Should You Look at Your Hands When You Play From Memory on the Piano?
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- Опубліковано 25 сер 2024
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Welcome to LivingPianos.com, I'm Robert Estrin. The subject today is about whether you should look at your hands when you play from memory on the piano. This is a really insightful question that someone asked me recently. There are two distinctly different ways of playing the piano. One is playing from memory and the other is reading the music.
Once a piece is memorized, why does it seem so difficult to go back and play from the notes?
Thanks Robert. This is interesting and encouraging!
Thank you👍
That’s the main advantage of been bad at the piano : I repeat so many time the same passage that it’s burned in my memory.
Hahahaha
I look at the keys, intervals and the pattern of keys that are played and not my hands necessarily. It might seem like quibbling over semantics but there's a difference in my mind.
Agreed.
Thank you
It is far easier at least for me to visualize my fingers on the keyboard instead of what is on the score sheet. So it certainly helps by looking. The real problem for me is that my memory does not last very long. If I leave a piece unattended for several years I almost have to re-learn it completely again from the first note. I cannot help but ask myself 'Have I wasted my time?'
Memorizing written notation makes it possible to remember. Its like reading any language you want to speak. Music should burst forth from the same syntactic place a raving madman is drawing on his words. The observation of geometric form is music syntax. To 'get good' at the rhythmic distributive shapes that constitute music, you would note the patterns, thats notation and theory. THE ONLY WAY TO RECALL GEOMETRIC CLAWINGS IS VIA UR WORDS
Same here
I was always taught not to look ta my hands. I was never told to memorize anything but to play from the score. That was from a very qualified teacher (Cantab and Cert Ed). As the man says when you read the score you dont look a your hands. I suspect it is a muscle forming exercise reading many times from the score and playing by having an intrinsic feeling of where your figners are at all times.
Thank you for this. I'm working on memorizing some simpler pieces as it's a weakness so I appreciate your advice/tips.
An interesting comment at the end: people "thinking" about playing has the same effect as actually playing. Like learning a new language, having thoughts in the language is as effective as learning words & phrases from a book, TV or other sources. However, most beginners playing an instrument assume they need to be with the instrument to learn to play. Can't really convince someone who started playing recently that he doesn't have to be next to a piano or violin to learn it. An advanced player can think about his playing in his sleep but a total beginner with no technical skills probably not. Even playing a beginner song someone who started his first lesson yesterday can't think about the right notes or fingerings in his head without repeating the song a few times on an instrument.
Now I finally understand how Glenn Gould learned to play pieces by studying the score without physical practice. Earlier this month I started to close my eyes, with the imaginary score before me, and playing Mozart's K333 with imaginary fingers. It amazed me how well it worked. I used to learn by memorizing segments. Beethoven's Pathétique remained indelibly engraved in my finger memory even after years awsy ftom the piano. I learned the Appasdionata by repeatedly sightreading the entire piece. I could play it well, but never without the score before my eyes. I could close my eyes and play the Pathétiwue (a few pages before opening my eyes and looking at my fingers). Last month I forgot one note in Brahms op. 79 no. 1. I looked at the score, played it looking at the page, and made a mental note, so I could look at the keyboard and play that note while looking at it. Without keeping my eyes on the score from beginning to end, I always get lost in Schubert's Impromptu op. 90 no. 2. There are so many variants in it that start the same way, so it's hard not to inadvertently jump foreward or backward unless I keep my eyes on the score from beginning to end.
Thank you, Robert
Your shirt is really really beautiful, sir! Thanks for the great video as always.
I think it's instinctive and natural for most people to look at their hands when the score isn't present. When the score is there you naturally want to look at it and when it's not the next natural place to look is at your hand and the keys.
3 ways to play piano. Reading the music, from memory, or IMPROVISING!
I love this
You're still the best source for info and tips! Thanks. BTW do you think it's a good idea to try practicing a difficult passage blindly. I 'm not totally sure yet, but I have the feeling that it speeds up the mastering of it.. It seems to build up confidence in executing that passage
There are definitely times where not looking at your hands has great value, particularly when playing music which isn't memorized. Some music that has leaps in both hands simultaneously can also benefit from learning to feel distances when your eyes can't focus on two locations!
Great video! I’ve been waiting for years for muscle memory to happen. 😂
On the side of my fridge I have 4 pictures Elton John , Freddie Mercury, ( biggest picture is Freddie cause he was the reason I took up piano) Stevie Wonder and Ray Charles , interestingly 2 being blind persons . The other side of the fridge is Chopin , Debussy , and Mozart
I think there are 3 distinct ways of playing piano or any instrument. I close my eyes when playing piano and let one note or phrase lead to the next. I can't read a score with my eyes closed but I'm not a piano player. I don't look at my hands when playing my string bass. I think almost everybody will tie their shoes, button their clothes, and do hundreds of things every day . . . without looking. The mind and body is able to do many wonderful things.
What would you say to keyboard players/organsts? We are having our eyes on the keys most ot the time for sound adjustments and so on
I can't even look at them even if I wanted to LOL🎹🎶
We're actually looking at the keys, not our hands.
I received a notification that I won an electronic piano from Living Pianos. Is that a legitimate notification really from LP, or is it from a scammer? impersonating you?
Definitely from a scammer, living pianos hasn't mentioned holding any contest of any kind, anywhere.
I also received this. Is there a way to report the scammer to UA-cam?
Yes- if you click on the dots next to the comment, you can report the scam comment.
What’s with these spam replies