Piano and Music Videos

Many people wonder if there is anything they can do to improve their fundamental skills of playing the piano once they progress past the basic lessons to become a competent player. Are there any tips, tricks, or advanced exercises you can employ to progress your playing even further?

I’ve stressed in the past the importance of learning all major and minor scales and arpeggios. But beyond this, are there any hidden secrets that will make you a better pianist? There is a simple thing you can do that won’t take much time and can greatly improve your playing:

Practice at least 10 minutes a day

Seriously, that’s it! You may not be able to do this every single day, but if you sit down and practice even a little bit every day, it can dramatically change your piano playing. Like any endeavor, whether it’s music, writing, drawing, or physical fitness, the key to success is to work consistently over time.

By practicing every day for even a few minutes, you will be keep yourself in shape on the piano both mentally and physically. Whether it’s scales, arpeggios, or what I recommend above all else, repertoire, you will enjoy benefits to your playing. You will also build on what you have worked on the previous day instead of taking two steps forward and one step back forgetting what you had learned previously when you skip days.

You can revisit a piece you played in the past, play through something you are working on currently, or learn a brand new piece. Focusing your practice sessions on actual music is one of the best ways to improve as a pianist, and it can be an enriching experience.

Just sight-reading through music can help you grow musically by getting exposed to new music while improving your reading. Learning new music will help you expand your horizons as well. You’ll learn new techniques, get exposed to new sounds, and discover new ways to play your instrument. As pianists, we are extremely lucky because there is more solo music written for piano that any other instrument. You will never run out of new music to learn!

So instead of focusing on just scales, arpeggios and exercises, try focusing on music and work some at the piano every day. Not only will you be exposing yourself to something new that presents fresh challenges, you will be able to actually play something enjoyable for people once your master a particular piece.

I hope this is helpful and if you have any questions about this topic or any other, please email me Robert@LivingPianos.com for more information.

This is a topic that many people might not be familiar with but it’s actually very important to be aware of. When it comes to buying a new piano, do you need to break it in? Much like getting yourself a new baseball glove, you may wonder if you need to spend time with your new piano to get it to loosened up so it’s easier to play.

The answer is a little more complex than a simple yes or no. There is definitely some truth to the claim that you will have to “break in” a new piano. I actually know some technicians who don’t like to perform voicing on new pianos until they are broken in because the sound will change anyway. However, in the hands of a great technician a new piano can be brought to an extraordinarily high level even if it hasn’t been played much.

The biggest factor when it comes to new pianos is getting them to become stable and that requires tuning them many times. Tuning a new piano multiple times will help it settle into the correct tuning and become stable. So not only does the piano need to be “broken in” but it also needs to be adjusted so that it will continue to hold a stable tuning.

The action of a piano has almost 100 parts for each note. Wherever there is friction, there are felt bushings. These loosen up as you play your piano. So, the action becomes somewhat easier over time.

When you press a key down on a piano the hammer will strike the strings. As it hits the string continually the hammer will start to develop grooves in which you can see the indentation of the strings on the hammer. These grooves are compacted felt and over time the harder felt will produce a brighter tone. This is something that happens naturally over time but a skilled technician can treat the felt on the hammers to produce the same type of tone right away, even with new hammers. If you just play the piano casually it could take months or even years to finally achieve a brighter sound.

So yes, over time the sound of your piano will change a bit as you break it in. In a perfect world you would work closely with your technician to achieve the sound you are looking for with your piano. As you continue to play the piano the instrument will become more stable and voicing and tunings will last longer than they did when you first bought your piano.

On the other side, as your piano gets older (and this is an issue especially with Asian pianos that tend to have harder felt to begin with) you might find that your piano is getting too bright. A technician can try and remedy this by treating the hammers, needling them or shaving some of the older felt off to try and get a more mellow sound but in some cases you might need to replace the hammers altogether if there isn’t enough felt to work with. This is something that can happen on any piano with age and it’s always a good idea to speak with your technician and see if this is a concern because replacing hammers can be an expensive job.

After a couple of years your piano should be at optimal performance with proper maintenance. Everything will have been broken in nicely and with regular tunings your piano should be stable. With regular maintenance and care you should be able to keep your piano at a very high level for years to come. The only occasion where a piano would wear out quickly and need repairs within a few years is if it is abused or played for many hours every day (like a practice room piano in conservatories).

If you have played piano for any length of time you may have come across this situation. Sometimes your music will have the same note written for both hands and they are meant to be played at the same time. You might wonder how to approach this and why a composer would do this. We are going to cover both of these questions today.

This topic will certainly have varying degrees of opinions. Some teachers will tell you that you should never look at your hands and others will say you must always look at your hands. I think there is an ideal situation for looking at your hands or not looking at your hands depending upon what type of music you are performing.

There are two distinctly different types of piano playing when it comes to classical music. There is solo music and chamber music. When it comes to solo music, generally you play from memory. With chamber music you will typically be reading a score since there are other musical parts of the other musicians you must be aware of.

When it comes to solo music, there can be leaps that will require you to memorize your scores so you can watch your hands as they make those leaps around the keyboard. It’s extremely difficult to do this without looking at your hands. There are also page turns to deal with which can be a real pain!

Chamber music is a little different because it involves more instruments then just the piano. The piano score actually contains the parts of the other instruments so when you’re playing it’s very important to see what is going on. If you are playing chamber music with other musicians you really should never have to take your eyes off the score except for quick glances – you should be following along the whole time. There might be sections you want to memorize because they have large leaps but typically you don’t want to take your focus off of the score in front of you.

With enough training you can learn how to play piano without having to look at your hands. It might seem impossible but it can be done and there are many fine blind pianists out there who prove it’s possible. You can learn to negotiate large leaps in your music through your peripheral vision as well.

When it comes to solo music, if you have your music memorized I don’t really see any reason why you wouldn’t want to look at your hands. It gives you the opportunity to keep your eyes on the keyboard and make sure that you are hitting the correct notes and have your hands in the right positions.

As a piano teacher as well as performer, I get this question a lot. Many parents wonder if there is a specific age they should start getting their child piano lessons. Should they start now or should they wait awhile?

This is a tough question to answer, because every child is unique. I have seen children at the age of 4 or even younger ready to start piano lessons and I’ve seen children 8 or 9 years old not ready – it is very dependent on the child.

Generally speaking (in my experience), the age range of 6-9 is an almost magical time to start taking piano lessons. This is not an accident. By this age, kids are going to school and learning how to take written direction and how to work independently; these are two major things required in piano study.

When working with children younger than this, it definitely helps if you take an active role in their education and have a background in music yourself. However, some children just have different levels of maturity and teaching them at a young age can be a challenge – they might not want to sit still at the bench for more than a few minutes. In this case, it’s probably a good idea to wait a bit before getting them lessons or teaching them yourself – it’s never good to be in a battle for their attention when it comes to learning a musical instrument.

In any case, one of the best things you can do is to expose your children to music at a young age. Play the piano for them yourself, play recorded music for them to enjoy, play games at the piano, anything that can make music a fun experience for them. Exposure at a young age is a big element in developing talent and understanding the language of music, just as children growing up in a bilingual household can have complete comfort with more than one language.

So when will you know it’s the right time to begin piano lessons? If your child seems genuinely interested, if they can take written direction and if they can complete their homework on their own – these are signs that they are ready for lessons. You will definitely want to consider helping your child once they start lessons because practicing the piano correctly is hard work. If you are learning alongside them it will help in their development.

It is important to encourage your children and make the experience of learning the piano fun for them. For information about a specific situation, I am happy to help in any way I can. As always, check out LivingPianos.com for more blogs and articles in the future.