bad habits - volume

[goddess13387]

I have always had an electric piano, and while it is properly weighted, I have developed a horrible habit of playing every piece forte the whole way through. Im just very heavy handed on the keys. I dont perform publicly or anything, I only play for me, in my own home. But I feel like I am ruining the pieces i play by stomping them out too loud.

Are there any excercises i can practice to make my touch gentler on the keys?

thankyou

[jlh]

I have always had an electric piano, and while it is properly weighted, I have developed a horrible habit of playing every piece forte the whole way through. Im just very heavy handed on the keys. I dont perform publicly or anything, I only play for me, in my own home. But I feel like I am ruining the pieces i play by stomping them out too loud.

Are there any excercises i can practice to make my touch gentler on the keys?

thankyou

You may well be on your way to a nasty injury too...

[rc]

I know that electric pianos can never compare to keys, hammers, and strings... But there are still dynamics, and basically you just have to develop more awareness of volume during your practice.

So, play around with dynamics... Practice playing your scales as softly as possible, using minimal force. Every instrument is different for the amount of force it needs before it will even sound a note, but to develop a sensitivity for controlling the force of your notes playing as quietly as possible is great. Once you can control super-low volumes, it's easy, almost second nature to control the gradients between. Try it!

[shoshin]

Since you practice on an electric just crank the Key Touch to super light.

[gyzzzmo]

The problem of a digital piano is often, next to key weight,  the volume button. Most people put the volume too low with the effect that people start banging on the keys to get some forte-sound from it.
Gyzzzmo

[jlh]

One thing I've done that worked after recovering from a recent thumb injury (in another post) was to turn the volume of the piano up beyond what is a normal level.  This way, you will subconciously play softer than normal to produce the desired sound.  The problem then, is transferring this to a normal volume level for the instrument.  I agree with other posts... practice controlling soft passages as often as possible (and as soft as possible).

[goddess13387]

The problem of a digital piano is often, next to key weight,  the volume button. Most people put the volume too low with the effect that people start banging on the keys to get some forte-sound from it.
Gyzzzmo

Lol, ive always played it with the volume waay up to the max.... what can i say? i like it loud 

Im just afraid that if i play on real piano, i might break a string even. Is that possible? lol i doubt anyone is that violent to their pianos. I usually just pick pieces that are very dramatic and largly forte throughout to try and cover up, but I really want to be able to put some emotion into the softer parts as opposed to just banging them out

[jlh]

Lol, ive always played it with the volume waay up to the max.... what can i say? i like it loud 

Im just afraid that if i play on real piano, i might break a string even. Is that possible? lol i doubt anyone is that violent to their pianos. I usually just pick pieces that are very dramatic and largly forte throughout to try and cover up, but I really want to be able to put some emotion into the softer parts as opposed to just banging them out

Hey, I broke 2 strings in a month while practicing the Rachmaninoff 2nd concerto... it happens!