My old teacher used to tell me to play a new song EXTREMELY slowly at first to make sure everything is absolutely correct cuz if u make too many mistakes at the onset ur brain will simply remember how to play the mistakes.
- Listen and watch the score on RU-vid, 0:22 - Study the score, 1:15 - Make notes on your sheet music, 1:50 - Analyze sections of the piece, 3:13 - Practice hands separately, 4:17 - Practice hands together in sections, 5:24 - Your brain loves repetition, 5:40
Whenever people wonder why studying music theory is beneficial/practical for a performer I always think of the benefits regarding learning pieces. When you can start to see the music on different structural levels it's so much easier to memorize a piece. This is because you're memorize IDEAS and not just "notes." The latter would be like an actor memorizing the letters of their script... that sounds awful, right!? We want to memorize IDEAS and then the details. I definitely concur with LISTENING to the music. It baffles me how so many students walk into lesson without having spent any time listening to the piece they're working on. When you get the piece in your ears, you're more likely to catch your mistakes because you have a working reference in your mind. Unless you have great aural skills and sight reading skills, odds are you'll have no idea you made a mistake because you have no aural reference to judge your playing against. Not only that, but it inspires your playing, phrasing, and dynamics! Scores are often full of erroneous phrasings just because they conform to the standards of the time (like phrasing within measure lines rather than using phrase markings across the bar). Luckily for us, we can even listen to NUMEROUS interpretations of a piece and pull different parts from different recordings that we like and make a conglomerate effort. Lastly, I also teach to work on music in sections. I like to change it up though. Perhaps we'll work on measures from left to right or perhaps right to left. By this I mean learn, say, measures 1-2, then 3-4, and then play 1-4. Or perhaps learn 3-4, then 1-2, and then play the four together. It just depends on the piece, the student, and what the struggle is. Sometimes it helps to change things up just to avoid falling into "auto pilot" mode.
GUIM disagree best to have your own personal stamp on the music not just copy others , I play music different every time I play deposing on the hall size acoustic piano weather my mood etc etc
I dont like to listen to other people performing the music often because Im afraid I might just start copying their interpretations which goes against what I want to do which is be as creative or maybe original as possible.
[Now for something completely different] For me as a performer, sharing a story is more interesting than just playing a musical composition. When hearing a work for the first time, I pay attention to my initial reaction, and any impressions, images, and even colors it evokes. This I store as the piece's "emotional index". I then create a narrative to go with it- doesn't have to be anything super precise, just a loose story arc ("In this section a guy falls in love, here he is rejected, here he's depressed"). I can make it as silly or serious as I like- whatever helps me attach an emotion or image to each chord progression, melodic theme, etc.. The more senses involved in memorising something, the quicker to learn and harder to forget. So the notes become the "words" to my stories.
I’m 13 and I have my heart set on becoming a pianist and I’ve been practising about 5-6 hours a day daily and I only started about 2 months ago, I’m pretty confident this isn’t just a ‘phase’ and I’m taking my Abrsm grade 3 exam in about 5ish weeks, do you think I’ll be able to catch up to other kids my age? I know it’s not good to be comparing myself but I want to enter a competition next year and I’m wondering whether I’ll have the skills and technique required to have good performance
I would work on sight reading so you can get faster at reading notes. This will help the memorizing process because you will be able to read the notes faster and review things at a faster paste. Also, try to work on your tone and the time period and techniques used during the time period. The romantic era has a completely different tone and technique than the baroque era.
Technique is of the most importance. But what makes you a great musician is the space you create within yourself while playing. If this space is true and profound, liberated from your ego, your music will touch the hearth of others. I would suggest taking time to reflect on what this space means to you, and how you can become better at creating it on demand. This space is sometime called 'the zone' by scientists and other proficient musicians. Check it out!
For you to know what you want and start working on it is really wonderful, hope you have a smile on your face the same you put on mine 😄 Wish you the best of luck!
I actually have four tips for practicing a piece. My first tip so far for piano practice is stay at the piano for at least a half hour to a full hour to get the most out of your practice. This will allow you time to warm up for as long as you need, give you time to put in the reps each day like he mentioned with the 7 sets, and to just make it a quality practice session and a substantial step in the right direction. My second tip is to practice multiple things in that hour so your practice is more well-rounded than just warming up and one piece for a full hour. I got done with about half an hour of practicing one super hard piece and one less challenging piece while using the other half hour sight-reading since that's my biggest weakness with piano. My third tip: unless you don't struggle with tension in your fingers and hands when you try to play fast like I do, make sure to stretch out your fingers and hands before you even touch the keys. Literally use your thumb and pinkie to make your fingers do stretches so far apart from each other that the sensation of the stretch travels from your fingers to the flesh in the center between them. Then just do a few typical neck, shoulder, ribcage, arm, and back stretches just to release any physical tension whatsoever. My forth and final tip: DON'T try to go fast with a piece immediately. Slow it down to half the speed minimum, practice both hands separately, bring those up to speed, slow it down again when you put your hands together, then finally bring that up to speed once muscle memory starts to kick in. I hope you find this helpful.
Yesterday I tried your method for learning a piece quickly. I have been trying to move from John Thompson’s grade 3 book to the grade 4 book and want to learn the theme from the 2nd movement of Beethoven’s 5th symphony. I actually never thought I could do it. But using the methods you teach in this video is working a treat! I played right hand only about 20 times of just the first section. I also listened several times to a youtuber playing that same piece. I can’t thank you enough for such great advice. It’s working! I know I have a long way to go but now I know I can get there.
Great advice. Also it's good to chain sections together during practice. So for example, if you learn section 1️⃣, when you practice section two always start that section from the last part of section one. That way you won't ever miss the transition between the two sections. I teach dance this way and it helps me learn harp music better. Thank you so much for the advice. I hadn't thought about half of your suggestions.
I agree, you give great advice. This was one if my problems. I would learn two section but always had a problem connecting the two when trying to play the sections as one part
Ive been playing piano about 75 years and never before have I heard such practical suggestions to slghtread and learn a piece more quickly.Thank you Jazer. I'll be back for more. SJ .
I love Chopin. I’m working on this exact piece now… I Taking it apart, studying it and looking for patterns- sections - and practicing hand separately; yes I’m following the 7 x advice it’s working … I love this piece and I’m seeing results … time …This piece touches my soul … thus motivating me to… lastly what an honour for you to play this for your dad.. beautiful
Jazer! You don't know how I almost gave up learning pieces until I saw your life-changing video. I can't thank you enough and now, with your 5 steps, I can start over.
So sorry for your grandpa you really got me there .Big thanks to everything you teach as well .Thanks to you I learned the whole fur elise in one week .Also I had huge difference on my sight reading as well 🙏🙏
For a new piece, if I have to learn it as quickly as possible, I'm finding practicing for 15 to 30 minute slots throughout the day helps a lot. Coming back to the piano after an hour or so break, seems to refresh my mind. I think this is enabling the theory of Primacy Learning, which means people usually remember whatever was first and whatever was last in a block of learning something. The more firsts and lasts you have, the more you learn.
I'm 71and started playing just a few years ago so I'm still a beginner. When I watch a piece I've been assigned on RU-vid I always wish I could see a video of how the piece was approached from the very first. Seeing someone perform the piece without mistakes is fine but for people who need the foundation, a few videos showing how to start learning would be great!
@@lyricspiano I take a break from them for a couple of weeks then bring them back as an occasional warm-up. I have a similar thing when I've recorded and mixed a song. I've heard it too many times.
Five good points - I will be using all of these from now on, makes perfect sense. I choose pieces of music that I like (generally classical) and never get bored with these during the learning process which sometimes does take a long time but always worthwhile sticking at it. I will also sometimes totally ignore whole parts of the tune until I can play (say) the first section properly - then I'll tackle the next. This I find helps me as I can see some results earlier on which helps me keep at it and not get discouraged (which does also happen with tough pieces that are above my level) but nothing good comes easy I've heard sometimes, so best thing is to just keep at it.
Hi Jazer, Great Vid. I am 63 and started learning when I was 7 just the way you described. Both my teacher and my parents (bless them) were results based, so I just became a party piece player. Taking around 3 months to learn Beethoven's Moonlight, Fantasie Impromtu etc .In my 9 years of learning I got to grade 6 and along with a few other pieces for (low key) talent shows I ended up being able to play around 25 pieces. Had I been encouraged (made) from an early age to start sight reading, my repertoire now would be vastly greater as the time taken to learn a piece much quicker. So my advice to anyone wishing to be a serious pianist, do regular sight reading! Don't get me wrong, I am grateful being able to play them, and struggle like this every time I want to play a new piece but wish I had the opportunity to get used to real-time sight reading as we learn reading a book. Hope it is useful cheers!
It bums me out that I don’t improvise, or *very* little, but I also realize if I had a choice of only one or the other, I’d choose being able to sight read every time. With that, you can play any song, limited only by your ability, of course. (I also stink at memorization. 🥲)
Oh my gosh, I used your methods, particularly a new one for me, of looking for patterns and themes, one hand at a time, and made SO much progress in so little time. I think this will also help with memorization which I’m generally not very good at. Thank you so much for these tips!
I saw a view videos, now i come allways back to you. I like your Style of teaching and you are very kind and emphatic. The Nocturne in E flat with a heartwarming story in the subtitle - it's great. Thank you very much for every single video you made. Your Grandfather ist proud of you. God bless from germany!
Very much like the way you explain things and go back to the root of the problem. I have been playing for about 15 years (60 years old now), but apparently you have to keep going back to the basic rules when trying to study a new piece. It really does help and motivates to move on. Your friendly face helps as well i have to say. Love that smile.
Practicing by sections is doubly important because of the way the brain stores information. If you make a mistake during a performance because you ran out of coordination energy or gas, then you would remember the last section to start over instead of starting from the beginning. Try playing the Rhapsody in blue, you'd know what I mean.
This is the most helpful video I’ve found so far, and went into detail on things I already kind of picked up from my piano class. I need to practice and get ahead in my class so I can have a chance at going into the masters class with a professional teacher. Also that piece you learned is the exact one I’ve been trying to learn!
That is the best advice I ever got. I started after 30 years with playing piano again, and it was so difficult in the last four weeks, when I started again, to train new songs....but with your advice my finger are doing it by themselves! I love 7 times repeating....it really works and I learned today one DIN A4 Side, practised only a half hour like maximum, and now I can play it without mistakes. So even if I started now with easier peaces, I get it! That's real effective exercising. I normally never played in front of others, because I am nervous and made then a lot of mistakes. But now I feel safer, and I am sure, soon I will play without nervousness, because you teached me to feel safe! Thank you for that. Playing will be much more fun now.
Ha ha I was actually looking for tips because I was having trouble learning Nocturne, and it was so pleasing to see that you use it as an example. Thanks for these great advices.
Hello Jazer, I started playing saxophone in grade school and then played guitar for twenty-five (25) years, so the bass clef is new to me. The treble clef with my right hand is no problem at all for me, but that darned bass clef is preventing me from learning my first piano piece, "The Entertainer," by Scott Joplin. You have been a great help in giving me the encouragement need to not "Give up!" Thank you!😎
So true, it's vital to watch piece on RU-vid, lots of times! I just wish I could play it as well as they do, sob!!! Ditto on Chopin nocturne, I also can play this relaxing piece and when my father, who also loved Chopin, passed away, this piece was played at his funeral. 7 times repeating a section works too, but I find I can get tired and 'stale' after a while, lose focus & have to take a rest, play something else and come back to it later, or even leave it till the next day, when it' fresh again!
@@lastbornrelic3430 depends how you define "learn". If you mean you learn how to play a piece by memorizing the notes and fingerings, basically anyone can do that at any level (given a certain period of time of course). However, if you go step by step and actually learn the material and the skills to play piano well, that is a different story. Personally, I think Rondo Alla Turca as a first piece three weeks in is a pretty terrible idea. I remember three weeks in to playing piano, it was difficult to even coordinate my fingers properly to play the rhythms well, and thats not even mentioning dynamics. If you can play Rondo Alla Turca like the recordings at three weeks in, either you're a Mozart-level piano prodegy or you're dealing with a pretty massive learning curve with all of the new information.
Step number three (learning the piece hands separately) is very important! Ever since I’ve started playing I’ve learned every piece hands separately, and when I know each part is ready, I join them (in exception of very simple pieces).
Thank you for great advice on practice. I also like to analyze the chords in a piece and play them to get the sound in my ears. I do not spend enough time with hands apart so I will start doing that.
I’m 63 and just started taking lessons in January. Had to stop for a month, and found your information very practical and helpful. Kind of trudging through some pieces, but breaking them down into smaller sections, like 8 measures at a time really helps. I do have a question though, in your opinion, is it better to completely learn a piece before adding the pedal, or should the pedal be added at the same time as the hands? Thank you for all your help.
If you're having trouble with a certain section, you should refrain from using the pedal so that you can better analyze the section and find out exactly which hand and finger or fingers are misbehaving. Refrain from wasting energy by putting emotion into it until you've figured it out and are ready for a run.
Certainly practice if you like, but concentrating on the tune and timing is more important. For me, I master the tune before I introduce the pedal, because it's like icing on the cake really. Plus there will be times where you won't have access to a pedal. You might want to play on an electronic keyboard around someone else's house for example.
Jazer, you are so friendly and cheerful it cheers me up just watching your vids every day! Gives faith in humanity. thanks for being there have a great day
Thank you, Jazer! Great tips as always 👍 one that I also find useful is to spend some time figuring out the best fingering, if the piece doesn’t come with any suggestions.
Ana Reigota that’s a great point. I’m sure you’ve experienced how much easier it is to figure out a good set of fingerings and stick strictly with it throughout your practice! :)
Love your channel, thanks for the tips. We've been watching with my son who has been playing his second year and it is all very useful for him :). He's had many of these exact questions.
A trick I learned is to handle individual notes in sequence as chords instead of broken. That really helped me out alot. If you see chords in score; play them as broken likewise.
I've listened to your videos over several years, and you have consistently been one of my best Piano teachers. Your advice for learning a piece bit by bit has been enormously helpful. I enjoy your videos and watch them repeatedly. Thanks for sharing your love of piano 🎹 playing.
1- escuchar la pieza varias veces en yt 2- organizar las partes hacuendo anotaciones en la partitura 3- agarrar dos barras y practicar con manos separadas unas siete veces para asi progresar y entender mejor 4- cada x cantidad de barras juntar las manos, no juntarlas recien al final 5- grabarse a si mismo para ver los errores
Your tips really work. I tried learn a new piece following your instructions and I could say I learnt 4 times faster than I used to learn a new piece i'm studying by myself, I'm 36 Years old, Brazilian, and I bought a piano 9 mouths ago :) thanks for sharing this with us
I think you could mentioned harmonic analyses cause it's comom after baroque epoch, like sonata form. Also in baroque epoch we have The fugues with a differents analyses. I think could be useful explain that, cause it's so commom, and becomes easy to understand what is happening. After all those things are patterns.
Thanks for the great video! Can you show us how to relearn an old piece that you've gotten bored of in the past and have competely forgotten how to play but can't seem to relearn it because you've gotten so bored with it but its a really good song and you want to come back to it and try again?
I’m a beginner 5th year adult student. I have spent since Oct 2021 for 5 months (2 hours x 6 days a week) memorizing Minuet in G Major by Bach for my recital. I wasn’t bored with the repetitive practice. I do get frustrated seeing that I’ve spent so many hours practicing this piece, I’m still making the same mistakes in certain sections. After watching this video, I am going back to play it slowly hands separate and then hands together. Hopefully, I can improve. Thank you 😅
Before listening to a recording or viewing a video, I would use to score to practice some audiation to attempt to translate the ink into sounds in my mind. That is a useful skill in sight reading too.
my mom(who has a degree in piano performance) always had me start at the last measure and work backwards so i wouldn’t learn the first part, get bored, and stop
Good point about being in this generation with the internet.. imagine what the great names in piano would say if they were still alive!.. nice vid Jazer. 👍🇳🇿
Same here. When I just listen to it, I don't really feel in the mood But when I watch a person, I can see his/her atmosphere or what the person is thinking I can feel the music flow throughout myself
No recording or playing device is perfect. You lose quality during recording and then again during playing. The recording may also be edited which can be good and bad. The recording is more prepared and with multiple attempts so it may be both closer to perfection and less surprising/fun/unique, especially if you've heard it already. If you're the type of person who gets seasick it would make sense that you'd like to see at the same time as you hear. There are probably a ton of other reasons like : you payed to hear the player, you made an effort to get there, you're outside your routine places, and maybe it's a Friday night and you're happy you don't work tomorrow. I mean who knows all the reasons right? A fair comparison would be long distance relationship vs a real one, social media vs a party. Hearing a CD vs playing yourself, etc.
Use landmarks rather that the FACE and Every Good Boy Does Fine method. Watch the following video, the landmark system starts after 2.40 or so or watch from the beginning. : ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-jSOU-J9KHbg.html
In my experience, it’s very difficult and I have to practice it slowly again and make sure I get it right, and I have to do it for a while. It’s just really hard and takes time
@@jazerleepiano for me its the prelude in g sharp minor from rachmaninoff. I played it for my ARCT exam and got a chance to hear it live from Evgeny kissin this year. ( had no idea he was even gonna play it till i got to the concert !)
