Thankfully, when I had my teacher she told me most of these, now self-teaching myself with a little harder pieces I like I find those techniques more useful. I will describe myself as a memorizer, but lately I found out that combining both work the best, since with harder pieces short silences, are difficult to memorize and reading where those are is very useful to help myself. Thanks again, great video.
I clearly rely to much on memorisation. I don't fall that much in other traps since I've learned the actual efficiency of praticing that at slow pace a few amount of thing in isolation. Putting hands together is actually the hardest time, maybe it's 1+1=7 in my case.
FIVE BAD HABITS 5. . Always practicing hands together. (One plus one equals 5 ) 4. Always practicing with the pedal. 3. Not practicing daily. ( Allow your sleep to transfer memories of whatever little you've learned instead of trying to cram too much into long rare practices) 2. Working too much by memory or by reading. Develop both skills. 1. Practicing too fast. Always go back to slow practice so you can be conscious about the notes and play cleanly
Another bad habit, according to my teacher, is what he calls "biting off more than you can chew", in other words, wanting to play through the whole piece all at once, instead of starting off with a few bars and not going on to the next few until those have been mastered. It can be slow going -- and a little frustrating when you are chomping at the bit to move forward -- but I think the approach does ultimately obtains the best results.
When learning a new song, I learn two lines a day. Master those and move on. I did start out wanting to play the whole song, but then frustration set in. My teacher and your teacher are right. Learn slow to grow.
I agree. :) I stopped playing for a decade and now im back to square one. Im trying to read clementi sonatinas and it's a pain to learn the entire movement at once. I'm learning patience more than playing piano tbh... Also biting more than can chew also mean another thing: when a pianist wants to learn a piece that's not up to his/her level. I'm a victim of that a decade before. I got too fast in learning harder and harder pieces and realized my hands can no longer do it. I got frustrated and ultimately stopped playing thinking at was at my talent's end. I didn't even give myself a chance to breathe. I was learning sonatas and i didn't even know hanon :(
Something very important to note about sleep: your brain actually solves problems while you're sleeping, too. I have noticed that if I practice a small chunk of something difficult (very slowly) before going to sleep, I almost always end up having the ability to play it perfectly after I wake up. Compared to just practicing one time at some point in the evening, I have noticed significantly better results when I practice a bit first thing in the morning, and then save whatever is causing me trouble for just before I go to bed. _Morning_ practice is incredibly effective, and it pairs perfectly with the whole sleeping thing. Often times the first thing I do when I wake up is start tickling the keys just to see if I can finally play whatever thing I was trying to practice the night before. I don't go through a whole practice routine when I wake up, but I do at least try to run through whatever small part I was working on the night before. Practice every single day for sure, but if you can manage it, save whatever is giving you the most trouble for right before you to go bed. Try to work it out, then go to sleep. And the first chance you get when you wake up, try to play it. You just might surprise yourself!
Jazer, I came into this very curious about what bad habits you were going to address, and I was astonished to find out that these are all things that I say to my students already. BUT, it's very refreshing to know that I am already telling my students the same things that a pro pianist at YOUR level would also say. I guess I'm a better teacher than I thought . . .thank you for the encouragement! Subscribed!
@@spectralavatar3550 you bet! I teach nearly 60 private lessons a week, mostly kids, and it's the biggest pleasure I could ask for. If we don't have music teachers to teach music to today's youth then there will be no musicians in the future. (set aside the likelihood of virtual teachers, bots, dna editing and music that is 100% electronic). So not only is it enjoyable, it is a necessity for our kids and the most rewarding career I could ask for.
Here's a teacher generous enough to make teaching videos for free, and gracious enough to call people "self taught" while teaching us. Thank you Jazer Lee!
3:08 that is true to me! For me, hours of practicing even just a few notes will NOT translate into a smooth piece of melody until the next day. And magic just happens the next day after I woke up, it's like my brain and my hands kept on practicing while I was in bed. But the key for me is to practice right before I go to bed.
Oh my god this has been me the past few days cuz I just started and then I play in the morning and I’m a whole new person somehow. Soooo much better the next day after I wake up!!
yesss me too i’ve made note of this a while ago! if anything once I start playing for too long at once it’s like I can almost get worse. I have to give my brain time to marinate the song lmao and when I wake up the next day I can play whatever I was struggling with the day before instantly
very true, this is the case with me. my fingers stumble upon eachother a lot, just like a flock of sheep, but after sleeping, they are almost dancing butterflies on the keyboard
Not a pianist, but a violinist, I still think some of these are good tips, especially the practicing ones. I very much prefer memorizing pieces than reading, but I know how important both are! Also, some pieces sound cool when you change the tempo, sometimes the general vibe of it completely changes, so it’s fun to play both fast and slow!
I am self taught for 1 year and 8 months.. good to know I haven't fallen into these bad habits. I've practiced daily since I started in April 2020, and found on my own that practicing each hand seperately before putting them together helps, and all the other tips you gave. My main issue, is I have no idea how to sight read. I am 100% the second group. Although everyone's goals are different. For me, my dad taught me how to play by ear, and I mostly do that now. (obviously not for classical pieces though) It's a very different way of learning to sheet music. But for me, it is useful to be able to play anything on the spot without anything written down, transpose to any key to match a singer's vocal range, etc. It's also just cool to understand chord progressions and why things sound the way they are, and it keeps me interested. So yeah, learning sheet music will certainly be useful and I probably will one day, but right now it's probably okay.
Thanks so much for posting this! I've been playing for ~40 years, and I've slipped into multiple bad habits, my playing got stale and my motivation dropped. By getting back to these important foundations you've refreshed my perspective, and my playing has found a new lease of life! I am so grateful :)
1) I'm a memorizer and definitely need to work more on my sight reading. 2) I was about to object to the point about emphasizing practicing both hands separately, but then remembered you said this was for "Beginners." I definitely agree that it's critical for beginners to do that, so don't take this as a criticism--I think what you said was perfect. For me, however, with more than 30 years of playing music, my brain *wants* the different hands doing different things. It's hard to describe, but the closest I can get is if you're playing polyrhythms on drums, where one hand is in 4/4 and the other is in 5/4, or something similar. For me, it's actually more difficult to separate them out and NOT play simultaneously, because my hands begin to play off each other, like a dance. My right hand "knows" when to move to the next note because it's following my left hand's direction, and vice versa, so when I try to only play one hand, that hand gets confused because it's lacking a director. I still do play one-hand at a time through super complex portions while slow-playing to learn it (which is super important, as you stated). But when I do that, I have to focus on counting to such an extent that it's basically the same mental work needed to just play with the other hand keeping beat (in fact, sometimes I'm tapping with the other hand anyway, just because the kinesthetics help me keep my rhythms better). But even saying all that, I know that 1) I am weird so this could be just me, and 2) it took decades of playing various instruments that forced both hands to do different tasks simultaneously for my brain to get to that place, so definitely not for beginners.
You’re other hand is helping the other but that clearly tells that you don’t have as much hand dependency as sight reading as you could..even at high piano levels, you should practice hands separate to do independent phrasing and all in order to correct this mistake that is playing so much according to the other hand. It’s like in a band that one guy that doesn’t know how to count but he guides himself so much by other elements that he gets by. And being a memorizer (at the piano iam too) it’s so much easier to memorize the patterns between two hands, than just read hands independently according to the beat.
Can relate to all of them, particularly the last one where you get “trapped” in bad muscle memory when having practised a piece for a few weeks and everything sounds muddled and uncontrolled. It’s so very irritating. You just can’t be bothered going back to playing slowly but you know you really should…
I’m a reader (70 years old, playing since I was 6) and that’s it! I’m completely handicapped when it comes to memorizing 🤣 BTW, like someone already commented, these are things I’ve always taught my students! Nice to hear you emphasize these important learning techniques! They work!
Sight reader here. I have done all of these. Not practicing daily is my week has been my weekness. One other advantage of not playing with the pedal to much is that it forces you to learn to play legato better. The pedal also hides mistakes (sort of) that should be addressed and not covered up. It becomes easier to play cleaner without the pedal.
I’ve bee playing the piano for over two years now and I have couple of these bad habits. Practicing with both hands most often, I automatically memorize and my reading is not great, sometimes I practice fast, 😣 Thank you for this video. It helped me to become aware of my bad habits and I will change them.
I’ve been self learning for about 2months now and I’m glad I came across your videos even before I started playing. Every video I’ve watched makes me conscious of what my potential bad habits are, so I’m trying my best to correct them as I’m learning. Keep the amazing vids coming!!
I'm definitely more of a memorization person, so I need to work more on my reading. I also never really considered going back to slow practice after learning songs, so that's something I'll have to start doing more. Always appreciate your videos, Jazer!
I have four of the bad habits you mentioned and the worst habit of mine is that I don't practice everyday. I have an electronic piano which doesn't have a pedal otherwise maybe I would have had all the five bad habits. For me the most valuable tip in this video is to isolate two for practice.
Thank you Jazer for all these lessons. I love your way of teaching and the setting. My husband, who plays the bagpipe, never uses sheet music once he's learnt the song; me, on the other hand, rely heavily on the sheet if I'm playing a wind instrument. If I'm playing the piano I prefer relying on my memory once I've mastered the song. I am guilty of playing too fast and have been working on it.
Thank you so much for your brilliant, thorough, and thoughtful teaching! I've learnt so much from you and every video is really helpful. I've been trying to learn both reading and memorizing. So glad to hear you recommend this.
I took piano class last year, and I'm glad how ut turns out. My teacher always gives me so much time to practice, the scales, the chords and a lot of advises. I also agree with you in no. 5. I always practice with my right hand first since I'm left handed. My left hand can cope up with my right hand easily that's why I always worked with my left hand first. I also agree with you to practice slowly and practicing everyday. Additional: At first I memorize the chords and notes of the songs but now I realized that I don't need to do it since it was easier to look at the sheet of the song
Wow, this is great and exactly what I needed to hear. I related to many of the bad habits, mainly not practicing daily. I get sidetracked too easily. Thank you for your many lesson tutorials. I have learned so much from you and look forward to many more. You help make learning piano for adults fun and inspiring.
i began practicing piano since 2020 and does all the bad way to master it, i scroll down through youtube and see this video, i watched it till the end and realize me doing all that habit. Thanks to you i finally know what to do
Thank you for this video. I am definitely a sight reader! I also recognize myself in some of the bad habits. I love the pedal, but recently I've been noticing that I use it to hide small mistakes and to be less precise in my playing. And the practicing too fast is also a weakness of mine, I get very inspired and instead of working out all the little mistakes and taking time to polish the piece, and then it doesn't sound neat.Thank you for these great videos. Really enjoying them.
I started learning to play when I was 70! I am in book three of Alfred's Adult lessons. I can relate to ask of these but most esp wanting to always play with two hands! Thank you!
Awesome core truths about the principal fundamentals of learning and how they apply to piano! Only way this could have been better is if you would have talked a little bit about why relying on ONLY sight-reading sheet music is also bad. I feel that TOO much reliance on the logical and "thinking" about a piece ties up all of your brain's processing power, then you have nothing left to focus on the "big picture" as well - like making sure that your playing is dynamic, and conveying emotion and an overall feel - being able to manage larger dynamic ranges where appropriate, your louds and softs, etc. You need to be able to go beyond more than just note letters and timing. A great analogy to this is typing while reading. You should be able to read and "stream" the typing - you shouldn't be thinking about where each letter key is. It just all comes together and flows!
I struggle with all of these LOL! I want to play the piece so much that I have to resist rushing in without practicing properly first. I'm definitely a play-by-the-dots person but lately I'm learning to connect theory with playing which helps a lot with memorizing. I would love to see a tutorial on how to practice pedaling - lifting after one chord and pressing right at the next makes my music choppy, but if I don't I get a muddy sound. Also, I'm not always sure when to pedal and when to leave the pedal alone. Thank you!
Excellent advice - thank you! I started playing the piano when I was very small, 3 or 4. My older sister could read music and played very well, and I loved listening to her, and when she was done with the piano I would try and recreate the music she'd been playing, just by ear. I soon found I could play most of her pieces this way, and when I was given piano lessons myself at age 7 or 8, I was already able to play boogie woogie pretty well, as well as some Bach (Jacques Loussier style), and some simple trad jazz and pop songs, as well as hymns I'd sung at school, so the lessons were tedious and boring, and I cheated by asking my teacher to play it through, and then I played it, pretending to read the sheet music. The result is I'm 64 and only started to try and read music 10 years ago - with very limited success! I taught myself to read Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata, but then found I couldn't play it without the music - how frustrating! Same with Minute by Minute (McDonald). It's a curious phenomenon isn't it? If you learn a piece by repeatedly listening to it, and aching to find that right chord, you never forget it, but reading it constrains you to needing to have the sheet music. What do you think?
Jazer, every video of yours I watch assures me that I'm doing practice in a constructive way, and always offers me at least one thing to think about or to improve on! My bad habits i watched this with: 4: foot has always been on the pedal for exactly the reasons you said. Starting now, I will not practice with it! Makes sense I'm a memorizer, but I always use sheet music in practice to take me beyond where my memorization starts to fail (building new memorization) so i dont think i'm bad here :P I do both, i know i wont be able to memorize everything... just the really important songs
I started learning playing the piano last year as a 48 yo. Glad to see that practising one hand at a time is not silly. And the tip about reading vs memorising is solid. I first start reading, and when I get to difficult parts I memorise so I can look at the keyboard more. But when I have memorised, I usually don't go back to reading. Started Musette by Bach last week where the big leaps are a challenge for me.
I’m definitely a memoriser- that thing you said about your skill feeling capped is actually exactly what I’m going through right now, if you have any tips for how I could improve my sight reading it would be much appreciated (or if there are any videos you can link)
Love the fact that I watched this only 1 month in. I realized many of these mistakes while playing although I always thought it needed a teacher to show you how to fix it. UA-cam does the job!
I've been playing piano for 18 years, and I can definitely agree with these points. However, some songs have really strange rhythms and I find it best to practice both hands together instead of mastering them individually. For example, I recently learned the Champion Cynthia Battle Theme. In areas where I tried to master both hands separately, I found my rhythm was horrid. In other areas, I never played the hands separately, opting instead to play both hands very slowly, and I found those parts were significantly more accurate. Of course, this isn't always the case, and it's a bad habit more often than it's a good one. As for Habit 2 (reading/memorizing), I find I memorize a lot of my pieces subconsciously. I don't try to memorize them, but I play them enough times that my muscle memory will let me almost effortlessly play it. Even pieces I hadn't played in years (Eye of the Tiger, Avengers Theme, Bohemian Rhapsody, for example), I'll sit down and play really well without the sheet music, only because my muscle memory hadn't forgotten it. I've also finally been practicing learning by ear-following the advice from a family friend-so I don't even have the sheet music to refer to anymore half the time.
Thankyou i am a memorizer and you made me realise it's important to focus on the other skill i.e reading instead of focusing on the one I'm already good at.
Hi Jazer. I would love to be a part of the second group (memorisers), but my memory is not strong enough, so I am forced to stick to reading music from my sheets. Great videos, BTW! Thanks for sharing.
It's important to recognize these are two different skills so although you are an experienced reader, you're a rookie memorizer. That means to develop the skill you need to start by memorizing very simple pieces. Ear training helps a lot too because memorizing is predominantly playing by ear supported by a structural understanding of the piece e.g. first time through the melody does this but the second time it does that. I would recommend learning simple tunes by listening to recordings and copying them. That way you don't even have the dots so you can't cheat 😀
I can relate the memorising one I always memorise the notes and then play it my reading of sheet music is not so good so I would have to work on that now. It is stressful a little bit to memorise it
Jazer, it's apparent you not only are a talented musician in your own right, but a wise a highly skilled teacher as well. I've never played piano and have still yet to start my first physical lessons but I can tell you've already helped me step up my game. I've subbed so look forward to more of your videos!
I agree with you that Jazer is a gifted teacher. think it's fantastic that you haven't even started to play piano yet and you are taking this opportunity to learn and to prepare. I hope you will have much joy in the future as a player .
Just started playing piano and I was practising switching between two chords. Coulant get it right in a song. After one night of sleep it somehow fixed itself. The brain is amazing..
I got a piano a few days ago for my birthday and I'm loving it SO much, it's second nature to me just like the first time I picked up the guitar! In terms of what kind of student, I don't memorize any particular notes because I recognize them easily just by listening to it! I did eventually memorize a few basic things like the notes and some chords, I just need to start improving on it! Some tips here in particular helped me clear up some things, I think I know what to do next study session!
I had to learn piano through books. The hardest mistake I made was to try reading individual notes. I found that by slowing things down and phasing I could accomplish so much more. The body has muscle memory, it is there forever. Speed comes with time, repetition, and correct fingering. I started out learning chords, then went to notes. I would listen to a piece and slow it down to get the notes, then slowly increase speed. I did all my lessons that way. I would practice one hand then the other till I achieved muscle memory. After I completed that, I could add fill to suit myself. I always played for myself so I didn't have the pressure others had. When I finally could afford lessons, the instructor could not believe how far I had advanced through self teaching. I am so thankful I had the proper books to teach me with phrasing by some of the greatest musicians. I personally found that memorizing phrases is loads easier than memorizing notes. I believe I am saying I got the right books that mimic your style of instruction. Bless you for being there. I can only say that instructors make things loads easier than books, and arpeggios come in every piece at one time or another. I am no Mozart, but I did manage to win the state level and the state talent competition imitating Liberace for fun. Keep up the great work, please. By the way, the instructor gave back my money, and I used it to buy more books and recordings to slow down.
@@juniwatyhsd1157 Which one of many would you be interested in, one book does not show everything. The best one I can think of is A Photograph Guide to Piano Chords, out of print. It showed every chord based on triads. The circle of fifths gives one the chord progression, though not always the best sounding. Please let me know what you want to learn, and I will see what I can do to help. Things are loads different now than back when I started.
I had a piano teacher that told me not to always start practicing at the beginning of the piece and to go somewhere in the middle. It was such good advice. My biggest problem as someone who has always been able to play by ear is I tend to rely on it when I’m struggling with reading the music. It’s a hard habit to break.
I tend to heavily read the sheet music while learning a piece until I’m starting to “master” it then I’ll kinda switch to playing from memory but then often when I play one note wrong I’ll get totally stuck cause I have no idea where I am 😂
Currently I am playing the sheet by firstly knowing it well, memorizing it and playing it without reading the sheet. I am still at the beginner's stage and I didn't yet master my techniques, this made me wait to be good at something in the first place before going to the second stage of enabling myself to immediately play the music while reading the sheet.
Wow, thank you so much! I am more of a person who memorizes music that I want to learn, I hear it and memorize it, then play it sometimes a bit every day. But your definitely right about the pedal, I use it all the time! 😅 I need to learn to prioritize when I need to use it. Thank you so much! This was really helpful! 🤩
I play by ear mostly, which my violin teacher pointed out was my fault as it made me so much of a perfectionist. I’ve been working a lot more on sight reading and forcing myself to slow down, I already know what sound I want to make but I need the reading to match so it can transfer to my fingers. And it’s working. Great video.
These tips were extremely helpful. In fact it reminds me of the things that my piano teacher taught me forty years ago. I'm just staring to learn again after 40 years so this was very helpful. Thanks for sharing.
I'm a professional adult educator and teacher trainer (think "trade skills") and also a semi-pro musician (strings) who has come late to the piano. I absolutely love this video. The "5 mistakes" expose underlying "core principles" of adult learning. I think the 5 "principles" here are completely adaptable to any new complex skill that demands a novel "psycho-motor" technique. Bravo Jazer Lee! Love your work!
Great content. Would like to see you talk about arm movement and hand position on the keys to generate different sound qualities. For example contrasting the different techniques required to play Bach vs Rachmaninoff to create the sound.
Whenever I practice a new song I leave excited to magically nail that section after a good sleep. I practically require a nap before I can play something new hands together.
Thank you Jazer. Your videos are absolutely the most helpful out there for an intermediate pianist like myself. I recently began practicing "slow" as you recommend, and it does help. I also find it helpful, when playing to slow, to play all the notes loudly and emphatically. That seems to (1) require more accuracy, and (2) embed the movements into memory a little more. What do you think about that? I also found your comments about daily practice and memory very interesting. I sometimes (not always) find the first time I play a piece in a day is somehow better than all the subsequent attempts.
Thanks for sharing your experiences ! I’m afraid i’m a memorizer so my score reading is below par, unfortunately. Regarding playing slow : it is said that before a concert Horowitz played through his programme so slow that people could barely recognize the pieces. Related to your advise to practice both hands first separetely, I want to share the “trick” to start practicing at the end of the piece. In that way you know you can finish the piece, compared to building up anxiety because you approach the point from where you do no longer know how to play the piece. ;-)
I started learning piano just yesterday. A little bit of music theory, a little a bit of sheet reading, memorising and practicing Moonlight with both hands. It's messy, but I love music. I'll try to be more considerate tomorrow. Thank you!
I've always been more of a listener and thus ended up semi memorising the music. It really stifled my growth and because my sight reading could not keep up, I got really demotivated and basically stopped playing. Now, about 10 years later, I have the privilege of my childhood piano being moved into my home and I'm training my sight reading through an app every day. Just doing this for 5 days has significantly improved my sight reading. For fellow listeners I would highly recommend spending a few minutes a day sight reading. It's not as boring as it used to be when forced to read the same 8 lines of sheet music over and over again. It can be an enjoyable practice with an app thats slightly gamified!
Dave, my personal opinion on this is that just repeating something enough (correctly) is key for memorization. Muscle memory is something we all have and rely on it day in and day out without realizing it (like every time you take a step). Everything from tying our shoelaces to driving a car has become easy and second nature to us because of muscle memory. I find that just memorizing the sequences of pitches and chords by note name only, without the muscle memory to back it up means we are still thinking too much. . .though it is, of course, still necessary to read everything down first . . . but we become unstoppable when muscle memory takes over. I really believe it's one of nature's greatest gifts to musicians when it comes to playing our instruments.
I'm just starting with piano but I've played guitar more than 50 years. I want to learn piano to help me with my writing as there's still no way to make a guitar talk to the computer with proper timing. Thank you for these lessons. This one applies to pretty much any instrument. I'm slowly working through the two hand exercises right now.
I have the Hanon - virtuoso pianist book, having been introduced to Hanon many years ago by a piano teacher I was taking lessons with until I had to move to a new place. I’ve been off and on with the piano most of my life, having recently returned to it as an older adult, to take it as far as I can, and I feel I’m making steady, slow progress. Can you recommend any other types of finger exercises I can use to build strength, finger independence and dexterity for those times when I’m not in front of the piano? Since I play by ear fairly well, I often find that I just memorize what I read on the page of sheet music without reallly trying so that, albeit with simpler beginner pieces, I don’t have to refer to the sheet music after a couple of run throughs, but I realize that doesn’t help reinforce my sight reading ability, and I have to force myself to follow the music with my eyes as my hands already know what to do. Any tips to encourage myself to follow the sheet music even if the motions/sound of the music is committed to memory?
Same thing here. The thing that has most helped me is unfamiliar pieces. It's hard to keep a stream of novel pieces so I've also dug out my old bass guitar and saxophone books. I also go back to older pieces that I no longer play and have forgotten sufficiently that they're new again.
I also belong to this category and it is a problem because the ear soon takes over the sight so the sight doesn't progress as it should. In order to practice sigh reading I use a couple of apps and they really help.
I remember one bad habit I had of keeping my farthest joint of the finger (he distal inter-phalangeal joint) straight instead of curving it. This is an important thing that I think you could have mentioned in this video. Maybe you have before, but I thought I'd mention it. Thanks for the video!
Hey Jazer, thanks; another great lesson video! I'm an older (than dirt) beginner. I've always had a good memory, so when I play exercises and simple pieces from my method book, I consciously avoid memorizing the notes, so as to force myself to better my reading skills. I mean, I'm not even at the point where I automatically know all the notes on the scales and where those keys are on the piano, so it seems to me that I should keep on "reading only", at least to the point where I can automagically connect a note on the sheet to a note on the piano. Whaddya think, Jazer?
I'm a 35 year old beginner myself, and although i have no experience, i am also setting this same goal... to be able to look at a new song, as it is written, and instinctively know where my hands need to be. It doesnt need to be played fast for practice purposes (obviously) but i feel like you cant be a "reader" until you can translate the page instinctively to the hand. Jazer had a video on this where he asked viewers to read their sheets and play the notes, but to cover their keys and hands with a blanket so they couldn't use their eyes to guide their hand.. it was an exercise on instinct and reading, and i think it's one i'll be doing once i get a bit more familiar with the keys. Seems like an intermediate type exercise, not for someone in their third week practicing lol
@@gogotrololo Sometimes I practice with my eyes closed, just to try to embed in my mind the feeling of where my hands need to be with different intervals, it's amazing how much more aware you are of where your hands are. Try it!!
@@marianboudreau1337 i've yet to practice piano with my eyes closed, but i totally get what you're saying if we were talking about ukulele or guitar! let your hands shape into the sound, and waste no effort trying to watch your finger placement.... you just trust your hands and get taken away on a musical adventure :D maybe tomorrow when i practice again, i'll try some jazzy improv with eyes closed, and see what happens
FIVE BAD HABITS 5. . Always practicing hands together. (One plus one equals 5 ) 4. Always practicing with the pedal. 3. Not practicing daily. ( Allow your sleep to transfer memories of whatever little you've learned instead of trying to cram too much into long rare practices) 2. Working too much by memory or by reading. Develop both skills. 1. Practicing too fast. Always go back to slow practice so you can be conscious about the notes and play cleanly
Sound and useful. My daughter is the one who memorizes to avoid reading. We have ways to compensate, because memory is exceedingly useful. Otherwise to progress at reading speed would hold her progress back considerably.
Just started watching your videos Jazer and I want to just thank for your time and your effort in doing these videos, I’m an older student but you inspire me to play my piano!
The habit 5 would be the mostly common mistakes to every pianist or maybe they really want to finish the song fast enough but instead doing it make even harder than playing because you cannot get better without knowing how to play. I just noticed it after playing like 2 years of practice and now I feel better and learn faster than before! Thanks for the video❤
I've been playing piano for 7 years and I still do all of these sometimes. Thank you for making this video it was helpful, I'll try to be less lazy when I'm practicing lol
Glad to know I'm on the right track 😊. Took lessons as a kid, and there was so much she didn't teach that I got frustrated and quit. Thing is, I could play some fairly difficult pieces, but couldn't tell you what key they were in, or what the chords were. I used to play in a church, and the woman that played the organ played by ear. So I even got to where I could transpose since she didn't always play in the key the songs were written in. Started teaching myself a few years ago, and was doing all these. Then my husband was diagnosed with cancer. I eventually had to stop practicing because I just didn't have time. I lost him last month. So I'm starting to be able to practice again. Still working on getting a schedule since I still have so much to do. ETA: almost forgot to ask, what piece were you playing? I've played it before, but can't remember what it is.
I kinda threw myself at learning piano without much direction (still don't know much) and I honestly thought the "doing one hand at a time" was the wrong way of doing things. It helps so much to know I was doing something right.
With sleeping memory, its definitely true. Every day I doing small steps. And I have one song which I was try to play everyday. Its wonderful how another day I go futher in that song than before :). Also I want point up that praciticing only one hand in one moment. Thats another strong way, how to prepare your brain. I actually started learning piano two weeks before. I didnt know how to synchronize my hands in first days. So I naturaly started by practicing right hand. When I was self-confident that I can play with right hand, I had switched to left hand. After some days of practicing, I finally start playing both hands and was wonderful how easy it was.
Literally start self teaching today. I used to be able to play as a kid, only simple notes I memorized by sound. So sheet music was new to me. I’m understanding it but I confuse the notes sometimes… But it’s my first day so no worries.
it‘s interesting to see that most of these habits or what you should do instead equal not only on piano but also on other things like school, or other instruments
I'll try your little bit a day suggestion. I tend to have way too many different things I want to do, and even though I was a teacher and self taught in a lot of things, so I know starting anew is an important part of learning because you're practising jumping into the skill at a moment's notice, I hadn't heard about the difference in memory consolidation. So I will have to get organized with these little bits of things. I tend to have a long list and just jump into whatever I'm in the mood for. Not disciplined, but fun. The one area in my life where I haven't compulsively organized and streamlined what I'm doing in order to get through it efficiently.
Definitely a memorizer, currently working on my sight reading skills and boy is it tough, but hopefully will be worth it in the long run. Guilty of Habit #1 as well - it used to be that I could play something fast relying on muscle memory, but as soon as I tried to slow it down I would realise I didn’t actually know what I was playing! Again, working on this one big time at the moment - knowing the piece slowly and intimately is key to being able to perform it properly, as you’ve demonstrated
I am a memorizer and I regret not enhancing my sight reading skills. There’s this one person that I know that when you show her a sheet music, she can just play it almost instantly in which I was just amazed and envious. Whenever I’m infront of a sheet music, my mind just goes blank. Thank you for the tips, new subscriber here (:
I am self taught, and I didn't feel like I was making any progress lately, now I know why, thank you. For me it is number two and three, like I can barely read sheet music because I rely so much on memorising😅
Thanks so much for this. I’m a 52-year-old man who just started studying piano a week ago. I am already into the bad habit of practicing hands together.
Yes, def do independently. Start as slowly as you need to, put it together as slowly as you need to and go back and play it after the last section you've learned. I find the in the transitions I lose my memory a bit trying to get from part a to part b (apologies if that's preaching to the choir!)
Bad habit 2 is DEADLY. Now i find huge difficulty in jazz/pop because i grew up as a classical junkie. I do hv good hearing but i cant play it in the piano due to the lack of practical usage. My hands wont play it without the muscle memory
Since you asked, even growing in tenement housing, I very early in life had the idea that written music was what music was. I eventually attributed this to seeping cultural influence of my Central European ancestry. It actually took me a long time to understand that music played by ear and music passed person-to-person was a legitimate thing too. I had no music training as a child but eventually I learned a little guitar and with access to practice pianos at my college I was able to advance to an intermediate beginner level on keyboard. That was 50 years and change ago. Recently a friend brought to karaoke at the local senior. Between that and vocal class (no, I am not a natural at vocals), I got interested in music again. After some research, I bought a Roland FP-30X keyboard, which I concluded had the best acoustic piano emulation at the entry-level price point. The heavy Roland action might not be the best for a lot of people, but it was what I wanted. I agree with you about the bad habits. Especially, I think constantly playing both hands in parallel is a bad idea. What I have done is adapt the traditional exercises (Hanon) so that I also play descending with one hand and ascending with the other. I am not advanced in music, but I am an advanced thinker. What I think could be added to your list is the willingness to study music theory away from the keyboard. Another thing I think is that there might be people who want to quickly play something, usually pop songs, and then people whose idea is that they should learn by playing graded exercises forever. I am willing to play and do play the exercises but I want to learn the pop (and eventually jazz) chord progressions too. In fact, I need to play chord progressions for the pop vocals. People who want to immediately play recognizable music, usually pop or jazz, need to understand the importance of playing exercises. People who want to study by traditional methods maybe need to play some chord progression early on and improvise a little. Myself, I want to do both. I want to learn traditional piano and I want to play some pop or jazz too, and do some songwriting. Keyboard is my thing, not guitar. But my guitar experience tells me, learn some chord progressions and you can start composing songs. Unlike most people my age, I still have some ambition. If I get the chance, I'll do it.
Super helpful video! I played piano in elementary school for a couple of years (and the cello for 6-7 years around the same time) but quit as a teenager. Now at 29 I'm getting back to it, just waiting for my digital piano to arrive. I was always in the second group of learners and would just easily memorize most pieces, and therefore my sight reading never developed much. 😅 I'm deternined to learn to sight read properly this time, because I want to get into songwriting ~
I am neither a memorizing nor a reading pianist. I am a beat maker, but I mostly study jazz theory. It's what I love about the genre, I just want that free feeling of unfolding a music yourself with the help of your ears, feelings, and theory. I'm not very good at it but it's something I really love doing. It's also frustrating when someone just comes up to me and ask if I can play something specifically for them. I usually play something that's never been out there, and I cannot just whip out a sheet music cause I can't read it.
For me the most amazing part is that sometimes I work and work over hard part for days and get so frustrated that I stop playing for some weeks, even month or so. I play none, zero, then I came back to the piece and notice myself playing that earlier difficult part with ease. I always tell this to everyone who is starting out any instrument. I think it's the best part of playing. Because you know that just because something is difficult now it won't always be.
So, which of these bad habits do you find yourself doing?
0:00 5 Bad Habits to Avoid
0:32 Habit 5
2:01 Habit 4
2:55 Habit 3
4:03 Habit 2
5:05 Habit 1
Hello bro i love your content and can you do a full musique on piano pls just for see how well you play i love listent musique from you❤
Habit no. 3 & 4 really i found this my habits🙏
Thankfully, when I had my teacher she told me most of these, now self-teaching myself with a little harder pieces I like I find those techniques more useful. I will describe myself as a memorizer, but lately I found out that combining both work the best, since with harder pieces short silences, are difficult to memorize and reading where those are is very useful to help myself.
Thanks again, great video.
I clearly rely to much on memorisation. I don't fall that much in other traps since I've learned the actual efficiency of praticing that at slow pace a few amount of thing in isolation. Putting hands together is actually the hardest time, maybe it's 1+1=7 in my case.
FIVE BAD HABITS
5. . Always practicing hands together. (One plus one equals 5 )
4. Always practicing with the pedal.
3. Not practicing daily. ( Allow your sleep to transfer memories of whatever little you've learned instead of trying to cram too much into long rare practices)
2. Working too much by memory or by reading. Develop both skills.
1. Practicing too fast. Always go back to slow practice so you can be conscious about the notes and play cleanly
Another bad habit, according to my teacher, is what he calls "biting off more than you can chew", in other words, wanting to play through the whole piece all at once, instead of starting off with a few bars and not going on to the next few until those have been mastered. It can be slow going -- and a little frustrating when you are chomping at the bit to move forward -- but I think the approach does ultimately obtains the best results.
When learning a new song, I learn two lines a day. Master those and move on. I did start out wanting to play the whole song, but then frustration set in. My teacher and your teacher are right. Learn slow to grow.
I agree. :) I stopped playing for a decade and now im back to square one. Im trying to read clementi sonatinas and it's a pain to learn the entire movement at once. I'm learning patience more than playing piano tbh...
Also biting more than can chew also mean another thing: when a pianist wants to learn a piece that's not up to his/her level. I'm a victim of that a decade before. I got too fast in learning harder and harder pieces and realized my hands can no longer do it. I got frustrated and ultimately stopped playing thinking at was at my talent's end. I didn't even give myself a chance to breathe. I was learning sonatas and i didn't even know hanon :(
I am the opposite of that, I am often staying with the parts i learned, which then holds my progress back.
@@tomwanders6022 bro sameeee
yes you should do this with any instruments
Something very important to note about sleep: your brain actually solves problems while you're sleeping, too. I have noticed that if I practice a small chunk of something difficult (very slowly) before going to sleep, I almost always end up having the ability to play it perfectly after I wake up. Compared to just practicing one time at some point in the evening, I have noticed significantly better results when I practice a bit first thing in the morning, and then save whatever is causing me trouble for just before I go to bed.
_Morning_ practice is incredibly effective, and it pairs perfectly with the whole sleeping thing. Often times the first thing I do when I wake up is start tickling the keys just to see if I can finally play whatever thing I was trying to practice the night before. I don't go through a whole practice routine when I wake up, but I do at least try to run through whatever small part I was working on the night before. Practice every single day for sure, but if you can manage it, save whatever is giving you the most trouble for right before you to go bed. Try to work it out, then go to sleep. And the first chance you get when you wake up, try to play it. You just might surprise yourself!
Jazer, I came into this very curious about what bad habits you were going to address, and I was astonished to find out that these are all things that I say to my students already. BUT, it's very refreshing to know that I am already telling my students the same things that a pro pianist at YOUR level would also say. I guess I'm a better teacher than I thought . . .thank you for the encouragement! Subscribed!
:D thank you for teaching such a beautiful instrument
@@spectralavatar3550 you bet! I teach nearly 60 private lessons a week, mostly kids, and it's the biggest pleasure I could ask for. If we don't have music teachers to teach music to today's youth then there will be no musicians in the future. (set aside the likelihood of virtual teachers, bots, dna editing and music that is 100% electronic). So not only is it enjoyable, it is a necessity for our kids and the most rewarding career I could ask for.
I feel like I've seen you in real life.
@@SloshyString164 nah that was some other guy
Sir Emory it's me Joe
Here's a teacher generous enough to make teaching videos for free, and gracious enough to call people "self taught" while teaching us. Thank you Jazer Lee!
3:08 that is true to me! For me, hours of practicing even just a few notes will NOT translate into a smooth piece of melody until the next day. And magic just happens the next day after I woke up, it's like my brain and my hands kept on practicing while I was in bed. But the key for me is to practice right before I go to bed.
Oh my god this has been me the past few days cuz I just started and then I play in the morning and I’m a whole new person somehow. Soooo much better the next day after I wake up!!
yesss me too i’ve made note of this a while ago! if anything once I start playing for too long at once it’s like I can almost get worse. I have to give my brain time to marinate the song lmao and when I wake up the next day I can play whatever I was struggling with the day before instantly
very true, this is the case with me. my fingers stumble upon eachother a lot, just like a flock of sheep, but after sleeping, they are almost dancing butterflies on the keyboard
How are the neighbours feeling about that?
@@jurisbirznieks7781 get a pair of head phones if you are playing on the keys
Not a pianist, but a violinist,
I still think some of these are good tips, especially the practicing ones. I very much prefer memorizing pieces than reading, but I know how important both are! Also, some pieces sound cool when you change the tempo, sometimes the general vibe of it completely changes, so it’s fun to play both fast and slow!
as another violinist, the "practice with just one hand" tip worked really well.
I am self taught for 1 year and 8 months.. good to know I haven't fallen into these bad habits.
I've practiced daily since I started in April 2020, and found on my own that practicing each hand seperately before putting them together helps, and all the other tips you gave.
My main issue, is I have no idea how to sight read. I am 100% the second group.
Although everyone's goals are different. For me, my dad taught me how to play by ear, and I mostly do that now. (obviously not for classical pieces though)
It's a very different way of learning to sheet music. But for me, it is useful to be able to play anything on the spot without anything written down, transpose to any key to match a singer's vocal range, etc.
It's also just cool to understand chord progressions and why things sound the way they are, and it keeps me interested.
So yeah, learning sheet music will certainly be useful and I probably will one day, but right now it's probably okay.
Yeah that’s me as well
Same, although I taught myself Rondo Alla Turca by ear.
Even I have the same case
So cool that you can play by just hearing the song! I wish i could do that.
@@mariashamoun2909 I watch tutorials and then learn..
Thanks so much for posting this! I've been playing for ~40 years, and I've slipped into multiple bad habits, my playing got stale and my motivation dropped. By getting back to these important foundations you've refreshed my perspective, and my playing has found a new lease of life! I am so grateful :)
1) I'm a memorizer and definitely need to work more on my sight reading.
2) I was about to object to the point about emphasizing practicing both hands separately, but then remembered you said this was for "Beginners." I definitely agree that it's critical for beginners to do that, so don't take this as a criticism--I think what you said was perfect. For me, however, with more than 30 years of playing music, my brain *wants* the different hands doing different things. It's hard to describe, but the closest I can get is if you're playing polyrhythms on drums, where one hand is in 4/4 and the other is in 5/4, or something similar. For me, it's actually more difficult to separate them out and NOT play simultaneously, because my hands begin to play off each other, like a dance. My right hand "knows" when to move to the next note because it's following my left hand's direction, and vice versa, so when I try to only play one hand, that hand gets confused because it's lacking a director. I still do play one-hand at a time through super complex portions while slow-playing to learn it (which is super important, as you stated). But when I do that, I have to focus on counting to such an extent that it's basically the same mental work needed to just play with the other hand keeping beat (in fact, sometimes I'm tapping with the other hand anyway, just because the kinesthetics help me keep my rhythms better). But even saying all that, I know that 1) I am weird so this could be just me, and 2) it took decades of playing various instruments that forced both hands to do different tasks simultaneously for my brain to get to that place, so definitely not for beginners.
You’re other hand is helping the other but that clearly tells that you don’t have as much hand dependency as sight reading as you could..even at high piano levels, you should practice hands separate to do independent phrasing and all in order to correct this mistake that is playing so much according to the other hand. It’s like in a band that one guy that doesn’t know how to count but he guides himself so much by other elements that he gets by. And being a memorizer (at the piano iam too) it’s so much easier to memorize the patterns between two hands, than just read hands independently according to the beat.
Same
Can relate to all of them, particularly the last one where you get “trapped” in bad muscle memory when having practised a piece for a few weeks and everything sounds muddled and uncontrolled. It’s so very irritating. You just can’t be bothered going back to playing slowly but you know you really should…
Memorizer. Even after memorizing a piece, I can’t follow the sheet while playing. I can relate to all of these. Thanks for the reminder.
I’m a reader (70 years old, playing since I was 6) and that’s it! I’m completely handicapped when it comes to memorizing 🤣
BTW, like someone already commented, these are things I’ve always taught my students! Nice to hear you emphasize these important learning techniques! They work!
Sight reader here. I have done all of these. Not practicing daily is my week has been my weekness.
One other advantage of not playing with the pedal to much is that it forces you to learn to play legato better. The pedal also hides mistakes (sort of) that should be addressed and not covered up. It becomes easier to play cleaner without the pedal.
Spot on
I’ve bee playing the piano for over two years now and I have couple of these bad habits. Practicing with both hands most often, I automatically memorize and my reading is not great, sometimes I practice fast, 😣 Thank you for this video. It helped me to become aware of my bad habits and I will change them.
I’ve been self learning for about 2months now and I’m glad I came across your videos even before I started playing. Every video I’ve watched makes me conscious of what my potential bad habits are, so I’m trying my best to correct them as I’m learning. Keep the amazing vids coming!!
I'm definitely more of a memorization person, so I need to work more on my reading. I also never really considered going back to slow practice after learning songs, so that's something I'll have to start doing more.
Always appreciate your videos, Jazer!
Same same
i'm amostly self-taught pianist, and i really appreciate this.
I only work from memory and ear due to my visual disability. Slow and steady with feel I do prefer, but at times with speed 🎹😎
This mans goated
I have four of the bad habits you mentioned and the worst habit of mine is that I don't practice everyday. I have an electronic piano which doesn't have a pedal otherwise maybe I would have had all the five bad habits. For me the most valuable tip in this video is to isolate two for practice.
Thank you Jazer for all these lessons. I love your way of teaching and the setting. My husband, who plays the bagpipe, never uses sheet music once he's learnt the song; me, on the other hand, rely heavily on the sheet if I'm playing a wind instrument. If I'm playing the piano I prefer relying on my memory once I've mastered the song. I am guilty of playing too fast and have been working on it.
i have been playing for like 7 years now and i still practice these bad habits thank you so much for the call out
Thank you so much for your brilliant, thorough, and thoughtful teaching! I've learnt so much from you and every video is really helpful. I've been trying to learn both reading and memorizing. So glad to hear you recommend this.
I took piano class last year, and I'm glad how ut turns out. My teacher always gives me so much time to practice, the scales, the chords and a lot of advises. I also agree with you in no. 5. I always practice with my right hand first since I'm left handed. My left hand can cope up with my right hand easily that's why I always worked with my left hand first. I also agree with you to practice slowly and practicing everyday.
Additional: At first I memorize the chords and notes of the songs but now I realized that I don't need to do it since it was easier to look at the sheet of the song
Wow, this is great and exactly what I needed to hear. I related to many of the bad habits, mainly not practicing daily. I get sidetracked too easily. Thank you for your many lesson tutorials. I have learned so much from you and look forward to many more. You help make learning piano for adults fun and inspiring.
i began practicing piano since 2020 and does all the bad way to master it, i scroll down through youtube and see this video, i watched it till the end and realize me doing all that habit. Thanks to you i finally know what to do
Thank you for this video. I am definitely a sight reader! I also recognize myself in some of the bad habits. I love the pedal, but recently I've been noticing that I use it to hide small mistakes and to be less precise in my playing. And the practicing too fast is also a weakness of mine, I get very inspired and instead of working out all the little mistakes and taking time to polish the piece, and then it doesn't sound neat.Thank you for these great videos. Really enjoying them.
I started learning to play when I was 70! I am in book three of Alfred's Adult lessons. I can relate to ask of these but most esp wanting to always play with two hands! Thank you!
Awesome core truths about the principal fundamentals of learning and how they apply to piano!
Only way this could have been better is if you would have talked a little bit about why relying on ONLY sight-reading sheet music is also bad.
I feel that TOO much reliance on the logical and "thinking" about a piece ties up all of your brain's processing power, then you have nothing left to focus on the "big picture" as well - like making sure that your playing is dynamic, and conveying emotion and an overall feel - being able to manage larger dynamic ranges where appropriate, your louds and softs, etc.
You need to be able to go beyond more than just note letters and timing.
A great analogy to this is typing while reading. You should be able to read and "stream" the typing - you shouldn't be thinking about where each letter key is. It just all comes together and flows!
I taught piano at church n you brought great points. Bad habits are hard to get rid, good habits take time but build a strong foundation.
I struggle with all of these LOL! I want to play the piece so much that I have to resist rushing in without practicing properly first. I'm definitely a play-by-the-dots person but lately I'm learning to connect theory with playing which helps a lot with memorizing. I would love to see a tutorial on how to practice pedaling - lifting after one chord and pressing right at the next makes my music choppy, but if I don't I get a muddy sound. Also, I'm not always sure when to pedal and when to leave the pedal alone. Thank you!
Excellent advice - thank you! I started playing the piano when I was very small, 3 or 4. My older sister could read music and played very well, and I loved listening to her, and when she was done with the piano I would try and recreate the music she'd been playing, just by ear. I soon found I could play most of her pieces this way, and when I was given piano lessons myself at age 7 or 8, I was already able to play boogie woogie pretty well, as well as some Bach (Jacques Loussier style), and some simple trad jazz and pop songs, as well as hymns I'd sung at school, so the lessons were tedious and boring, and I cheated by asking my teacher to play it through, and then I played it, pretending to read the sheet music. The result is I'm 64 and only started to try and read music 10 years ago - with very limited success! I taught myself to read Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata, but then found I couldn't play it without the music - how frustrating! Same with Minute by Minute (McDonald). It's a curious phenomenon isn't it? If you learn a piece by repeatedly listening to it, and aching to find that right chord, you never forget it, but reading it constrains you to needing to have the sheet music. What do you think?
Jazer, every video of yours I watch assures me that I'm doing practice in a constructive way, and always offers me at least one thing to think about or to improve on!
My bad habits i watched this with:
4: foot has always been on the pedal for exactly the reasons you said. Starting now, I will not practice with it! Makes sense
I'm a memorizer, but I always use sheet music in practice to take me beyond where my memorization starts to fail (building new memorization) so i dont think i'm bad here :P I do both, i know i wont be able to memorize everything... just the really important songs
I started learning playing the piano last year as a 48 yo. Glad to see that practising one hand at a time is not silly. And the tip about reading vs memorising is solid. I first start reading, and when I get to difficult parts I memorise so I can look at the keyboard more. But when I have memorised, I usually don't go back to reading. Started Musette by Bach last week where the big leaps are a challenge for me.
I’m definitely a memoriser- that thing you said about your skill feeling capped is actually exactly what I’m going through right now, if you have any tips for how I could improve my sight reading it would be much appreciated (or if there are any videos you can link)
Love the fact that I watched this only 1 month in. I realized many of these mistakes while playing although I always thought it needed a teacher to show you how to fix it. UA-cam does the job!
I've been playing piano for 18 years, and I can definitely agree with these points. However, some songs have really strange rhythms and I find it best to practice both hands together instead of mastering them individually. For example, I recently learned the Champion Cynthia Battle Theme. In areas where I tried to master both hands separately, I found my rhythm was horrid. In other areas, I never played the hands separately, opting instead to play both hands very slowly, and I found those parts were significantly more accurate. Of course, this isn't always the case, and it's a bad habit more often than it's a good one.
As for Habit 2 (reading/memorizing), I find I memorize a lot of my pieces subconsciously. I don't try to memorize them, but I play them enough times that my muscle memory will let me almost effortlessly play it. Even pieces I hadn't played in years (Eye of the Tiger, Avengers Theme, Bohemian Rhapsody, for example), I'll sit down and play really well without the sheet music, only because my muscle memory hadn't forgotten it. I've also finally been practicing learning by ear-following the advice from a family friend-so I don't even have the sheet music to refer to anymore half the time.
Cynthia from Pokémon platinum?
@@IdOnThAvEaUsE69 Yeah! I'm still working on it, but it's definitely been a fun challenge.
@@MichealHolt G' luck lol, and happy learning
Thankyou i am a memorizer and you made me realise it's important to focus on the other skill i.e reading instead of focusing on the one I'm already good at.
Hi Jazer. I would love to be a part of the second group (memorisers), but my memory is not strong enough, so I am forced to stick to reading music from my sheets. Great videos, BTW! Thanks for sharing.
It's important to recognize these are two different skills so although you are an experienced reader, you're a rookie memorizer. That means to develop the skill you need to start by memorizing very simple pieces.
Ear training helps a lot too because memorizing is predominantly playing by ear supported by a structural understanding of the piece e.g. first time through the melody does this but the second time it does that.
I would recommend learning simple tunes by listening to recordings and copying them. That way you don't even have the dots so you can't cheat 😀
Memorizing is extremely difficult for me. Playing by ear is a never mind.
Same here.
I can relate the memorising one I always memorise the notes and then play it my reading of sheet music is not so good so I would have to work on that now. It is stressful a little bit to memorise it
Jazer, it's apparent you not only are a talented musician in your own right, but a wise a highly skilled teacher as well. I've never played piano and have still yet to start my first physical lessons but I can tell you've already helped me step up my game.
I've subbed so look forward to more of your videos!
Wow, thank you!
I agree with you that Jazer is a gifted teacher. think it's fantastic that you haven't even started to play piano yet and you are taking this opportunity to learn and to prepare. I hope you will have much joy in the future as a player .
Hi thankyou so much for this video I just started playing a few months ago and these helpful pointers will go along way😁so thx for the help
3:10 - 3:30 so basically I’m hitting a save point when I sleep, if I don’t sleep am I speedrunning…
Just started playing piano and I was practising switching between two chords. Coulant get it right in a song. After one night of sleep it somehow fixed itself. The brain is amazing..
Thank you Jazer.
Could you please make a video on chords inversions? The best way to practice them.
Thanks
I got a piano a few days ago for my birthday and I'm loving it SO much, it's second nature to me just like the first time I picked up the guitar! In terms of what kind of student, I don't memorize any particular notes because I recognize them easily just by listening to it! I did eventually memorize a few basic things like the notes and some chords, I just need to start improving on it! Some tips here in particular helped me clear up some things, I think I know what to do next study session!
I had to learn piano through books. The hardest mistake I made was to try reading individual notes. I found that by slowing things down and phasing I could accomplish so much more. The body has muscle memory, it is there forever. Speed comes with time, repetition, and correct fingering. I started out learning chords, then went to notes. I would listen to a piece and slow it down to get the notes, then slowly increase speed. I did all my lessons that way. I would practice one hand then the other till I achieved muscle memory. After I completed that, I could add fill to suit myself. I always played for myself so I didn't have the pressure others had.
When I finally could afford lessons, the instructor could not believe how far I had advanced through self teaching. I am so thankful I had the proper books to teach me with phrasing by some of the greatest musicians. I personally found that memorizing phrases is loads easier than memorizing notes. I believe I am saying I got the right books that mimic your style of instruction. Bless you for being there.
I can only say that instructors make things loads easier than books, and arpeggios come in every piece at one time or another.
I am no Mozart, but I did manage to win the state level and the state talent competition imitating Liberace for fun. Keep up the great work, please.
By the way, the instructor gave back my money, and I used it to buy more books and recordings to slow down.
Please inform me your guidance Book Title. tks
@@juniwatyhsd1157 Which one of many would you be interested in, one book does not show everything. The best one I can think of is A Photograph Guide to Piano Chords, out of print. It showed every chord based on triads. The circle of fifths gives one the chord progression, though not always the best sounding. Please let me know what you want to learn, and I will see what I can do to help. Things are loads different now than back when I started.
I had a piano teacher that told me not to always start practicing at the beginning of the piece and to go somewhere in the middle. It was such good advice. My biggest problem as someone who has always been able to play by ear is I tend to rely on it when I’m struggling with reading the music. It’s a hard habit to break.
I tend to heavily read the sheet music while learning a piece until I’m starting to “master” it then I’ll kinda switch to playing from memory but then often when I play one note wrong I’ll get totally stuck cause I have no idea where I am 😂
This happens to me exactly like that!
Currently I am playing the sheet by firstly knowing it well, memorizing it and playing it without reading the sheet. I am still at the beginner's stage and I didn't yet master my techniques, this made me wait to be good at something in the first place before going to the second stage of enabling myself to immediately play the music while reading the sheet.
Wow, thank you so much!
I am more of a person who memorizes music that I want to learn, I hear it and memorize it, then play it sometimes a bit every day. But your definitely right about the pedal, I use it all the time! 😅 I need to learn to prioritize when I need to use it. Thank you so much! This was really helpful! 🤩
I play by ear mostly, which my violin teacher pointed out was my fault as it made me so much of a perfectionist. I’ve been working a lot more on sight reading and forcing myself to slow down, I already know what sound I want to make but I need the reading to match so it can transfer to my fingers. And it’s working. Great video.
These tips were extremely helpful. In fact it reminds me of the things that my piano teacher taught me forty years ago. I'm just staring to learn again after 40 years so this was very helpful. Thanks for sharing.
I'm a professional adult educator and teacher trainer (think "trade skills") and also a semi-pro musician (strings) who has come late to the piano. I absolutely love this video. The "5 mistakes" expose underlying "core principles" of adult learning. I think the 5 "principles" here are completely adaptable to any new complex skill that demands a novel "psycho-motor" technique. Bravo Jazer Lee! Love your work!
Great content. Would like to see you talk about arm movement and hand position on the keys to generate different sound qualities. For example contrasting the different techniques required to play Bach vs Rachmaninoff to create the sound.
Whenever I practice a new song I leave excited to magically nail that section after a good sleep. I practically require a nap before I can play something new hands together.
Thank you Jazer. Your videos are absolutely the most helpful out there for an intermediate pianist like myself. I recently began practicing "slow" as you recommend, and it does help. I also find it helpful, when playing to slow, to play all the notes loudly and emphatically. That seems to (1) require more accuracy, and (2) embed the movements into memory a little more. What do you think about that?
I also found your comments about daily practice and memory very interesting. I sometimes (not always) find the first time I play a piece in a day is somehow better than all the subsequent attempts.
I am definitely guilty of a few of these, mostly not practicing hand separate and playing too fast. Good reminders for me here.
I always memorize the sheet music, because I can't read it while I have to pay attention to my fingers and the pedal
I have been practicing piano 10 min a day and have been doing it in 4 month now... And i can say.. i see a lot of improvement
Thanks for sharing your experiences ! I’m afraid i’m a memorizer so my score reading is below par, unfortunately. Regarding playing slow : it is said that before a concert Horowitz played through his programme so slow that people could barely recognize the pieces.
Related to your advise to practice both hands first separetely, I want to share the “trick” to start practicing at the end of the piece. In that way you know you can finish the piece, compared to building up anxiety because you approach the point from where you do no longer know how to play the piece. ;-)
I started learning piano just yesterday. A little bit of music theory, a little a bit of sheet reading, memorising and practicing Moonlight with both hands. It's messy, but I love music. I'll try to be more considerate tomorrow. Thank you!
2:58 If you practice 5 hours and 42 minutes a day, at the end of the week you have practiced 40 hours. So GO PRACTICE !
LOL, twosetters forever!
I am easily hitting 25 hours each week since i started 3 weeks ago.... do people seriously practice 40 hours a week?
@@gogotrololo No one I know does that. It is an inside joke for those who like the You Tube channel TwoSet Violin. Check out some of their fun videos.
5:05 if you can play it slowly you can play it quickly
@@kokod2736 *phew* thats a load off lol
I've always been more of a listener and thus ended up semi memorising the music. It really stifled my growth and because my sight reading could not keep up, I got really demotivated and basically stopped playing.
Now, about 10 years later, I have the privilege of my childhood piano being moved into my home and I'm training my sight reading through an app every day. Just doing this for 5 days has significantly improved my sight reading.
For fellow listeners I would highly recommend spending a few minutes a day sight reading. It's not as boring as it used to be when forced to read the same 8 lines of sheet music over and over again. It can be an enjoyable practice with an app thats slightly gamified!
I’m a reader but I think that practice by reading will eventually lead to memorizing.
Thoroughly enjoy your videos, just don’t tell my teacher.
Dave, my personal opinion on this is that just repeating something enough (correctly) is key for memorization. Muscle memory is something we all have and rely on it day in and day out without realizing it (like every time you take a step). Everything from tying our shoelaces to driving a car has become easy and second nature to us because of muscle memory. I find that just memorizing the sequences of pitches and chords by note name only, without the muscle memory to back it up means we are still thinking too much. . .though it is, of course, still necessary to read everything down first . . . but we become unstoppable when muscle memory takes over. I really believe it's one of nature's greatest gifts to musicians when it comes to playing our instruments.
I'm just starting with piano but I've played guitar more than 50 years. I want to learn piano to help me with my writing as there's still no way to make a guitar talk to the computer with proper timing. Thank you for these lessons. This one applies to pretty much any instrument. I'm slowly working through the two hand exercises right now.
Found myself guilty of almost All habits😬
I agree with the sustain one (2nd)
All though I don’t ever think about it, I just do it. It comes naturally to me.
I have the Hanon - virtuoso pianist book, having been introduced to Hanon many years ago by a piano teacher I was taking lessons with until I had to move to a new place. I’ve been off and on with the piano most of my life, having recently returned to it as an older adult, to take it as far as I can, and I feel I’m making steady, slow progress. Can you recommend any other types of finger exercises I can use to build strength, finger independence and dexterity for those times when I’m not in front of the piano?
Since I play by ear fairly well, I often find that I just memorize what I read on the page of sheet music without reallly trying so that, albeit with simpler beginner pieces, I don’t have to refer to the sheet music after a couple of run throughs, but I realize that doesn’t help reinforce my sight reading ability, and I have to force myself to follow the music with my eyes as my hands already know what to do. Any tips to encourage myself to follow the sheet music even if the motions/sound of the music is committed to memory?
Same thing here. The thing that has most helped me is unfamiliar pieces. It's hard to keep a stream of novel pieces so I've also dug out my old bass guitar and saxophone books. I also go back to older pieces that I no longer play and have forgotten sufficiently that they're new again.
I also belong to this category and it is a problem because the ear soon takes over the sight so the sight doesn't progress as it should. In order to practice sigh reading I use a couple of apps and they really help.
I remember one bad habit I had of keeping my farthest joint of the finger (he distal inter-phalangeal joint) straight instead of curving it. This is an important thing that I think you could have mentioned in this video. Maybe you have before, but I thought I'd mention it. Thanks for the video!
Hey Jazer, thanks; another great lesson video! I'm an older (than dirt) beginner. I've always had a good memory, so when I play exercises and simple pieces from my method book, I consciously avoid memorizing the notes, so as to force myself to better my reading skills. I mean, I'm not even at the point where I automatically know all the notes on the scales and where those keys are on the piano, so it seems to me that I should keep on "reading only", at least to the point where I can automagically connect a note on the sheet to a note on the piano. Whaddya think, Jazer?
I'm a 35 year old beginner myself, and although i have no experience, i am also setting this same goal... to be able to look at a new song, as it is written, and instinctively know where my hands need to be. It doesnt need to be played fast for practice purposes (obviously) but i feel like you cant be a "reader" until you can translate the page instinctively to the hand.
Jazer had a video on this where he asked viewers to read their sheets and play the notes, but to cover their keys and hands with a blanket so they couldn't use their eyes to guide their hand.. it was an exercise on instinct and reading, and i think it's one i'll be doing once i get a bit more familiar with the keys. Seems like an intermediate type exercise, not for someone in their third week practicing lol
@@gogotrololo Sometimes I practice with my eyes closed, just to try to embed in my mind the feeling of where my hands need to be with different intervals, it's amazing how much more aware you are of where your hands are. Try it!!
@@marianboudreau1337 i've yet to practice piano with my eyes closed, but i totally get what you're saying if we were talking about ukulele or guitar! let your hands shape into the sound, and waste no effort trying to watch your finger placement.... you just trust your hands and get taken away on a musical adventure :D maybe tomorrow when i practice again, i'll try some jazzy improv with eyes closed, and see what happens
Thanks. Practice small bits seven times and using different fingers when moving up the keyboard seems the most important to me.
FIVE BAD HABITS
5. . Always practicing hands together. (One plus one equals 5 )
4. Always practicing with the pedal.
3. Not practicing daily. ( Allow your sleep to transfer memories of whatever little you've learned instead of trying to cram too much into long rare practices)
2. Working too much by memory or by reading. Develop both skills.
1. Practicing too fast. Always go back to slow practice so you can be conscious about the notes and play cleanly
In part of memorizing. I’ve never really had the opportunity to learn to read
Question:
What should a beginner not learn?
I don’t think you have covered that.
Fantasie Impromptu 😋
Sound and useful. My daughter is the one who memorizes to avoid reading. We have ways to compensate, because memory is exceedingly useful. Otherwise to progress at reading speed would hold her progress back considerably.
The worst habit is not practicing 40 hours a day
you are right
TWOSET!!!
Just started watching your videos Jazer and I want to just thank for your time and your effort in doing these videos, I’m an older student but you inspire me to play my piano!
The habit 5 would be the mostly common mistakes to every pianist or maybe they really want to finish the song fast enough but instead doing it make even harder than playing because you cannot get better without knowing how to play.
I just noticed it after playing like 2 years of practice and now I feel better and learn faster than before!
Thanks for the video❤
Yes 100% agree, the most important practice is slow practice. I like your way of teaching, very inspiring.
I'm definitely a memorizer. I started with a teacher about 2 months ago and we just had our first lesson on sheet music last week
Every piece of music I have played, I remember it. And practice them everyday.
I've been playing piano for 7 years and I still do all of these sometimes. Thank you for making this video it was helpful, I'll try to be less lazy when I'm practicing lol
Glad to know I'm on the right track 😊. Took lessons as a kid, and there was so much she didn't teach that I got frustrated and quit.
Thing is, I could play some fairly difficult pieces, but couldn't tell you what key they were in, or what the chords were. I used to play in a church, and the woman that played the organ played by ear. So I even got to where I could transpose since she didn't always play in the key the songs were written in.
Started teaching myself a few years ago, and was doing all these. Then my husband was diagnosed with cancer. I eventually had to stop practicing because I just didn't have time.
I lost him last month. So I'm starting to be able to practice again. Still working on getting a schedule since I still have so much to do.
ETA: almost forgot to ask, what piece were you playing? I've played it before, but can't remember what it is.
I kinda threw myself at learning piano without much direction (still don't know much) and I honestly thought the "doing one hand at a time" was the wrong way of doing things. It helps so much to know I was doing something right.
With sleeping memory, its definitely true. Every day I doing small steps. And I have one song which I was try to play everyday. Its wonderful how another day I go futher in that song than before :).
Also I want point up that praciticing only one hand in one moment. Thats another strong way, how to prepare your brain. I actually started learning piano two weeks before. I didnt know how to synchronize my hands in first days. So I naturaly started by practicing right hand. When I was self-confident that I can play with right hand, I had switched to left hand. After some days of practicing, I finally start playing both hands and was wonderful how easy it was.
Literally start self teaching today. I used to be able to play as a kid, only simple notes I memorized by sound. So sheet music was new to me. I’m understanding it but I confuse the notes sometimes… But it’s my first day so no worries.
it‘s interesting to see that most of these habits or what you should do instead equal not only on piano but also on other things like school, or other instruments
I'll try your little bit a day suggestion. I tend to have way too many different things I want to do, and even though I was a teacher and self taught in a lot of things, so I know starting anew is an important part of learning because you're practising jumping into the skill at a moment's notice, I hadn't heard about the difference in memory consolidation. So I will have to get organized with these little bits of things. I tend to have a long list and just jump into whatever I'm in the mood for. Not disciplined, but fun. The one area in my life where I haven't compulsively organized and streamlined what I'm doing in order to get through it efficiently.
Definitely a memorizer, currently working on my sight reading skills and boy is it tough, but hopefully will be worth it in the long run. Guilty of Habit #1 as well - it used to be that I could play something fast relying on muscle memory, but as soon as I tried to slow it down I would realise I didn’t actually know what I was playing! Again, working on this one big time at the moment - knowing the piece slowly and intimately is key to being able to perform it properly, as you’ve demonstrated
I am a memorizer and I regret not enhancing my sight reading skills. There’s this one person that I know that when you show her a sheet music, she can just play it almost instantly in which I was just amazed and envious. Whenever I’m infront of a sheet music, my mind just goes blank. Thank you for the tips, new subscriber here (:
I am self taught, and I didn't feel like I was making any progress lately, now I know why, thank you. For me it is number two and three, like I can barely read sheet music because I rely so much on memorising😅
Thanks so much for this. I’m a 52-year-old man who just started studying piano a week ago. I am already into the bad habit of practicing hands together.
Yes, def do independently. Start as slowly as you need to, put it together as slowly as you need to and go back and play it after the last section you've learned. I find the in the transitions I lose my memory a bit trying to get from part a to part b (apologies if that's preaching to the choir!)
VERY ENLIGHTENING TUTORIAL.
I do ALL five, and so I have never mastered the piano.
Bad habit 2 is DEADLY. Now i find huge difficulty in jazz/pop because i grew up as a classical junkie.
I do hv good hearing but i cant play it in the piano due to the lack of practical usage. My hands wont play it without the muscle memory
Since you asked, even growing in tenement housing, I very early in life had the idea that written music was what music was. I eventually attributed this to seeping cultural influence of my Central European ancestry. It actually took me a long time to understand that music played by ear and music passed person-to-person was a legitimate thing too.
I had no music training as a child but eventually I learned a little guitar and with access to practice pianos at my college I was able to advance to an intermediate beginner level on keyboard. That was 50 years and change ago. Recently a friend brought to karaoke at the local senior. Between that and vocal class (no, I am not a natural at vocals), I got interested in music again. After some research, I bought a Roland FP-30X keyboard, which I concluded had the best acoustic piano emulation at the entry-level price point. The heavy Roland action might not be the best for a lot of people, but it was what I wanted.
I agree with you about the bad habits. Especially, I think constantly playing both hands in parallel is a bad idea. What I have done is adapt the traditional exercises (Hanon) so that I also play descending with one hand and ascending with the other.
I am not advanced in music, but I am an advanced thinker. What I think could be added to your list is the willingness to study music theory away from the keyboard. Another thing I think is that there might be people who want to quickly play something, usually pop songs, and then people whose idea is that they should learn by playing graded exercises forever. I am willing to play and do play the exercises but I want to learn the pop (and eventually jazz) chord progressions too. In fact, I need to play chord progressions for the pop vocals.
People who want to immediately play recognizable music, usually pop or jazz, need to understand the importance of playing exercises. People who want to study by traditional methods maybe need to play some chord progression early on and improvise a little. Myself, I want to do both. I want to learn traditional piano and I want to play some pop or jazz too, and do some songwriting. Keyboard is my thing, not guitar. But my guitar experience tells me, learn some chord progressions and you can start composing songs. Unlike most people my age, I still have some ambition. If I get the chance, I'll do it.
Super helpful video! I played piano in elementary school for a couple of years (and the cello for 6-7 years around the same time) but quit as a teenager. Now at 29 I'm getting back to it, just waiting for my digital piano to arrive. I was always in the second group of learners and would just easily memorize most pieces, and therefore my sight reading never developed much. 😅
I'm deternined to learn to sight read properly this time, because I want to get into songwriting ~
I am neither a memorizing nor a reading pianist. I am a beat maker, but I mostly study jazz theory. It's what I love about the genre, I just want that free feeling of unfolding a music yourself with the help of your ears, feelings, and theory. I'm not very good at it but it's something I really love doing. It's also frustrating when someone just comes up to me and ask if I can play something specifically for them. I usually play something that's never been out there, and I cannot just whip out a sheet music cause I can't read it.
I'm a violinist who is only trying to learn a teeny tiny amount of piano.
But I love playing with sheet music :)
For me the most amazing part is that sometimes I work and work over hard part for days and get so frustrated that I stop playing for some weeks, even month or so. I play none, zero, then I came back to the piece and notice myself playing that earlier difficult part with ease. I always tell this to everyone who is starting out any instrument. I think it's the best part of playing. Because you know that just because something is difficult now it won't always be.