Archive for the ‘Rhythm and Tempo’ Category
A Few Tips For Getting Up To Speed With Fast Pieces
November 6th, 2009
You Don't Need To Break The Keys To Get Up To Speed...
Yesterday, I touched on the topic of practicing by breaking down difficult passages into small segments. When you break it down this way, you can maximize practice time and bring your playing up to speed in practically no time.
But how should you know exactly what speed to start at and progress toward? Like everything else, it will depend on your own personal skill and the piece itself, but here are some general guidelines and things to keep in mind in regards to velocity and choice of practice speed.
In general, we want to be able to play up to speed as quickly as possible. However, playing so fast that you begin to feel stressed and make mistakes will not help improve your technique. Additionally, forcing your fingers to play the same way at a fast speed will not help increase your speed.
Your technique will improve the most quickly and effectively when you play at a speed at which you can play accurately. This is especially true when you practice hands separately. When you practice the left hand and the right hand separately, you have more control, and therefore you can get away with playing much faster than you could if you were playing with hands together. Since the main goal of practicing hands separately is to gain speed, the need to quickly get up to speed and to practice at a speed which is optimized for improvements in technique become contradicting.
So, how do we fix this? The solution is to constantly change the speed at which you practice without staying at any one speed for too long.
But what happens when you reach block? A difficult passage? When you come across a difficult part that requires skills that you don’t already have, the best alternative is to bring it up in stages. You can use speeds that are too fast as exploratory excursions to figure out what needs to change in order to for you to accurately play at such a speed. Then, you can try slowing down and practicing those new motions. Keep in mind that if you lack the technique required, you need to go back to shortening the passages to extremely small segments, as explained in yesterday’s blog post.
To vary your speed, you first need to get to a manageable “maximum speed” at which you can play the piece accurately. After you’ve reached this, try to go faster and take a mental note of how your playing needs to be changed or adapted (at this point, don’t worry if you are not playing completely accurately). Next, use these newly discovered motions and play at the previous “maximum speed.” You should discover that it’s easier to play now. You can continue to practice at this speed for a while, and then try to slow down to ensure that you are playing completely relaxed.
You can then repeat this entire procedure. It will help you drive up your speed in manageable jumps so you can work on each skill separately. Generally, you should be able to play a new piece, at least in small segments, hands separately, at the desired speed during the first sitting. This may seem unattainable at first, but you’ll be surprised that you can reach this goal relatively quickly.
Elise’s Musical Tip For The Day:
Using a metronome can also help with building up speed, but make sure not to overuse it. Metronomes should never be practiced with for more than a few minutes at a time, because your brain will become confused and you will begin to have trouble keeping up with the beat of the metronome. For more information on metronomes, read one of my previous blog posts here: Five Tips For Acquiring Accurate Tempo
Posted in Rhythm and Tempo, Technique (Discussions), The Practice Routine | 
Tags: Hands Separate, Hands Together, Metronome, Speed, Technique | 
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Five Tips For Acquiring Accurate Tempo
October 2nd, 2009
Time Signature
Tempo is the speed at which you play a piece. Keeping up with tempo can actually be one of the most frustrating skills to learn and execute, especially with fast piano pieces. I’ve put together five essential tips for improving your tempo capabilities.
1. Begin all pieces by counting carefully, especially for beginner piano players.
If you’re just a beginner, learning to count out load is the only way to find out your own idea of counting with time. You should also be able to understand the time signature at the beginning of the piece, which looks like a mathematical fraction. The top number indicates the number of beats per measure and the denominator indicates the note per beat.
2. Use a metronome to ensure accurate speed and beat counting.
A metronome is a ticking pendulum (electronic or manual) that indicates the exact tempo of a musical piece. No matter how much of an advanced pianist you are, you never cease to be amazed at how honest the metronome can be. I am always surprised at the errors I find in my own playing when I incorporate the metronome. If you use the metronome in your practicing process, you will undoubtedly improve. All serious piano players own and use a metronome.
3. Do not spend long amounts of time practicing with a metronome.
While metronomes are an essential part of musical practice, they can also be harmful to your technique if you use them for too long. It leads to something called, “mechanical playing.” In fact, if you play with the metronome for more than 10 minutes, your mind will start play mental tricks on you, which causes you to lose your accuracy. Don’t believe me? Try it for yourself… If you have a metronome that makes a clicking sound, your brain will start to create anti-clicks that will indeed cancel out the metronome’s clicking so you will either begin to stop hearing the metronome’s clicks, or you will just lose the timing and accuracy of the clicks.
4. Never use the metronome as a substitute for your own internal timing.
The metronome is used for setting tempo and checking accuracy, and nothing else. When you find yourself exploring new ways of speeding up your playing of a piece, it is a process of discovering new motions that you feel comfortable with. If you actually set your metronome to such an intermediate speed, you will likely struggle and end up building up a speed wall that you can’t find your way around. New motion discoveries always prevail because the human hands are mechanical devices that have resonance at which specific combinations of movements will naturally work effectively.
5. Electronic metronomes are always better than mechanical metronomes.
Electronic metronomes are more accurate than mechanical ones. They can also make different sounds, use flashing lights, incorporate a headphone input, include volume variance, have memory functions, and are generally just less bulky and expensive. Mechanical metronomes look nice, but as they get older, they become less effective and sometimes they even need rewinding right when you’re in the middle of practicing.
Elise’s Musical Tip For The Day:
Get a metronome, if you don’t have one. My piano teacher used to have a mechanical one, and I found it annoying that she always had to rewind it. I use the Korg MA-30 Digital Metronome, and I find it very handy, extremely durable, and has a lot of great features. You can find ones on the Internet, such as the Ultimate Metronome. Whichever one you choose, put it straight to good use because it will definitely help you improve your piano playing.
Posted in Rhythm and Tempo, The Practice Routine |
Tags: Counting, Korg MA-30, Metronome, Speed, Tempo, Time, Time Signature, Timing |
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The Importance of Rhythm in Piano
July 27th, 2009
What is Rhythm?
By definition, rhythm is the variation of the length and accentuation of a series of sounds. In plain English, that means the framework of repetitive timing in music.
Many piano players who struggle with rhythm believe that only gifted musicians can truly master the aspect of rhythm in music. In reality, establishing the correct rhythm in music is merely dependent on accurate counting and reading music.
Rhythm can be difficult to master because it’s indications are not shown throughout the entire piece, such as the time signature, which is only shown at the beginning of the piece or passage. Another indication would be the difference between a sonata and a prelude.
And so, music is created by manipulating these rhythmic attributes, making rhythm one of the most important and essential elements in music.
I, personally, have struggled with rhythm for my entire musical life. Difficulties in achieving rhythm are directly related to reading music wrong. For me and many others, this is often the case when I begin reading and playing the music with both hands. There is simply too much information to process, too much hand-eye coordination, too many notes to figure out, and rhythm gets left behind.
I experienced this problem mostly with sight reading. When I had to play a passage on command, my rhythm was a disaster. I was too preoccupied with getting the notes right and coordinating my right and left hands.
Elise’s Musical Tip For The Day:
If you find yourself struggling with rhythm in your pieces, I would advise you to purchase a metronome. A metronome is a ticking pendulum that leads you through the exact tempo of a music piece. Just set the ticking speed of the metronome to the speed indicated on the sheet music, or if there is no indication, just find a speed that you feel comfortable with. Personally, I recommend the Korg MA-30 Ultra Compact Digital Metronome
Posted in Rhythm and Tempo |
Tags: Counting, Metronome, Practice, Reading Music, Rhythm, Speed, Timing |
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