This channel is so terribly underrated. Probably the best piano channel on youtube and only 6k subs...You Sir deserve a couple of hundreads at least! Great and informative videos with professional analisys of technique, watching one can be a milestone for a beginner pianist, and even the advanced can learn something!
"The law of diminishing returns', economists call it. You have delivered a brilliant lesson. I have been "eatintg the elephant in one go". Will follow your "analysis method" and move on to next part. Thank you Maestro for your excellent video on how to Practise Playing the Piano.
I think you forgot one extremely important step (at least for me) and that is fingerings. I always, no matter what piece I play, I always start learning the first section of a new piece by writing down the most optimal fingerings for my hands. This is REALLY crucial as we use muscle memory to memorize pieces. In order for the muscle memory to work it is crucial that we actually are consistent in our playing and play in the same way every single time. If we play just a little differently each time, then it becomes very difficult to learn the piece and also unnescessary timeconsuming.
The most important aspect of learning a piece is to understand, learn, and explore the theory behind the piece. This accomplishes several tasks all at once. Fingerings of complex runs require a theoretical understanding of chords, progressions, etc. These rudimentary studies at the start of a piece will help you discover the best fingering execution. Often, you will change your fingering as you progress, finding new and improved ways of arriving at a more straightforward goal than a previous one. Muscle memory alone is very unreliable, especially under stressful situations.
23:40 OMG, you identified perfectly a seriously bad habit I have when it comes to learning new pieces. "A trick of our mind to avoid going out of our comfort zone... because starting a new section takes effort." To get out of this rut, I've made it a goal of mine to "learn all the notes" first, and get to the end of the piece as fast as possible, because I keep getting stuck on pieces that are 1/4th, 1/3rd complete and can't ever seem to let go of that imperfection in what I've already learned to move on.
I use Pomodorov technique , resting, naps, and not starting from the same part is quite an approach to a effective session. Remember what Liszt said: "think twice play one"
Your suggestion of practicing hard measures separatley are exactly what my Coach tells me. She calls it "taking to the Woodshed". If measures 4 & 5 are causing problems start there and wirk it over and over. 5 times correctly... if you mess it ip on 3rd time, start counting over. 5 times in a row 100% correct. THEN go back to measure 1 and play through 5 if it's corrected ho on to measure 6 and go again until you hit another "snag" then pull out that section and do same thing. Thank you!
You are so RIGHT! As a pianist, I often "fake" it and hope that no one would notices my weaknesses! It takes a lot of courage to admit to your own mistakes and face the corrections. That's why practicing is not FUN.... I do appreciate your methods of breaking down the problems into smaller chunks. I often repeat the same mistakes many times until I see my teacher for revisions.
I have started to mature as a musician from the moment when I understood that: There is no teacher that can teach you everything A teacher’s responsibility is to show you a door, but you must open it yourself You become a professional only when your goal is to become independent from a teacher, i.e. being critical, constructive and creative with yourself, not waiting until a teacher makes for you your job. Of course at early stages teacher makes everything for you, telling you how to play every note, but at later stages he should be just an adviser whose advices you can accept if you like them, and reject if you are convinced otherwise. Being responsible for yourself ultimately gives you freedom that makes practicing FUN, because joy of creativity starts from mastering inner freedom and accepting a full responsibility for your life.
It is sad that there is very little information about how to practice efficiently. Most books about piano playing focus on the artistic side and leave out the craftsmanship side. Piano lessons sadly tend to be like this at the higher levels too. It is kind of ironic that the book you mention, "Fundamentals of Piano Practice" was written by a non-pianist. There is basically no great content by a great pianist or famous pedagogue I can think of that focuses on the craftsmanship aspect. Thanks for sharing some of the strategies you use, I agree with the previous comment, this channel is underrated!
The author of the book said that he's describing the methods of his daughters' piano teacher, though. I agree that the book has some content that I can't take too seriously and especially the oversized self image of the author is tiring. But there are some good methods that really helped me.
I agree with everything you've said. I have the exact philosophy and recommendations when I give lessons. "Studying is solving problems" that's a must! 👏👏👏
Watching your videos I have to say that your lessons are really top quality. I'm learning so many things and details from you that I had never heard in the past from my music teachers. Your channel is in my opinion the best piano channel I've found in TH-cam. As wrote Pawel below, you should deserve many more subscribers.
@@DenZhdanovPianist Yes, Denis. We, piano and music lovers, are extremely fortunate to have access to such education from such a brilliant pianist and teacher. You are also very friendly! Vsego nailuschego!
If I spent as much time focused practicing as I do watching Videos on music I could be playing at Carnegie Hall by now :) Great video as always. Thanks for the content.
I watched this video twice and was surprised how important it is. Every word was very helpful and in context and verified with my by my own practicing experience.
Случайно попала на ваш канал, Денис. Одно удовольствие смотреть ваши видео. Очень красиво всё снято. Вы тоже выглядите очень красиво. А ваша английская речь просто безупречная. Вы так все хорошо и понятно объясняете. Я даже записывала ваши выражения. Все очень высокого качества. Вы мотивируете опять начинать заниматься. Я прочитала, что вы учились у Маргариуса. Он преподавал в нашей Харьковской консерватории, когда я там училась. Это было очень давно. Спасибо вам за видео.
Excellent advice. Thank you. While I always try to be mindful when practising, these techniques are fantastic to reinforce meaningful progress. I learned a lot - thank you!
I remember reading about a Liszt masterclass where he stated how to approach a new piece. Problem is, that I don't remember where I read it. I'm not even sure if it was Liszt who said it... but I found it really helpful when playing pieces which don't take too much time to learn to play for my individual level and also when learning a new piece (but then I do it with hands separately first and for passages, when it's more complex) "Play the piece once and pay attention to the notes (/keys). Play the piece a second time and pay attention to the rhythm. Play the piece again and add the dynamics. Play it again and pay attention to the expressiom marks. Again + Pedal Again + raise the tempo (? Don't remember this one clearly)" Maybe it's a good idea to add comfort and relaxation as the 1st - at least when learning a new piece. I think of course you don't neglect everything else, but everytime you play the piece one fundamental aspect of music more attention than the others. The idea is to get to know a piece as a whole when you can already approach it this way. You give one aspect after another attention and let your subconscious handle the others a bit more while improving one. If anyone knows where it can be found, please let me know. I will probably add it myself when I find it.
It’s very efficient to break down the work into clear stages. Not familiar with anything like that coming from Liszt. I doubt he would teach that because he didn’t need to play any piece so many times in order to get it all right lol. It would be very interesting to have his practical advices about piano playing written down though.
@@DenZhdanovPianist Good to hear that from a professional. I'm thankful that someone like you is willing to share his valuable knowledge online. These videos are very helpful and I didn't see some of those teachings anywhere else - like the tips on the fourth finger, the thirds, in-and-out movements etc. Found the passage btw.: "Liszt's lessons usually lasted two hours; frequently, to illustrate his explanations more clearly, he read some passage from a favorite author, pointing out the connection between music and literature. He outlined a method of tackling a new piece, recommending a student to read it through slowly about five times: the first and second times for accuracy of notes and rhythmic values; the third time paying attention to the dynamics, indicated or implied, as well as details of articulation, accentuation, and the like (he wanted the bass and treble studied separately, seeking how to nuance each); the fourth time looking for points of imitation or hidden themes in the inner parts; the fifth time deciding on the correct speed, and planning accelerandos and ritardandos where suitable. He did not require every piece to be finished to perfection as long as the mood was understood, and he encouraged his students to read a lot of music and broaden their experience." It's from an excerpt from Hilda Gervers book "Liszt as a pedagogue". It can be found on Lisztomania with 8 pages - the quote I mentioned is on page 3. Somehow my previous comment got deleted, probably because I mentioned where to get the book from. Sorry, I didn't mean to advertise or sth.
The tips are great! I find re-visit it every few weeks or every few months after some practice is helpful -- I pick up new tips when rewatching it especially from the demonstrations
Dear Denis, your lessons are first class. Thank you so much for helping me to improve and to resolve problems I have had for years. For instance the brillant Siciliano/Kempf I have managed to play fairly well thanks to your teaching gifts.
A very common mistake musicians often make is just because it's easy to read they think it's easy to play it well, so it's really good to practice things that are easy to read but tricky to play well so you know that you can play as well as you can read it, then when you try to learn something that is more difficult to read it will be much more easy for you to play it well, in a nutshell practicing like this will help to ensure that your playing is in balance with your reading. P.S Maybe this could be useful to all you music making monsters out there.
Great! I also like listening to some useful stuff while doing smth boring. Looking forward to get a promotion and become an integral part of your toilet routine lol!🎶💩😊
My favourite channel on youtube period.I have reached the level where I'm studying piano at the university but i figured out I'm still making some simple mistakes in my practicing.And you pointed them out so brilliantly!Thanks a million!
DZ I just purchased your “Basics of Piano Technique & Musicality”. I am so excited about having access to this work/teachings. Best on Web. Thank you so much my friend. You give an old guy like me hope. Cheers.
Thank you so much! My son started taking lessons 3 years ago, prior to that it was TH-cam. He loves listening to recordings but no one has suggested following along with the score. It seems so obvious a good idea after you mentioned but for 3 years no one mentioned and think of doing that! What's crazier is he would listen to his own recordings and follow along with the Henle to check for mistakes but we never thought to follow along with the recordings of the masters! LOL. It makes total sense!
Thanks for your kind feedback. Unfortunately, on average, students don’t get clear directions how to practice, understanding what they are supposed to do at home step by step. They are often told how it should sound, and then they try to intuitively find a way there. In this regard I would say that piano pedagogy is rather ignorant of modern findings about learning efficiency and neurological science. With some brilliant exceptions of course, like the book, which I was mentioning in the description of this video.
@@DenZhdanovPianist ah I have read that book, it's on my kindle. I like the part where she relates the teacher allows the daughters choose whatever piece they want without regard to difficulty. It's been awhile. I should reread
Thanks Denis, You should encourage me to learn music theory. This video is treasure for me, because when i stayed alone(Without teacher) several problems have and it is bit difficult for me to solve. Thanks dear ❤️❤️❤️
Really great practice advice, a lot of gems in this video. Subscribed and I'm looking forward to more similar, helpful content for learning piano better
Wow! What a valuable essence of practice wisdom! Golden words, thank you. Let me put one question: How many pieces would you recommend to work on parallel? One per day? Let's be conkret: there are 5 peaces not yet perfect. Should I work on all of them (with pauses) every day to make them perfect or one at a day and tomorrow the next one? Thank you.
The first variant is better. 5 days pause after every practice session is too much. You can also follow a weekly schedule: one week concentrate on 2-3 pieces, next week others, with only brief reminding on the other ones
@@DenZhdanovPianist Horowitz said it is important to never skip a practice session and is much less necessary to do long practice sessions. Even half an hour every day is much better than 2 hours one day nothing two days and 1.5 hours another day. then nothing for the rest of the week. Total time is the same.
this video is a golden lesson for me though I'm learning the organ actually...as your techniques and practicing mindset applies to different instruments! However, it's quite hard to fight the temptation to go through once the piece correctly instead of practicing the details..
Artur Rubenstein had some good, basic advice, which matches the structure of my lessons with my teacher. Half the time should be playing, Half, not playing. I seldom hear this in the practice room hallways of music departments.
I would be curious to also see a video on what to focus your mind on during a performance, and what mental tricks and pitfalls there are. The transition from practicing to performing/recording is tricky, and also sometimes it makes you learn that you want to change or patch how you want to play but that’s also tricky to fix old habits… Btw, there seems to be a problem with your chapters, because the video playbar isn’t segmented. Not sure, but perhaps because there are colons in one of your descriptions?
I saw a read compliment from Michael Moran on your etude from the Chopin competition. Could you do a video on your experience from it? How you prepared, your mental state and emotions. It's difficult to find personal stories on preparation. Also what would you have done differently etc
@@DenZhdanovPianist thanks for your reply. I meant a non tutorial video. Discussing how did you decide to compete in Chopin competition. How far advance did you need to prepare and other things you were thinking about etc.
Thank you for this video. I tend to repeat over 20 times without mistakes the spot I'm learning. Starting tomorrow I'm going to follow your advice and lower the number of repetitions and sleep on them. Speaking of sleep, what do you think of mental practice? I'm experimenting these last few days mentally going over the session I practiced during the day before I go to bed, and I've noticed a considerable improvement in the memorization process, which results in way less mistakes the next day when I review it.
I would do such challenges like repeating many times in a row the same spot only at a later stage, when you know the piece already well, but want to make a final “polishing” and stability training before going on stage. It Might be counterproductive at the earlier stages though in my personal experience. However just keep in mind this is subjective and some people mind have different approach
Some very good tips here, thank you! Do you find that student's learning speed increases when they adopt good practice techniques and as their skills improve? A big frustration for me is that even though I do practice thoughtfully, the length of time it takes me to learn even segments of pieces does not seem to decrease.
I spent ca.4 years of daily multi hours practicing before I could play virtuoso pieces, like Rachmaninoff or Liszt, although I was a child (children learn faster). So keep up and have patience!😉
This is a very helpful way to structure practice. I'm confused by the chord progressions at approximately 19:53 onward. I think you say that you start with G major but I see D major chords in both the left and right hands and also in the key signature. Am I mishearing your narration?
Very good. Thanks a lot. I would like to know, how much to practice technique a day. Like should you spent 1/4 of your practice time for technique or more or less? Idk every time..
There is no one answer for everyone, but I would say it’s a good idea to spend 1/4-1/3 of your time towards technique oriented things. Not obviously just exercises, you can play some etudes or other technically demanding pieces.
@@DenZhdanovPianist 🙏 thanks! Another question, my teacher is giving me pieces I literally cannot enjoy or I wouldn’t listen to in my free time. He gave me a Haydn sonata and I literally hate it. Hard thing is, I have to press myself to either like the sonata or just pressing over all to practice. It’s so hard because I have not such a motivation like practicing romantic pieces like Chopin Schubert Liszt rach… Every time I get a new piece of a romantic piece I like or I find interesting I’m always super hyped for next section while practicing. I’m always hyped like what’s gonna happen next or if you get near a coda or something. That gives me like ultra motivation and my overall pratice session gets so much more fun, even technique because sometimes there’s a certain technique to deleovop more or train more for the piece. By then I always parctice 5-7 hours and don’t even notice, but now it’s just like 2 hours 3 hours or sometimes even 1hour and it feels so boring and I don’t enjoy anything, when I practice scales I fail a bit and get angry… horrible. But I don’t wanna ask to change the piece because I think that my teacher wants me to explore more of other kind of pieces and epochs. Due that’s even my first sonata and so on… I’m like a late indermetiade pianist or early advanced.
@@DenZhdanovPianist oh and to add, I began playing piano with 13. now I’m 15 and I made like a rapid and huge development. It hears like I’m rushed, bad technique and overall weak fingers posture etc. I would think that too, but that’s not true I’m like a usual intermediate (late or Not however you wanna call it) pianist. The only missing thing is the bigger amount of repertoire. Mine is pretty small. My whole life rn is around music. I only listen actually classical music, visiting theory lessons (music theorie) for development of hearing training and other things. I just want to make more clear in what situation I am rn
Sorry can’t diagnose you via comments. But I would say that classical style is important for establishing a good professional foundation if you’re anyhow serious about piano. It’s like in dancing: when someone dances in a contemporary style, you can nevertheless easily see whether they had a substantial classical ballet foundation, or just came to dance smth modern from the street. You can see it by the discipline of movement nuances which makes a difference between a master and an amateur at the end of the day.
Denis, what is a good source to learn enough theory to be able to identify the important harmonic and formal structures when learning a piece? I'd be really interested in a music theory course for pianists..any plans to make such a course?
I don’t think I will make it anytime soon. What I think is important to understand is that there is a classical way to explain theory, including the rules of polyphonic voicing as used in Baroque and classical traditions. It’s useful for memorization those styles, because composers used these rules very diligently. Like if you have a Bb-C-E-G chord, you would expect it to resolve to A-C-F chord, and not to the root version of F major. But there is also a more modern approach, Focusing more on chords and the modern progressions with some jazz influenced elements. There are plenty of books on classical approach to theory, the only problem is that it’s kind of boring and difficult to work on that without a teacher or a learning buddy. It involves making a lot of exercises where you would need to harmonize a melody in a 4-voice choral following those strict polyphony rules, like avoiding parallel fifths and octaves. Rick Beato has the Beato Book course for the latter, modern approach to theory. I think most important is to apply whatever you learn about theory to practice by improvising or finding these examples in the actual pieces.
@@DenZhdanovPianist Oy vey! I'm more interested in classical harmony. My teacher didn't do a lot (or maybe I don't remember a lot if it) of theory work when I took lessons from age 11-16. Well, I have your courses on Mozart K. 397 (I actually learned this piece over 20 years ago) and Bach's BWV 847. Right now, I'm working on etude No. 7 in your Czerny course. Not very difficult at a moderate tempo, but I'm trying to learn it slowly so I can absord some of your teachings on efficient movement and get it to up to a faster tempo. Would love to work with you one-on-one, at some point. Regards.
Don’t learn it with piano teachers, in professional music education this discipline is taught by theory teachers/composers. Basically, for a substantial musical training you have a variety of subjects, each of which is normally taught by a specifically trained teacher.
@@DenZhdanovPianist I understand. It's just that you mentioned that understanding chord progressions helps with learning a piece so I thought that an understanding of harmony was a necessity. In the US, the kind of education that you speak of is only taught at universities and conservatories. I'll make due with resources that I have at my disposal. I just want to eventually play pieces that I have loved for most of life at a level that brings me (and maybe some friends and family) joy.
By creating the logic yourself and/or learning the language of the composer from the compositional standpoint. It’s a great question, I will elaborate on it in the next video.
I think I have practiced a lot of your recommendations. I really like the craftsmanship of learning new pieces. But I’m not a pianist and my time for practicing is maybe one hour every second day and 3-4 hours in the weekends (maybe every second week). I like Chopin and are practicing som of his etyds . My question is. Is it possible to learn very hard pieces in close to tempo if you practice disciplined but have so little time for practicing as I have? Sometimes I have played Chopin etyds in half or 3/4 of original tempo. But only on my own piano. Men I play on another instrument I always fail. And I have a lot of of possibilities. My profession is a piano technician and tuner. Only when I find a piano very similar to my own pianos touch, I can perform a difficult piece to my satisfaction.. And only after I have played several times before in a very slow tempo.
You can spare a lot of time by practicing wisely, but most probably you’d still need hundreds hours to be able to play virtuoso pieces. An advantage I had during my musical studies is practicing and performing on thousands of different pianos. If you have an optimized piano technique and work with the weight of the hand properly it’s actually easier to get used to a new instrument faster.
Funny comment at the beginning of your video about the common inarticulate misconceptions people mouth when they have little or no truly accurate information concerning their commentary. I find your piano techniques, and prowess to be beautifully applicable, and concisely articulate, but; I'm sure it evolved over much physical deliberation and disciplined practice hours... So, yes most people haven't any scientific prowess, and merely repeat what's popular, or worse, what they we told (word of mouth). Unfortunately, the lesson you might consider, if I was to offer some constructive advisement, is: As silly as it might seem, there is an actual association betwixt the ubiquitous WCR as an environmental adjunct bio-stressor, which is certainly been proven to be adverse to health outcomes of patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 (being, an increased severability and propagation of COVID-19.) This is verifiable at the National Library of Health, (NLM) and the peer published scientific literature at the National Institutes of Health. Always inform yourself, before you decide to ridicule what seems, others arbitrary evidence. If you look for an article which is one of many; titled: "The connection between coronavirus disease-19 and exposure to radiofrequency radiation from wireless communications including 5G." This WCR is a Wave Convertible Router (WCR) used in microwave WiFi, and is an ambient radiofrequency radiation, and is patented with the Coronavirus Patents, and is indirectly applicable to a wireless communication system... So, you might laugh at people who can't articulate themselves scientifically, but; you seemed to have clowned yourself in your own bigotry. Still, it was funny, and the lessons are terrific. ~ Inertia
It was clear I was laughing at people who think that when you’re vaccinated, you start radiating wifi and bluetooth, being discovered by nearby devices. The info you mentioned is interesting actually, but it doesn’t have relation to vaccines and their impact on a human ability to radiate wifi. So with all the respect, I didn’t clown myself.😛
'Scientifically proved' that learning hands separately is better?! As far as I'm aware, academic studies on this show evidence for the opposite. Citations please!!
Jokes on vx at the beginning of this video have not aged well, especially with heavy handed pol involvement, people's loss of jobs, and the serious deleterious health effects it has had on an unusually high number of people, including young men dropping lifeless to the ground to their premature end.
One thing is to research scientifically on vx side effects and discuss social tensions caused by strict regulations, another is to believe that after vaccination a person radiates Bluetooth, etc. The seasoning was clear enough, but anyway it’s not the point of the video.
@@DenZhdanovPianist I agree it is not point of video ... Why better left off. If more people had spoken up and been allowed to there would not be the human tragedy worldwide today, including children permanently damaged or gone. Plenty of research and sctf studies coming out now. The subject is too serious, and filled with tragedy to make a joke about it was my only point.
This channel is so terribly underrated. Probably the best piano channel on youtube and only 6k subs...You Sir deserve a couple of hundreads at least! Great and informative videos with professional analisys of technique, watching one can be a milestone for a beginner pianist, and even the advanced can learn something!
A little over 1k subs per month, not bad growth
"The law of diminishing returns', economists call it.
You have delivered a brilliant lesson.
I have been "eatintg the elephant in one go".
Will follow your "analysis method" and move on to next part.
Thank you Maestro for your excellent video on how to Practise Playing the Piano.
I think you forgot one extremely important step (at least for me) and that is fingerings. I always, no matter what piece I play, I always start learning the first section of a new piece by writing down the most optimal fingerings for my hands. This is REALLY crucial as we use muscle memory to memorize pieces. In order for the muscle memory to work it is crucial that we actually are consistent in our playing and play in the same way every single time. If we play just a little differently each time, then it becomes very difficult to learn the piece and also unnescessary timeconsuming.
The most important aspect of learning a piece is to understand, learn, and explore the theory behind the piece. This accomplishes several tasks all at once. Fingerings of complex runs require a theoretical understanding of chords, progressions, etc. These rudimentary studies at the start of a piece will help you discover the best fingering execution. Often, you will change your fingering as you progress, finding new and improved ways of arriving at a more straightforward goal than a previous one. Muscle memory alone is very unreliable, especially under stressful situations.
23:40 OMG, you identified perfectly a seriously bad habit I have when it comes to learning new pieces. "A trick of our mind to avoid going out of our comfort zone... because starting a new section takes effort." To get out of this rut, I've made it a goal of mine to "learn all the notes" first, and get to the end of the piece as fast as possible, because I keep getting stuck on pieces that are 1/4th, 1/3rd complete and can't ever seem to let go of that imperfection in what I've already learned to move on.
😎 yeah I was also like this!
Taking short breaks to reinforce memories is key to learning new skills or re-learning old ones (ZME science article)
I use Pomodorov technique , resting, naps, and not starting from the same part is quite an approach to a effective session. Remember what Liszt said: "think twice play one"
Your suggestion of practicing hard measures separatley are exactly what my Coach tells me. She calls it "taking to the Woodshed". If measures 4 & 5 are causing problems start there and wirk it over and over. 5 times correctly... if you mess it ip on 3rd time, start counting over. 5 times in a row 100% correct. THEN go back to measure 1 and play through 5 if it's corrected ho on to measure 6 and go again until you hit another "snag" then pull out that section and do same thing. Thank you!
You are so RIGHT! As a pianist, I often "fake" it and hope that no one would notices my weaknesses! It takes a lot of courage to admit to your own mistakes and face the corrections. That's why practicing is not FUN.... I do appreciate your methods of breaking down the problems into smaller chunks. I often repeat the same mistakes many times until I see my teacher for revisions.
I have started to mature as a musician from the moment when I understood that:
There is no teacher that can teach you everything
A teacher’s responsibility is to show you a door, but you must open it yourself
You become a professional only when your goal is to become independent from a teacher, i.e. being critical, constructive and creative with yourself, not waiting until a teacher makes for you your job.
Of course at early stages teacher makes everything for you, telling you how to play every note, but at later stages he should be just an adviser whose advices you can accept if you like them, and reject if you are convinced otherwise.
Being responsible for yourself ultimately gives you freedom that makes practicing FUN, because joy of creativity starts from mastering inner freedom and accepting a full responsibility for your life.
@@DenZhdanovPianist 😅😅😅That's so much like saying welcome to "adulthood"!!
@@DenZhdanovPianist I'm actually a very "young musician" still learning how to navigating on my own but in real life, I'm in middle age already!
Yep😅😉
The problem with practicing your mistakes is that the mistake embeds itself in your brain & are more difficult to fix.
It is sad that there is very little information about how to practice efficiently. Most books about piano playing focus on the artistic side and leave out the craftsmanship side. Piano lessons sadly tend to be like this at the higher levels too. It is kind of ironic that the book you mention, "Fundamentals of Piano Practice" was written by a non-pianist. There is basically no great content by a great pianist or famous pedagogue I can think of that focuses on the craftsmanship aspect. Thanks for sharing some of the strategies you use, I agree with the previous comment, this channel is underrated!
The author of the book said that he's describing the methods of his daughters' piano teacher, though.
I agree that the book has some content that I can't take too seriously and especially the oversized self image of the author is tiring. But there are some good methods that really helped me.
Truly blessed to have such a talented teacher and pianist teaching piano so intuitively all for free. Thank you Mr. Zhdanov!
I am amazed by your generosity, offering so much information for free. Thank you so much!
Glad it was helpful! Thanks for commenting!
This is PURE GOLD. Sir, you are the TOP G of piano youtubers.
I agree with everything you've said. I have the exact philosophy and recommendations when I give lessons. "Studying is solving problems" that's a must! 👏👏👏
Watching your videos I have to say that your lessons are really top quality. I'm learning so many things and details from you that I had never heard in the past from my music teachers. Your channel is in my opinion the best piano channel I've found in TH-cam. As wrote Pawel below, you should deserve many more subscribers.
Thanks for a generous feedback💙
@@DenZhdanovPianist Yes, Denis. We, piano and music lovers, are extremely fortunate to have access to such education from such a brilliant pianist and teacher. You are also very friendly! Vsego nailuschego!
22:25 is in my opinion the most useful tip in this video!
Well, unpexpectedly I've found the best piano channel in the whole galaxy. Greetings from Argentina, Denis!!!
Thanks for kind feedback!☺️
Thank you, Im a musician and i was stuck in middle part of tempest sonata and whit this tutorial i got it all ❤❤❤
If I spent as much time focused practicing as I do watching Videos on music I could be playing at Carnegie Hall by now :) Great video as always. Thanks for the content.
I just found you in the you tube and I feel like I have found a treasure! You are the best, thank you for your videos
I watched this video twice and was surprised how important it is. Every word was very helpful and in context and verified with my by my own practicing experience.
Excellent guidance!
Случайно попала на ваш канал, Денис. Одно удовольствие смотреть ваши видео. Очень красиво всё снято. Вы тоже выглядите очень красиво. А ваша английская речь просто безупречная. Вы так все хорошо и понятно объясняете. Я даже записывала ваши выражения. Все очень высокого качества. Вы мотивируете опять начинать заниматься.
Я прочитала, что вы учились у Маргариуса. Он преподавал в нашей Харьковской консерватории, когда я там училась. Это было очень давно.
Спасибо вам за видео.
Спасибо за коммент!🎶😊
Great great video 🤗 thx for charing !
Excellent advice. Thank you. While I always try to be mindful when practising, these techniques are fantastic to reinforce meaningful progress. I learned a lot - thank you!
You're so welcome! Thanks for commenting!
Thank you so much. Brilliantly helpful video . Really glad I stumbled on your site
I remember reading about a Liszt masterclass where he stated how to approach a new piece. Problem is, that I don't remember where I read it. I'm not even sure if it was Liszt who said it... but I found it really helpful when playing pieces which don't take too much time to learn to play for my individual level and also when learning a new piece (but then I do it with hands separately first and for passages, when it's more complex)
"Play the piece once and pay attention to the notes (/keys).
Play the piece a second time and pay attention to the rhythm.
Play the piece again and add the dynamics.
Play it again and pay attention to the expressiom marks.
Again + Pedal
Again + raise the tempo (? Don't remember this one clearly)"
Maybe it's a good idea to add comfort and relaxation as the 1st - at least when learning a new piece.
I think of course you don't neglect everything else, but everytime you play the piece one fundamental aspect of music more attention than the others. The idea is to get to know a piece as a whole when you can already approach it this way. You give one aspect after another attention and let your subconscious handle the others a bit more while improving one. If anyone knows where it can be found, please let me know. I will probably add it myself when I find it.
It’s very efficient to break down the work into clear stages.
Not familiar with anything like that coming from Liszt. I doubt he would teach that because he didn’t need to play any piece so many times in order to get it all right lol.
It would be very interesting to have his practical advices about piano playing written down though.
@@DenZhdanovPianist Good to hear that from a professional. I'm thankful that someone like you is willing to share his valuable knowledge online. These videos are very helpful and I didn't see some of those teachings anywhere else - like the tips on the fourth finger, the thirds, in-and-out movements etc.
Found the passage btw.: "Liszt's lessons usually lasted two hours; frequently, to illustrate his
explanations more clearly, he read some passage from a favorite author,
pointing out the connection between music and literature. He outlined
a method of tackling a new piece, recommending a student to read it
through slowly about five times: the first and second times for accuracy
of notes and rhythmic values; the third time paying attention to the
dynamics, indicated or implied, as well as details of articulation, accentuation,
and the like (he wanted the bass and treble studied separately,
seeking how to nuance each); the fourth time looking for points of
imitation or hidden themes in the inner parts; the fifth time deciding
on the correct speed, and planning accelerandos and ritardandos where
suitable. He did not require every piece to be finished to perfection as
long as the mood was understood, and he encouraged his students to
read a lot of music and broaden their experience." It's from an excerpt from Hilda Gervers book "Liszt as a pedagogue". It can be found on Lisztomania with 8 pages - the quote I mentioned is on page 3. Somehow my previous comment got deleted, probably because I mentioned where to get the book from. Sorry, I didn't mean to advertise or sth.
Very informative. It will be nice to have chapters in the video to make sections easier to find.b
There are timecodes in the description 😅
The tips are great! I find re-visit it every few weeks or every few months after some practice is helpful -- I pick up new tips when rewatching it especially from the demonstrations
Thank you for your wonderful tips. My current goal is to get to a better music memory - I'm working on it
Dear Denis, your lessons are first class. Thank you so much for helping me to improve and to resolve problems I have had for years. For instance the brillant Siciliano/Kempf I have managed to play fairly well thanks to your teaching gifts.
Thank you, truly happy to hear that! Great job!
A very common mistake musicians often make is just because it's easy to read they think it's easy to play it well, so it's really good to practice things that are easy to read but tricky to play well so you know that you can play as well as you can read it, then when you try to learn something that is more difficult to read it will be much more easy for you to play it well, in a nutshell practicing like this will help to ensure that your playing is in balance with your reading. P.S Maybe this could be useful to all you music making monsters out there.
You are so smart and insightful!
You accompanied me wash the dishes. Made a menial task meaningful! Enjoying your approach, thanks.
Great! I also like listening to some useful stuff while doing smth boring.
Looking forward to get a promotion and become an integral part of your toilet routine lol!🎶💩😊
My favourite channel on youtube period.I have reached the level where I'm studying piano at the university but i figured out I'm still making some simple mistakes in my practicing.And you pointed them out so brilliantly!Thanks a million!
Thank you for a feedback, I am very happy to help!
DZ I just purchased your “Basics of Piano Technique & Musicality”. I am so excited about having access to this work/teachings. Best on Web. Thank you so much my friend. You give an old guy like me hope. Cheers.
Beautiful Video, Denis! I love to see the quality improving more and more. 🔥
Thank you so much! My son started taking lessons 3 years ago, prior to that it was TH-cam. He loves listening to recordings but no one has suggested following along with the score. It seems so obvious a good idea after you mentioned but for 3 years no one mentioned and think of doing that! What's crazier is he would listen to his own recordings and follow along with the Henle to check for mistakes but we never thought to follow along with the recordings of the masters! LOL. It makes total sense!
Thanks for your kind feedback.
Unfortunately, on average, students don’t get clear directions how to practice, understanding what they are supposed to do at home step by step. They are often told how it should sound, and then they try to intuitively find a way there. In this regard I would say that piano pedagogy is rather ignorant of modern findings about learning efficiency and neurological science.
With some brilliant exceptions of course, like the book, which I was mentioning in the description of this video.
@@DenZhdanovPianist ah I have read that book, it's on my kindle. I like the part where she relates the teacher allows the daughters choose whatever piece they want without regard to difficulty. It's been awhile. I should reread
Thanks Denis, You should encourage me to learn music theory. This video is treasure for me, because when i stayed alone(Without teacher) several problems have and it is bit difficult for me to solve. Thanks dear ❤️❤️❤️
Thank you for your advices. I misunderstood the term of practicing. Obviously.😊
Thank you for sharing your knowledge.
Really great practice advice, a lot of gems in this video. Subscribed and I'm looking forward to more similar, helpful content for learning piano better
Thanks for the sub!
Wow! What a valuable essence of practice wisdom! Golden words, thank you. Let me put one question: How many pieces would you recommend to work on parallel? One per day? Let's be conkret: there are 5 peaces not yet perfect. Should I work on all of them (with pauses) every day to make them perfect or one at a day and tomorrow the next one? Thank you.
The first variant is better. 5 days pause after every practice session is too much. You can also follow a weekly schedule: one week concentrate on 2-3 pieces, next week others, with only brief reminding on the other ones
Because you need to practice same thing a few days in a row in order to master it good
@@DenZhdanovPianist Horowitz said it is important to never skip a practice session and is much less necessary to do long practice sessions. Even half an hour every day is much better than 2 hours one day nothing two days and 1.5 hours another day. then nothing for the rest of the week. Total time is the same.
I really want to learn this but am totally a beginner 🔰
this video is a golden lesson for me though I'm learning the organ actually...as your techniques and practicing mindset applies to different instruments!
However, it's quite hard to fight the temptation to go through once the piece correctly instead of practicing the details..
I like your tutorial. I find it very helpful. and I have subscribed your channel.
Welcome and thanks!
Let's hear about how to practice the Chopin Etudes ans the Winter Wind Opus 10 #11 in particular. What would be your approach and regimen.
Thanks!
Thank you for your support!😊
Artur Rubenstein had some good, basic advice, which matches the structure of my lessons with my teacher. Half the time should be playing, Half, not playing. I seldom hear this in the practice room hallways of music departments.
I would be curious to also see a video on what to focus your mind on during a performance, and what mental tricks and pitfalls there are. The transition from practicing to performing/recording is tricky, and also sometimes it makes you learn that you want to change or patch how you want to play but that’s also tricky to fix old habits…
Btw, there seems to be a problem with your chapters, because the video playbar isn’t segmented. Not sure, but perhaps because there are colons in one of your descriptions?
Practice like you’re performing and perform like you’re practicing, my genius teacher once told
@@DenZhdanovPianist hah i wish it was that easy for me!
Excellent advice! Thanks so much!
Fantastic tipps. I appreciate it so much.👍🎹
I found your advice quite helpful and have subscribed 😊
Thank you so much for such useful tips :)
Thank you! Well done!
Thanks
I saw a read compliment from Michael Moran on your etude from the Chopin competition. Could you do a video on your experience from it? How you prepared, your mental state and emotions. It's difficult to find personal stories on preparation. Also what would you have done differently etc
I have tutorials on Etudes nr.1,2,4,24 on this channel, look into Tutorials playlist or use search tab
@@DenZhdanovPianist thanks for your reply. I meant a non tutorial video. Discussing how did you decide to compete in Chopin competition. How far advance did you need to prepare and other things you were thinking about etc.
Thank you so much! Really informative video.
Thanks for this Video!
Sensacional! Fantastic! Wunderbar! 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼🙏🏼
Thank you so much!!😊
Thank you for this video. I tend to repeat over 20 times without mistakes the spot I'm learning. Starting tomorrow I'm going to follow your advice and lower the number of repetitions and sleep on them. Speaking of sleep, what do you think of mental practice? I'm experimenting these last few days mentally going over the session I practiced during the day before I go to bed, and I've noticed a considerable improvement in the memorization process, which results in way less mistakes the next day when I review it.
The best you can do is practicing in your head as much as by the instrument. It’s quite tiring though
I would do such challenges like repeating many times in a row the same spot only at a later stage, when you know the piece already well, but want to make a final “polishing” and stability training before going on stage. It Might be counterproductive at the earlier stages though in my personal experience. However just keep in mind this is subjective and some people mind have different approach
Some very good tips here, thank you! Do you find that student's learning speed increases when they adopt good practice techniques and as their skills improve? A big frustration for me is that even though I do practice thoughtfully, the length of time it takes me to learn even segments of pieces does not seem to decrease.
I spent ca.4 years of daily multi hours practicing before I could play virtuoso pieces, like Rachmaninoff or Liszt, although I was a child (children learn faster). So keep up and have patience!😉
Great video
Please can help by putting de notes you are playing on the screen via any software of your choice
Love ur Witcher-Shirt!
.. oh and the lesson of course ;)
Watching for applying this to playing better guitar. : p
Hi. Just wondering how much an on-line lesson costs.
Many thanks for the great videos you make and your expertise.
Please contact me using a link in the description and I will provide you with all the information regarding online lessons.
This is a very helpful way to structure practice. I'm confused by the chord progressions at approximately 19:53 onward. I think you say that you start with G major but I see D major chords in both the left and right hands and also in the key signature. Am I mishearing your narration?
0:21 LMAO, luckily I wasn't drinking this water next to me.
Very good. Thanks a lot. I would like to know, how much to practice technique a day. Like should you spent 1/4 of your practice time for technique or more or less? Idk every time..
There is no one answer for everyone, but I would say it’s a good idea to spend 1/4-1/3 of your time towards technique oriented things. Not obviously just exercises, you can play some etudes or other technically demanding pieces.
@@DenZhdanovPianist 🙏 thanks! Another question, my teacher is giving me pieces I literally cannot enjoy or I wouldn’t listen to in my free time. He gave me a Haydn sonata and I literally hate it. Hard thing is, I have to press myself to either like the sonata or just pressing over all to practice. It’s so hard because I have not such a motivation like practicing romantic pieces like Chopin Schubert Liszt rach… Every time I get a new piece of a romantic piece I like or I find interesting I’m always super hyped for next section while practicing. I’m always hyped like what’s gonna happen next or if you get near a coda or something. That gives me like ultra motivation and my overall pratice session gets so much more fun, even technique because sometimes there’s a certain technique to deleovop more or train more for the piece. By then I always parctice 5-7 hours and don’t even notice, but now it’s just like 2 hours 3 hours or sometimes even 1hour and it feels so boring and I don’t enjoy anything, when I practice scales I fail a bit and get angry… horrible. But I don’t wanna ask to change the piece because I think that my teacher wants me to explore more of other kind of pieces and epochs. Due that’s even my first sonata and so on… I’m like a late indermetiade pianist or early advanced.
@@DenZhdanovPianist oh and to add, I began playing piano with 13. now I’m 15 and I made like a rapid and huge development. It hears like I’m rushed, bad technique and overall weak fingers posture etc. I would think that too, but that’s not true I’m like a usual intermediate (late or Not however you wanna call it) pianist. The only missing thing is the bigger amount of repertoire. Mine is pretty small. My whole life rn is around music. I only listen actually classical music, visiting theory lessons (music theorie) for development of hearing training and other things. I just want to make more clear in what situation I am rn
Sorry can’t diagnose you via comments.
But I would say that classical style is important for establishing a good professional foundation if you’re anyhow serious about piano. It’s like in dancing: when someone dances in a contemporary style, you can nevertheless easily see whether they had a substantial classical ballet foundation, or just came to dance smth modern from the street. You can see it by the discipline of movement nuances which makes a difference between a master and an amateur at the end of the day.
Я не играю на пианино, но было интересно
Denis, what is a good source to learn enough theory to be able to identify the important harmonic and formal structures when learning a piece? I'd be really interested in a music theory course for pianists..any plans to make such a course?
I don’t think I will make it anytime soon. What I think is important to understand is that there is a classical way to explain theory, including the rules of polyphonic voicing as used in Baroque and classical traditions. It’s useful for memorization those styles, because composers used these rules very diligently. Like if you have a Bb-C-E-G chord, you would expect it to resolve to A-C-F chord, and not to the root version of F major.
But there is also a more modern approach, Focusing more on chords and the modern progressions with some jazz influenced elements. There are plenty of books on classical approach to theory, the only problem is that it’s kind of boring and difficult to work on that without a teacher or a learning buddy. It involves making a lot of exercises where you would need to harmonize a melody in a 4-voice choral following those strict polyphony rules, like avoiding parallel fifths and octaves.
Rick Beato has the Beato Book course for the latter, modern approach to theory.
I think most important is to apply whatever you learn about theory to practice by improvising or finding these examples in the actual pieces.
@@DenZhdanovPianist Oy vey! I'm more interested in classical harmony. My teacher didn't do a lot (or maybe I don't remember a lot if it) of theory work when I took lessons from age 11-16. Well, I have your courses on Mozart K. 397 (I actually learned this piece over 20 years ago) and Bach's BWV 847. Right now, I'm working on etude No. 7 in your Czerny course. Not very difficult at a moderate tempo, but I'm trying to learn it slowly so I can absord some of your teachings on efficient movement and get it to up to a faster tempo. Would love to work with you one-on-one, at some point. Regards.
Don’t learn it with piano teachers, in professional music education this discipline is taught by theory teachers/composers. Basically, for a substantial musical training you have a variety of subjects, each of which is normally taught by a specifically trained teacher.
@@DenZhdanovPianist I understand. It's just that you mentioned that understanding chord progressions helps with learning a piece so I thought that an understanding of harmony was a necessity. In the US, the kind of education that you speak of is only taught at universities and conservatories. I'll make due with resources that I have at my disposal. I just want to eventually play pieces that I have loved for most of life at a level that brings me (and maybe some friends and family) joy.
Türkçe altyazı istiyoruz Deniz bey
Sorry, can't find a name of the book you've mentioned. Could you please kindly provide it?
Link in the description
how does one approach analytical memory on atonal pieces or things like scriabin later sonatas
By creating the logic yourself and/or learning the language of the composer from the compositional standpoint. It’s a great question, I will elaborate on it in the next video.
I think I have practiced a lot of your recommendations. I really like the craftsmanship of learning new pieces. But I’m not a pianist and my time for practicing is maybe one hour every second day and 3-4 hours in the weekends (maybe every second week). I like Chopin and are practicing som of his etyds . My question is. Is it possible to learn very hard pieces in close to tempo if you practice disciplined but have so little time for practicing as I have? Sometimes I have played Chopin etyds in half or 3/4 of original tempo. But only on my own piano. Men I play on another instrument I always fail. And I have a lot of of possibilities. My profession is a piano technician and tuner. Only when I find a piano very similar to my own pianos touch, I can perform a difficult piece to my satisfaction.. And only after I have played several times before in a very slow tempo.
You can spare a lot of time by practicing wisely, but most probably you’d still need hundreds hours to be able to play virtuoso pieces.
An advantage I had during my musical studies is practicing and performing on thousands of different pianos. If you have an optimized piano technique and work with the weight of the hand properly it’s actually easier to get used to a new instrument faster.
Merci !
nice shirt
Funny comment at the beginning of your video about the common inarticulate misconceptions people mouth when they have little or no truly accurate information concerning their commentary.
I find your piano techniques, and prowess to be beautifully applicable, and concisely articulate, but; I'm sure it evolved over much physical deliberation and disciplined practice hours... So, yes most people haven't any scientific prowess, and merely repeat what's popular, or worse, what they we told (word of mouth).
Unfortunately, the lesson you might consider, if I was to offer some constructive advisement, is: As silly as it might seem, there is an actual association betwixt the ubiquitous WCR as an environmental adjunct bio-stressor, which is certainly been proven to be adverse to health outcomes of patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 (being, an increased severability and propagation of COVID-19.)
This is verifiable at the National Library of Health, (NLM) and the peer published scientific literature at the National Institutes of Health. Always inform yourself, before you decide to ridicule what seems, others arbitrary evidence.
If you look for an article which is one of many; titled: "The connection between coronavirus disease-19 and exposure to radiofrequency radiation from wireless communications including 5G."
This WCR is a Wave Convertible Router (WCR) used in microwave WiFi, and is an ambient radiofrequency radiation, and is patented with the Coronavirus Patents, and is indirectly applicable to a wireless communication system...
So, you might laugh at people who can't articulate themselves scientifically, but; you seemed to have clowned yourself in your own bigotry.
Still, it was funny, and the lessons are terrific.
~ Inertia
It was clear I was laughing at people who think that when you’re vaccinated, you start radiating wifi and bluetooth, being discovered by nearby devices.
The info you mentioned is interesting actually, but it doesn’t have relation to vaccines and their impact on a human ability to radiate wifi. So with all the respect, I didn’t clown myself.😛
Fundamentals of Piano Practice, by Chuan C. Chang
Yes!
(The link is in the description)
'Scientifically proved' that learning hands separately is better?! As far as I'm aware, academic studies on this show evidence for the opposite. Citations please!!
i thought i was good as practicing and a fast learner. guess not😔
Jokes on vx at the beginning of this video have not aged well, especially with heavy handed pol involvement, people's loss of jobs, and the serious deleterious health effects it has had on an unusually high number of people, including young men dropping lifeless to the ground to their premature end.
One thing is to research scientifically on vx side effects and discuss social tensions caused by strict regulations, another is to believe that after vaccination a person radiates Bluetooth, etc.
The seasoning was clear enough, but anyway it’s not the point of the video.
@@DenZhdanovPianist I agree it is not point of video ... Why better left off. If more people had spoken up and been allowed to there would not be the human tragedy worldwide today, including children permanently damaged or gone. Plenty of research and sctf studies coming out now. The subject is too serious, and filled with tragedy to make a joke about it was my only point.
Thanks!
Thank you!😊😊😊