Any Piano Tips?

[Cat.on.the.Hill]

Gah losing focus in the practice room is the pits. It happens to me when i have other things on my mind and also mainly when I'm hungry. Try eating a light snack before practicing, like an apple or some nuts (hopefully your not allergic to these.)

You'll probably roll your eyes at this, but practice slowly, really! It builds up your abilities without getting frustrated because you can't just run it like a pro.

Also keep yourself thinking positive. I saw you have already called the piano "a beast", believe it or not but you've just limited yourself right there.

By the way, what's you main instrument?  

[flamingrice]

cool If I were you, when playing the piano, I would try to just focus on the piano and the music thats in front of you so you can play at the highest level you can play. cool Another thing I would do would be to relax and do something that you personaly like doing before you go and play the piano. That is what I would do, but you don't have to do this if you don't want to, seriously....... mrgreen  

[Lord Eydvar]

Yuki no Ryu

IkaruTiger

Hey, I am rquired to pass a piano test to get my music major. I am really strugglin with the instrument (which I have dubbed beast). Can any one give me a tip or two. I am having major issues with staying focused during practice, and I am struggling with simple pieces like Minuet in G Minor by JS Bach, and the like.

if ur having trouble, then you aren't focusing enough.
try to incorporate all the dynamics, and add expression of your own
watch the fingerin geven if you already know it, it'll help you keep focused
it watching fingering and dynamics and adding expression isny enough, find the harmony and try to accent it and accent the proper beats
like 4/4 accent all 1st and 3rd beats and so forth
if that isnt enough then lock yourself in a blank white room XP

I'm actually gonna say the exact opposite. I'd say your trying to focus to much and you just need to relax and take it slowly and steadily. Try to not get so caught up in playing how you think something should be played and play it more how you want to. I'm entering college next fall as a classical piano performance major and believe me the last thing you want is to be all tense and stressed out when your practicing. When that happens to me i will either take a break or pull out my trusty Funeral March in B-flat minor by Chopin and play it until my stress is gone since i know it better then i know my own two hands. Once your relaxed its much easier to focus on the things your working on learning.  

[Amethyst_BondS]

I can sort of relate. Occasionally I'll get one of those pieces that I flat out dislike so I get distracted whenever I work on it. To help, I'll play the first measure of the piece, stop, then play the first and second measure of the piece, stop, then play the first, second, and third measure of the piece and so on. Not only are you then focused but it really helps you learn it.

I also remember that when I first began piano, of course this would be very different since I started at age 6 or so... I would have troubles with playing the right and left hand together. So to fix it I would memorize the left hand and then play the piece with both hands.

I hope that helps. sweatdrop  

[Cat.on.the.Hill]

Amethyst_BondS

I can sort of relate. Occasionally I'll get one of those pieces that I flat out dislike so I get distracted whenever I work on it. To help, I'll play the first measure of the piece, stop, then play the first and second measure of the piece, stop, then play the first, second, and third measure of the piece and so on. Not only are you then focused but it really helps you learn it.

I also remember that when I first began piano, of course this would be very different since I started at age 6 or so... I would have troubles with playing the right and left hand together. So to fix it I would memorize the left hand and then play the piece with both hands.

I hope that helps. sweatdrop

How funny, when i was little i too had trouble playing both hands together but i memorized the right hand. I think i still do.