// December 10th, 2011 // No Comments » // Music
To go onto intermediate levels of playing when you are learning any instrument could be a hard job. For even the most musical of people, the learning process of the piano can prove to be very steep so this is much more true here. It can take an especially long time to become confident enough to know exactly what you're going to do with both hands at any specific moment. So as to make this period between learners and intermediate level a bit more comfortable these are some suggestions.
Setting up a firm practice plan and sticking to it is one of the most significant things you can do. Regular practice sessions are critical and on the times when you’re feeling you do not have sufficient time you may want to think about at least sitting at the keyboard for a few minutes in order to keep your fingers flexible and not let them freeze up. If you go for some time without in fact making any advancement then it is at these times that you actually need to be sure that you persist and not give up. The development you are making is internal and will at some particular point all gel together and begin to click but till then the advancement will on occasions appear non existent. Bear with it and persevere, it'll completely be worthwhile in the long run. The answer’s perseverance and daily frequent practice.
It is not enough to just sit down and play what ever you would like if you need in your practice sessions. You need to make structured practice sessions and plan them.
In due course you will need to understand all your scales and arpeggios. You will find that even though this is quite a drag, that when you get these learned then your playing will change into a good deal easier. For those that are learning to read music through learn piano online, you will have to to learn all the major and minor scales to begin with. If you are learning to play by ear or by utilizing chord charts then it might still be wise to learn the scales and what's more to learn the jazz and blues pentatonic scales and modal scales too. For improvisation there is nothing better.
Scales should take up a significant portion of your practice time, regardless of whether you have got them all learned. After this you can then move onto playing your pieces. Its not sufficient to just start to play the pieces from beginning to end frequently. This is not awfully constructive. Begin by going direct to the hard passages and study them first. Separate the hands playing one at a time and then concurrently, and when you are feeling more at ease with the difficult part of the piece then move onto another hard segment and do the same. To finish with you can play the piece from start to finish a number of times without stopping.
Don’t attempt to learn many pieces at once. It is better to teach yourself just a few pieces than to have a diversity that you never have the wherewithal and energy to master.
Get used to practicing with a metronome. This is mandatory for your timing. You can employ the metronome for your scales just as you can for your pieces. Stay in control and lower the speed when you're practicing so that you can play properly. Once you can play something slower then you can begin to slowly lower up the speed till after a few weeks you are playing your pieces or scales at a respectable speed. You can always try playing the pieces (and scales) at a super fast speed for a short while. You will be shocked at how simple the normal speed appears after having done this.
Attempt to play with others whenever your are able to. This is extremely good practice, if you're not ready to play with others then play along to any recorded music you could have. Even if you don't have the sheet music it is always good practice for the ear.
As a last point, every now and then it is a brilliant idea to let go, put on your best pianist face and simply pretend that you understand how to play and that you are terribly versatile. Relax and perform your pieces or better still improvise or play along to music or with others. It is unimportant if you make mistakes (you may). The concept of the exercising is to let you to feel what it is like to play the piano in a comfortable and self-assured manner. You will be surprised at some of the sounds you will be producing.
I trust that these few points will allow you to persist in what can occasionally be a long and complicated transition from a beginners piano level to an intermediate piano player.
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