I have the privilege of teaching a wonderful group of adult piano and organ students on a weekly basis. Some of my students are beginners, some are intermediate and some are advanced. The reasons they are taking piano lessons vary. Some of the adult piano students are taking lessons to enhance and broaden their skills, some are learning pedagogical techniques, some are studying theory and others are learning to play the piano simply for pure pleasure and enjoyment.
Each of these students brings to their piano lessons a variety of joys, challenges, needs and desires. I have to but listen to them and to their playing to gain a wealth of information. So, what do I learn every week from my piano students? Patience, perseverance, fortitude, determination, discovery, happiness, pride, knowledge and wisdom. How wonderful it is to be a teacher of piano.
Do you want to get better at your piano playing? There's really only one way to get better and enjoy your playing more and more every day and that is to invoke the first "P" word - practice. If you do something in a concentrated focused fashion on a daily basis, you will get better - and that includes playing the piano.
Once you have achieved success you need to share your new found piano skills and that is the second "P" word - performance. Share your piano music with your friends, your family, or with the world via YouTube.
The two "P" words - practice and performance - the two important words in the study of the piano.
From time to time, I use a recording device in my piano teaching. It has been met with mixed results for my students. Some students enjoy hearing themselves play and are amazed at their progress. Other piano students are appalled at their lack of progress and their shoddy playing.
The students who find the recorded piano lessons helpful are usually those who follow good practice routines and who diligently and carefully prepare repertoire within their abilities. These students accept the level of their playing prior to hearing their recordings. They have a soundscape in their mind that is close to their actual abilities and skills.
These students are usually pleasantly surprised by the quality of their piano playing and are eager to accept feedback. They more quickly make changes and want to record themselves again and again to hear the improvements they have made. These students mirror their teacher’s experience with a recorder as a device to learn from and design ways to improve their piano playing.
The students who find the recording of their piano lessons stupefying at best and simply awful at most are those who have attempted to learn pieces beyond their current abilities. These students “hear” themselves playing on a much higher level than in reality they are. The recording points out flaws on the most basic level – note inaccuracies, incorrect rhythms, and great flexibility in tempo to compensate for lack of the technical skills needed to play the repertoire they have chosen.
These students sadly realize they have not been applying good piano practice techniques to repertoire more suited to their abilities. Hence, their goals and their ways of achieving those goals have to be redesigned. This is difficult for many beginning adult pianists. However, once the student has overcome the shock of actually hearing the sounds they are creating in real time, they are usually eager more open to pursuing their goals in a more appropriate manner.
To record or not record a beginning pianist’s lesson? It is exaltation for some and peril turning to discovery and skill building for others. Recording is a wonderful tool for a beginning student of the piano.
There comes a time in your piano practice where you simply have to play the piano for the pure joy of playing, where you let go of all the technical challenges, the self-analysis, and the voice of self-control and discipline and "just play the piano."
Too often we get caught up in the how and why's of playing the piano that we forget to celebrate the simple pleasure and joy of creating beautiful sounds and of simply playing the piano. Every pianist, beginner or advanced, has a piece in their repertoire they can play without "working" at it. A piece that is simpler than the current "working" repertoire or a piece learned years earlier might be the piece to just let yourself play.
Creating beautiful sounds and making music is the goal of all piano playing, so why not celebrate that joy and make sure in every practice session you reward yourself with those beautiful sounds you have worked so hard to create and just make music on the piano.
After answering the questions, "What did I do well?" and "What can I do differently?" you must ask yourself, "How can I make changes in my piano practice and performance?"
The third question is one that is also often slighted. Piano students are excellent at knowing what should be done better but knowing how to make changes to create better sounding music is often a mystery.
What are the root causes of piano music played poorly or with mistakes? Incorrect notes, inaccurate rhythm, and carelessly performed cadences form the core of poorly played piano exercises and repertoire and keep a pianist from progressing. In addition, poor fingering, sloppy pedaling, tempo variations,and little regard for dynamics and articulations exacerbate practice sessions and inevitably lead to lackluster performances.
It has been said that an incorrect note played three times simultaneously takes thirty three repetitions to correct. It is imperative that notes be played correctly on the piano from the start.
The playing of inaccurate rhythms can undermine the effectiveness of any piano piece. Rhythmic accuracy is attained with the same careful attention to detail as note accuracy.
Analyzing cadences away from the piano keyboard to determine the movement of the bass line and the chordal progression is a must. Knowing the make-up of a cadence before putting it on the keyboard will help the pianist avoid a change of tempo or the playing of incorrect notes in these most difficult but most necessary parts of any piano piece.
Attack the root causes of poor performance in every practice session. Make note accuracy, rhythmic precision and well-prepared cadences an absolute must in every practice or performance of exercises or repertoire of the piano.
The pentatonic method for learning to play songs on the piano is based on the pentatonic scale. This musical scale has five notes to an octave and it just happens that these five notes correspond precisely to the five black keys of the piano. With only five note choices instead of the eight in a diatonic scale or the twelve in a chromatic scale, the novice pianist is able to experience success more quickly.
Using the pentatonic method, the beginning pianist is limited to five notes only of a specific intervallic grouping. Those five notes correspond exactly to the five black keys on the piano. These keys are easy to see and locate. They are also arranged in two different groups. They are arranged in a group of two black keys and a group of three black keys. These note combinations are visually easy to recognize making playing the piano much easier.
Not only are the five keys easy to recognize, but they are also tactilely comfortable for the adult beginner. The fingers of each hand can easily cover two groups of the five different black keys. This hand placement allows for ease in fingering. The hands can often remain in one position for a long series of notes. Therefore, success comes more quickly for the beginning pianist because the method deals only with learning to move the fingers in a restricted note range. The learner quickly builds technique when finger movement is limited and has early success in playing the piano.
The Pentatonic or Five-Note Method is a method which works especially well for the adult beginning pianist. Most adults simply want to make music and want to learn to play a song quickly. The pentatonic method makes this possible.
By focusing on the five black keys on the piano the beginner can start to quickly develop technique and eye hand coordination. Once the beginning adult pianist discovers the joy of playing several songs and has developed some finger dexterity, they are more encouraged to then start the serious study of learning music notation.
Learning note reading skills and applying theory becomes much easier when a person can already play songs on the piano. With physical skills in place, complex concepts can then be given the attention needed for success of playing the piano.
One way to keep a healthy perspective about playing the piano is to ask yourself three questions as you work through exercises and repertoire or find yourself performing for a You Tube video or for a live audience.
Ask yourself
What did I do well?
What can I do differently?
How can I make changes?
Once the first question, "what was done well?" has been answered by careful listening and recognition of even small successes and accomplishments in the development of piano technique and musicality, a student of the piano is ready to approach the second question.
By asking the question, "what can be done differently?" a student of the piano, creates then listens to several options determining that with a different fingering a passage suddenly is not only playable but more musical as well. In learning or maintaining piano playing skill there is always something that can enhance and improve the playing of a song, the performance of a chord progression, or the rhythm of a particular piece of music. Carefully discovering what can be made better will enhance the music you play whether it is for yourself or shared with the public.
So, just how does one determine what can be done differently? The development of listening skills from the first time one sits at a piano determines how quickly one can answer the question "what can I do differently?" The development of listening skills are as important as technical skills in learning to play the piano.
Critically listening to the differences in sound one makes by moving the fingers in a different pattern can change musical results. Is the result a smoothly played phrase or is there a hesitation when the thumb crosses under the third finger? If there is a hesitation after a diligent and focused practice session using a particular fingering, it is time to do something differently. Never assume the first playing is the only and right way of playing a piece of music.
Listen, experiment, listen, rehearse, listen, ask yourself, "Is this really the sound I want?" If not, make changes and look for creative ways to make music in a different way on the piano.
You probably started learning to play the piano for a specific reason - to learn a piece you love, to play for your family and friends, to relax, to fulfill a dream, to take up where you left off as a kid, and most probably just to make music. That's what playing the piano is really about - making music.
You probably have decided on an online tutorial piano course, are taking classes at a local college, or have a private teacher. You have a keyboard or piano and are practicing daily.
Now, the big question - are you enjoying yourself? Playing the piano should bring you endless amounts of joy and satisfaction. So, if those scales, finger dexterity exercises, the black key pentatonic songs are getting you down - play a fun song - play one of the first songs you learned.
Revel in your success and enjoy yourself! It is sort of like that saying, "Life is short - eat dessert first." Well, life is short - so today - enjoy yourself and play your favorite song or scale or exercise on the piano.
Are you learning to play the piano? Have you been playing the piano for awhile? Are you taking piano lessons to enhance your skills? Are you studying the piano to play for friends and family and in recitals? Are you playing for your own enjoyment?
Every person who plays the piano no matter at what level needs to keep a reasonable perspective about the learning process and their successes and challenges. One way to keep a healthy perspective about playing the piano is to ask yourself three questions as you work through exercises and repertoire or find yourself performing for a You Tube video or for a live audience.
Ask yourself
What did I do well?
What can I do better?
How can I make changes?
The first question, what did I do well? is the question that is rarely asked when starting to learn a new skill like playing the piano. It also is the question a seasoned pianist needs to ask themselves and rarely does. But, it is a very important question.
Any person playing the piano needs to notice and celebrate small
accomplishments. They must recognize what was done well. Learning to play the piano involves physical, mental and reasoning skills simultaneously. It is a challenging instrument to play. Thus the absolute need to celebrate accomplishments whether they be successfully crossing a thumb under on a scale passage fingering, using the damper pedal cleanly, performing a piece by memory, or recognizing a key signature is critical to one's self esteem when learning to play the piano.
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