This is a seldom-discussed topic, but something that I think about quite often. I've received questions about this several times, so I decided to make a video demonstrating these concepts with something I'm currently working on, and how changing up where I'm looking drastically helped fluidity and confidence. I hope the tips shared in this video help you in your playing. Have a great week of practice!
Very helpful indeed. I tend to do the same as you. Look at center of the keyboard. But in the progress of practising a piece, I have noticed that my eyes automatically focus on difficult passages in each hand.
@@PianoThomas Ok, you make an excellent argument. Still (ah dunno) playing Chopin while staring at Beethoven... I feel that it might not work too well.
It's great hearing someone that is clearly at the top of their game sharing their struggles. It sometimes can just appear as though it comes effortlessly to people. Knowing that even great pianists go through the same issues, albeit at a much higher level, is very reassuring.
@@nilen Piano is my first instrument. I'm learning all of the orchestral instruments in one year, and I just finished up with clarinet. Now I'm on to the trumpet! (more nervous laughter...)
What i do is trust one of my hands that is most familiar with the piece to know what to play because of the previous patterns in a piece, I look at the other hand that would be oblivious as to what is going on.
I was church pianist for years and also worked as an accompanist, so my eyes had to stay on the music, never at my hands. This was especially important when playing with an orchestra and having to look from the music to the conductor. I simply could never look at my hands.
Some teachers teach you to keep your eyes fixed on the music, while others teach you to learn the notes so you can close the book and simply play the music. A few years ago when I was interviewing for an piano teaching position, I was required to play my most difficult piece without the music in front of me. I finally made the connection that you cannot really know the notes and remain dependent on the music. True, it's different when you play for orchestra. The pieces are usually significantly longer, and may have chunks of silence. That makes it important to follow the music.
I usually find myself looking inbetween my hands, as this makes it easier to calculate distances in jumps or awkward passages in both hands. Great to hear you talking about it as well, thanks!
Thank you for great videos,Josh. I want to share really great tip: practice with your eyes closed. I started to do this much more . It's great way to practice. Not only that your muscles learn much faster how to move, your concentration is higher because you are visualizing the keyboard in your mind. On the end,you suppose to feel so free in playing with the eyes closed that your hands and fingers move automatically.
Thank you VERY much! I just discovered, why it didn´t work out too good for me - until, I STRAIGHTENED MY BACK and put my feet firmly on the floor and my bottom balanced on the bench. Incredible, that it means SO much! The shoulders became freer, I could overlook the keys much better - and my hand balance improved instantly, so I didnt ´keep sliding off the black keys (big problem) .. and I made fewer mistakes. Happy!
Thanks for the tip! Found myself hoping you'd play the entire piece though. I hope it's ok to request entire works at the end of whatever tutorial. It's truly refreshing when you find a real piano master! Way to go!!
Great video and advice, as always - thank you, Josh! In my own experience, if I need to see more of what's going on, I tend to sit further back and slightly tilt my head back too, which gives me greater panoramic vision (and allows me to observe both hands). Also, I find that the hand I tend to watch or focus on is the hand that comes out and is more prominent. Perhaps this is psychological, but I use this technique on purpose to bring specific voices out. At the end of the day it's always 'different strokes, for different folks', and I find it very inspiring and exciting to hear other ideas. Have a lovely weekend, and thanks again! :)
Josh, great video, and have you ever fall for the prank that goes like this " did you know that if your hand is bigger than your face then you have a disease", and everytime I see your hands it reminds me to it
Thank you Josh. I find it really interesting and encouraging that what ever level we are at, many of the approaches and mental planning on how to practice are the same.
Great video! Interestingly, (and I’m not sure how this came about), I mostly play on a grand piano, and I’ve gotten used to looking at my hands/keys from the reflection of lid. Generally it’s not a problem, except once I performed on a white grand piano (where the reflection from the lid was super light) and that really threw me off quite a bit😕. So now especially with new pieces, I’m trying to look directly at my hands. Also I generally focus better not looking at my hands when I perform but depends what we’re playing obviously lol
It's actually good practice to get used to not looking at your hands so you develop better spacial awareness. You can practice this while doing sight-reading exercises, where you never look at your hands. Of course in concert, you can look if you want, but try and get used to not looking for better spacial awareness.
Ogany Supreme yep I don’t look at the keys much now, or just close my eyes, especially when performing - helps me focus and not overthink. But I was performing Liszt Chasse-neige on the white grand piano, and particularly the jumps toward the end I’m gonna be looking at the keys lol
I like this topic a lot because I think and apply a lot of this stuff while practising. I especially like looking at my left hand because I'm a righty and it comes naturally for me to look at my dominant hand. When I look at my left I get maybe slightly more inaccurate with my right but much more relaxed and loose which to be fair can often more than compensate for the tiny bit of increased inaccuracy. This is still one of my biggest struggles as a student because I can't keep up rhythm and tempo the way I would like when practising pieces prima vista. I've moved most of my focus away from my hands and onto the sheet music. This does help with sight-reading and spatial awareness but I feel like I'm trying too many things at once. I'm not playing music, I'm just your caricature mediocre piano student fumbling away each measure at a time. I'm hoping to get better results by starting recording every practise session and practising sight-reading away from the piano, among other things. EDIT: Oh, and I also like blind playing a lot. It isn't practical for me when I'm still memorizing (as I imagine it is for most people) but when I finally have the piece memorized it's a very nice way to shake things up. Oddly it also matters where you look when you have your eyes closed, for me anyway. It's like some conditioning that's built in to me. Looking at the keys is more of a focus-mode while looking away like upwards for instance has this vibing feel to me. So I like playing eyes closed and just moving myself and my head a little bit based on how I feel about the music and how much focus I need for a particular passage, if that makes any sense.
This is super cool! I usually look at the left hand by default, checking the right every once in a while, I first realized where I look can make a big difference some weeks ago, working that really awkward rh stretched arpeggio passage with lh jumps. Thanks for the tip Josh!
Thanks Josh! I sometimes worry that where I look, becomes a part of my muscle memory, and that if I look in the wrong place, it might throw off my hands. I don't know if there's any truth to that, but it has occurred to me.
@Josh Wright GREAT video, very important topic and I love the Chopin concerto teaser btw, now I have to go listen to it, gee THANKS!! But you forgot one thing about where to look, other than a brief mention, what about eyes closed/looking away from keyboard. I find it better to sometimes close off all the information coming in through my eyes so I can focus a bit more on creating the sounds I want... or even hear if I'm missing notes in fast pieces.
Hey Josh! Can you help me out? I've been learning piano for about 5 months now and I started playing Fur Elise and now working on Nocturne Op. 9 no. 2, is that a pretty big leap on my starting pieces? And can you give examples on how to improve my technique? Thanks
I think what I would focus on is looking at the finger numbers, I'm finding this is when your fingers could play the wrong notes. A question to consider is, am I playing a octave higher or lower.
Great tip! Thanks, Josh. Seems that the ProPractice techniques, including the above visual cue, are all designed to practice creatively and to jog or spark a new process in the brain that enhances that which was practiced extensively. Perhaps its like walking or running down the road, same gait, same speed and wondering what's holding up the process. Oh, I need new shoes.Ah, much better.
Thanks for today's video! Although not very related to it (because the left hand is almost always the same),I am working on Chopin's Berceuse op 57, and I just can't get the speed right! I'm just a little too slow to having a perfect tempo, and I also have a few parts where I mess up a note or two. It's infuriating!
Love your channel. Watch your input gain... Lots of distortion on the way in, makes it hard to hear what you are playing. For my 2 pence worth.... Record in at a lower gain and balance out the voice and piano balance in post. Nice work!
Hi Josh I have a pretty general question, I'm currently practicing La Campanella and I was wondering, after I have a section about 80 to 90% should I move forward and and let the natural progression help to kind of "clean up" the section. Or should I stay on the segment until it is 100% performance ready. Thanks!
Hello Josh. I’m currently learning Winter Wind and the right hand has been giving me some trouble when playing it at a fairly quick tempo. Any suggestions or exercises that can help me?
Maybe that's why I can't play pieces without making a few mistakes. I've been playing with my eyes closed the whole time! All jokes aside, I truly appreciate this video! I shall get to studying right now
Is there any exercise for beginners, really beginners to develop playing without looking at our hands? I know that practices build muscle memory, but there are any specific exercise that we can do to develop that skill? I will love to know!... thank you!!
Pick music at least one grade below your playing ability and read the music really really really really slow, but don’t stop, just super slow and steady... without stopping... or looking... slow. Did I mention slow and steady?
I've noticed that I always look at the left hand, unless I really have huge jumps in the right hand, and even then, I'm really biased towards the left hand. I'm trying to break the habit.
This is a seldom-discussed topic, but something that I think about quite often. I've received questions about this several times, so I decided to make a video demonstrating these concepts with something I'm currently working on, and how changing up where I'm looking drastically helped fluidity and confidence. I hope the tips shared in this video help you in your playing. Have a great week of practice!
Could you do a tutorial on the Chopin Op 34 No. 2 in A minor?
Hey Josh, in order to join your webinar, should I have a full-size 88-key Piano or keyboard?
Very helpful indeed. I tend to do the same as you. Look at center of the keyboard. But in the progress of practising a piece, I have noticed that my eyes automatically focus on difficult passages in each hand.
I just make intense eye contact with my Beethoven statue while playing
Thanks for the tip! I also have a Beethoven statue on my piano and I’ll be sure to try applying this technique.
Does it have to be a Beethoven statue or can it be, let’s say, a carving of a bird or a model car?
@@KeepingOnTheWatch no, only Beethoven will bring sucess in this approach. (This message was brought to you by a Beethoven statue manufacturer (not))
@@PianoThomas Ok, you make an excellent argument. Still (ah dunno) playing Chopin while staring at Beethoven... I feel that it might not work too well.
@Walter B. If you have a Chopin statue, it will probably work better.
Vinheteiro stares at his viewers.
LOL 😁
True 😂
Finally a pianist talking about piano and showing how it sounds. Well done man! TH-cam needs more people like you, too many theorists around...
It's great hearing someone that is clearly at the top of their game sharing their struggles. It sometimes can just appear as though it comes effortlessly to people. Knowing that even great pianists go through the same issues, albeit at a much higher level, is very reassuring.
"Usually you're looking at the hand that's more difficult".
Me: *looks at Grieg PC cadenza. Laughs nervously*
I thought you played the clarinet....
@@nilen Piano is my first instrument. I'm learning all of the orchestral instruments in one year, and I just finished up with clarinet. Now I'm on to the trumpet! (more nervous laughter...)
The Resourceful Practice Project Nice, can you play Trumpet concerto in E-flat major? :)
@@nilen You could say that my trumpet talent is still in Haydn...
What i do is trust one of my hands that is most familiar with the piece to know what to play because of the previous patterns in a piece, I look at the other hand that would be oblivious as to what is going on.
I love that you struggle like the rest of us. Thanks for being true to practice!
I was church pianist for years and also worked as an accompanist, so my eyes had to stay on the music, never at my hands. This was especially important when playing with an orchestra and having to look from the music to the conductor. I simply could never look at my hands.
Some teachers teach you to keep your eyes fixed on the music, while others teach you to learn the notes so you can close the book and simply play the music. A few years ago when I was interviewing for an piano teaching position, I was required to play my most difficult piece without the music in front of me. I finally made the connection that you cannot really know the notes and remain dependent on the music. True, it's different when you play for orchestra. The pieces are usually significantly longer, and may have chunks of silence. That makes it important to follow the music.
Very helpful, thanks a lot!
This is so helpful cuz I need this for the Schubert moment musicaux 3
THX JOSH
I usually find myself looking inbetween my hands, as this makes it easier to calculate distances in jumps or awkward passages in both hands. Great to hear you talking about it as well, thanks!
Thank you for great videos,Josh. I want to share really great tip: practice with your eyes closed. I started to do this much more . It's great way to practice. Not only that your muscles learn much faster how to move, your concentration is higher because you are visualizing the keyboard in your mind. On the end,you suppose to feel so free in playing with the eyes closed that your hands and fingers move automatically.
Thank you VERY much! I just discovered, why it didn´t work out too good for me - until, I STRAIGHTENED MY BACK and put my feet firmly on the floor and my bottom balanced on the bench. Incredible, that it means SO much! The shoulders became freer, I could overlook the keys much better - and my hand balance improved instantly, so I didnt ´keep sliding off the black keys (big problem) .. and I made fewer mistakes. Happy!
Thanks for the tip! Found myself hoping you'd play the entire piece though. I hope it's ok to request entire works at the end of whatever tutorial. It's truly refreshing when you find a real piano master! Way to go!!
Thank u josh
Thank you josh! Love these specific videos
I had this exact question this morning on a gospel hymn I’m planning on performing soon.
I’ll give it a try.
Thanks Josh
I’m 13 and have been practicing Bach invention no.8 and some parts have been giving me trouble but these tips helped a lot, thank you
I remember working on that piece. 🤨
Great video and advice, as always - thank you, Josh! In my own experience, if I need to see more of what's going on, I tend to sit further back and slightly tilt my head back too, which gives me greater panoramic vision (and allows me to observe both hands). Also, I find that the hand I tend to watch or focus on is the hand that comes out and is more prominent. Perhaps this is psychological, but I use this technique on purpose to bring specific voices out. At the end of the day it's always 'different strokes, for different folks', and I find it very inspiring and exciting to hear other ideas. Have a lovely weekend, and thanks again! :)
Josh, great video, and have you ever fall for the prank that goes like this " did you know that if your hand is bigger than your face then you have a disease", and everytime I see your hands it reminds me to it
This is a really cool idea. It's like you are giving yourself a conscious reminder about the problem spot by looking at it...I'll have to try this.
"This i exactly what I need".
Yess!! Where to look was something I usually didn’t think about until it helped me nail a passage that I was really struggling with. Great vid
Thank you Josh. I find it really interesting and encouraging that what ever level we are at, many of the approaches and mental planning on how to practice are the same.
Great video! Interestingly, (and I’m not sure how this came about), I mostly play on a grand piano, and I’ve gotten used to looking at my hands/keys from the reflection of lid. Generally it’s not a problem, except once I performed on a white grand piano (where the reflection from the lid was super light) and that really threw me off quite a bit😕. So now especially with new pieces, I’m trying to look directly at my hands. Also I generally focus better not looking at my hands when I perform but depends what we’re playing obviously lol
It's actually good practice to get used to not looking at your hands so you develop better spacial awareness. You can practice this while doing sight-reading exercises, where you never look at your hands. Of course in concert, you can look if you want, but try and get used to not looking for better spacial awareness.
Ogany Supreme yep I don’t look at the keys much now, or just close my eyes, especially when performing - helps me focus and not overthink. But I was performing Liszt Chasse-neige on the white grand piano, and particularly the jumps toward the end I’m gonna be looking at the keys lol
@@TimothyChiangPianist I would too, they're not the easiest passages to execute!
Yeah and if you’re doing an exam ....in my last one...I stared at my left hand for dear life out of nerves!
I like this topic a lot because I think and apply a lot of this stuff while practising. I especially like looking at my left hand because I'm a righty and it comes naturally for me to look at my dominant hand. When I look at my left I get maybe slightly more inaccurate with my right but much more relaxed and loose which to be fair can often more than compensate for the tiny bit of increased inaccuracy. This is still one of my biggest struggles as a student because I can't keep up rhythm and tempo the way I would like when practising pieces prima vista. I've moved most of my focus away from my hands and onto the sheet music. This does help with sight-reading and spatial awareness but I feel like I'm trying too many things at once. I'm not playing music, I'm just your caricature mediocre piano student fumbling away each measure at a time. I'm hoping to get better results by starting recording every practise session and practising sight-reading away from the piano, among other things.
EDIT: Oh, and I also like blind playing a lot. It isn't practical for me when I'm still memorizing (as I imagine it is for most people) but when I finally have the piece memorized it's a very nice way to shake things up. Oddly it also matters where you look when you have your eyes closed, for me anyway. It's like some conditioning that's built in to me. Looking at the keys is more of a focus-mode while looking away like upwards for instance has this vibing feel to me. So I like playing eyes closed and just moving myself and my head a little bit based on how I feel about the music and how much focus I need for a particular passage, if that makes any sense.
This is super cool! I usually look at the left hand by default, checking the right every once in a while, I first realized where I look can make a big difference some weeks ago, working that really awkward rh stretched arpeggio passage with lh jumps. Thanks for the tip Josh!
Thanks Josh! I sometimes worry that where I look, becomes a part of my muscle memory, and that if I look in the wrong place, it might throw off my hands. I don't know if there's any truth to that, but it has occurred to me.
This is wonderfully specific information, thanks!
@Josh Wright GREAT video, very important topic and I love the Chopin concerto teaser btw, now I have to go listen to it, gee THANKS!! But you forgot one thing about where to look, other than a brief mention, what about eyes closed/looking away from keyboard. I find it better to sometimes close off all the information coming in through my eyes so I can focus a bit more on creating the sounds I want... or even hear if I'm missing notes in fast pieces.
Love the video and tips your amazing! Keep it up
Hey Josh! Can you help me out? I've been learning piano for about 5 months now and I started playing Fur Elise and now working on Nocturne Op. 9 no. 2, is that a pretty big leap on my starting pieces? And can you give examples on how to improve my technique? Thanks
yeah that's kinda a huge leap there.
0:00-0:04 liszt paganini etude no 6
OH MY! THAT SAME PASSAGE IN CONCERTO HAS BEEN BUGGING ME! Thank you
Josh, awesome tips as always. Thanks so much.
I think what I would focus on is looking at the finger numbers, I'm finding this is when your fingers could play the wrong notes. A question to consider is, am I playing a octave higher or lower.
Thx!
Great tip! Thanks, Josh. Seems that the ProPractice techniques, including the above visual cue, are all designed to practice creatively and to jog or spark a new process in the brain that enhances that which was practiced extensively. Perhaps its like walking or running down the road, same gait, same speed and wondering what's holding up the process. Oh, I need new shoes.Ah, much better.
Thanks for today's video!
Although not very related to it (because the left hand is almost always the same),I am working on Chopin's Berceuse op 57, and I just can't get the speed right! I'm just a little too slow to having a perfect tempo, and I also have a few parts where I mess up a note or two. It's infuriating!
Great Video
Love your channel. Watch your input gain... Lots of distortion on the way in, makes it hard to hear what you are playing.
For my 2 pence worth.... Record in at a lower gain and balance out the voice and piano balance in post.
Nice work!
Hi Josh I have a pretty general question, I'm currently practicing La Campanella and I was wondering, after I have a section about 80 to 90% should I move forward and and let the natural progression help to kind of "clean up" the section. Or should I stay on the segment until it is 100% performance ready. Thanks!
Hello Josh. I’m currently learning Winter Wind and the right hand has been giving me some trouble when playing it at a fairly quick tempo. Any suggestions or exercises that can help me?
Maybe that's why I can't play pieces without making a few mistakes. I've been playing with my eyes closed the whole time!
All jokes aside, I truly appreciate this video! I shall get to studying right now
which part of the concerto is that?
Is there any exercise for beginners, really beginners to develop playing without looking at our hands? I know that practices build muscle memory, but there are any specific exercise that we can do to develop that skill? I will love to know!... thank you!!
Pick music at least one grade below your playing ability and read the music really really really really slow, but don’t stop, just super slow and steady... without stopping... or looking... slow. Did I mention slow and steady?
Donald Burdick hahaha ok I will, slow very very slow haha thanks so much!!!
thanks for this tip :D
"I've been working on the Chopin concer..." *proceeds to play an excerpt flawlessly.
I always relied on muscle memory, like a dancer, because my fingers are moving so fast that there's no time to think anyways.
I've noticed that I always look at the left hand, unless I really have huge jumps in the right hand, and even then, I'm really biased towards the left hand. I'm trying to break the habit.
Am I weird? I look at the score or away, because I find the movement of my fingers distracting except for long runs.
Anyone song name?
Such a long way to go ....
Henlo. Just subscribed.
👀 on the music, not on the hands
I look way too much on left hand.. can’t stop. Even when that is easy and the right hand is harder. :/
When you ride a horse you look towards where you are going
*Josh Wright* my beats would sound great on your channel 💯🔥🔥🔥 lets collab