Archive for the ‘The Practice Routine’ Category
A Closer Look At The “Gravity Drop”
October 9th, 2009
Don't Fight Gravity!
In my last post, I talked about something called the “gravity drop.” I think it’s important to take a closer look at it for you to really see how physics can work with you or against you when you play the piano. Try this exercise to see how the gravity drop works with your own hands and your own piano:
1. Place your right hand on the piano and your fingers (1, 3, and 5) in the correct position to play the chord, C-E-G.
2. Remember to keep your entire arm and body relaxed.
3. Keep your wrists flexible, and begin to lift your hand about 5 to 20 centimeters above the keys.
4. Allow gravity to let your hand drop, and let your hand and fingers drop as one entire unit, without moving the fingers.
5. Your hands should be completely relaxed during the entire drop, and then as your fingers come to impact the keys, you need to “set” your fingers and wrists to take the shock of landing and depressing those keys (remember to keep flexibility in your wrists).
You are now letting gravity lower your hand, therefore referencing your strength or sensitivity to a completely constant force. Maybe it doesn’t seem that interesting right now, but to really dig deep into piano playing, it’s necessary to look at how physics compliments the structure of the human body to create, you guessed it, music.
Did you know that an underweight 6 year-old and an enormous sumo wrestler dropping their hands from the exact same height onto the piano will produce sounds of equal loudness?
Why does this happen? This happens because the speed of gravitational fall is actually independent of weight or mass and the piano hammer will be launched into free flight as soon as the knuckles are taken off the jack, which are the last few millimeters before striking the strings.
If you majored in physics, you might say, “Ok, what about kinetic energy? Kinetic energy is conserved so the above statements are not precisely true.”
Piano keys do not have the mechanical structure to physically act like an “elastic collision.” In an elastic collision, the piano key would fly off the fingertip at a high velocity, sort of like when you play staccato. However, because the fingers are kept relaxed and fingertips soft, inelastic collisions are produced and kinetic energy is not conserved. The smaller mass, which are the piano keys, can stay with the larger mass, which are your fingers/arm/hands, which results in a controlled key drop.
Now, the sumo wrester will probably create a slightly louder sound because of his arm being 20 times heavier (momentum conservation), but the difference between his sound and the sound of the 6 year-old will be relatively small.
So, what’s so great about practicing YOUR gravity drop?
Using gravity to lower your hands allows you to rid yourself of all forces and all tenseness that cause some of your fingers to land before others. And most importantly, using the gravity drop allows you to practice relaxation.
Gravity is the perfect force for playing the piano, and it’s no coincidence. Human beings have evolved under the complete influence of gravity; walking, running, jumping, and of course, playing the piano. Just remember that you only need the amount of force that is relatively equal to that supplied by gravity. You don’t need to bang the keys or keep your hands tense. This will be detrimental to your practicing. It’s a great idea to practice the gravity drop for a number of weeks or even months, every time you practice. Once you are truly relaxed, you’ll be able to feel the gravitational effect on your hands as you play.
Elise’s Musical Tip For The Day:
At the time of impacting the keys, stiffening your hand will ensure that your entire weight of your arm will transfer to the key drop. However, make sure not to add force during the stiffening. This takes practice. A pure gravity drop becomes more difficult as you increase the height of your hand. That’s why I recommended a height of 5 to 20 centimeters from the keys. Choosing a height of 5 centimeters will be easier because you will have a better chance of not adding your own forceful impact in combination to gravity.
Posted in Piano Playing Physics, Technique (Discussions), The Practice Routine | 
Tags: Arm, Chords, Energy, Fingers, Force, Gravity, Hands, Key Drop, Momentum, Relax, Relaxation, Wrists | 
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How To Relax When Playing Piano
October 7th, 2009
Relax!
As you build up your speed in your piano playing, it becomes more and more important to learn how to relax at the same time. Generally, this means that you should only be using the muscles that are needed to play. You can achieve relaxation much easier by practicing your pieces hands separately. Here are a couple pieces of advice that I follow during my practice routines:
It is better not to practice at all than it is to practice with even the slightest bit of tension. It’s much more efficient to relax and play a single note, and then advance carefully; only playing those easy materials that can be played relaxed.
Do not forget to relax all areas of the body, including breathing and periodic swallowing. You thought hands and arms and fingers were the only parts of the body needing relaxation? Well, think again. Some students will stop breathing when they find themselves playing very demanding pieces because the muscles are anchored at the chest. If you’re throat is dry after playing, it means that you also stopped swallowing. My piano teacher told me a horror story of her younger years when she had been playing for an audience at a recital, when all of a sudden she started choking on her own breath right in the middle of her playing.
To fully relax, you must find the proper energy and momentum balance as well as arm, hand, and finger positions and motions that allow you to play with the right amount of energy. This may seem complicated, and it can be. Relaxing can require a lot of experimentation. If you have been concentrating on relaxing on a regular basis during your practice routines, then you should be able to quickly execute this. For those who haven’t been practicing their relaxation, you can try practicing an easy piece until you build up stress, and then try to relax. For this, you’ll need to find different motions and positions of the arms, wrists, and body. When you find them, you’ll feel the stress gradually drain away from you.
The most important element of relaxation is energy conservation. There are at least two different ways to conserve energy. Firstly, do not use unnecessary muscles, and secondly, turn off those muscles as soon as their jobs are done. Again, this is easier said than done. You can experiment with this using the gravity drop, During a gravity drop, you allow gravity to pull the arm down, but at the end of the key drop, you need to add tension to the finger for a moment to stop the hand. Then you need to quickly relax all of your muscles, but do not lift the hand. Just rest it comfortably on the piano with just enough force to support the weight of your arm. This is a lot harder than you would assume, because the elbow is practically floating in mid air. You can test whether or not you are pressing down by taking the arm off the keys and resting your forearm on your legs, completely relaxed. Then you can carry over that same feeling to the end of your gravity drop.
Elise’s Musical Tip For The Day:
Without relaxation, neither music nor technique could be possible. Technique comes from the brain. Non-musical playing actually violates so many aspects of nature that it interferes with the human brain’s natural processes for controlling the mechanisms of playing. Basically, if you spend your practice sessions doing mindless repetitions, you will find yourself going through a long, roundabout way of learning piano.
Posted in Technique (Discussions), The Practice Routine, Tips For Beginners |
Tags: Brain, Energy, Fingers, Hands, Muscles, Practice, Relax, Relaxation, Technique, Tension |
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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 Three W’s of Memorizing Music
September 7th, 2009
Who Can Memorize?
Anyone can memorize music if they are taught the proper ways of memorization. If you combine memorization with the initial learning activities of a composition, you can greatly reduce the time needed to learn the entire thing. It just so happens that almost all required factors for memorizing are also required for learning. If you decided to separate memorizing from learning, you would have to go through these two processes twice. This explains why people don’t try to memorize while learning a piece actually struggle with memorization later on.
What Should You Memorize?
Since memorization is the quickest way to learn, your goal should be to memorize every single piece that you play. Memorizing is like a “freebie” in the process of learning a new piece. So, when you sit down to learn a new piece, for example, looking to learn a left-handed accompaniment (bar-by-bar), you need to memorize those bars as well. And since a bar is about 6 to 12 notes usually, memorizing that should be a breeze. Then, you just need to repeat playing that 10, 100, or 1,000 times, depending on the difficulty and your skills. In general, when you are practicing this so many times… it’s hard NOT to memorize it at the same time.
When Should You Memorize?
You should incorporate memorization every time you practice. As I’ve explained, memorizing can save huge amounts of practice time. You won’t need to search for the music each time, so you can jump around between segments as much as you want. You can also concentrate on learning the technique without getting distracted from having to look back at the music each and every time. And of course because you are using repetitious practice methods, this is the best way to commit the piece to memory in a way that no other memorizing method can achieve.
Elise’s Musical Tip For The Day:
Memorizing leads to something called “mental playing.” This is actually they key to absolute pitch, a higher effective IQ, reduced stress and nervousness, composing, and an ability to perform flawlessly. When you incorporate mental playing, you are able to play the entire piece in your mind, away from the piano. Mental playing is essential to become a concert level pianist. This is where all great pianists and composers begin. Almost every accomplished pianist ends up composing something. Memory, absolute pitch, and mental playing are critically important aspects for successful piano composing.
Slow Piano Practice
August 30th, 2009
When you’re practicing a piano piece, there is no such thing as going too slowly. In fact, you should always end each and every practice session by playing slowly… at least once.
Even if you have not reached the stage where you are plaything with hands together, you should still practice the separate left and right hand slowly. Before switching, ALWAYS end your left or right hand practice with a slow run-through practice.
You may not know it, but this is such an important rule in piano practice because it has such an incredibly large effect on your technical improvement. However, musicians still have trouble figuring out why it actually works. All we know is that it DOES work.
As a hypothesis, many believe that slow piano practice is so beneficial because the piano player has the ability to completely relax. Additionally, it’s easier to pick up more bad piano habits when you play at a faster pace. With slow piano practice, you can virtually erase these bad habits.
Even though you may be at the beginning stage of learning your piece, playing slowly is a great way to test whether you have actually learned the piece.
But how SLOW should you practice? What may be slow to you may actually be medium speed to me.
Ultimately, this is your judgment call. It depends on the individual, their skills, and their learning capabilities. You will begin to realize that when you play slower than a certain speed, it will begin to lose its effect over you.
It’s very important to keep in mind that when you are practicing piano slowly that you maintain the same hand and finger motions that you will use when you play faster. If you play below your optimal slow speed, this will seem impossible.
Ideally, you want to choose a slow speed you can play as accurately as you want, around ½ to ¾ speed. As an added bonus, playing at your optimal slow speed will also help you memorize your piano pieces. As you technique improves, your slow speed can be increased.
Want to hear a fun fact? Some very famous pianists have actually been known to practice ridiculously slowly. That’s right, the genius composers that we all know and worship today over our pianos actually took their time with practice. Some were documented to practice at one note per second, which seems completely insane.
As a final note, it’s important to think ahead of the music when you are practicing slowly. If you practice too fast, it’s easy to mentally fall behind the music, which can easily be adapted as a bad piano habit. Why is it bad? Because you lose control. You need to think ahead and try to maintain that distance as you get back up to speed. When you think ahead, you can actually foresee what is awaiting for you, which can prevent flubs or blank-outs so you will know what to do when you get to that measure.
Elise’s Musical Tip For The Day:
As you sit down to your piano for a practice session, try practicing everything at a fast pace, and see what happens the next day you sit down to practice. After that, try practicing a certain measure or passage fast only, and another measure or passage (of the same difficulty) slowly. Compare your improvements the next day when you try to play them. Since this effect is cumulative, after several days of using the fast practicing as well as the slow practicing, you will begin to notice a huge difference in your improvements. Since this is a time consuming experiment, practicing slowly is all you really need. Patience, my friend, patience is all that you need!
Posted in The Practice Routine |
Tags: Bad Piano Habits, Fast Practice, Pace, Patience, Piano Practice, Practicing Piano, Slow, Speed |
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