Playing your favorite song or musical notes on a piano is a dream for many, but some are fearful and consider learning an arduous task. If you have been learning, but have yet to reach your goal, time to assess. There may be some do’s missing from your list, and a few don’ts that have been included.
If you wish to be successful at piano playing, then our checklist here will help you reach your goal. This list is not only beneficial for beginners, but for experienced pianists as well. Many mistakes are made by learners at all stages of their learning process. What are you waiting for? Take notes, and be the pianist you want to be.
Consistent Practice Will Take You A Long Way
The most important thing to getting better at anything is to practice. The more you practice, the better the results will be. To begin, take things slowly and do not rush. The initial days of practice might be tough to keep up with but do not give up.
You should practice every day or at least on alternate days. You should at least opt for biweekly practice, as it is imperative to building muscle memory. Your muscle memory or fingering memory will help you play the piano with ease, and this can only be obtained by regular practice.
Optimal time management during practice sessions is crucial because if you have a hectic schedule, then a lack of focus will serve as a great hindrance to your development. If possible, dedicate a fixed time for your piano sessions. You can set reminders if you need. However, if timing becomes burdensome, then you can be more flexible and still maintain the duration. Consistent practice is more important than what time of the day you do it.
Memorization Is Essential
As you begin practicing, make a list prioritizing the things that you want to learn. Some of the elements will be a prerequisite for the basics. The foremost thing that you need to learn is how to read musical notation. This is the theoretical part that you need to be thorough with in order to be able to apply it practically.
Sitting in front of the keyboard and playing notes will be easier if you know how to read them and input the correct interval among them. The additional knowledge of dynamics, clefs, time signatures, tempo, key signature, and other advanced concepts will shorten the time it takes to becoming a pianist. You will soon know how to convert musical sheets into real melodious sounds.
After enough practice, the ability to play what you have heard will come. Furthermore, as you reach that stage, you’ll be able to play anything you like, based only on your hearing capability. It is advisable to learn the major scales, which include chromatic scales, harmonic and melodic minors. They come handy when composing or even simply playing a piece.
Work On Your Hand Synchrony
Before you play, there should already be a blueprint in your mind of what you are going to do. There are times when the whole plan and steps are clear in your mind, but you are not able to execute them in reality. So the synchronization between what is going in your mind and hands is vital.
Moreover, the coordination between both hands will also take some time to achieve. For this, you can start by practicing with one hand at a time and when you feel confident, use them together. Without even realizing it, you will build muscle memory while practicing with them on an individual basis. Since all of the working parts are to be done by your fingers, try some finger-stretching exercises so that you do not strain them.
Another common error encountered is the spacing and placement of the fingers on the keys. Learning the notes and everything else still falls on the back end, but the coordinated musical notes belong to the front end and are of utmost importance. Practice raising and lowering the scales as proper finger placements and adequate pressure application comes into play as well.
Do Not Let Piano Playing Become A Chore
The motives for learning piano can be numerous, but never let it become a chore. Consistent practice is essential, but doing it just for the sake of task completion will be an injustice to the music and to yourself too.
In order to stay motivated, you can keep a record of your progress in a notebook where you can also write down your mistakes and new achievements too.
Do Not Sign In For Harsh Practicing
There is no need to dedicate multiple hours of practice every day; an hour of honest training will be more than enough. Make sure you do not stress out your mind and body. This is because hours of sitting in front of the keyboard can be tiring and bring on health issues too, like various types of aches in different body parts.
It is true that you don’t need a professional piano teacher if you want to be a pianist. Get a pianist to train you only if you find it too challenging to do it all on your own. You can make use of online tutorials, DVDs and the fun part about them is that you don’t have to be restricted by any time.
However, there won’t be any communication, so you can try performing in front of family, friends and other small gatherings. This will help boost your confidence and you’ll be more motivated to improve yourself. However, this is not an obligation by which everyone needs to comply to succeed.
Conclusion
These are a few tips which will certainly help you in learning to play the piano. If you find any other advice that is really useful, share it with us in the comments section, or write to us.
