A Great Way to Check Relaxation

I was recently taught an extremely useful technique to check finger, wrist, and arm relaxation while playing. This is very useful while practicing scales and arpeggios to develop the the permanent habit of relaxing at all times. However, this is also extremely useful to check for relaxation during troublesome or strenuous passages. Basically, IT’S AWESOME! Seriously, this is the best method yet (in my opinion) that I have ever used for helping with relaxation. And it’s simple! *Note* This works best for single-note-passages at a time as opposed to passages using chords.

The Steps

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- On each and every note that you play – stop. Press the note, and leave everything exactly as it is.

- Now, while keeping your arm weight down on the key and without moving the depressed finger, rock your wrist gently left and right (like a pendulum!). Make sure that all non-playing fingers are completely relaxed.

- If any non-playing fingers are sticking upwards or away from the hand, that is a sign of tenseness. Make sure your shoulders are relaxed and not up high. Make sure the wrist isn’t strained.

- Once you see and feel all the tightness and tenseness gone, move on to the next note and repeat ^^

Hope this helps. Sorry for the extreme lack of updates.

Preparing for a performance!

Sorry for the lack of new posts! Thank you for all of you who commented about this blog helping you. I just couldn’t let you guys down and will keep posting! Also thanks to my friend Kevo, who encouraged me to post again! His blog can be found at http://kevo.dasaku.net

If you guys have any requests for piano tips that you’d like me to cover, I’ll gladly do my best to help! Just leave a comment ^^

Anyways! Onto the piano tips!

One thing I’ve always noticed about performing is that it’s almost never the same as when you play/practice on your own. For some reason or another, nerves, anxiety, etc. a playing in front of people is much more difficult than playing alone D: Even playing in front of friends can be an unnerving experience at times.

With all that said, here are some tips that I’ve found to be helpful:

The Days/Weeks Before a Performance
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- Make sure that you play through the entirety of the pieces that will be performed in performance order! It helps you get used to doing the real thing. Hopefully you already do this ^^

- Make sure that you are focusing 100% on the music when playing through the performance pieces! Make sure there aren’t any distractions. Make sure most of all that the only sounds going on are those coming from your piano and possibly an occasional squeak from the piano bench (I hate it when those things squeak D:). During a performance, you are forced to really pay attention to what you’re doing, and the actual music you’re making. If you aren’t used to hearing/watching yourself play because you daydream while practicing, the performance will be much more difficult.

- When performing in front of other people, you also might not get the chance to warm up before you have to perform, and that can be quite the difficult thing to do. Try playing the performance repertoire with 10-20 minute breaks in between. Play through it once, go take a break, watch TV, listen to music, play with your dog, etc. This allows your hands to cool down and get back to a non-warmed up state. It’ll help you get used to performing without the luxury of being able to warm up ahead of time.

- Have several places throughout the piece where you can start from! This will not only help you need to jump ahead if you forget the notes, but it will also help reinforce your memorization.

- Have a set tempo range for each piece that you want to play them at. If you don’t know what tempo you’re going to perform at, when the adrenaline starts pumping before a performance, it’s easy to speed up without noticing.

- Practice every day!!!

Right Before a Performance
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- Breathe!!! Breathing and slowing yourself down before a performance will help a lot with nerves!

- Get the tempo in your head before you start. It’s easy to rush when you’re nervous before a performance.

During a Performance
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- Breathe breathe breathe!! This will help you think more clearly and help calm down your nerves. Really, this is essential. It’s so simple and will help immensely!

- If you can’t remember a section, don’t go back. Jump ahead instead. Often times if you try to jump back you’ll run into the same mistake, it’s almost always better to skip ahead.

- Have fun! Remember why it is that you’re playing a piece. I know this might be very difficult to do during a performance, but if you don’t know why you’re playing, or what you’re trying to get out of this performance, it’s going to be harder to be successful.

The Piano Bench/Chair

If you’re having trouble practicing…

First of all, I’m not dead! I was just too lazy to post anything…sorry everyone! ^^”

I promise I’ll post up some audio recordings soon…especially now that I have new recording equipment…hehehe…

Anyways…if you’re having trouble practicing, schedule a set time each day when you'll practice! If you need to, treat it like a class at school. If you're late you get a tardy, if you ditch, your fingers will fall off. Um. Probably not. But don't skip it!

Set a specific goal for each practice session. If you have a plan in mind for what you want to accomplish, you'll learn much more quickly. For example, one session you might try to work on measure 27-30 because they are difficult. Perhaps the contrast between dynamic levels is not clear, so work on that. Maybe your articulation is not very articulate and you need to articulate more. Stuff like that

Don't practice the easy parts! I know it's fun to play through the parts that you know very well, but if you play those 100 times and the difficult parts only once, you're not going to improve D: Take on a challenge, conquer it, then give yourself a cookie :O

Good luck （＞ｗ＜）ｂ

Slurs

I cannot emphasize enough just how important slurs are in music. You see them everywhere in classical music, and for good reason. Slurs do not tell you to just “connect the notes”. Rather, it tells you that “these notes are a group”. And, perhaps most important of all, 99% of the time at the end of a slur you should “play softer, and lift”.

The end of a slur means “play softer and lift”
The end of a slur means “play softer and lift”
The end of a slur means “play softer and lift”
The end of a slur means “play softer and lift”
The end of a slur means “play softer and lift”
Now repeat that over 9000 times to yourself.

I cannot emphasize enough just how important that part of a slur is. I will soon post up a video/audio demonstration of exactly what I mean, but for the time being, I’ll do this:

Here is a small excerpt from a Beethoven Piano Sonata (Op 14, No.1 Mvt.1). We’ll be examining only the measures surrounded by red brackets.

As you can see, there are quite a few slurs in this passage. Note wise, this doesn’t seem too difficult too play, however…below this picture reveals what the slurs are actually telling you.

Yeah…lots of stuff here ^^”. Crescendo (get louder) very slightly in the first half of the slur and diminuendo (get softer) at the end of the slur – on each and every slur. In each and every voice. At the end of each slur, as you get softer, lift your hand to help end the slur. This passage is actually extremely difficult…Audio demonstration coming soon!

When do you really know a piece?

When do you really know a piece? Is it after you’ve memorized it? Is it once you can play it often without any mistakes? Not necessarily…sometimes even if you can play a piece without audible mistakes, you might not know it very well…I found that out…after my teacher asked me to try some things ^^”

This is all stuff to ask yourself/try after you’ve memorized the piece.

- Can you play the piece while going on autopilot? Do you sometimes start thinking about random things while playing the piece? If you do, that is a good sign that you are beginning to know the piece well. And if there are certain times when you suddenly need to focus back into the piece, that might be a part where you are having difficulties. WARNING WARNING WARNING Although this may be a sign of knowing a piece, IT IS NOT SOMETHING GOOD FOR PERFORMANCE! You should always perform with your thoughts and expression on the piece, rather than thinking about other things.

- Can you play the piece hands separately? The right hand alone, then the left hand? (I hate doing this one the most T-T. Some people can do this naturally…I can’t D:)

- Can you play the piece at a much slower tempo? (Yes – Slower). Try it at half the speed and see if you still hit all the right notes.

- Can you play the piece eyes closed >=] This one is pretty much one of the final steps to really knowing a piece. It may be very difficult, but when you play a piece with your eyes closed, you can hear yourself so much better than with your eyes opened. Instead of watching your fingers and looking at the keys, all your focus is directed onto the music ^^

- Of course, most importantly of all, can you play it with musicality? ^^

Simple yet useful piano performing tip!

Finally a simple piano playing tip that takes almost no effort! In fact, if you don’t do this, you will die! O_O”

What is the tip?!

Breathe!

Take deep breaths when playing – not just tiny ones (the kind that don’t even recognize you’re taking xD) This helps a lot when you’re performing – especially if you’re nervous!

If you don’t get enough oxygen to the brain, you won’t be able to think as clearly, or play effectively. Breathing can help you relax, keep steady, focus on the music, think more clearly ^^

Simple, yet very helpful (>w<)b

If you can’t remember whether or not you were taking breaths during your playing (aside the fact that you are probably still alive) then you are not taking deep enough breaths!

Tone Quality – How to press the keys

First off…I want you all to know, if you can get good tone quality, your playing will sound magnificent. I will also let you know that it will be more difficult to achieve good quality tone on a bad piano. However, if you can achieve good tone on a bad piano, how much more will it sound out on a good piano? Tons more ^-^

Now to tell you some things about tone quality that I learned from a previous teacher of mine who was a wonderful instructor. He taught me so many useful things about playing technique, but for a while I had forgotten about them…then one performance reminded me of everything he taught me – and showed me how utterly important they really are.

The performance that woke me up was one by a student of my current teacher. His tone was amazing…I can’t describe it in words, but every time he pressed a key,  I was shaken – that’s how amazing it was.

BEWARE – Learning this is an ongoing process. It will take time, and you must constantly think about this when playing.

Dropping Weight on the Keys:

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- When you press the keys, don’t think of it is pushing with your fingers. Think of it as putting all the weight from your arms and letting that fall on the keys.

Step 1 – Experiencing arm weight and complete relaxation

• Stand up.
• Lift up your right arm in the air so that it is parallel to the ground. Like this: ——
• Now, release all all tension from your arm – completely. Don’t hold back even the slightest bit. Just let your arm fall.
• Try again. Are you sure you are completely releasing yourself of all tension? Your arm should be floppy.
• When you are 100% certain that you are completely free of tension, THIS is the kind of feeling you should have when playing the piano. Always.
• Then try this with your left arm.

Step 2 – Using arm weight on the keys

• Play one note with your right hand thumb. (From now on RH = Right Hand. LH = Left Hand)
• Let go of all tension from your hands, arms, and shoulders. Keep your wrists straight though. You should feel the weight of your arm being rested on the key. Once you feel that, move on to the next finger.
• Keep you fingers arched, as if holding a ball. If your fingers are flat, they will not be able to withstand the weight as well and create good tone.
• Do this LH.
• Try a scale with this kind of weight. Start on C and go to a higher C.

How to Use this while Playing

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- Every note played should be played not with finger strength, but with arm weight.

-  A Forte (loud) will sound harsh if you use finger strength and bang the keys. If you use heavier arm weight and drop the weight faster, it will sound loud without being harsh.

- Try a scale again. When you move from note to note, think of it as transferring the weight between fingers. Sink the weight deep into the keys. Every move should feel heavy, but not tense.

- When playing Piano (soft), don’t think of it as playing light. In fact, you should almost think of it as being even heavier. Pressing even more deeply into the keys. I personally think playing soft is one of the most difficult things, because of creating good tone while being soft. You must press deeply, with all your weight, but press the keys as slowly as you can in the given situation. If you don’t use all your weight, the note may not sound (you might miss it). If you press too quickly, it won’t have good tone and won’t sound soft.

Relaxing

Relaxing is definitely one of the most important things that you must keep in mind when playing piano. If you’re not relaxed:

-You are putting extra strain on your muscles (which can lead to problems like tendonitis and carpel tunnel)

-You will have worse tone

-Your performance will not be as musical

-You will get tired more quickly

-It will be more difficult to play fast or complex passages

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When you are playing, make sure your arms are relaxed. Don’t hold up your arms in a stiff position. Let your arm weight drop on the keys. Keep your elbows relaxed as well. The shoulders too. If you see a finger that is not playing twitch or stick up randomly, it is a sign of tension in your hand.

Piano Basics

All right, this post is mainly for those of you with little piano experience, or those who have never had private lessons. But, it’s always important to review the basics, even for advanced players ^^

The Piano Bench/Chair
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Yes, that’s right. There are some things you should know even about sitting o.o

1. Don’t sit too close to the piano
- If your arms don’t have room to move, it will be much more difficult to play!

2. Keep both feet flat on the floor (Unless you’re using pedal)
- When you play piano, you are using your arm weight to press the keys, not your finger strength. If you don’t have something to support all the weight, your tone will not be as rich. (Don’t worry, I will explain this soon).

3. Adjusting the bench height
- The bench should be high enough so that when you put your hands on the keys, your elbow to your hand should be parallel to the ground. In other words, your hand should not be higher or lower than your elbow.

Elbow is higher than your hand -> Bad! >=[
Elbow is lower than your hand -> Bad! >=[
Elbow is at same height as your hands -> Good! (>w<)b

4. Posture
- Don’t slouch! Bad posture will result in bad playing! If you’re wondering about all the pros who move around when they play, don’t worry! It’s neither a good thing or a bad thing, although it will eventually come naturally. It is not something pianists do for show, it’s just that when you create music you aren’t just playing notes – you’re expressing yourself through what you play, and the music is almost like a part of you.

EDIT: Well perhaps some people do it on purpose…I have a friend who claims that Lang Lang moves around for show…xD

Piano Beginnings

First of all, I think it’s important to remember why you first began to play piano. Is it because you love music? Because your parents wanted you to? Because you just randomly had a piano sitting in the room and the fact that no one ever touched it started to annoy you?

But even more than the reason you began, I think the most important question to ask yourself is “Why do I play piano now?”

Whether or not you began because you wanted to, what is most important is whether or not you enjoy piano now. If you don’t find playing the piano fun, then why take the time to practice?

There isn’t a single person I know who loves to practice all the time. So don’t worry. Even the best pianists don’t find it particularly fun. But, is your love for music great enough that you’ll practice enough to create the kind of music that can move people? The kind of music that you can express yourself through?