Im a guitar player (fingerstyle is my way of playing), but the knowledge that Prof Kate shares can be applied in many diff kind of instruments. This channel is really a goldmine for musicians, im grateful i found it. It gives me a different perspective on my approach in my practice, learning and memorizing a song and performing...thank you prof.
@@Aurora-KLPL for now guitar is enough for me, i just want to enjoy music, and i really can't afford an electric piano because i'm broke. Even my guitar is a very cheap one that i bought through saving money for a couple of years. What is important to me is i can play music.
Wow! This information is so valuable. I've taken private lessons with different instructors and had some college musical training. I played Salsa, Merengue, and other Latin rhythms, as well as some Jazz with different bands. I was never introduced to proper posture and technique when playing the piano, which sadly caused me to suffer injuries that may be irreversible. I met an Israeli instructor who was the first instructor who immediately noticed my lack of posture and technique at the piano and gave me awareness exercises to show me how playing the piano should feel. He worked with me patiently and scrupulously, paying attention to every movement from my shoulders to the tip of my fingers, ensuring I was doing my exercises correctly. Although it has taken me a while to perfect my technique, the lessons with this great instructor have helped me improve my performance at the piano without pain and effortlessly. I wanted to share that message with you because I am sensing the beginning of an exciting and informative learning experience. Thank you so much!
Thank you for sharing your story. I'm so glad you found a good teacher to help you! That can make all the difference between healthy playing and injury!
Thinking ahead and listening ahead was the start of a new level in my piano playing. I'd heard similar advice before but not really understood how to use it. This explanation, combined with your mental practice videos, gave me something I could actually apply. I'm a post-retirement beginner so it's all relative, but I'm happy with the results. Thanks!
Wow - thanks so much!! I really appreciate it! I am so glad you have found this helpful - are there any aspects of mental practice or "listening ahead" that you have questions about? I'd like to make another video about this topic.
@@ThePianoProfKateBoyd You're quite welcome! It would be useful to have more detail about how to practice Thinking/Listening ahead and other mental aspects of playing piano. Your mental practice videos have some getting-started tips, something similar would be useful for thinking ahead, possibly along with comments about how that looks for a beginning, intermediate or advanced student. Also, is there a tradeoff between skills? For example between thinking ahead versus practicing a piece more (so that muscle memory takes over and I don’t have to "think" about it as much)? But I’m sure that anything you want to put into a new video would be useful. I’m looking forward to whatever you think is most important. Thanks!
I've thought about there more, here are a few observations about what I try to do with look/think ahead - 1. I use material that's easier or more repetitive to specifically focus on looking ahead. In this mode I have the mental bandwidth to look at more than just the immediate notes, so looking/thinking ahead can sometimes be the primary purpose of a practice segment, not just something that I add-on to an otherwise existing practice segment. 2. On harder material, I choose specific things that I need to look ahead for. For example a hand position change, key change, dense chord, or anything that requires extra attention to play confidently. So in this mode I pay attention to the immediate notes that I'm playing, and try to add attention to one or two upcoming events that need extra attention. 3. I use repeated mistakes as a hint for things that I need to look ahead for. If the core cause of a mistake is a physical limitation then thinking ahead won't fix it, but more often the core cause of a mistake is more of a mental focus thing. It can actually feel like a mental effort to get my mind focused on the new thing (hand position, key change, etc), and practicing with think-ahead makes the mental transition easier and more accurate. If I practice it enough then the transition can become almost automatic, but to get there I have to go through the phase where I'm consciously practicing it. 4. My natural lookahead scope tends to be short - just one thing ahead or just a note or two ahead. That's useful but I'm trying to look further ahead and consider more than one issue, and pushing lookahead further out seems to take specific practice. This is probably related to the previous point, to get to the skill level where I don't have to think as specifically about things like key changes, so that I can be aware of more things at once. 5. I started piano as a post-retirement beginner. My experience and goals are probably quite different from your college-age students :-) I'm looking forward to any new video that you might make on this topic!
Great lesson! I wonder if you could do a whole video on both what you learned from Sebok and what he was like in person? I am mesmerized by what I have seen and heard from him on TH-cam (and Denk's book). Struggle is by far my number one problem.
I was offered the opportunity to work with Sebok at IU for a masters degree but I chose to go to Stony Brook with Gilbert Kalish instead. So, I ended up only working with Sebok for a couple of weeks in a residential masterclass at Prussia Cove. I also saw him do various other masterclasses and heard him perform chamber music a few times. It was amazing, but I didn't have enough direct contact with him to do a whole video about him and his teaching style, since he was never my actual primary teacher, and there are other people who worked much more intensively with him over a period of years. But your comment does give me the idea to do videos about my own teachers, and what I learned from them. There is another book by a Sebok student that was written some years ago- she talks a lot about his teaching style. I will look up the title and get back to you.
@@ThePianoProfKateBoyd thank you! The clips of his Master Classes on TH-cam have some magic in them. I watched two of your recitals and enjoyed both very much. I am glad you found those glasses! I bet that further endeared you to the audience.
I think it's a matter of practicing and improving over time. For a tool, I suggest checking out the app Note Quest - it's for learning notes and also sightreading practice.
I practiced performance at the piano bar of a hotel. People were listening, first I was nervous, then I enjoyed it :)
Im a guitar player (fingerstyle is my way of playing), but the knowledge that Prof Kate shares can be applied in many diff kind of instruments. This channel is really a goldmine for musicians, im grateful i found it. It gives me a different perspective on my approach in my practice, learning and memorizing a song and performing...thank you prof.
Why, go buy an electronic piano and enjoy it
@@Aurora-KLPL for now guitar is enough for me, i just want to enjoy music, and i really can't afford an electric piano because i'm broke. Even my guitar is a very cheap one that i bought through saving money for a couple of years. What is important to me is i can play music.
Thank you! Glad that you can apply this to your guitar playing! Good luck!
Thank you for all your lessons: they are all so infomative, structured, clear and useful. Thank you for your effort.
You're very welcome! Glad you are enjoying them. I really appreciate your kind words - made my day! Best of luck to you, and happy practicing! 😊
Wow! This information is so valuable.
I've taken private lessons with different instructors and had some college musical training. I played Salsa, Merengue, and other Latin rhythms, as well as some Jazz with different bands. I was never introduced to proper posture and technique when playing the piano, which sadly caused me to suffer injuries that may be irreversible. I met an Israeli instructor who was the first instructor who immediately noticed my lack of posture and technique at the piano and gave me awareness exercises to show me how playing the piano should feel. He worked with me patiently and scrupulously, paying attention to every movement from my shoulders to the tip of my fingers, ensuring I was doing my exercises correctly. Although it has taken me a while to perfect my technique, the lessons with this great instructor have helped me improve my performance at the piano without pain and effortlessly.
I wanted to share that message with you because I am sensing the beginning of an exciting and informative learning experience. Thank you so much!
Thank you for sharing your story. I'm so glad you found a good teacher to help you! That can make all the difference between healthy playing and injury!
This is gospel and should be taught by every music teacher everywhere. Thanks so much for sharing so much knowledge!
Thanks! Glad you're here!
Wow-- love you and your channel --think ahead and listen ahead. This is the best advice I've gotten in a while.
You got this!
Thinking ahead and listening ahead was the start of a new level in my piano playing. I'd heard similar advice before but not really understood how to use it. This explanation, combined with your mental practice videos, gave me something I could actually apply. I'm a post-retirement beginner so it's all relative, but I'm happy with the results. Thanks!
Wow - thanks so much!! I really appreciate it!
I am so glad you have found this helpful - are there any aspects of mental practice or "listening ahead" that you have questions about? I'd like to make another video about this topic.
@@ThePianoProfKateBoyd You're quite welcome!
It would be useful to have more detail about how to practice Thinking/Listening ahead and other mental aspects of playing piano. Your mental practice videos have some getting-started tips, something similar would be useful for thinking ahead, possibly along with comments about how that looks for a beginning, intermediate or advanced student.
Also, is there a tradeoff between skills? For example between thinking ahead versus practicing a piece more (so that muscle memory takes over and I don’t have to "think" about it as much)?
But I’m sure that anything you want to put into a new video would be useful. I’m looking forward to whatever you think is most important. Thanks!
I've thought about there more, here are a few observations about what I try to do with look/think ahead -
1. I use material that's easier or more repetitive to specifically focus on looking ahead. In this mode I have the mental bandwidth to look at more than just the immediate notes, so looking/thinking ahead can sometimes be the primary purpose of a practice segment, not just something that I add-on to an otherwise existing practice segment.
2. On harder material, I choose specific things that I need to look ahead for. For example a hand position change, key change, dense chord, or anything that requires extra attention to play confidently. So in this mode I pay attention to the immediate notes that I'm playing, and try to add attention to one or two upcoming events that need extra attention.
3. I use repeated mistakes as a hint for things that I need to look ahead for. If the core cause of a mistake is a physical limitation then thinking ahead won't fix it, but more often the core cause of a mistake is more of a mental focus thing. It can actually feel like a mental effort to get my mind focused on the new thing (hand position, key change, etc), and practicing with think-ahead makes the mental transition easier and more accurate. If I practice it enough then the transition can become almost automatic, but to get there I have to go through the phase where I'm consciously practicing it.
4. My natural lookahead scope tends to be short - just one thing ahead or just a note or two ahead. That's useful but I'm trying to look further ahead and consider more than one issue, and pushing lookahead further out seems to take specific practice. This is probably related to the previous point, to get to the skill level where I don't have to think as specifically about things like key changes, so that I can be aware of more things at once.
5. I started piano as a post-retirement beginner. My experience and goals are probably quite different from your college-age students :-)
I'm looking forward to any new video that you might make on this topic!
Really good tip on listening and thinking ahead, thank you.
Glad it was helpful! Appreciate your comment!
Thank you for your information. Xx
You're very welcome! 😊
Great lesson!
I wonder if you could do a whole video on both what you learned from Sebok and what he was like in person? I am mesmerized by what I have seen and heard from him on TH-cam (and Denk's book).
Struggle is by far my number one problem.
I was offered the opportunity to work with Sebok at IU for a masters degree but I chose to go to Stony Brook with Gilbert Kalish instead. So, I ended up only working with Sebok for a couple of weeks in a residential masterclass at Prussia Cove. I also saw him do various other masterclasses and heard him perform chamber music a few times. It was amazing, but I didn't have enough direct contact with him to do a whole video about him and his teaching style, since he was never my actual primary teacher, and there are other people who worked much more intensively with him over a period of years. But your comment does give me the idea to do videos about my own teachers, and what I learned from them.
There is another book by a Sebok student that was written some years ago- she talks a lot about his teaching style. I will look up the title and get back to you.
The book is by Barbara Alex - Gyorgy Sebok: Words From a Master.
@@ThePianoProfKateBoyd thank you! The clips of his Master Classes on TH-cam have some magic in them.
I watched two of your recitals and enjoyed both very much. I am glad you found those glasses! I bet that further endeared you to the audience.
I struggle reading music sheet I don't know what all skills are needed to become a good scheet music reader
I think it's a matter of practicing and improving over time. For a tool, I suggest checking out the app Note Quest - it's for learning notes and also sightreading practice.