willing to pay the dues to do so. But for a six year old, it is a crushing regimen, a fact borne out by the 10%-90% statistics.

When a child’s interest in the piano wanes, they are surely headed for quitting if the teacher’s only tool is repetition.

As your nagging increases, the child becomes more and more alienated from the piano, until subconsciously the child blames the piano for your nagging. They can’t hate you for nagging, you’re Mom, so they hate the piano instead.

Mind you, all the while you’re unknowingly paying this teacher to make your child hate the piano, and you’re adding to the stress with your entreaties.

You ask the teacher for advice, after all, you’re paying them, and I guarantee you their only suggestion will be that the child practice more. That’s the one tool they have.

It’s as if your child hates broccoli, and the chef’s solution is to serve even larger portions. That chef knows nothing of child psychology and human nature.

Look at it from the child’s point of view. This crossfire of negativity from you and the piano teacher can have only one inevitable result, and that is the emotional destruction of the child’s desire to play.

Nagging won’t help. Nagging is a huge part of the problem, not the solution.

The child simply follows human nature.

What is the solution? A rule of thumb is to listen to your child.

Don’t think that going and observing a lesson will be any indicator of your child’s progress. The teacher, your employee, will be putting on a performance and your child will be terrified that you will be displeased.

Listen to your child. Go for a few weeks and see if it gets better. Keep listening to the child and ask them how they feel about it, and be sympathetic. Draw them out on exactly why they don’t like it. Assume they might be correct and get them to describe the lesson, perhaps request a comical reenactment to put them at ease and make them give you more details. You’re on their side.

Then, if the child’s attitude persists or gets worse, you have two choices.

First, try a different piano teacher. Spend your time talking to local people and find out if there is someone who specializes in children and has a reputation for making music fun for your age group. Find out which teachers are disciplinarians and avoid them, especially with younger kids.

The only other alternative is to give in to the child, and let them quit. It may actually be a better solution than allowing the bad feelings in the lessons to continue. Try a different instrument, switch to guitar, trumpet, drums, anything.

Or take a break from lessons and try again later when you’re sure a better teacher can be found. Find out what things the child finds fun about musical instruments. Go to a store and try out musical instruments.

Let them try a variety of instruments until they find one that suits them, and at which they seem comfortable and willing to expend at least a reasonable amount of effort.

Music lessons for children should be an enjoyable experience, and if it’s not, there’s something wrong.

The number one rule is to never force a child to learn music. Ever.

If you force them, I guarantee you they will end up hating it.

by John Aschenbrenner Copyright 2008 Walden Pond Press

John Aschenbrenner is a leading children’s music educator and book publisher, and the author of numerous fun piano method books in the series PIANO BY NUMBER for kids. You can see the PIANO BY NUMBER series of books at http://www.pianoiseasy.com

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If you’re merely playing a song from beginning to end, over and over, you may not be using your piano practice time as efficiently as you might.

There are several unwritten rules that professional classical pianists use to maximize practice time, and you might do well to find out about them, regardless of the style of music you play.

You can adjust these practicing techniques to suit your personal style. If you use these ideas you’ll soon find that your playing becomes polished more quickly.

These ideas apply to learning and practicing any style of music, not just classical piano. I use them with children of all ages and abilities, with great success.

The first rule is to practice only the hard parts you don’t know, at first. A general rule of thumb is that the hard parts should sound as good as the easy parts, and until they do, don’t waste your time enjoying the easy parts.

Invest your time in solving the difficult problems first. Pay these dues and many an “impossible” piece will be yours, and fun to play. Have a strategy for learning the piece.

The second rule is to play the difficult parts slowly and with hands separate for as long as it takes for each passage to be perfectly memorized and fluid, even if it is very slow. If you’re looking at a page of sheet music during a hard spot, you defeat the whole purpose of learning the passage.

The purpose of piano practice is to CALMLY observe your hands and pay attention to where your fingers go, and see where the patterns of keys are.

Memorize first. Enjoy later.

The third rule is to divide the piece into sections and attempt to achieve a basic continuity from one large passage to another. In other words, all transitions between musical ideas must be rehearsed and thought out, so that they appear effortless and logical, instead of bumpy and at the mercy of various difficulties.

Even small piano pieces benefit from this approach.

Larger pieces, such as Schubert’s Wanderer Fantasy or Liszt’s massive B minor Sonata, are all but impossible to master without a similar approach, unless you’re Liszt himself.

And there are pianists who have achieved that Lisztian, astronomical level of sight-reading, believe me. But I’m not one, and you’re not likely to be one, either, with all due respect.

For us mortal pianists, the Rules of Piano Practice must be followed if you want to learn difficult material quickly.

by John Aschenbrenner Copyright 2008 Walden Pond Press

John Aschenbrenner is a leading children’s music educator and book publisher, and the author of numerous fun piano method books in the series PIANO BY NUMBER for kids. You can see the PIANO BY NUMBER series of books at http://www.pianoiseasy.com

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Jeff_N posted:


I use to take lessons a few years ago, but then i stopped…now that im a lot older, and my hands are all rusted up, i want to learn to play again…is there a way to teach myself the piano without actually taking lessons? I wanna learn to play by ear but my teacher never thought that much. List composers. Well just say anything that might help someone that wants to learn and has some experience. Where can i find sheet music for free? Ill play anything from baroque to post-modern. Is there a place to learn piano theory online? It would be nice to understand stuff that i would play. Also, im just curious but, do they offer piano in college?

beginners piano lessons
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spam posted:


My husband is a musician (by hobby) and owns a SY-22. I want to get him a new keyboard for Christmas but I don’t have any clue what to buy. I know Yamaha is good but which model would you recommend and why? Where is the best place to buy in LA?
I’m sure he knows what he wants but I don’t want to ask him because I want to surprise him.

Buy Piano Sheet Music
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.. posted:


People are telling me to get it with weighted keys..so I’ll do that, but what are weighted keys?
And how many keys do you think should be on my keyboard?
And someone else told me Y!A, that I should get one with 7 octaves.. if I want to play like a real piano.. so what else?

And if you have any great yamaha keyboards out there, show me them !

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