SHE IS SOOO DEAD ON with this concept!! As an illiterate & blind musician, I must memorize the music before I can play it!! No sight reading for me!!😢 ACCURACY is everything !!!! Just watch any of my practice videos and see this in action.
Sometimes I practice in the pitch dark. Helps me to learn small leaps by touch. I also sleep with a 61 key digital piano in my bed in the dark. (It's a large bed.) Wake up in the middle of the night and can't sleep, so practicing makes me sleepy. I really don't care about the inevitable comments about "bad posture" playing in bed. I'm not learning to be a brain surgeon here. I'm learning to play some pop songs.
One of the coolest parts about practicing like this is that if you know the piece you're playing then the brain already (maybe roughly) knows the tempo, so once you do have it properly memorized you can take it to full speed very easily. One of my favourite songs to play is Nuvole Bianche by Ludovico Einaudi and I was having so much trouble playing the big crescendo accurately at full speed, doing this technique made it click almost instantly. If you're looking for a good song to use for lesson examples, Nuvole Bianche is pretty good. You'll see why when you read the sheets lol
Awesome! this concept applies to so many areas in life. For example, in manufacturing, there is a concept of "first time right", which is basically deliberately slowing down to avoid errors and saving time in the long run.
I am 68 years young, playing piano about 14 years. Your video point may the single most important lesson I have ever learned, at least applying to me!! Thank you 👍👏. (Number example reference from Tommy Tutone song hit from 1981 😁.)
I LOVE your videos. I just subscribed. Your style of teaching is great, and your tips and tricks are priceless. One thing - and I say this with peace and love - the pops, whooshes and dings are a little distracting. But these videos are really going to help me improve. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
This video is spot on! I always emphasize to my students on the importance of playing accurately, instead of just going a passage over and over again without actually paying attention to the mistakes and actively correcting them. I will share this video with some of my more advanced students. Thanks for sharing :)
I'm a beginner. The very first way you were playing, with all the mistakes, was exactly how I was "practicing" last night. I kept pausing and struggling along through a passage. Repeating and repeating until, I thought, it would just come together and eventually flow. For this particular passage, I did initially aim for accuracy: repeating it 100% correctly, 10 times, slowly, with all the correct notes. "Great, I played it correctly 10 times, now I'll increase the tempo", I thought. So I did. Then, I began to play wrong notes. But, I kept repeating and repeating the passage, in the slightly faster tempo, in the hope that I'd get the correct notes again as I did in the slower tempo. But, I kept playing wrong notes, even though there were some correct repeats. So...I slowed the tempo down again and aimed for 100% accuracy, 10 times again, as before. Returning to the slower tempo, I found that I was making the same mistakes as I did during the repeats at the faster tempo. It's as if I was teaching my brain the wrong notes during the faster tempo and when I returned to the slower tempo, these wrong notes were somehow solidified. It's a struggle to undo this innacuracy I've practiced. And, I'm a little scared to go back to the piece later today because I know there's a high chance I'm going to have to unlearn the mistakes my brain has absorbed. I think it all comes down to me being impatient and wanting to learn the piece quickly. From now on, I'm going to stop immediately whenever I make a mistake and correct it. Even if I can play something accurately at a slow tempo, I'm not going to assume I can play it correctly at a faster tempo - and just plough on through, repeating and repeating, hoping I'll get it right eventually. Thank you so much for this video, Ashlee. Right on cue, you posted it just at the very moment I needed to see it, funnily enough, so I can apply your instructions to my practice sessions. I love your tutorials and I always look forward to learning something whenever you post a video.
I love this! Thank you so much for sharing about what’s going on with you! It is so great to hear about your process and how specifically the video helped you. I really really really really loved reading this.
Thank you for such a helpful video! I am an advanced beginner, and just when I thought I was learning songs, faster, they got harder in my piano adventures method book 2. 🤪 I plan to try your suggestions, but I am wondering if I can learn all the songs I am assigned each week by my piano teacher, usually five, if I am not practicing the whole songs early on in the week. And, if I spend an hour to an hour and a half each practice session,would I set a time limit to work on each song, or just keep repeating, as you have suggested? Thank you for any clarification. I tthought about enrolling in your casual to confident class, but given the cost, I was reluctant. I just started taking weekly lessons last fall, after learning on my own for a year or so. I am 64 years young, and I LOVE playing piano! Thanks again! Your videos are great! 😊
It seems like the whole process will be slower, and sometimes in the beginning it is… But in the long run it end up going so much faster. I would give it a try with at least one or two of your songs, and just see what happens :-) I bet you will find that it goes a lot faster!
I remember tommy tutone from 6th grade lol if you don't play accurately during repetition you confuse your brain and it takes much longer to develop muscle memory - got it, that's sort of like accuracy is more important than speed - it takes less time to slow down and do it right the first time then have to go back and fix it after the fact thanks ashlee
I'm doing the same thing nowadays... but it seems to be two school of thought.My piano teacher back at music school penalized me hard for this kind of learning, claiming that my fingers will get wrong muscle memory in process, but i always felt like a i want to beat this game on easy difficulty first, and then go to the "very hard" mode... Now well in my forties i still thinks that your (and mine) method is preferable for us, regular people who don't plan to win any awards...
Hi there Ashlee, please help me out with this, I started sight reading last year November and I've been continuing, am not sure about incorporating pieces in my practices at this level???
@@Naaman20s yes sight reading is super important but the process for it is slightly different than learning a piece because there’s a different goal. You want to make sure you’re sight reading at a lower level than your “learning a piece” level. I go over tons of helpful stuff in the speed reader video! I’d give that a watch if you haven’t or another watch I’d you watched a while ago. I also have some sight reading videos here on the channel you can check out.
SHE IS SOOO DEAD ON with this concept!!
As an illiterate & blind musician, I must memorize the music before I can play it!! No sight reading for me!!😢 ACCURACY is everything !!!!
Just watch any of my practice videos and see this in action.
Sometimes I practice in the pitch dark. Helps me to learn small leaps by touch. I also sleep with a 61 key digital piano in my bed in the dark. (It's a large bed.) Wake up in the middle of the night and can't sleep, so practicing makes me sleepy. I really don't care about the inevitable comments about "bad posture" playing in bed. I'm not learning to be a brain surgeon here. I'm learning to play some pop songs.
One of the coolest parts about practicing like this is that if you know the piece you're playing then the brain already (maybe roughly) knows the tempo, so once you do have it properly memorized you can take it to full speed very easily. One of my favourite songs to play is Nuvole Bianche by Ludovico Einaudi and I was having so much trouble playing the big crescendo accurately at full speed, doing this technique made it click almost instantly.
If you're looking for a good song to use for lesson examples, Nuvole Bianche is pretty good. You'll see why when you read the sheets lol
Awesome! this concept applies to so many areas in life. For example, in manufacturing, there is a concept of "first time right", which is basically deliberately slowing down to avoid errors and saving time in the long run.
That’s so cool and I had no idea but I’m going to start passing that along! Thanks!
I am 68 years young, playing piano about 14 years. Your video point may the single most important lesson I have ever learned, at least applying to me!! Thank you 👍👏. (Number example reference from Tommy Tutone song hit from 1981 😁.)
Yay I’m so glad you liked it and yep! Nailed the reference!
Thanks for such an informative lesson. I plan on applying this to not just the piano, but the drums and guitar as well.
super helpful thank you! I'll have to send this to students-
This is GREAT information! No wonder I have struggled for so long!!
I LOVE your videos. I just subscribed. Your style of teaching is great, and your tips and tricks are priceless. One thing - and I say this with peace and love - the pops, whooshes and dings are a little distracting. But these videos are really going to help me improve. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Posture, Perfect, Repetition, without Hesitation. With Perfect posture, repeat the section (or e.g. scale) perfectly, four times, without Hesitation.
im just a beginner that would be helpful❤
Very helpful Ashley, thank you!
Cheers Ashlee!
This video is spot on! I always emphasize to my students on the importance of playing accurately, instead of just going a passage over and over again without actually paying attention to the mistakes and actively correcting them. I will share this video with some of my more advanced students. Thanks for sharing :)
You are very welcome and I’m glad it resonated! Thanks for sharing :-)
Thank you so much
SUPERB video, thank you. Truly!!
Ashlee, Ashlee… who can I turn to?😊😊😊
I'm a beginner. The very first way you were playing, with all the mistakes, was exactly how I was "practicing" last night. I kept pausing and struggling along through a passage. Repeating and repeating until, I thought, it would just come together and eventually flow. For this particular passage, I did initially aim for accuracy: repeating it 100% correctly, 10 times, slowly, with all the correct notes. "Great, I played it correctly 10 times, now I'll increase the tempo", I thought. So I did.
Then, I began to play wrong notes. But, I kept repeating and repeating the passage, in the slightly faster tempo, in the hope that I'd get the correct notes again as I did in the slower tempo. But, I kept playing wrong notes, even though there were some correct repeats. So...I slowed the tempo down again and aimed for 100% accuracy, 10 times again, as before.
Returning to the slower tempo, I found that I was making the same mistakes as I did during the repeats at the faster tempo. It's as if I was teaching my brain the wrong notes during the faster tempo and when I returned to the slower tempo, these wrong notes were somehow solidified.
It's a struggle to undo this innacuracy I've practiced. And, I'm a little scared to go back to the piece later today because I know there's a high chance I'm going to have to unlearn the mistakes my brain has absorbed. I think it all comes down to me being impatient and wanting to learn the piece quickly. From now on, I'm going to stop immediately whenever I make a mistake and correct it. Even if I can play something accurately at a slow tempo, I'm not going to assume I can play it correctly at a faster tempo - and just plough on through, repeating and repeating, hoping I'll get it right eventually.
Thank you so much for this video, Ashlee. Right on cue, you posted it just at the very moment I needed to see it, funnily enough, so I can apply your instructions to my practice sessions. I love your tutorials and I always look forward to learning something whenever you post a video.
I love this! Thank you so much for sharing about what’s going on with you! It is so great to hear about your process and how specifically the video helped you. I really really really really loved reading this.
This is GREAT information!! Thank you. I will have to force myself after doing it wrong for so long! 🧐😀
Yay! You’re welcome!
Thank you for such a helpful video! I am an advanced beginner, and just when I thought I was learning songs, faster, they got harder in my piano adventures method book 2. 🤪 I plan to try your suggestions, but I am wondering if I can learn all the songs I am assigned each week by my piano teacher, usually five, if I am not practicing the whole songs early on in the week. And, if I spend an hour to an hour and a half each practice session,would I set a time limit to work on each song, or just keep repeating, as you have suggested? Thank you for any clarification. I tthought about enrolling in your casual to confident class, but given the cost, I was reluctant. I just started taking weekly lessons last fall, after learning on my own for a year or so. I am 64 years young, and I LOVE playing piano! Thanks again! Your videos are great! 😊
It seems like the whole process will be slower, and sometimes in the beginning it is… But in the long run it end up going so much faster. I would give it a try with at least one or two of your songs, and just see what happens :-) I bet you will find that it goes a lot faster!
@@AshleeYoungMusicStudio Thank you for your reply! I am learning Habanero , new scale, and tricky rhythm. I look forward to giving it a try!😊🎶🎶
I remember tommy tutone from 6th grade lol
if you don't play accurately during repetition you confuse your brain and it takes much longer to develop muscle memory - got it, that's sort of like accuracy is more important than speed - it takes less time to slow down and do it right the first time then have to go back and fix it after the fact
thanks ashlee
Exactly and you got it! 🙌🏻
I called the phone # and it wasn't Jenny who answered lol
I'm doing the same thing nowadays... but it seems to be two school of thought.My piano teacher back at music school penalized me hard for this kind of learning, claiming that my fingers will get wrong muscle memory in process, but i always felt like a i want to beat this game on easy difficulty first, and then go to the "very hard" mode... Now well in my forties i still thinks that your (and mine) method is preferable for us, regular people who don't plan to win any awards...
Hi there Ashlee, please help me out with this, I started sight reading last year November and I've been continuing, am not sure about incorporating pieces in my practices at this level???
You’ve watched speed reader right? What level do you mean?
@@AshleeYoungMusicStudio beginner level at sight reading
@@Naaman20s yes sight reading is super important but the process for it is slightly different than learning a piece because there’s a different goal. You want to make sure you’re sight reading at a lower level than your “learning a piece” level. I go over tons of helpful stuff in the speed reader video! I’d give that a watch if you haven’t or another watch I’d you watched a while ago. I also have some sight reading videos here on the channel you can check out.
@@AshleeYoungMusicStudio ok Ashlee
That is very familiar
Repeating but a little slower each time works better for me.
I see that your slender fingers slide easily between the black notes, mine dont, is this going to inhibit my piano skills? 🤔
You should be ok - keep your fingers on the edge of the keys as much as possible ✅
Jenny Jenny who can I turn to?
Nailed it
And as so man good teachers say “PLAY SLOWLY”. If you think you are playing slowing use a metronome and realise just how slow you are not playing.
YES exactly
"Jenny Jenny Who can I turn to?"
Nailed it
I think Jenny changed her number...
😂
Oh no! I'm the one who ghosted Jenny.
😂
You're too young to know about 8679305 lol
Bahahaha I couldn’t resist