33 Tips For Becoming a Great Piano Player!
Are there really secrets to becoming a really good piano player? Or is it just a matter of practice, practice, practice?
Practice is necessary, of course, but you could practice until the cows come home without understanding what you re doing at the piano, and all you would end up with is fingers that behave obediently to whatever the sheet music or score tells them to do.
Understanding how music works in terms of form and content is the key to productive practice. Then you are not just playing mechanically by rote like a machine, but you can get inside the music and eventually let it flow out of your brain and heart as well as your hands.
“There are at
...to simply BE at the piano.Imagine allowing the music to just flow forth from your fingers. There is no thinking involved. No forethought of what is to come. Just a simple act of sitting down and playing. This method of ...
So yes there really are secrets to becoming the piano player of your dreams. It s not that anyone is purposefully trying to keep a secret from you, but it s a rare teacher who has the ability to not only play well but to be able to explain music theory chords, melody, rhythm, dynamics, and all the other elements that contribute to playing the piano well and with feeling.
In our piano teaching
...shy away from situations outside our comfort zone, and this is certainly the situation with taking piano lessons. From having total control over every aspect of our lives, it can feel frustrating and patronizing to take direction from another adult. ...
1 - Hand & Body Position — Should you look down at your hands? How to use “eye flips”
2 - The key to productive practice — Spaced repetition
3 - Attitude — how it affects your learning
4 - How & when to pedal. Using explosive dynamics
5 - Exposure: why it’s critically important
6 - Ear Training — Intervals from 2nds to 13ths
7 - Fingering — which finger do you use when?
8 - Chord substitutions that create fantastic sounds
9 - Chord recognition — how to recognize what chord is being used
10 -
...listening is very important. Most people listen to music as a complete aural experience and that's fine. But if you're interested in musical composition, you should also listen for the form of the piece. Most piano music is composed using ...
11- Arranging: how is your “bag of tricks” coming along? “Head arrangements”
12 - Melodic sense: how does the melody relate to the chords?
13 - Sight-reading: 7 fundamentals you just cannot ignore
14 - Key orientation: Can you think in the key you’re playing in?
15 - Scanning the score before you start playing
16 - Mental practice — how to learn music in bed
17 - Repertoire: Why you need one to be prepared for any opportunity
18 - Goal setting: How good can you get? Is there a limit?
19 - Rhythm awareness — samba, bossa nova, bolero, etc.
20 - Why knowing music history is important to you
21 - Idea stealing — how and where & from who
22 - 12-bar
...up becoming a handicap for owners who genuinely just want to do proper backups.Software developers saw this shortfall coming and have already designed some applications to work around this problem. iPod users can now conveniently carry out transfers from their ...
23 - Extended chords: 6th, 7th, 9th, 11th, 13th, suspensions
24 - Technique acquisition: rubber balls, fingering drills
25 - Harmonization: Using I, IV & V to harmonize
26 - Key identification: Recognizing key signatures
27 - Voicing: Open, closed, registers, color tones
28 - Improvisation: Making music right out of your head
29 - Harmony & theory: How much should you know?
30 - Stylistic devices: Western, boogie, jazz, etc.
31 - Analysis: How to understand what you’re hearing
32 - Riffs & runs & fills: How to develop them
33 - Cross-pollination: The best of all worlds!
While reading music is important, the individual who develops these 33 basic skills will be light years ahead of the person who simply plays sheet music the
...power of limits, especially in music.When you have too many choices it can be overwhelming and will stop you from being able to go forward. That's why learning to play in 4 and 8-bar phrases is important. It gives you ...
A complete list of the 33 essentials of exciting piano playing can be found at http://www.playpiano.com/33-tips.htm Duane Shinn is the author of over 500 music books and music educational materials such as DVD’s, CD’s, musical games for kids, chord charts, musical software, and piano lesson instructional courses for adults. His 4-CD and 33-card course titled “33 Tips For Becoming a Great Piano Player!” is being used by pianists around the world. He holds advanced degrees from Southern Oregon University and was the founder of Piano University in Southern
...to justify it.Grand pianos come in various shapes, sizes, colors, wood finishes and sounds. These are distinguished in a number of ways. A popular model of grand piano is the Concert Grand Model D, which is considered as one of ...