Comments on How to Practice Piano

When you want to memorize a song, all you need to do is to practice that song once a day and memorize about 1-4 bars at a time.

When practicing a difficult piece (or any piece for that matter), never tense up. And while you may think you are relaxed the whole time, it's quite likely that you're not. Once you're past the just learning, going slowly stage in learning a piece, play your piece through, choosing random spots to completely halt playing, or have someone in the room yell stop every several seconds. As soon as you stop, leave everything like it was, and go through a whole body check to make sure you're not tense anywhere. Start with your jaw, move to your neck, shoulders, arms, wrists, hands. Do this several times during the same song, especially during fast, difficult, intense parts in the music.

When practicing a difficult piece (or any piece for that matter), never tense up. And while you may think you are relaxed the whole time, it's quite likely that you're not. Once you're past the just learning, going slowly stage in learning a piece, play your piece through, choosing random spots to completely halt playing, or have someone in the room yell stop every several seconds. As soon as you stop, leave everything like it was, and go through a whole body check to make sure you're not tense anywhere. Start with your jaw, move to your neck, shoulders, arms, wrists, hands. Do this several times during the same song, especially during fast, difficult, intense parts in the music.

If you have trouble concentrating for long periods of time, split your designated practicing time into 2 or 3 separate sessions. Do songs for one session, technical for another session and studies for yet another session.

Before you place your hands on the keyboard, listen inside to how you want the music to be. Let it grow inside you before you play. Then play what you hear in your heart and enjoy.

NEVER stop trying. If you don't get it the first time, keep trying. You won't get better if you stop. It will just get worse.

Learn riffs from guitar books and amaze your friends and family.

When learning a very hard piece, I like to set the metronome on the lowest tempo I can stand. I play the piece at that tempo repeatedly until I can play it perfectly all the way through. Then I bump the tempo up one click (usually 4 bpm). Again I play through until it is perfect. I continue this method until I have reached the desired tempo. It may seem tedious, and it will probably take several hours, but this is the best way I have found to truly master difficult music. Not only will you be able to play faster, but you will stay calm at those tempos as well!

Your hands are doing all the work when you play, so take care of them! Keep your fingernails trimmed and clean. Make sure your hands are clean. Use a nice hand cream or lotion every day. Remember to practice every day!

Treat difficult-to-play passages as a strength-training exercise, like any other athlete. Play the notes very slowly, but with great force, pressing as hard as you can. This will help develop strength, and next time you will be able to play it better.

If you are having trouble doing your right and left hand together, try doing them separately at first. Once you get the right hand down perfectly, then add the left hand accompaniment.

There is NO substitute for practice. If you want to be good, you must be consistent. Set yourself a time limit every day and let nothing come in the way of it. Remain diligent!

Sometimes I shut my eyes and play. I notice the result and try to learn from it. Stevie Wonder is blind as was brother Ray.

When practicing, always sit at middle D. Start with a small section and practice it a lot, then try to play it without looking at your hands. Continue until you can master the whole piece without looking at your hands. At first you may lose your place, but keep trying it and later you will find yourself familiar with the location.

Start with the last measure of the piece. Learn it, then learn the second from the last measure of the piece and play that along with the next measure. Continue until you're at the beginning of the piece or section.

Just as an athlete warms up before performing (or practicing), so should you. I play several instruments and I find the following warm up routine effective for all of them. Wash your hands under warm running water for at least two minutes. I use a drop of dish washing soap to remove excess oil an dirt. Stretch your fingers and thumbs gradually, and work them through their entire range of motion. Massage the muscles in the ball of the thumb and palm. The warm water stimulates the blood flow, and stretching properly helps avoid injuries. If I pick up an instrument and try to play it cold, it takes a good while before I can do some techniques, where if I do the warm up, it's like I have been playing for half and hour, right from the start.

What has helped me most is learning to just work on one or two measures at a time, until I get it down very well. I used to try to learn a whole piece of sheet music by going over it from beginning to end. I wondered why I wasn't getting anywhere.

Before you place your hands on the keyboard, listen inside to how you want the music to be. Let it grow inside you before you play. Then play what you hear in your heart and enjoy.

Sometimes people think that the goal is all we need. And the important part is when we master a song. That is not the ways of practice piano. Every movement of your practice is important, and every moment of the time you spend on practice piano is important too. So why not enjoy every key you press,and every sound you hear?I know, it is not yet beautiful music, but every sound have it's own life. So from now on, try to feel it. When looking at sheet music, don't forget to look at your hands, too. Enjoy it, feel the sound as deep as you can, observe the information as clear as you can. "One man may practice daily on a musical instrument and fail to make any progress, while another shows daily improvement. Perhaps the nature of the talent that is the accepted explanation for this divergence of achievement derives from the fact that the second student observes what he is doing while he play while the first one only repeats and memorizes and relies on the assumption that sufficient repetition of a bad performance will somehow bring about musical perfection." from Moshe Feldenkrais

When learning a very hard piece, I like to set the metronome on the lowest tempo I can stand. I play the piece at that tempo repeatedly until I can play it perfectly all the way through. Then I bump the tempo up one click (usually 4 bpm). Again I play through until it is perfect. I continue this method until I have reached the desired tempo. It may seem tedious, and it will probably take several hours, but this is the best way I have found to truly master difficult music. Not only will you be able to play faster, but you will stay calm at those tempos as well!

Most people do not enjoy practicing - I know I don't. Even Yo Yo Ma hates to practice, but there is no way around it. If you want to be good at any musical instrument, you can't expect to just sit down one day and play a piece all the way through perfectly. You have to play each phrase in the music five or ten times over and over again until you know it very, very well. This is how the professionals play their pieces flawlessly.

Learn and study your music thoroughly before you try to play it on the piano. Knowledge is power!

Start with the last measure of the piece. Learn it, then learn the second from the last measure of the piece and play that along with the next measure. Continue until you're at the beginning of the piece or section.

Always practice slowly at first. Speed will increase later. Let accuracy happen first, and always pay attention to your arm weight and hand position.

If you are having trouble doing your right and left hand together, try doing them separately at first. Once you get the right hand down perfectly, then add the left hand accompaniment.