Piano experience

Caters

New Fish; Learning About Thick Skin
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I have only had a piano teacher for 2 years. But I have learned a lot in 6 years. When I had a teacher it was simple scales to complex pieces within 2 years. I thought that was impossible but it wasn't. However I didn't learn much about all the different 7ths, 9ths, 11ths, and 15ths and their nomenclature. I also didn't learn much about the key signatures that aren't in the circle of 5ths like Cbb Major which is really just Bb major written in terms of C(and there is even a site that has this and all double flat and double sharp scales).

But when I was about to go into my 3rd year with a piano teacher she started being rude to me. I don't know if it was because of me wanting to play complex pieces early or what but the rudeness she had towards me made me stop being taught by her and start teaching myself.

I learned a lot more then both in number of pieces and in music theory. Pretty soon I went from being able to play part of Piano Concerto no 21 by Mozart to being able to play all of blumenlied. I can now play the first movement of Piano Sonata K 545 at speed with the sheet music even without practicing for months because the sonata is so familar. I wasn't able to do that a few years ago.

Pieces with presto tempo still get me though regardless of whether the unit of the beat is quarter notes or something else. It is so fast that even with practice I typically only get it to allegro without mistakes. Once I start speeding up past that I start getting mistakes even with lots of practice. Of course I have been able to play at vivace and allegro vivace both with no mistakes but the same thing is not true for presto unless you are counting the 1 time I sped up the rondo of Clementi's sonatina in C to presto.

So do 64th, 128th, and 256th notes. Mozart has used these 3 types of notes as well as 32nd notes to whole notes. The reason these get me is that 32nd notes are already 1/64th of a second in length at allegro so 64th notes would be twice that speed. And at allegro(which is the most common tempo for me to play in) it is hard for me to get a note to be 1/128th of a second long without it sounding staccato.

Both of these hinder me from learning a lot of chopin's pieces and a piano transcription of the Toccata and Fugue in D minor. They wouldn't hinder me from learning the Liszt transcription of Symphony no 5 by beethoven though because there are no 64th notes in that piece and the fastest speed is allegro.

I have a pretty good handshape regardless of what speed I am trying to play at. I am also pretty good at trills. Both of these should make learning to play at presto easy. But it doesn't.

And as far as the 64th notes and shorter are concerned I don't know what would make playing these fast notes easier besides months of practice.

My momma says that if I practice every day I will be able to play the whole Liszt transcription of symphony no 5 at speed in a few months.
 

Kylabelle

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One of the best things I learned when I was learning to play the piano was this: if you play a wrong note, you are practicing a mistake. Repeating that is only practicing the mistake more thoroughly.

So, the key to learning to play pieces "up to speed" is to practice them very very slowly, with no mistakes. I forget which one, but there was a famous concert pianist who was heard to practice so very slowly it was difficult for the listener to determine what the music was. But this was how that pianist learned to perform brilliantly with no mistakes.

The other part of this was, if you do make a mistake in your practice, stop right then, slow it down, and repeat the phrase three times correctly. And don't play faster until you can do it perfectly at the slower speed!

Works.
 

Caters

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Yeah I often do that but even if I get no mistakes at allegro I am still very likely to get more and more mistakes as I approach presto. Same thing goes for really fast notes like 64ths.
 

Billtrumpet25

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One of the best things I learned when I was learning to play the piano was this: if you play a wrong note, you are practicing a mistake. Repeating that is only practicing the mistake more thoroughly.

So, the key to learning to play pieces "up to speed" is to practice them very very slowly, with no mistakes. I forget which one, but there was a famous concert pianist who was heard to practice so very slowly it was difficult for the listener to determine what the music was. But this was how that pianist learned to perform brilliantly with no mistakes.

The other part of this was, if you do make a mistake in your practice, stop right then, slow it down, and repeat the phrase three times correctly. And don't play faster until you can do it perfectly at the slower speed!

Works.

As a music teacher, I can vouch for this.

Also, another rule with practice - don't practice until you get it right. Practice it until you can't possibly get it wrong.