How To Play Piano Well

Where You Place Your Attention

When it comes to learning how to play piano this is far more important than most people think.

Let's say you're trying to learn how to do a scale and you're a visually oriented person. It follows that you will probably put most of your attention into your eyes and what you see. The best thing to do with scales is to put your attention into your touch and your hands.

There are far too many exercises to list here all at once. One excellent tip is to simply close your eyes once you are reasonably familiar with the scale, then play it slowly. You will have to feel the keyboard more and that would be great for your playing ability.

How You Choose To Execute Things

This may sound superficial. In learning how to play piano, it is extremely important or you will waste a lot of time.

• Do you execute things quickly?
• Do you press the keys hard?
• Do you repeat five times, ten times, twenty times or more?

You might see the need to choose on purpose how you execute anything.

When To Shift Your Focus

Of course it would be ideal to have your focus on everything simultaneously. For most of us, while learning how to play piano, it is a juggling act.

So,

• Do you shift your attention from the music, to your hands, then to your ears?
• Do you hold your focus on the melody line?
• Do you listen to every note?

As you can imagine, it all depends on the particular circumstance.

If you are reading music, one good way to do it is to read the notes first; then compute quickly in your mind what it is; then find it by touch on the keyboard; and finally, confirm everything by ear. Once again, the instructions for all that would be rather long, and making certain you are doing it all correctly usually requires assistance.

A Few More Tips

1. Always project the melody.
• That means to make certain it can be heard over the accompaniment.
2. Be clear about what it is you are trying to do.
• Something simple and easy?
• Something that will take a while with personal growth in mind?
• Get to know something well enough to be able to teach someone else?
3. Always, always choose how you execute things.
• Mostly by ear.
• Mostly by touch.
• Press the keys hard to learn the feel.

The list goes on, and on. As always, it's a good idea to take small steps and avoid getting overwhelmed.

Want to review often overlooked points? Return to How To Play The Piano page.

Are you considering one on one lessons? Private Lessons with John has good, quick details you may want to see.

If you haven't seen these pages yet you may find them helpful:

Learn To Play Piano has some good brief advise. It can be applied to all learning.

Play Piano By Ear has a great exercise that is useful for any level of piano.

If you plan to use a keyboard instead of a piano, Piano Keyboard has excellent time saving pointers.

If you'd like to hear some piano played with a little flair and read brief 'how to' explanations, visit Listen To Christmas Music for two short examples.

How To Play Piano

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