My piano teacher pointed out to me the importance of practicing slowly, but I did not know that playing the passage fast is equally important. Thank you!
Your piano teacher is right because we can perfect movements and technical things really well in a slow or half tempo. But since fast movements and slow movement are anatomically different, we have to practice those too before going on stage or similar: different muscle coordination, different timing, harder for the motor cortex in the brain. The motor cortex is actually a big factor, technique is also a brain thing. Either way, it's about testing and practicing in fast tempi too - occassionally - but slow practice or half tempo is always important.
Fantastic video, some great tips, thank you for posting 👍🏻 Just one comment on repetition - as you say, it's important to repeat passages many times to embed learning, but it's usually best to break up the repetitions... It's natural to think that more repetitions is better, but after a while, the brain starts to tune out, and we stop learning. It's usually more effective to use interleaved practice, where you repeat a passage a number of times (say 4), move onto something else, then come back and repeat the first passage. Hope that makes sense.
Hey Mark! Thanks for your comment and thanks for watching. Agreed! For your info: somehow, UA-cam filtered out your comment so that it was in the "held for review" section, which I only check very rarely. Luckily I did just now, as I am replying to a lot of comments. Sometimes the comment algorithm just flags well-meaning comments^^
About fast practice, to me that's kind of automatic. Once I feel confident in playing it slowly, I'll naturally increase the tempo, then I'll adapt my technique to the new tempo, but only when I can play it confidently slow. About repetition, there is a school of thought that says you shouldn't exceed the mental bandwith, so don't spend more than 10 minutes on a certain passage. What do you think about that?
Great job! I have a question. I'm a self-taught piano player and I don't use sheet music. I learn from tutorials on UA-cam. How long should the sections be when I'm learning a piece by watching blocks hitting the keys on the tutorial? How can I split the piece into sections? Thank you!
Hey Arturtelega, thanks for watching my videos and leaving a comment. I would like to know, what information is presented in those types of tutorials? I am aware of them, but usually they leave out a lot of info, don't they? Such as dynamics, articulation, pedalling, rhythms, voice leading and many more (I am guessing you follow blocks that scroll down on a video, right?) If you want to stick to that method, I would recommend you try to filter out the natural passages that you can hear or feel. Phrases and sections have a natural development and one can usually hear and understand when one section/ phrase ends and the other one starts. Of course, with sheet music, you could see very clearly, and could decide a starting and end point based on structure or otherwise. But with blocks and so on, you probably have to do it by feel and by phrase. I think it still is much more work to do it that way compared to sheet music but it's possible based on instincts.
@@manzoh2248 Yeah it is, but weight transfer and loads of stuff feels weird with it. The crossing of finger from Bb to C always feels awkward.. i am always struggling with finding the correct tiny adjustments and movements to make it easier, yet the more i practice F major, the more awkward it feels. i don't even remember how many times i reconsidered my technique for this particular scale to feel that 100 percent control and accuracy, it specially feels harder in slower tempos.
@@nothin3972 In my experience, many issues like the ones you are describing can be almost completely solved by moving your hand further inside the keyboard (toward the fallboard). When you play the Bb with the 4th finger your thumb should be already in a position to play a white key comfortably (depth-wise). Then you just need to deal with lateral movement and not two movements at once, causing your hand and fingers to twist into unnatural positions. I hope that explanation was clear.
@@avivdor1454 Thank you for the advices. Can you give me a couple of hints by what you mean by 'lateral movement' and do you think movements like slightly lifting the wrist on Bb before crossing the finger or leaning the hand to make more space for thumb at the finger crosses can be useful? Or should avoid them?
I think it’s best to keep your wrist at around the same height, but I would recommend angling your hand a bit to the right for the right hand, and to the left for the left hand, such that the fingers more naturally fall into place when crossing over.
@@PianoTechSupport Oh no sorry hahaha 😂 I mean the app Tonic it was made by Violonist Ray Chen and basically it allow you to open a virtual practice room and people can join you if they want you could farm xp etc you should definitely take a look!
It would be nice if this was the case. I have had students come to me who primarily received lessons in conservatories in the US or elsewhere - nationally accredited conservatories and universities mind you, and their teacher didn't even instruct them on any advanced pedalling techniques, ever, or any methods to drill or memorise certain passages, ever, and more pianistic concepts. You'd think information like this is passed onto students from professional teachers - professional literally meaning: "engaged in a specified activity as one's main paid occupation" - but there are plenty of teachers who gave up on their passion for music and passing on information to their students, so that they just sit in the room, zoning out and giving a couple of standard remarks. This isn't a small portion of professional teachers either, it's a worryingly big chunk of people who gave up. And they teach at unis and conservatories.
My piano teacher pointed out to me the importance of practicing slowly, but I did not know that playing the passage fast is equally important. Thank you!
Your piano teacher is right because we can perfect movements and technical things really well in a slow or half tempo. But since fast movements and slow movement are anatomically different, we have to practice those too before going on stage or similar: different muscle coordination, different timing, harder for the motor cortex in the brain. The motor cortex is actually a big factor, technique is also a brain thing. Either way, it's about testing and practicing in fast tempi too - occassionally - but slow practice or half tempo is always important.
I use a metronome and repeat the passage, gradually increasing the speed to the point where I start making errors, then wind back a bit.
this got recommended at the perfect time for me. Great advice.
Glad it was helpful and thanks for stopping by:)
Thanks for the advices! It's really helpful
Also, the subtitles 😭 11:03
Oh my god haha I just saw that...LOL in my defence that's auto generated not by me
Fantastic video, some great tips, thank you for posting 👍🏻
Just one comment on repetition - as you say, it's important to repeat passages many times to embed learning, but it's usually best to break up the repetitions... It's natural to think that more repetitions is better, but after a while, the brain starts to tune out, and we stop learning.
It's usually more effective to use interleaved practice, where you repeat a passage a number of times (say 4), move onto something else, then come back and repeat the first passage.
Hope that makes sense.
Hey Mark! Thanks for your comment and thanks for watching. Agreed!
For your info: somehow, UA-cam filtered out your comment so that it was in the "held for review" section, which I only check very rarely. Luckily I did just now, as I am replying to a lot of comments. Sometimes the comment algorithm just flags well-meaning comments^^
Well, I'm pleased to say I was aware of all of those excellent tips. However I don't always put them into practice, so I will now!
Great!! Yeah, sometimes all one needs is to be reminded or to put them into action.
About fast practice, to me that's kind of automatic. Once I feel confident in playing it slowly, I'll naturally increase the tempo, then I'll adapt my technique to the new tempo, but only when I can play it confidently slow.
About repetition, there is a school of thought that says you shouldn't exceed the mental bandwith, so don't spend more than 10 minutes on a certain passage. What do you think about that?
Great job! I have a question. I'm a self-taught piano player and I don't use sheet music. I learn from tutorials on UA-cam. How long should the sections be when I'm learning a piece by watching blocks hitting the keys on the tutorial? How can I split the piece into sections? Thank you!
Hey Arturtelega, thanks for watching my videos and leaving a comment. I would like to know, what information is presented in those types of tutorials? I am aware of them, but usually they leave out a lot of info, don't they? Such as dynamics, articulation, pedalling, rhythms, voice leading and many more (I am guessing you follow blocks that scroll down on a video, right?) If you want to stick to that method, I would recommend you try to filter out the natural passages that you can hear or feel. Phrases and sections have a natural development and one can usually hear and understand when one section/ phrase ends and the other one starts. Of course, with sheet music, you could see very clearly, and could decide a starting and end point based on structure or otherwise. But with blocks and so on, you probably have to do it by feel and by phrase. I think it still is much more work to do it that way compared to sheet music but it's possible based on instincts.
@@PianoTechSupport That's all ture and that how it works with me to be honest. Thank you for your replay 🙂
Can you make a video about awkward scales like F major or B harmonic minor? Those awkward finger crosses.
What’s awkward about the F major scale? Isn’t one of the more simple ones (at least imo)
@@manzoh2248 Yeah it is, but weight transfer and loads of stuff feels weird with it. The crossing of finger from Bb to C always feels awkward.. i am always struggling with finding the correct tiny adjustments and movements to make it easier, yet the more i practice F major, the more awkward it feels. i don't even remember how many times i reconsidered my technique for this particular scale to feel that 100 percent control and accuracy, it specially feels harder in slower tempos.
@@nothin3972 In my experience, many issues like the ones you are describing can be almost completely solved by moving your hand further inside the keyboard (toward the fallboard). When you play the Bb with the 4th finger your thumb should be already in a position to play a white key comfortably (depth-wise). Then you just need to deal with lateral movement and not two movements at once, causing your hand and fingers to twist into unnatural positions. I hope that explanation was clear.
@@avivdor1454 Thank you for the advices. Can you give me a couple of hints by what you mean by 'lateral movement' and do you think movements like slightly lifting the wrist on Bb before crossing the finger or leaning the hand to make more space for thumb at the finger crosses can be useful? Or should avoid them?
I think it’s best to keep your wrist at around the same height, but I would recommend angling your hand a bit to the right for the right hand, and to the left for the left hand, such that the fingers more naturally fall into place when crossing over.
Nice video, do you use tonic ?
Always a nice big Gin Tonic before recording every video 🍹^^ Or what did you mean?
@@PianoTechSupport maybe hair tonic?
@@PianoTechSupport Oh no sorry hahaha 😂 I mean the app Tonic it was made by Violonist Ray Chen and basically it allow you to open a virtual practice room and people can join you if they want you could farm xp etc you should definitely take a look!
@@zeltrod3384 bro just practice
lmaoo
Every professional teacher in the world knows that stuff, but it’s nice to remind players secrets great teachers of the past.
It would be nice if this was the case. I have had students come to me who primarily received lessons in conservatories in the US or elsewhere - nationally accredited conservatories and universities mind you, and their teacher didn't even instruct them on any advanced pedalling techniques, ever, or any methods to drill or memorise certain passages, ever, and more pianistic concepts. You'd think information like this is passed onto students from professional teachers - professional literally meaning: "engaged in a specified activity as one's main paid occupation" - but there are plenty of teachers who gave up on their passion for music and passing on information to their students, so that they just sit in the room, zoning out and giving a couple of standard remarks. This isn't a small portion of professional teachers either, it's a worryingly big chunk of people who gave up. And they teach at unis and conservatories.