In this article, our Jannali piano teachers offer you some useful tips for improving your skills. These tips also apply to other instruments. So, even if the instrument you play is not the piano, read on.
Tip #1: Practice!
Yes it is true! We are all very busy these days. However, in order to improve, you must practice. To really progress, you should be practicing daily for a minimum of 30 minutes. This may however not be realistic with your lifestyle. Thus, aim to practice for 30 minutes 4 time a week. If not possible, our Jannali piano teachers recommend you practice 15 minutes 4 times a week. In addition, have a plan for your practice so that you do not waste time.
Tip #2: Revise pieces you have learned to maintain a repertoire
Students often learn new pieces of music and forget the ones they have just learned. This can lead them to not being able to play to friends and family because they have forgotten the pieces they learned recently. Furthermore, they are unable to play the piece they are learning at that moment because these are not yet at the level of performance. To avoid this, maintain a repertoire of about 5 pieces by going through these at least once a week.
Tip #3: Practice small segments of 1-2 bars at a time
The most effective way to learn a piece of music is to learn 1-2 bars at a time. I recommend you first play the left hand until you can play it comfortably. Then, play the right hand of the same 2 bars until you are comfortable playing them. The next step is to play both hands together slowly. Once you are comfortable with those 2 bars, move on to the next 2 bars and follow the same steps described above. When you have got those 2 bars together, try the 4 bars you have learned and see if you can put all four bars together. So to summarize:
- Practice bars 1-2 left hand
- Practice bars 1-2 right hand
- Practice bars 1-2 hands together slowly
- Practice bars 3-4 left hand
- Practice bars 3-4 right hand
- Practice bars 3-4 hands together slowly
- Play bars 1-4 slowly
- Go on to bars 5-6 and repeat the steps above.
Tip #4: Look at the music
Particularly at the early stages of learning a new piece of music, try not to look at your hands. This is to avoid making mistakes. The mistakes I mean are things such as playing the piece by ear incorrectly because you are not looking at the score and making up parts of the piece.
To solve this issue, get someone to hold a book just above your hands. This way you will not be able to see your hands and will force you to look at the score.
Tip #5: Play all the easy and hard passages at the same speed
When learning a new piece of music, many students tend to play the parts they know well at a fast tempo and then slow down on the sections of the music they are still not comfortable with. To resolve this, first look through the score and find the section you are having problems with. Next, play that section at a speed you are comfortable with. Finally, go back from the beginning and play the piece using the tempo you used in the difficult section. Learning the music this way will allow you to make sense of the tempo and will help you learn the piece faster.
If you would like to further improve your musical skills, our Jannali piano teachers offer piano lessons for beginner to advanced students.