March 8, 2010
The Best Methods To Learn The Piano
Mastery of the piano is a long and difficult journey. There are some secrets though that can ease the frustration. It has been said that the sport of golf is frustrating even with the best golf instruction book in the world. The seemingly simple act of hitting a white ball should not present very many problems. You would think pressing down the black and white keys of the piano would be simple with all the many method books on the market. However, practicing exercises and boring pieces will hinder your journey towards mastering the piano.
Music from the piano is not made from hitting the keys with your fingers. Music is made from a series of smooth complex movements whose energy comes from the torso and through the arms and into the fingers. These movements have a rhythm and a drive that are necessary for beautiful music.
This rhythmic principle of energy channeling will produce sounds as soft as a pin drop to as loud as thunder. So loud and powerful that your audience will wear a black helmet to protect their hearing. You can recognize finger centered piano playing. It lacks the clarity of tone and expressive nature of piano playing produced by the whole body.
There are two practices that many teachers use that are counter productive: practicing at slow tempo and practicing the left and right hands alone. The physical motions and coordination necessary to play at the proper tempo is very much different than playing slow. Of course, you should not play so fast that you would need a digital sport watch. The interaction of the two hands produces a unique set of physical coordination that is not reproduced properly when each hand plays separately.
Students should not spend time playing scales, arpeggios and exercises. They should be playing real piano music. Some examples of serious piano music that is suitable for the beginning student is the music of Clementi, Kabalevsky, and Bartok. There are many famous composers who wrote piano pieces that can be played by the beginning student. These pieces contain scales and arpeggios and more. You will develop your technique and play interesting beautiful music at the same time.
Practicing arpeggios and scales and playing boring uninteresting exercise will make the piano student lose interests. On the other hand, by studying the actual repertoire will maintain the student’s interest. The student can listen to the greatest pianist play these pieces so they hear how they should sound like. It will inspire the piano student.
Fine piano playing is produced by the rhythmic movements of the whole body. It does not come from wiggling your fingers. You do not become a good piano player by practicing scales and exercise. You become a piano player by playing real music.
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