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Jane Trotter's Accelerando Piano
New Zealand
Приєднався 24 лип 2023
Want to improve your piano playing skills and musical understanding quickly and easily? You're definitely in the right place!
Hi, I'm Jane, and I'll help you fast-track your musical journey by providing useful, practical and down-to-earth tips and tricks in these short tutorials.
With a wealth of experience in my 30+ years of teaching, I've developed multiple strategies and techniques to help my students overcome the many and varied challenges they've encountered. These videos contain some of the insights and guidance I’ve shared with them, and now will be sharing with you.
Each tutorial focuses on a particular aspect of learning to play, whether it be establishing the fundamentals of note reading, exploring elements of technique, sightreading or introducing basic theory concepts.
Your journey to becoming a competent and confident pianist should be a fun and rewarding experience, and with the help of 'Accelerando Piano', you'll be well on the way to making that a reality.
Hi, I'm Jane, and I'll help you fast-track your musical journey by providing useful, practical and down-to-earth tips and tricks in these short tutorials.
With a wealth of experience in my 30+ years of teaching, I've developed multiple strategies and techniques to help my students overcome the many and varied challenges they've encountered. These videos contain some of the insights and guidance I’ve shared with them, and now will be sharing with you.
Each tutorial focuses on a particular aspect of learning to play, whether it be establishing the fundamentals of note reading, exploring elements of technique, sightreading or introducing basic theory concepts.
Your journey to becoming a competent and confident pianist should be a fun and rewarding experience, and with the help of 'Accelerando Piano', you'll be well on the way to making that a reality.
How to Play a C Melodic Minor Scale
Learn how to play a C Melodic Minor scale. I take you through one octave, each hand separately and then together, and then we progress onto two octaves, separate hands first, followed by both hands together.
The scale pages used in this video can be downloaded from the Resources Page on my ‘Accelerando Piano’ website: accelerandopiano.com/resources/
0:26 Introducing the Key Signature, raising the 6th and 7th notes by a semitone on the way up, and lowering the 6th and 7th notes by a semitone on the way down
1:55 Right Hand 1 Octave
2:22 Left Hand 1 Octave
2:43 Hands Together 1 Octave
3:10 Introducing the C Melodic Minor scale page resource which can be downloaded from my ‘Accelerando Piano’ website
3:51 Reference to other companion Tutorials
4:11 Right Hand 2 Octaves
4:56 Left Hand 2 Octaves
5:28 Hands Together 2 Octaves
6:29 Introducing the ‘White Key Melodic Minor Scales’ resource which can be downloaded from my ‘Accelerando Piano’ website
7:19 Closing Summary
#cmelodicminorpiano #cminorscale #minorscalespiano #minorscalespianotutorial
Wanting to take your piano playing skills to the next level? Finding it difficult to progress on your own? The right teacher can make all the difference.
Please visit my website trottermusic.com/ to find out more about me, and to get in touch. I’d love to hear from you.
All of my UA-cam tutorials can also be found on my ‘Accelerando Piano’ website accelerandopiano.com/ along with any resources used in particular videos. Dive in and take a look.
The scale pages used in this video can be downloaded from the Resources Page on my ‘Accelerando Piano’ website: accelerandopiano.com/resources/
0:26 Introducing the Key Signature, raising the 6th and 7th notes by a semitone on the way up, and lowering the 6th and 7th notes by a semitone on the way down
1:55 Right Hand 1 Octave
2:22 Left Hand 1 Octave
2:43 Hands Together 1 Octave
3:10 Introducing the C Melodic Minor scale page resource which can be downloaded from my ‘Accelerando Piano’ website
3:51 Reference to other companion Tutorials
4:11 Right Hand 2 Octaves
4:56 Left Hand 2 Octaves
5:28 Hands Together 2 Octaves
6:29 Introducing the ‘White Key Melodic Minor Scales’ resource which can be downloaded from my ‘Accelerando Piano’ website
7:19 Closing Summary
#cmelodicminorpiano #cminorscale #minorscalespiano #minorscalespianotutorial
Wanting to take your piano playing skills to the next level? Finding it difficult to progress on your own? The right teacher can make all the difference.
Please visit my website trottermusic.com/ to find out more about me, and to get in touch. I’d love to hear from you.
All of my UA-cam tutorials can also be found on my ‘Accelerando Piano’ website accelerandopiano.com/ along with any resources used in particular videos. Dive in and take a look.
Переглядів: 52
Відео
How to Play a C Harmonic Minor Scale
Переглядів 6512 годин тому
Learn how to play a C Harmonic Minor scale. I take you through one octave, each hand separately and then together, and then we progress onto two octaves, separate hands first, followed by both hands together. The scale pages used in this video can be downloaded from the Resources Page on my ‘Accelerando Piano’ website: accelerandopiano.com/resources/ 0:27 Introducing the Key Signature and raise...
Melodic Minor Scales Explained!
Переглядів 11821 день тому
Ever wondered what a Melodic Minor Scale is all about? Look no further. This short tutorial explains how the melodic minor scale is formed, outlines the ordering of tones and semitones and will help you to write and play these scales with confidence on your own! There is also a 6 page downloadable resource on scales titled “Natural, Harmonic & Melodic Minors - What’s the Difference?” You can do...
How to Move your Body at the Piano
Переглядів 244Місяць тому
Learn how to move your body, so you can transition easily between playing in the higher, middle and lower octaves of the piano, without ending up in an awkward position. This tutorial covers the three main components of movement you want to be aware of: 1) The transfer of weight from one sit bone to the other 2) The feeling of opening and closing around your waist as this transfer takes place 3...
Harmonic Minor Scales Explained!
Переглядів 257Місяць тому
Ever wondered what a Harmonic Minor Scale is all about? Look no further. This short tutorial explains how the harmonic minor scale is formed, outlines the ordering of tones and semitones and will help you to write and play these scales with confidence on your own! There is also a 6 page downloadable resource on scales titled “Natural, Harmonic & Melodic Minors - What’s the Difference?” You can ...
How to Play an E Melodic Minor Scale
Переглядів 1022 місяці тому
Learn how to play an E Melodic Minor scale. I take you through one octave, each hand separately and then together, and then we progress onto two octaves, separate hands first, followed by both hands together. The scale pages used in this video can be downloaded from the Resources Page on my ‘Accelerando Piano’ website: accelerandopiano.com/resources/ or you can go directly to the Tutorial Page:...
How to play an E Harmonic Minor Scale
Переглядів 512 місяці тому
Learn how to play an E Harmonic Minor scale. I take you through one octave, each hand separately and then together, and then we progress onto two octaves, separate hands first, followed by both hands together. The scale pages used in this video can be downloaded from the Resources Page on my ‘Accelerando Piano’ website: accelerandopiano.com/resources/ or you can go directly to the Tutorial Page...
How to Pedal
Переглядів 1112 місяці тому
Learn how to use the pedal. This tutorial takes you through an easy, step-by-step process, and has a free PDF, ‘Legato Pedalling Exercise’ which summarises all the material covered in the video. You can download the PDF from my Accelerando Piano website from either of these pages: accelerandopiano.com/resources/ accelerandopiano.com/legato-pedalling-absolutely-everything-youll-need-to-know/ As ...
How to Sit on your Piano Stool
Переглядів 552 місяці тому
Get the fundamentals right and learn how to sit correctly at the piano to play with more freedom and ease, and avoid unnecessary pain and discomfort. My tutorial covers the important aspects involved in sitting correctly at the piano, including determining how close or far away your stool should be, the positioning of your arms and learning about your sit bones. I have two other tutorials in th...
Practising a pain in the Neck? - Your piano's music stand could be too low
Переглядів 1113 місяці тому
Do you come away from the piano with a sore neck or back after practising? Are you uncomfortable while you’re playing? Do you get fatigued way more quickly than you think you should? If you’ve answered “yes” to any of these, a possible cause may be that your music is positioned too low. Help is at hand - check out my tutorial for some tips on how to address this common issue. 0:33 Music-stand o...
Sitting Pretty - Is your piano stool the right height?
Переглядів 833 місяці тому
Are you uncomfortable when you play? Do you always experience annoying niggles, strain and discomfort while you’re practising? Can you feel yourself tensing up and moving poorly around the keyboard? Chances are, a big contributing factor will be the fact that your piano stool is the wrong height! I’ve got lots of tips for how to get the correct height of your piano stool (or chair). And, for th...
Supercharge Your Scales #1 Loud and Soft
Переглядів 1073 місяці тому
Supercharge your playing by supercharging your scales! The ability to vary dynamics, and play with different dynamic levels in each hand is a vital and necessary skill to master, so this tutorial outlines lots of practical tips and ideas for how to incorporate loud and soft playing into your scale practice. The resource used in this video can be downloaded from the Resources Page on my ‘Acceler...
How to Play a D Harmonic Minor Scale
Переглядів 923 місяці тому
Learn how to play a D Harmonic Minor scale. I take you through one octave, each hand separately and then together, and then we progress onto two octaves, separate hands first, followed by both hands together. The scale pages used in this video can be downloaded from the Resources Page on my ‘Accelerando Piano’ website: accelerandopiano.com/resources/ 0:25 Introducing the Key Signature and raise...
How to Play a D Melodic Minor Scale
Переглядів 1403 місяці тому
Learn how to play a D Melodic Minor scale. I take you through one octave, each hand separately and then together, and then we progress onto two octaves, separate hands first, followed by both hands together. The scale pages used in this video can be downloaded from the Resources Page on my ‘Accelerando Piano’ website: accelerandopiano.com/resources/ 0:27 Introducing the Key Signature, raising t...
The Right Way to use your Foot on the Pedal
Переглядів 1204 місяці тому
The Right Way to use your Foot on the Pedal
The easy way to play Quavers vs Triplets - with the help of some Frogs!
Переглядів 8404 місяці тому
The easy way to play Quavers vs Triplets - with the help of some Frogs!
How to work out the letter names on the keyboard
Переглядів 1434 місяці тому
How to work out the letter names on the keyboard
How to Play an A Harmonic Minor Scale
Переглядів 944 місяці тому
How to Play an A Harmonic Minor Scale
Natural, Harmonic and Melodic Minors - What's the Difference?
Переглядів 1085 місяців тому
Natural, Harmonic and Melodic Minors - What's the Difference?
Secrets to Great Sightreading - Improve your Muscular Memory
Переглядів 2,8 тис.6 місяців тому
Secrets to Great Sightreading - Improve your Muscular Memory
Direct Pedalling - and the difference between Direct and Legato Pedalling
Переглядів 1247 місяців тому
Direct Pedalling - and the difference between Direct and Legato Pedalling
Legato Pedalling - Watch me working with a student
Переглядів 2497 місяців тому
Legato Pedalling - Watch me working with a student
Legato Pedalling - Absolutely everything you'll need to know!
Переглядів 3587 місяців тому
Legato Pedalling - Absolutely everything you'll need to know!
Where do the Sharps, Flats and Naturals go?
Переглядів 3477 місяців тому
Where do the Sharps, Flats and Naturals go?
Your new sub here👍
Great - thank you so much - I appreciate your support and interest. 😀 Cheers Jane
Very interesting video ! Love the information of how to move your body. I can use it on the DeWALT work chair on wheels, cause I can't get used to sit on a chair what you have behind the piano. I need to roll to the first right position and then I can surely use the body movements you've explained in this video. Great video and thanks for the information.
Thanks Lara - glad you found the video helpful. One thing to remember if you're sitting on an office-style chair which can move on its wheels and also swivel, is that you don't actually want to be moving the chair sideways or swiveling on it in order to reach the upper and lower octaves. Ideally, you want to treat the chair in the same way you would a piano stool - it's stationary and doesn't move, and you adjust your body to the requirements of the piece. I've got a section on using office-style chairs in my tutorial "Sitting Pretty - is your Piano Stool the Right Height" which goes into a bit more detail, so you're welcome to check that out. Thanks again for getting in touch. Cheers Jane
Hi Jane, I am flattered you took time to answer my question and for all others in a video. i guess the correct thing to do as you mentioned is to exercise the body movement and what I understand is to train the muscles so they hurt less? I'll try to avoid moving my butt on the stool to have less muscle strain. Thank you and cheers, I have to re watch again soon.
You're most welcome - I hope it was helpful and addressed some of the queries you had. Being more aware of how you're moving your body, and in particular, transferring your weight from one sit bone across to the other as you move from side to side will be really beneficial. Cheers Jane
Someone once said good piano playing was to learn “one cheek piano playing”.
That's a good line - I haven't heard that before - but very true! Cheers Jane
What a wonderful lesson. For those of you who are Australian or New Zealanders, do you think this lesson had a style of “Play School”? What this lady taught is so very important. 👍👏👍
Thanks so much - I really appreciate your feedback. And I'm of the generation where I do remember "Play School" with the house, various shaped windows and all of the toys!! Cheers Jane
You are the best teacher in the world ❤❤❤❤❤❤ Thank youuuuu
Thank you Susan - that's made my day!
Thanks. This Video is Idiotproof and gave me a good sense of what to do. My thoughts said "wow this is stupid, why is she taking so much time", but my body is thankful for this instruction. The way you showed it will avoid injuries. So really thanks. I have avoided using the pedal for years at this point due to laziness, but I will give it another shot. This makes so much sense once you sense it in your legs.
Hi, I'm glad you found the tutorial helpful and plan to give pedalling another go. Good luck! Cheers Jane
Great inputs
Cheers - glad you enjoyed it.
Maybe you can do a video on how to move the body and posture when playing on high(er) octaves and suddenly you have to move to a lower range. I find myself often in an awkward position. Was hoping you did it at the end.
Hi, thanks very much for your suggestion - that's a good idea. I will be adding it to my 'to do' list of videos. Many thanks. Cheers Jane
@@AccelerandoPiano Thank you Jane, I look forward to that video. You are very kind. Cheers
Great vid and love see you in those funny socks.. hipe see more. Haha. Have a nice day
Thanks so much! I'm glad you found it helpful. Yeah - I'm a big fan of fun, colourful socks - I have lots!!
@@AccelerandoPiano welcome. That's great. Hope see more of them! Hahaha. Have a nice day!
I was having a massive amount of trouble with this. 1 hour following you along and I am already climbing the mountain. Thanks a lot for your lessons, hope this message finds you well. God bless.
That's fantastic! I'm really glad it was helpful and that you're well on the way to mastering this skill.😄Cheers Jane
Hello Jane. This will my last post on the sound, I promise. Today, mike placement. As the room sounds good as demonstrated by the voice quality you could experiment with a closer miking of the piano to enhance its sound. For example, put the mikes at the piano centre arranged in an XY config with their cardioid focus toward the piano strings. Try opening the top cover, and arrange the stands so the mikes are a few inches away from but not inside the opening. Perhaps there is the possibility of removing the piano front and focusing the mikes there. I suspect many viewers would like to watch that fascinating mechanism at work. Anyway, needless to say make recordings of the same piece with all setups and compare them with good headphones. Also, with the recordings, listen to the effect of using EQ to roll the bass off starting from around 100hz to eliminate any muddiness leaving more acoustic space for the sparkle. Have fun! Cheers, Jonathan.
Thanks very much Jonathan. We appreciate your advice and expertise. Cheers Jane
Great pedagogy. I find it hard to sight read when there's staccato on just one hand, it's definitely something that needs more practice for me.
Thanks so much - I'm pleased it was helpful for you. Cheers Jane
Wow! This video got served up to me without a related search and I was the 55th view. Great video, I'm glad I saw it.
I must have been the 54th instead. I looked over some of your videos and it seems (from my small sort through) that you don't get a whole lot of comments generally. Maybe it could help if you said something context-specific that helps spark comments, such as... what are your favorite ways to drill improved dynamics in your playing?... etc. Anywho, I thought I'd toss out a few thoughts while at the same time hopefully triggering more views for you due to increased engagement. I wish you the best!
Great - thanks very much! Glad you found it helpful. Cheers Jane
@@AccelerandoPiano: Was this is real personally typed reply or some kind of bot-based system?
@@InspiredPlans Nope, not a bot - It was actually me. However, I see now that you made two comments, the 2nd of which I was not aware of when responding, so perhaps that's what has made you wonder :-) Thank you for trying to improve engagement with my channel. Cheers Jane
@@AccelerandoPiano : I subscribed!
Thank you very much for teaching this lesson, Jane Trotter. Acoustic pianos and thus the rooms containing them are notoriously difficult to record well. Digital pianos have the advantage of being able to be connected to the recording device without a microphone. Their sound has much less character of course but for short demonstrations the improved basic clarity may be more important.
Hi pc2nite, Thanks for those thoughts. Getting quality sound has been something we have been working on, and it's great to get your thoughts on the matter. I don't have much flexibility in Camtasia for frequency equalisation, although at some point I may move to DaVinci Resolve which has much more capability in that dept. In relation to microphones, we got a lot of improvement when we moved to a matched pair of Rode M5 microphones, but if you have some model suggestions, or perhaps placement ideas, it would be good get those. Cheers Jane
@@AccelerandoPiano Hello Jane. I am not a UA-camr and can only pass on what I have generally learnt as an amateur mostly about audio recording, sometimes from YT. Improving recorded audio, especially that originating from a mike (in a room, of course), can take extra time. Some record audio separately from video. Before being re-combined with the video the audio can be edited separately in a program like Audacity for example, which has EQ, compression, reverb and other audio effects. This type of audio editing uses much less computer resource than its video counterpart. If you simultaneously record both voice and the instrument sound to separate audio files then both can then be audio edited and have effects applied that suit each separately. Closer piano miking can reduce room reverb and tonal colouration effects not suitable for a listener of the recording who is in another audio environment. If too close then balancing the piano's dynamic range, its mechanism's sounds and the lack of reverb may also be an issue to the listener. Audio compression, a little volume limiting and reverb, eg as in Audacity, can help with these respects. Have you considered using a Digital Piano for YT? A direct connection from it to the audio recorder device may be more reliable, convenient and record more clearly than the piano which may suffer from being combined with the voice mike and room sound. A DP also likely offers midi data which, for example, can be separately recorded and used in software more clearly showing the notes being played that can be added as a strip above the overhead physical keyboard shot in the final video mix. Hope this helps. Cheers, Jonathan.
@@pc2nite Hi Jonathan, Thanks for taking the time to get back to me. I’ve had a chat with Shane who helps me with the tech, and there are some ideas there that I will investigate when I get a chance to learn new tools and play with (potentially permanent) changes to mic placement (and channel separation). I do also have an option to mike me separately, so we’ll look at that also. Re. the Digital Piano idea, it’s not really feasible. The current setup is what I use for my private piano practice, and it works well for that. The YT channel is something I do to primarily to support my students, while also hopefully benefiting others. The goal is to get quality educational content in a reasonably quick time, so any changes to the process need to be aligned to and fit around the requirements for my teaching practice which keeps me very busy. I’ve added these to my long list of holiday tasks. 😊 Cheers Jane
Excellent instruction, easy to grasp. Thank you!
You're very welcome - I'm glad it was helpful. Cheers Jane
Oh my, thank you so much!!
You're welcome. I'm happy that it was useful. Cheers Jane
Thanks for the tip :)
You're welcome - glad it was helpful. Cheers Jane
Excellent!
Thanks very much - glad you found it helpful! Cheers Jane
Tricky!
Hello Jane,sorry your Submit button is not working in your "Contact Me".please can you make it more accessible for humans like me! And who are old and retired.Thanks.
Hi, I presume you're referring to the 'Contact Form' on my Trotter Music Website (www.trottermusic.com). The submit button is hidden until you type the word "jane" into the 'where's the button' field at the bottom of the form, at which time the submit button will appear. This is an anti-spam protection and has eliminated hundreds of spam emails. Sorry for any confusion. Thanks for reaching out. Cheers Jane
@AccelerandoPiano thanks It Said Your first name and I typed my name.Thanks for clarification. I will submit the form tomorrow. Best wishes.We are all at the mercy of The Algorithms!!!
Amazing Amazing Amazing I am struggling playing triplets rhythm even with so much practise ,I do not know when I can master Four funny frogs! Thanks. You are great teacher.
Thanks very much - glad you found it helpful.
the confusing about this is when you sight read a piece that have a black keys it will be to difficult to use this because you will not just always play the soprano note on the root and find the alto note bellow of it whatever interval it is(im refering to the SA from SATB)so you still have to practice different variations of that two note per hand,and if that how it was it will consume lot of time to practice.I know there is an easy way to sight read with a black keys,it is using the transpose button😅 but i don’t want to use that cheat button.
Thanks for your thoughts. Cheers Jane
I enjoyed it.
Thanks Jackson - glad you found it helpful. Cheers Jane
Thanks for explaining the melodic minor ascending and descending. I could never remember which notes were different on the way up versus down. Would that be the opposite for you, down versus up, since you are down under? 😉 Hearng you explain it seems to have implanted it in my memory for some odd reason. I won’t forget it now, thanks Jane! 🙏🏽✌🏽
Glad to be of help!🙂
sight reading and not a sheet of music, maybe you should entitle this something else.
Hi Dave - Yes - no music! This Tutorial was specifically designed that way. As I mentioned in the video, an important component of being able to sightread fluently is not to have to look down at your hands frequently so you can read ahead and concentrate on what’s coming up in the music. The Tutorial is designed to give students some practical tips to develop this skill independent of the score. Rest assured, there will be more Tutorials in the future which will include music. Cheers Jane
Great video ❤❤❤
Thanks Kevin - glad you found it helpful. Cheers Jane
Thanks! This was really helpful!
You're welcome! I'm glad it was of use.
Thank you for the video . I should give it a try 🙏🏻❤
You're welcome! Good luck with trying out the exercises. Cheers Jane
@@AccelerandoPiano Thank you 😊🤩⚘
Great vid! Hope see more vids like that! Loved your socks too! Hahaha.. Have a great day!
Thanks Carlos - glad you enjoyed it.
@@AccelerandoPiano welcome! Hope see more.
Wonderfully helpful video! Can you please share how you set up your pedal cam? I need it to make sure I am doing it correctly. Thank you.
Hi, I'm glad you found the video helpful. The Pedal Cam is a Zoom Q2n-4K camera with an HDMI output which is part of my virtual teaching studio system. I'm assuming you are just wanting to check out your own pedal technique cheaply - many video cameras have HDMI output which you could feed into a computer monitor which was close, or an external webcam plugged into a laptop could also be an option. Cheers Jane
LOVE this video! Can you please tell me how you set up your pedal cam?
Hi - thanks so much for your feedback. The Peda lCam is a Zoom Q2n-4K camera with an HDMI output which is part of my virtual teaching studio system. I'm assuming you are just wanting to check out your own pedal technique cheaply - many video cameras have HDMI output which you could feed into a computer monitor which was close, or an external webcam plugged into a laptop could also be an option. Good luck. Cheers Jane
@@AccelerandoPiano Thanks so much, Jane. Is there anyway you can show me how to set it up? I am not very tech savvy and really want to improve my piano skills.
@@AccelerandoPiano Yes, that's exactly what I would like to do is check my own pedal technique but have no idea how to set it up. I'm not very tech savvy so maybe you can do a video on it?
@@ladyp5511 Hi, Shane here - I'm Jane's Tech Support, and wrote her initial response :-). In terms of helping you, doing a video on how to set up is probably not useful, given there are multiple ways it could be done, but they all assume you have equipment that you may not have. To give you an example, if we did a video that required a laptop, and you don't have one (or have a Macbook when we use a Windows laptop) then the software we would use would be different etc. BREAKING NEWs: Jane has just come up with a really cunning non tech solution, Video coming shortly :-)
I've just created a short video on how you can do this at home. See ua-cam.com/video/xvdQUMu35as/v-deo.html Hope it helps.
Why on Earth would anyone step on a spider. That's really sad.
That was good! Cheers!
Thanks Steven - I'm glad it was helpful. Cheers Jane
UA-cam ads spoil this exercise.
Thanks for your feedback Jon - I can see how an ad at the wrong time would be frustrating. Unfortunately that’s out of my control.
Thank you for sharing your knowledge! Great exercises, definitely will try them as I am struggling a bit with correct staccato on the Haydn - Quadrille piece. Thanks a lot!
Glad you found the exercises helpful - I hope they'll be of use in your Haydn piece. Cheers Jane
Thank you very well explained
Thanks a lot - I'm glad you found it helpful.
The downloadable pages on the website are great. They really make the information so understandable.
Thanks very much James - glad you found them helpful. Cheers Jane
Thank you so much! Its really helpful
Glad you found it helpful - the right hand of F Major can be tricky so the fingering is really important. Cheers Jane
Thanks Jane, that was really helpful - I'd only ever considered measures to be a convenient way of organising the score, not as a crucial part of the piece itself. When playing a piece, would you provide a slight accent on beat 1, even if one is not recorded in the score, or is the "strong" beat just something that comes about by the composer's choice of notes?
Hi James - I’m glad you found that helpful. It’s probably not so much a case of consciously accenting the first beat of every bar all the time, even if it is only a small accent. The ‘flow’ of the piece, the phrasing, the rhythmic and melodic organisation, the performance directions (like dynamics) and the way all of these work within the time signature, will influence how you interpret the music and ‘feel’ where some notes may carry more ‘stress’ or significance than others. Having said that, the choice of time signature is a crucial part of a piece and will influence its character. The best example I can give is a waltz - this is a dance in triple time so it will contain 3 beats per bar. When playing a waltz, I often encourage my students to be slightly lighter on beats 2 and 3 so you get that lovely lilt and dance quality, rather than giving every beat equal stress. You could also think of a march, which is most likely to have 2 or 4 beats in a bar - an even number - so you can literally march to it - left-right-left-right.
This is the clearest, most useful and insightful videos to achieve left hand quietness I've ever seen on UA-cam, in books or elsewhere and I've seen/read of hundreds instruction videos here over the years. After three years of being self-taught I still need to improve this technique, so thank you very much.
Hi Diana, thanks so much for your great comment and feedback - it made my day! I'm glad you found the tutorial helpful and good luck with your continuing musical journey. Cheers Jane
How do you keep the left hand soft when the piece is played fast?
Hi Julie I would use the ‘Play it on your Legs’ trick - just to check the weighting of your quieter hand versus your louder hand. Really try to feel the difference and do it slowly first. Then try taking a small 2 bar section at a faster speed - always checking your weighting. Try it again even faster. Extend the section you’re working on to 4 or 8 bars following the same process, and gradually try it out on the keyboard. The ‘Pretend Play’ technique will work quite well too - remember when you want to play the quieter hand for real, don’t overwork your fingers as this will mean you’ll tend to depress the keys faster and as a result, make the notes louder. Use your natural arm weight into the keys and stay relatively close. Also, try to feel the ‘gesture’ of the pattern which needs to be quiet - try not to think note by note but feel the shape of the music. That way you’ll avoid accenting every note and having it sound very syllabic and chunky, which of course, just exaggerates things even more. Finally, you could try perfecting and solidifying your technique on an easier piece alongside the current music you’re learning. Cheers Jane
Hi can u be my teacher on piano? :)
Hi, thanks for watching. If you're interested in learning from me, please go to my Trotter Music website: trottermusic.com where you can complete the Contact Form and be added to my waiting list. Cheers Jane