Teaching Videos

[rodrix]

Hi guys! I am new   !

I was trying to find good videos on learning how to play piano.
Do you guys know any cool sites?

Here I share one of my finds!
I you like Coldplay, I am sure you will love this video!
https://edutainmenteng.wordpress.com/2007/02/10/coldplay-in-piano/

Please if you find any good (free) video tutorials please share them!
I'll post any more finds I get so we all keep this thread alive... 

Cheers!
Rod

P.S: How many of you know Bob Estrin's "Keyboard Kaleidoscope" videos?! Those were awesome!

[debussy symbolism]

Greetings.

I am not sure that videos are a true and safe way of aquiring technique. There is no teacher to guide you, even though there might be one on the screen, as some actions occur subconsciously and even though you might think you are doing something correct, you in truth will not be doing it correct. I am pretty sure I could talk more about this, but will recommend that you do not spend money on videos and instead get involved with a real teacher.

Best.

[danny elfboy]

Greetings.

I am not sure that videos are a true and safe way of aquiring technique. There is no teacher to guide you, even though there might be one on the screen, as some actions occur subconsciously and even though you might think you are doing something correct, you in truth will not be doing it correct. I am pretty sure I could talk more about this, but will recommend that you do not spend money on videos and instead get involved with a real teacher.

Best.

Is using videos worse than not having a teacher at all and being self-taught
Because we all known that a teacher is better but not vital (and I say this as a conservatory diploma student wannabe teacher) and if being self taught is possible maybe with videos is even better. Anyway many teachers just don't know what is wrong. I mean that what they care is that you play the piece not how you play it, in fact there's even the school of thought that all movements are okay as long as they allow to play with no care at all for proper alignment, efficient muscle use, joint use and so on

It also bears saying that if we go back to the first piano teachers (those who hadn't have a teacher themselves) we can see that the way they learned was through observation/imitation (probably the best negleted way to learn, the reason why young children learn easily) which is what a student should do with other students, concert pianists, teachers ... but why not videos?

[molto-marcato]

I disagree. I think a good teacher is at least semi-vital. Who else will tell you that you acquired bad habits/wrong technique. Only the most gifted students are able to develop their musicality alone. A video might be better than nothing, ok, but the most important step of an aspiring student is to find a good teacher imo.

[danny elfboy]

I disagree. I think a good teacher is at least semi-vital. Who else will tell you that you acquired bad habits/wrong technique.

unfortunately many teachers don't do this (one just has to observe the incidence of hand injury, tendonitis and muscles tearing on conservatories and musical accademies) yet this doesn't prevent the students from getting their diploma
One of the most important and not easy to self-taught aspect of piano playing that a teacher should teach is efficient alignment, coordination and contraction to avoid injury and pain ... and yet just a fraction of the teachers is aware of the anatomy of playing and the right way to move your playing apparatus to avoid injury and pain (which is the reason why so many teachers themselves are injuries and in pain)






Only the most gifted students are able to develop their musicality alone. A video might be better than nothing, ok, but the most important step of an aspiring student is to find a good teacher imo.

[rodrix]

Only the most gifted students are able to develop their musicality alone. A video might be better than nothing, ok, but the most important step of an aspiring student is to find a good teacher imo.

I disagree. Danny, I concurr with you that the most important step of an aspiring student is to find a good teacher. I completely agree with you on that.

However, why didn't any of you guys consider videos as complement for you piano learning?!
For example, in my case, I have classes once a week with a teacher, who teaches me piano-playing and mostly harmony for composing and improvising. And I find great to learn from other sources too!

Ever watched the Bob Estrin's videos I mentioned?! For example, he used to explain when to use the sustenuto pedal, and how some pieces should be interpreted, and sometimes its nice to hear something for another source. In my case, it happens a lot that I read stuff on the internet or watch videos and then I analyse the cases with my teacher.

In the case of this ColdPlay video I found it amazingly helpful. I am used to play classical music (chopin, bach, beethoven), but playing popular music is my weak point! There are sometimes, some combination of chords that are not the standard progressions or the basic chords, that you cannot reproduce in the piano in a short time. So for me was great to see the Coldplay progressions, as I can use then to compose, or to catch faster another piece that uses the same harmony resources.

So, I would say, that for a begineer, I concurr. If you are just learning piano, and you want to learn JUST from videos, then you must probably consider yourself lost, as videos are NOT interactive and that's their main fault. However, I think that videos are an EXCELLENTE complement for piano learning, and a great source of learning for intermeddiate and advanced students.

Cheers! 
Rod

[debussy symbolism]

Is using videos worse than not having a teacher at all and being self-taught
Because we all known that a teacher is better but not vital (and I say this as a conservatory diploma student wannabe teacher) and if being self taught is possible maybe with videos is even better. Anyway many teachers just don't know what is wrong. I mean that what they care is that you play the piece not how you play it, in fact there's even the school of thought that all movements are okay as long as they allow to play with no care at all for proper alignment, efficient muscle use, joint use and so on

Yes of course having guiding videos rather than not having any guide at all is better, but in fact it is the videos that do not know what's wrong. A teacher, at least a decent one will most definately locate a problem and offer a solution, but a person in the video may offer an ideal hand position, or a position that is good for the person in the video, but will not make the necessary adjustments to the student's tries to imitate that, and the student therefore will think that he is doing the right thing, but in fact may be executing something different. You are wrong here. Many teachers DO care about how you play the piece. My teacher makes thousands of very supporting comments about me executing even the shortest passages, such as having fingers not collapse, the wrist held low, arms not slacking, proper wrist movements, proper finger movements, and proper hand posture. A person in the video may cover a few points, but will not ensure them and not correct them. More so, there are many other points that a student needs to be covered specifically and a video isn't going to provide them. Besides, what may work for the teacher in the video may not work for other students, so there might be something that isn't the most intimate student-teacher contact that is best found in personal teaching.

Again, the teachers do know what is in need of adjustment and guidance, and the video's teachers don't. When a students makes a conscious decision to imitate the teacher in the videos, the teacher in the video will not specifically cover certain attributes and may not interfere with student's unsuccessful attempts at emulating her.

It also bears saying that if we go back to the first piano teachers (those who hadn't have a teacher themselves) we can see that the way they learned was through observation/imitation (probably the best negleted way to learn, the reason why young children learn easily) which is what a student should do with other students, concert pianists, teachers ... but why not videos?

No, the children have an easier time learning because they have more time on their hands and less responsibilities that adults bear. Just because someone is an adult, doesn't mean that he isn't capable of also learning by imitation. I think it is extremely difficult to succeed at copying the teacher from the first try. A real teacher will spend alot more time with perfecting the movements, as it takes many times and tries to get the proper effect. A video however will only introduce the movements and advice on the subject once, and that alone isn't sufficient enough to help out the student.

[danny elfboy]

No, the children have an easier time learning because they have more time on their hands and less responsibilities that adults bear. Just because someone is an adult, doesn't mean that he isn't capable of also learning by imitation.

I didn't mean to imply that adults for some unknown reason "can't imitate"
I meant that imitations is the most instinctive (and one of the most effective) form of learning. Children naturally follow their instinct but on modern education system imitation/emulation are negleted and not promoted enough at the espense of passive (often uneffective) theorical learning

[ted]

I have always wondered why there are not more videos about general improvisation, how to develop it and discussing WHAT to play rather than HOW to play it. It would still fall short of sitting next to a live teacher and asking questions, of course. However, the medium would seem to offer the hesitant beginner the advantages of private insight without being put "on the spot" so to speak, thus getting rid of inhibition, the major obstacle for many people in playing creatively.

Perhaps such videos do exist and I have never come across them. Most of the very few samples on the net seem to be jazz oriented and concern a couple of very simplistic keyboard "tricks"rather than an overall guide.

[nocturnelover]

Here is this great video that I found on you tube and it covers Chopin's Nocturne no.1 op.9 in B flat minor

[rodrix]

I have always wondered why there are not more videos about general improvisation, how to develop it and discussing WHAT to play rather than HOW to play it.

Yes! I think it would be awesome to have videos on harmony, composing, or improvisation lessons! In this videos you don't have to copy the movements of the hands of the teacher, in this lessons you have to learn WHAT to play, as ted says! Wouldn't that be great?!

[pianowelsh]

I should say first off that stewart Gordon has produced som excellent videos on piano interpretation and on topics like memorization etc I think through Hal Leonard?

The interesting question here is do you need personal teacher to teacher contact. I happened to do some research a while back which turned up the fact that certain International conservatoires are now accepting trial student who are unable to attend in person because they live in places like siberia and deepest Canada but what they are doing is teaching them in real time through video conferencing link ups which are extremely high quality. I dont know as yet what the result of the trial has been yet but its a very interesting question and the results would be interesting.  I dont think they propose it as a best case senario but it certainly opens up the possibilities.  Might make some assistant teachers at colleges redundant if stff can teach their students whilst on tour though :-(

[pianoteacherkim]

Interesting discussion!!

As a teacher, of course I agree that having a teacher is the best and fastest way to progress -- because the less you practice in mistakes, the faster you move forward. 

That said, supplementary courses like videos can be motivating, fun, and teach you things you might not get from classical piano lessons.  I'm a classically trained musician, and never did I learn chord improvisation or how to work with lead sheets, or improvisation of any kind.  Only in the past couple of years have I branched out and started to learn this stuff, and I find it very freeing!!

Yoke Wong has a good DVD course on improvisation.  I'm learning quite a lot from it -- though you can't be a total beginner when you start.  If you're interested in some new-age style improvisation lessons, Edward Weiss over at Quiescence Music has a really nice set of lessons (over 80 of them, adding new ones all the time) and you get access to all of them for $10/month. 

Best,

Kim

[rodrix]

So.. no more videos to recommend?!

I can't believe they turned down Bob Estrin's Videos...
They were awesome. Anybody saw them before?

Cheers!
Rod

[oceansoul]

I liked very much the eMedia Piano and Keyboard Method. And I also have to give a special thanks to Mario Ajero, which is a PianoStreet member, who always does good podcasts teaching something new. I also like very much Seymour Fink's  "Mastering Piano Technique".
It's not because of that that I am a good piano player. I'm not.
But learning alone is really hard. I'll not give up learning the piano but, whenever it's possible, I want to have a teacher.

Goodbye for now,
    OceanSoul.

[oceansoul]

Oh, and to learn Clocks by Coldplay, I recommend Mario Ajero's podcast:

I think it is much better than that one, rodrix.
This morning I started playing "Last Christmas" guided by Mario Ajero.
Just see this: https://www.youtube.com/user/mariocast

I'm sorry for talking about you, Mario Ajero, but I had to. :p

Goodbye again,
   OceanSoul.