Archive for the ‘Tips For Beginners’ Category
The Requirements of a Piano Teacher
August 24th, 2009
I took piano lessons for 10 years with the same piano teacher. While it’s usually a great investment to start taking piano lessons with a teacher, you should be sure that the teacher you are choosing satisfies all of the following criteria.
1. Generally, your piano teacher should have studied music and/or piano throughout university, or through conservatory training and examination. He or she must know the instrument well in order to know how to use it as a teaching tool.
2. If you are a beginner, you should choose the most qualified teacher. It’s very important for beginner piano players to establish a solid foundation in regards to technical skills and musicality. If a teacher is not qualified enough to communicate and teach proper technique from the early stages of learning, it becomes very difficult to break bad habits developed by students in order to correct their technical abilities.
3. Ideally, the teacher should have both a background in performance and a pedagogical (teaching). A teacher with performance experience would only understand what it takes to play the instrument well, while a teacher with pedagogical training would only know hot to teach beginners (especially young children).
4. The environment you are being taught in also plays an important role. Basically, you should be free from distractions and other noises.
5. The teacher that you choose should be flexible and must understand the individual needs and goals of each different student. Teaching methods vary greatly between certain students, whether their goal is to become a concert performer or another’s goal is to play improvisational jazz pieces just for fun.
6. Your piano teacher should offer performance opportunities, such as end-of-year recitals, or the chances to participate in local festivals, competitions, and of course conservatory examinations. The ability to play in front of an audience is an integral part of studying music.
7. The teacher should have a well-rounded teaching strategy and should include teaching all aspects of music, including theory, technique, and musicality. Music is not just an ability to play a song well; it is a form of art. It takes a person with great artistry to understand and to teach complete musicality.
8. As a rule, the price of the piano lessons should not dictate your decision on choosing a piano teacher. A teacher with the best qualifications and experience would most likely not be cheap, but you would be getting quality teaching methods for your time and money spent.
Elise’s Musical Tip For The Day:
Piano teachers are great, but they’re not for everyone. In fact, in today’s day and age, technology is starting to really take its place in music. There are several multimedia piano lessons and courses that you can learn on your own, saving you time and money from a weekly piano lesson. Read my review here if you are interested in finding the very best multimedia piano course that is being offered on the market today.
Posted in Piano Teachers, Tips For Beginners | 
Tags: Music Teacher, Musicality, Piano Lessons, Piano Teacher, Qualifications, Teaching Piano, Technical Skills, Technique | 
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Discussing Piano Technique
July 25th, 2009
I’ll admit that I’ve hated piano technique ever since I started taking piano lessons at the age of 8. But I’ll also admit that I know technique is important to develop effective practice methods and improvements overall.
Most people think that technique is directly related to an ability to develop finger dexterity. This is not true. In fact, the natural dexterity between famous and talented pianists and ordinary people are not very different. Translation: Anyone can learn to play the piano well.
So, rid your mind of the notion that technique equals dexterity. The truth is that technique is mainly a developmental process of the brain and nerve system, as opposed to the very well-known myth that technique is a developmental process of finger and muscle movement.
With effective technical training, a pianist will be able to execute hundreds upon thousands of piano passages. In short, technique gives us the ability to learn a number of skills. Most people think that practicing piano technique takes years to learn; another myth. If the correct and effective learning procedures are used, piano skills can actually be learned in quite a short period of time.
Basically, these piano skills can be learned in two stages. The first is concerned with discovering exactly how the body parts should be moved, such as the hands, wrists, arms, and so on. The second stage is concerned with discovering how to condition the muscles and nerves in order to execute the correct body movements easily and controlled.
Ever heard the expression “learning music makes you smarter”? Well, it’s true. And you can give all the credit to technique. When you learn the technical know-how of music, you are going through the process of developing faster connections between nerves and creating more brain cells for effective movements and memory factors. These science-related functions prove that the correct approach to learning piano technique will benefit you in everyday life situations. Noticing memory improvement is quite common in people who begin learning to play the piano. This is because memorization is a function of technical acquisition.
Elise’s Musical Tip For The Day:
Unfortunately, several private and talented piano teachers aren’t aware of optimal methods for technique, and therefore they do not pass it on to their students. In opposition, some of the greatest pianists of all time have written books on the topic of technique that are discussed at such a highly advanced level mostly concerned with composing music, and without discussing how to acquire the basics of technique. While having an experienced piano teacher is beneficial, you can also teach yourself to acquire technique. For this, I recommend the book You Can Teach Yourself Piano Chords by Per Danielsson. If you’re new to chord structure, this book will teach you the technique needed to excel at piano. This book has gotten great reviews, and I would really advise you to check it out as well.
Posted in Technique (Discussions), Tips For Beginners |
Tags: Chords, Dexterity, Fingering, Learning Music, Movement, Pianist, Piano Skills, Practice, Teacher, Technique |
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Advice for Aspiring Pianists
July 24th, 2009
So you’ve decided to take up a new hobby? That’s great. Music? Even better. Feeling overwhelmed and don’t know where to start? It’s not uncommon to realize this.
Quite surprisingly, you don’t have to be especially gifted in music to be able to play the piano well. I could hear your sigh of relief as you read that.
Although you typically need to be musically gifted in order to compose music, your ability needed to move the fingers and wrists is actually not very dependent on the musical brain.
Don’t understand? Here’s a similar example. When you’re typing on the computer keyboard, are you processing and thinking about every single letter you’re pressing? Every different movement of your finger? Every finger that belongs to each key? No.
Playing the piano is very much the same. When you practice, and you practice enough, your hands and fingers become so used to the movements that it becomes natural. I’m not even kidding.
Another example is video games. When you play a game, you get used to the controls and buttons and it starts to feel natural to you as you improve throughout the game. The same concept applies to learning to play the piano or any other musical instrument
In reality, most people are actually more musical than we give ourselves credit for. A lack of technical know-how gives us limits to our musical expression.
Most people have had the pleasure of listening to different famous pianists and are able recognize that they are a different in comparison. This is in fact more than enough musical sensitivity that you could ever need to learn how to play the piano.
Elise’s Musical Tip For The Day:
Don’t expect to be practicing for hours on end. This is actually counterproductive, and I will get into more detailed discussion on the topic of spaced repetition in another post. You can make great progress by just practicing for an hour at a time, three or four times a week. Some very well-known pianists have even recommended less than an hour of practice at a time. So remember, less is more! As long as you commit to practicing often, there’s no need to sit there plunking away at the keys for long periods of time.
Posted in Tips For Beginners |
Tags: Beginner, Fingering, Musical, Pianist, Practice, Technique |
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Easy Piano Music
July 23rd, 2009
After a pretty in depth topic on the arpeggiated chords during my last post, I thought I’d offer something of value to those of you who are just starting out on your journey through learning to play the piano.
Learning to play piano can seem easy if you have a lot of determination and a pretty high level of commitment.
To get started, try and pick up some easy piano lesson books, songs, or resources online. Try to get comfortable with touching the keys and train your fingers to become more flexible to stretch and move across the keyboard. Since easy piano lessons usually teach the basics using only three or four chords, repetitive songs and practice can get you comfortable to the keys, chords, and overall melody that is produced.
Some great examples of beginner songs and easy piano include “Mary Had A Little Lamb.” A three-note tune, this song encourages the player to become familiar with the keys and move their hands dexterously. Other songs like, “Jingle Bells,” Row, Row, Row Your Boat,” “Ode To Joy,” and “Chopsticks” are ideal easy piano songs for beginners. I recommend Favorite Classical Themes – Easy Piano by Various Artists.
These pieces may seem childish and even boring, especially to beginner adults, but believe me, mastering simple songs like these are the building blocks to advancing in learning piano. Instead of thinking of them as songs, think of them as exercises. You’re trying to familiarize yourself with the notes and hand movements, not play a simple song just for the sake of playing a simple song.
If you feel too restricted by these easy piano songs, contemporary songs can also be added to your learning experience. These may offer some more variety to beginner piano players. Songs like “My Heart Will Go On,” “Somewhere Out There,” and “Unchained Melody” are great for learning easy piano.
Finally, one of my personal favourite books to learn from when starting out learning piano is Disney! – Easy Piano by Various Artists.
Elise’s Musical Tip For The Day:
Even though I am an advanced piano player, I still regularly consult my Disney! – Easy Piano book and improvise with notes and chords to make the piece my own so it doesn’t sound so simple. This is a great way to learn, and once you get past the beginner stage, I would really encourage you to keep all of your beginner books so you can try this as well. It’s like writing your own music, but using the simple notes and chords given as a guide to make your own. It’s a great feeling, and really fun at the same time!
Posted in Easy Piano Sheet Music, Tips For Beginners |
Tags: Beginner, Chords, Classical, Contemporary, Disney, Easy Piano, Keys, Songs |
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