I’m only two and half minutes in, but THANK YOU! I feel like my biggest problem (maybe second biggest, after anxiety) for years has been not knowing what to do, not having a plan for how to tackle practice sessions or entire pieces. Now I have a template for how to break down a piece over time. Oh my gosh, I’m thrilled.
Fantastic. I think it's easy to just fast-scan this (me included) and say, yes, yes, yes, and not actually follow through, but instead, we can stop, take it in, make a *commitment* to yourself to apply a couple of these tips and then give yourself a pat on the back. It's occurred to me that one of the differences between masterful pianists and the average pianist is that they leverage the heck out of every opportunity and effective technique they can get their hands on.
Could you do an entire video on how record yourself with your phone, how to listen, and then how to practice in order to improve what you hear? You could also talk about the size and characteristics of the room you’re playing in from say a small studio to a living room.
All great suggestions, thank you! Here is an additional video on listening that might be useful to you: th-cam.com/video/30Cipl5mdlU/w-d-xo.htmlsi=ub2mZRCGkQtvL3Af
from France, I have recently discovered your series which I appreciate so very much, even having played for 20+ years. Thank you for your creative wisdom, knowledge and eloquence. Your observations inspire and reassure me.
Very nice tips and rules. Thank you. I am an 8th Grade Trinity pianist ( did it at 60 years). Now I am 67 and continue my musical journey. I started playing when I was 10. 6 months ago I decided to teach piano in my colony. I love teaching.
Thank you for the wisdom you share in your videos. You are a gift to me. Your expertise in teaching and communicating has opened a new world of piano experience for me.
I was browsing through TH-cam and saw a picture of your face again. I thought, 'I'm not going to tune in. Most of what she's going to say I heard already and she's probably going to sell something to no end!!!' However, I was completely wrong! Dr. Kate, I LOOOVE this video. You covered some excellent points, in my opinion! I truly enjoyed your suggestions. WOW! They were smart, logical and very well thought out and explained! I can't wait to hear what else you have to teach about piano! I'm an intermediate pianist, but I absolutely LOOOOVE everything about piano: history, construction and playing. I'm hoping and praying that my piano skills could one day be as good as my singing abilities! I have a good teacher, but I think it's always great to hear the views and opinions of other professionals! Thank you much!
Thank you so much for your comment - it's so gratifying to hear that you found new and useful information in this video! The piano is a wonderful and fascinating instrument - its history, the literature, the performers, and of course the challenge and opportunity to play it every day. How lucky we are! 😊🎹
Thank you-- just what I needed to hear today-- getting to start 3rd semester of college and i experience everything you discuss---thank you for sharing your knowledge and wisdom so grateful I discovered you❤️
A tes ordres. I’ve been lazy about keeping my practice journal. I make an entry every day but I wasn’t saying anything. I fetched (nice doggy, n’est-ce pas?) my journal and made the changes. Merci
@@satwik1268 Very good point, I agree! And being a Français speaker, I admire Kate's perfect pronunciation of French words.(as well as German and Italian .)
Dear Dr. Boyd, I have a few long-standing questions that I'd like to seek your advice on. Firstly, regarding the interpretation of classical music, I've noticed that classical musicians seem to have established a certain set of routines or impressions in expressing music. It's more like a filter, manifested in the rigidity of rhythm and the overly dramatized phrases. Perhaps musicians a century ago never considered or cared about how their music should be expressed. If hundreds of years from now, when we are turned to dust, and there are new understandings of music leading to new trends, would it be right for classical musicians of the year 2124 to argue that songs by Maroon 5 should be performed in an ancient, authentic style to be considered exquisite? Isn't this a form of dragging our heels with an overvaluation of the past and undervaluation of the present? Secondly, extending to the current music education system, is it really practical to rapidly play scales in all 24 keys with both hands? I've seen too many people who love music get frightened off by the Hanon exercises and abandon their journey. I'm not advocating that basics are unimportant. I absolutely agree that one can never play a piece beyond the physical capabilities of their fingers, just as intense training off the field is essential before a vigorous sports match. But is it necessary to use this kind of training to filter whether someone deserves to enjoy the sport? I'm very eager to hear your perspective. Thank you.
These are good questions! With regard to the first question, I think of it in terms of filtering through a particular style. What we are doing at the piano is recreating works, much like actors read from a script. In order to have Beethoven sound identifiably like Beethoven and Ravel sound like Ravel, there are certain stylistic considerations that need to be taken into account. Within those stylistic parameters, however, there is room for a performer's unique interpretation. If you look at a room full of "Impressionist" paintings at a museum, you will see similarities in their style that make them Impressionist and not Cubist. Therefore, if you are choosing to paint in the style of a Renoir painting, for example, you will need to use similar color palettes, similar brush strokes, and similar techniques. It is possible to enjoy the music of Beethoven, Ravel and other classical composers without adhering to the stylistic parameters of each, but it will not necessarily "sound" like that composer. Regarding your second question: I am not one of those teachers who uses scale playing as a "filter whether someone deserves to enjoy the sport," and I don't think many teachers think of scales that way. Enjoyment and a feeling of motivation are extremely important, and more important than playing all 24 scales at a fast tempo. However, piano repertoire contains many patterns that consist of scales and arpeggios, and learning them helps, especially as you progress and learn more and more challenging pieces. In short: It shouldn't be a requirement to move on, but it certainly does help.
Understood. Contrasting those seemingly antiquated expressions from a modern perspective also highlights the characteristics of stylistic lineage. Thank you very much for your patient response, Professor.
Thank you so much Prof Kate Boyd for this rich and wonderful lesson. My name is Zain Masry, I am piano player, and in this video you taught me a very important points to know, and I hope so much to be one of your student.
Thanks for another shot of inspiration, Kate. I always find something useful in your videos, even when, yeah, its something I should already know, and if I had a teacher I'm sure I would be getting reminded frequently! I recently broke my collar bone, so no real practice for me for a couple of months. Instead, I'll be doing a lot of Habit #4, lol. But now, I'm going to bring some discipline even to my listening and plan some focus areas that will be relevant to my repertoire goals. Also hoping in a few weeks to begin some focused left hand work. If you have any suggestions for a (middle intermediate) left-hand only practice routine, let me know!
Thanks for your comment - sorry to hear about your broken collar bone. For a LH routine, I'd just recommend doing your usual warm-ups (scales, chords, arpeggios) along with working on your pieces LH alone. Here's a blog post I found about intermediate-level repertoire for the LH. Maybe you'll find a piece in there that you'd like to try. Good luck! lowepianostudio.blogspot.com/2012/11/one-handed-repertoire-for-intermediate.html
that's a very fruitful lesson again , it's very useful , I am fighting for my own ATCL exam recently , this is very useful for me , thanks for your genourous and meaningful sharing , I will work even harder for my exam :)😆
i'm self-taught and want to play classical, preferably Chopin...i'll be playing seriously a year in two months....i can see myself to be really good in 4-5yrs....the only one i need to improve on is memorizing....i can't play by ear so i need to rely on visual memory....since i'm self-taught can i eventually call myself a pianist
Thank you, valuable information. Can you advise if after 3 years’study and many practice on Hanon, Czerny599, Burgmuller 25, move on to Bach minuets, marsch, now switch to Bach Invention (1+4+8+13) and Schumann album for the young, a right approach to learn classical music
This could work well. I advise finding a good teacher who can help guide you in your repertoire choices and find the pieces and exercises that will suit your current level the best. If you're in the US, this link can help: www.mtna.org/MTNA/Find_A_Teacher/MTNA/FindATeacherAddress.aspx?hkey=68dd3621-7b57-4a9e-ac7e-dfe09eff5fd5 Good luck!
Thank you so much for your lesson. I would like to ask you something regarding the sight reading. Can the small differences in key width and length that exist between piano brands affect your performance?
I would generally say not really - these differences are negligible. They do make pianos for smaller-handed pianists and the difference there would be more substantial. Also, there's a big difference in width between piano keys and harpsichord keys or fortepiano keys. But honestly, I've played on both and it's not that hard going back and forth because the black keys keep you oriented and everything is proportional.
Yes, it can absolutely be inspiring to hear virtuoso pianosts! That part was more for high school, college and university students, who sometimes compare themselves to each other and deal with various insecurities
Because the piano is a musical instrument, and music an art form, not a science. That said, we do use science all the time when approaching the piano and music in general, including anatomy, physics, physiology, mathematics, which all help us understand the music and how to approach the instrument.
Thank you for this video! I share a free bite by bite “learn to read music” program on my TH-cam channel in the hopes of making music literacy accessible to all!
I see what you're saying. Habit 1 is to track your progress and set goals, and Habit 3 is to focus on the process and not fixate on a particular outcome. The distinction here is between "intrinsic" and "extrinsic" goals. An intrinsic goal comes from within, and it's about setting goals that you can largely control, such as how much you practice each day or how much of a piece you aim to learn in a certain length of time. An extrinsic goal is something outside yourself that you don't have total control over, such as winning a prize in a competition or playing a recital perfectly. You can set goals and work toward them (Habit 1), while at the same time accepting that you can't completely control every aspect of the outcome (Habit 3), and therefore appreciating the experience of your daily work instead of fixating on doing it all in service of a potential, fixed goal that may or may not happen.
You learn a piece in a month for a performance in 6? No wonder professionals don't make many mistakes!! I am learning a piece for performance in 6 months and it's hard (for me). I am aiming to be able to play through it after 3-4 months (with a good opening section).
Keep up the grind! Do not be discouraged. As she said, don’t compare yourself to others. 💯 you sound better than me (just starting to learn at 33 over here, lol 😂)
Rachmaninoff is NOT a grind! I LOVE his music. Just bloody hard work😂. I started at around 30 (but not from scratch - I played some simple pieces around 20 for a couple of years). You can go a long way at 33... @@Migh7yb00sh
Sounds like you're on track - I didn't mean to imply that you need to stick to the timeline I mention on the video. Rather, it's important to set your own goals and timeline and work toward them. That said, I think there is a lot of value in having a "stretch piece" that takes many months to learn (sounds like the Rachmaninoff is that for you), but also choosing rep that you can learn the notes for in a shorter amount of time, in order to keep building your experience and leveling up your abilities. Keep it up - you got this! 😊
LOL, I bought Schumann's Album for the Young for Xmas. Is that easy enough do you think? 😃 includes some sightreading practice... @@ThePianoProfKateBoyd
@@ThePianoProfKateBoyd I did got it :)) Still too many mistakes at times (concentration is an issue), but it's all there. Easier piece of the moment is Grieg's "Til Våren", very seasonal! :))
You need to be professional in practicing , which means showing up every day even when you don’t want , when you don’t show up ,your calling in sick , if you keep calling in sick why would the muse want you working for her?
In her book BIG MAGIC, Elizabeth Gilbert talks about the idea of the muse showing up, and the importance of being there for when it happens. Food for thought!
👋 Watch this next: How to Keep a Practice Journal: th-cam.com/video/CQmd6jTJolU/w-d-xo.html
I’m only two and half minutes in, but THANK YOU! I feel like my biggest problem (maybe second biggest, after anxiety) for years has been not knowing what to do, not having a plan for how to tackle practice sessions or entire pieces. Now I have a template for how to break down a piece over time. Oh my gosh, I’m thrilled.
I'm so glad this video was helpful to you! I'm thrilled for you 😊
Fantastic. I think it's easy to just fast-scan this (me included) and say, yes, yes, yes, and not actually follow through, but instead, we can stop, take it in, make a *commitment* to yourself to apply a couple of these tips and then give yourself a pat on the back. It's occurred to me that one of the differences between masterful pianists and the average pianist is that they leverage the heck out of every opportunity and effective technique they can get their hands on.
Great insight!! Thanks for your comment!
Could you do an entire video on how record yourself with your phone, how to listen, and then how to practice in order to improve what you hear? You could also talk about the size and characteristics of the room you’re playing in from say a small studio to a living room.
All great suggestions, thank you! Here is an additional video on listening that might be useful to you: th-cam.com/video/30Cipl5mdlU/w-d-xo.htmlsi=ub2mZRCGkQtvL3Af
You have blown a fresh air of breath in my musical Journey. God Bless You.
I'm so glad 😊 It's my pleasure!
from France, I have recently discovered your series which I appreciate so very much, even having played for 20+ years. Thank you for your creative wisdom, knowledge and eloquence. Your observations inspire and reassure me.
Welcome, and thanks for your comment!
Very nice tips and rules. Thank you.
I am an 8th Grade Trinity pianist ( did it at 60 years). Now I am 67 and continue my musical journey. I started playing when I was 10.
6 months ago I decided to teach piano in my colony. I love teaching.
Wonderful! Thanks for sharing!
Thank you for this video! As a piano/organ player of about 20 years, I can testify that these habits to getting better are ABSOLUTELY correct!
Excellent! So glad you agree!
Thank you for the wisdom you share in your videos. You are a gift to me. Your expertise in teaching and communicating has opened a new world of piano experience for me.
Wow, thank you!
I was browsing through TH-cam and saw a picture of your face again. I thought, 'I'm not going to tune in. Most of what she's going to say I heard already and she's probably going to sell something to no end!!!' However, I was completely wrong! Dr. Kate, I LOOOVE this video. You covered some excellent points, in my opinion! I truly enjoyed your suggestions. WOW! They were smart, logical and very well thought out and explained! I can't wait to hear what else you have to teach about piano! I'm an intermediate pianist, but I absolutely LOOOOVE everything about piano: history, construction and playing. I'm hoping and praying that my piano skills could one day be as good as my singing abilities! I have a good teacher, but I think it's always great to hear the views and opinions of other professionals! Thank you much!
Thank you so much for your comment - it's so gratifying to hear that you found new and useful information in this video!
The piano is a wonderful and fascinating instrument - its history, the literature, the performers, and of course the challenge and opportunity to play it every day. How lucky we are! 😊🎹
Thank you-- just what I needed to hear today-- getting to start 3rd semester of college and i experience everything you discuss---thank you for sharing your knowledge and wisdom so grateful I discovered you❤️
You are so welcome! 😊
A tes ordres.
I’ve been lazy about keeping my practice journal. I make an entry every day but I wasn’t saying anything. I fetched (nice doggy, n’est-ce pas?) my journal and made the changes.
Merci
I', glad the "fetch" method was useful! Happy practicing! 😊
Thanks Prof! I took copious notes. Well done!
Wonderful! Thanks for your comment - it's great to hear from you! 😊
Thank you for your outstanding YT channel Dr. Boyd ! .You are a national treasure.
International treasure!!
@@satwik1268 Very good point, I agree! And being a Français speaker, I admire Kate's perfect pronunciation of French words.(as well as German and Italian .)
Wow, thank you!
You are too kind! 🙏
I'm piano biginer from japan.I will try 8 habits. Thanks!
Dear Dr. Boyd,
I have a few long-standing questions that I'd like to seek your advice on.
Firstly, regarding the interpretation of classical music, I've noticed that classical musicians seem to have established a certain set of routines or impressions in expressing music. It's more like a filter, manifested in the rigidity of rhythm and the overly dramatized phrases. Perhaps musicians a century ago never considered or cared about how their music should be expressed. If hundreds of years from now, when we are turned to dust, and there are new understandings of music leading to new trends, would it be right for classical musicians of the year 2124 to argue that songs by Maroon 5 should be performed in an ancient, authentic style to be considered exquisite? Isn't this a form of dragging our heels with an overvaluation of the past and undervaluation of the present?
Secondly, extending to the current music education system, is it really practical to rapidly play scales in all 24 keys with both hands? I've seen too many people who love music get frightened off by the Hanon exercises and abandon their journey. I'm not advocating that basics are unimportant. I absolutely agree that one can never play a piece beyond the physical capabilities of their fingers, just as intense training off the field is essential before a vigorous sports match. But is it necessary to use this kind of training to filter whether someone deserves to enjoy the sport?
I'm very eager to hear your perspective. Thank you.
These are good questions! With regard to the first question, I think of it in terms of filtering through a particular style. What we are doing at the piano is recreating works, much like actors read from a script. In order to have Beethoven sound identifiably like Beethoven and Ravel sound like Ravel, there are certain stylistic considerations that need to be taken into account. Within those stylistic parameters, however, there is room for a performer's unique interpretation.
If you look at a room full of "Impressionist" paintings at a museum, you will see similarities in their style that make them Impressionist and not Cubist. Therefore, if you are choosing to paint in the style of a Renoir painting, for example, you will need to use similar color palettes, similar brush strokes, and similar techniques.
It is possible to enjoy the music of Beethoven, Ravel and other classical composers without adhering to the stylistic parameters of each, but it will not necessarily "sound" like that composer.
Regarding your second question: I am not one of those teachers who uses scale playing as a "filter whether someone deserves to enjoy the sport," and I don't think many teachers think of scales that way.
Enjoyment and a feeling of motivation are extremely important, and more important than playing all 24 scales at a fast tempo.
However, piano repertoire contains many patterns that consist of scales and arpeggios, and learning them helps, especially as you progress and learn more and more challenging pieces.
In short: It shouldn't be a requirement to move on, but it certainly does help.
Understood. Contrasting those seemingly antiquated expressions from a modern perspective also highlights the characteristics of stylistic lineage. Thank you very much for your patient response, Professor.
Thank you so much Prof Kate Boyd for this rich and wonderful lesson. My name is Zain Masry, I am piano player, and in this video you taught me a very important points to know, and I hope so much to be one of your student.
Thanks for your comment! Feel free to contact me at thepianoprof.com/contact/ and tell me more about yourself. Looking forward to hearing from you!
Thanks for another shot of inspiration, Kate. I always find something useful in your videos, even when, yeah, its something I should already know, and if I had a teacher I'm sure I would be getting reminded frequently! I recently broke my collar bone, so no real practice for me for a couple of months. Instead, I'll be doing a lot of Habit #4, lol. But now, I'm going to bring some discipline even to my listening and plan some focus areas that will be relevant to my repertoire goals. Also hoping in a few weeks to begin some focused left hand work. If you have any suggestions for a (middle intermediate) left-hand only practice routine, let me know!
Thanks for your comment - sorry to hear about your broken collar bone. For a LH routine, I'd just recommend doing your usual warm-ups (scales, chords, arpeggios) along with working on your pieces LH alone. Here's a blog post I found about intermediate-level repertoire for the LH. Maybe you'll find a piece in there that you'd like to try. Good luck! lowepianostudio.blogspot.com/2012/11/one-handed-repertoire-for-intermediate.html
You are giving me a roadmap that I need-thank you!
You are so welcome! Glad it's helpful!
My new favorite channel 😊❤
Awwww thanks for being here!
Very helpful video - you express things very clearly and I feel inspired
Awesome, thank you! Glad it was helpful!
that's a very fruitful lesson again , it's very useful , I am fighting for my own ATCL exam recently , this is very useful for me , thanks for your genourous and meaningful sharing , I will work even harder for my exam :)😆
All the best!
@@ThePianoProfKateBoyd thanks so much ,professor boyd :)
i'm self-taught and want to play classical, preferably Chopin...i'll be playing seriously a year in two months....i can see myself to be really good in 4-5yrs....the only one i need to improve on is memorizing....i can't play by ear so i need to rely on visual memory....since i'm self-taught can i eventually call myself a pianist
Sounds good! You got this!
Thank you, valuable information. Can you advise if after 3 years’study and many practice on Hanon, Czerny599, Burgmuller 25, move on to Bach minuets, marsch, now switch to Bach Invention (1+4+8+13) and Schumann album for the young, a right approach to learn classical music
This could work well. I advise finding a good teacher who can help guide you in your repertoire choices and find the pieces and exercises that will suit your current level the best. If you're in the US, this link can help: www.mtna.org/MTNA/Find_A_Teacher/MTNA/FindATeacherAddress.aspx?hkey=68dd3621-7b57-4a9e-ac7e-dfe09eff5fd5 Good luck!
Thank you so much for your lesson. I would like to ask you something regarding the sight reading. Can the small differences in key width and length that exist between piano brands affect your performance?
I would generally say not really - these differences are negligible. They do make pianos for smaller-handed pianists and the difference there would be more substantial. Also, there's a big difference in width between piano keys and harpsichord keys or fortepiano keys. But honestly, I've played on both and it's not that hard going back and forth because the black keys keep you oriented and everything is proportional.
@@ThePianoProfKateBoyd Thank you very much ;)
Hmmm...when I hear virtuoso pianists I'm not intimidated, it inspires me to do better...
Yes, it can absolutely be inspiring to hear virtuoso pianosts! That part was more for high school, college and university students, who sometimes compare themselves to each other and deal with various insecurities
Dear Prof why there are no scientific ways of approaching piano ? Or sightreading music?
Because the piano is a musical instrument, and music an art form, not a science. That said, we do use science all the time when approaching the piano and music in general, including anatomy, physics, physiology, mathematics, which all help us understand the music and how to approach the instrument.
Thank you for this video! I share a free bite by bite “learn to read music” program on my TH-cam channel in the hopes of making music literacy accessible to all!
I thought that was excellent.
Thanks! 😊
Goals 1 and 3 sound like they are in conflict.
I see what you're saying. Habit 1 is to track your progress and set goals, and Habit 3 is to focus on the process and not fixate on a particular outcome.
The distinction here is between "intrinsic" and "extrinsic" goals. An intrinsic goal comes from within, and it's about setting goals that you can largely control, such as how much you practice each day or how much of a piece you aim to learn in a certain length of time. An extrinsic goal is something outside yourself that you don't have total control over, such as winning a prize in a competition or playing a recital perfectly.
You can set goals and work toward them (Habit 1), while at the same time accepting that you can't completely control every aspect of the outcome (Habit 3), and therefore appreciating the experience of your daily work instead of fixating on doing it all in service of a potential, fixed goal that may or may not happen.
Thank you. I appreciate your explanation.
You learn a piece in a month for a performance in 6? No wonder professionals don't make many mistakes!!
I am learning a piece for performance in 6 months and it's hard (for me). I am aiming to be able to play through it after 3-4 months (with a good opening section).
Keep up the grind! Do not be discouraged. As she said, don’t compare yourself to others. 💯 you sound better than me (just starting to learn at 33 over here, lol 😂)
Rachmaninoff is NOT a grind! I LOVE his music. Just bloody hard work😂. I started at around 30 (but not from scratch - I played some simple pieces around 20 for a couple of years). You can go a long way at 33... @@Migh7yb00sh
Sounds like you're on track - I didn't mean to imply that you need to stick to the timeline I mention on the video. Rather, it's important to set your own goals and timeline and work toward them.
That said, I think there is a lot of value in having a "stretch piece" that takes many months to learn (sounds like the Rachmaninoff is that for you), but also choosing rep that you can learn the notes for in a shorter amount of time, in order to keep building your experience and leveling up your abilities.
Keep it up - you got this! 😊
LOL, I bought Schumann's Album for the Young for Xmas. Is that easy enough do you think? 😃 includes some sightreading practice... @@ThePianoProfKateBoyd
@@ThePianoProfKateBoyd I did got it :)) Still too many mistakes at times (concentration is an issue), but it's all there. Easier piece of the moment is Grieg's "Til Våren", very seasonal! :))
You need to be professional in practicing , which means showing up every day even when you don’t want , when you don’t show up ,your calling in sick , if you keep calling in sick why would the muse want you working for her?
In her book BIG MAGIC, Elizabeth Gilbert talks about the idea of the muse showing up, and the importance of being there for when it happens. Food for thought!
@@ThePianoProfKateBoyd I’ll check out this book thank you.