Piano Essentials by Ross Ramsay (+ other questions)

[mr. classic]

Hi

For about half a year I've been using "Piano Essentials" by Ross Ramsay as a base for my self-studies in piano. However, since I've heard no opinion about the book, I'm having concerns whether the book is improving my technique as much as I think it does, or if my practice routine is good. So my question is: What is good and what is bad about the book?

I'm currently working with all major scales and the triads in each scale, before moving on the next step (chord progression, minor scales etc). This is because I want to feel comfortable in each major scale. I practice a new scale every day for 10-15 minutes, and when I've practiced them all after 12 days, I start all over again. Is this a good routine, or should I move on, or change it in some other way?

Which exercises are more important, and which can i practice a little less on? (this question is about all possible exercises for piano, not just the aforementioned).

From what I've read on this forum, it seems that practicing each hand seperately when playing songs is better for beginners, while the opposite is better for more experienced players. Is this correct, and how should I practice?

To this day I've been practicing with both hands, however, I tend to read music sheets very slow, making the whole process of learning new songs rather dull.

Thanks in advance!

[m19834]

Here is the main problem with any book like that :

A book mainly passes along information, popular or not.  It has no idea who you are as an individual, it has no idea what your personal strengths and weaknesses are, nor does it know or even care whether or not you are actually gleaning from the information it passes along something truly useful for YOU, personally, nor can it give you feedback on what you are actually gaining from reading it and using the concepts.  It cannot tell you when you are spending too much time in one area and not enough in another, nor can it tell whether you are doing things "right" or not.  

And, here is the problem with my post :  Neither can I.

[mr. classic]

Agreed!

Unfortunately, I cannot afford a piano teacher, so I've got to work with what I've got.

I've talked with a friend of mine, and he's interested in giving me a piano lesson once a month for 50 SEK (approx. 7 US $). Unfortunately, from what I've heard, he's not very good with technique, so lessons with him would be mainly for helping me choosing pieces to play and such matters.

When I think about it, is it possible to visit a piano teacher once a month? That I can surely afford.

[lostinidlewonder]

So my question is: What is good and what is bad about the book?

There is usually never a problem with a book but how we use it. No single book can really be used as a basis for our musical studies since each person approaches music differently, has different strengths and weaknesses as K pointed out. We must in the end formulate the best approach for ourselves and no one else.

I'm currently working with all major scales and the triads in each scale, before moving on the next step (chord progression, minor scales etc). This is because I want to feel comfortable in each major scale. I practice a new scale every day for 10-15 minutes, and when I've practiced them all after 12 days, I start all over again. Is this a good routine, or should I move on, or change it in some other way?

Learning to play scales, chords and arpeggios are the building blocks of music. Studying the fingering in these building blocks is quite valuable to help us determine fingering in pieces we come across. One should not mindlessly repeat through these building blocks, change rhythms, play different intervals in scales, improvise on scales to get used to shape at the piano and which notes you can mentally and muscular memory wise remove from the piano. Use scale forms to control key signatures you come across in pieces, I usually tell my beginner students to always play the C major scale and then add the accidentals to this scale as the key signature commands, then I get them to play patterns over this scale, play chords, play all sorts of shapes, intervals etc. It helps to center your mind on the shape (map of the keys) you generally will play in the piece.

Which exercises are more important, and which can i practice a little less on?[/b] (this question is about all possible exercises for piano, not just the aforementioned).

This question is answered through studying pieces. As you study your pieces you will notice certain things which are more difficult for you to absorb, you may then attempt to use technical building block study or exercises to help catalyze a solution for it.

From what I've read on this forum, it seems that practicing each hand seperately when playing songs is better for beginners, while the opposite is better for more experienced players. Is this correct, and how should I practice?

I am a strong advocate for hands together practice as soon as possible. Of course some beginners struggle to maintain fingering in one hand and thus for them hands separate is best. However the greater % of beginners can in fact work hands together immediately however we must make alterations to the music. A teacher can carefully rearrange notes and still ensure that the students hand resembles the form of what needs to be played when all the notes are played normally. For example I may allow the student to simply play a LH sustained chord instead of broken chord playing to allow them to hear what it should sound like and make that initial step to memorize the form of BH while playing. This is a much more efficient way of learning your music than simply learning each hand separately then brute force and mindlessly repeat to try to stick them together.

To this day I've been practicing with both hands, however, I tend to read music sheets very slow, making the whole process of learning new songs rather dull.

Slow practice is important but your major enemy is uncontrolled pausing and hesitation while practicing. Play slow but everything must be evenly controlled and no pausing uncontrollably (you may intentionally pause in practice routines but then freeze your hands and don't move a muscle, then when you are ready to move immediately move to the point without creeping to it). You also cannot allow your fingers to search for notes when you are playing slowly, your fingers should be controlling groups at a time, they should not be individually moving (a trap you can fall into when playing slowly).

[m19834]

Agreed!

Unfortunately, I cannot afford a piano teacher, so I've got to work with what I've got.

I recently went through a phase of wanting to be taking some kinds of lessons outside of studying music (not instead of), just to help give myself a broader perspective.  I considered some Russian lessons from an online teacher, but after I added up what I would be spending on lessons, I realized that, while she was probably worth it and doing so would probably be worth it, I would prefer to be spending that money on piano/music.  So, I decided to look for books and "teach myself" instead (haven't done so yet).

I've talked with a friend of mine, and he's interested in giving me a piano lesson once a month for 50 SEK (approx. 7 US $). Unfortunately, from what I've heard, he's not very good with technique, so lessons with him would be mainly for helping me choosing pieces to play and such matters.

When I think about it, is it possible to visit a piano teacher once a month? That I can surely afford.

Well, that is not necessarily a question that has a *truly* black and white answer.  Yes, you probably could find a teacher with whom you could meet once a month only, but whether or not that is truly what you need is the better question.

[mr. classic]

I recently went through a phase of wanting to be taking some kinds of lessons outside of studying music (not instead of), just to help give myself a broader perspective.  I considered some Russian lessons from an online teacher, but after I added up what I would be spending on lessons, I realized that, while she was probably worth it and doing so would probably be worth it, I would prefer to be spending that money on piano/music.  So, I decided to look for books and "teach myself" instead (haven't done so yet)

Do study music at some kind of school or just at home by yourself?

I am concerned about total self-studying, especially about learning the "wrong" things. The wrong fingerings, practice routines etc. I've started to think "why am I doing these exercises? What do I learn?", and frankly the answer is usually quite fuzzy.

This thread has helped me to shed light on my situation. I have some savings that I will invest in some piano lessons, and see how it feels basically. If I feel that I'm making much more progress, then I'll continue. If not, I'll stay with my self-studies. We'll see how it goes

Thank you K and lostinidlewonder!

[rsp1]

One particular thing that is important to avoid is to attempt to "correct" as you play.  In otherwords, many times one will play a wrong note and then change it to the correct note.  The problem is that you have corrected nothing and in fact you have added additional mistakes -- you have changed the rhythm and the melody.

Therefore, when learning a piece, if you make a mistake, stop right there.  Try to analyze what went wrong (did I stretch to far or not far enough, did I mis-read the note, did I get my hand out of position at some point before hand, etc.)  The main thing is to try to determine the problem and then fix it immediately -- it takes about 7 correct repetitions for every incorrect repetition to fix a problem, and then stress in performance can bring the bad habit back.

With this in mind, when you are practicing to play a piece through, should you make a mistake, do not correct but just continue.  In this way you will be better able to get back on track when performing a piece.  An attempt to "correct" will more often than not end up bringing out the error to the listener.

[m19834]

Do study music at some kind of school or just at home by yourself?

I study music everywhere I possibly can  .  I do currently have a teacher, though I am not enrolled in a formal school (anymore).  There is a lot that I simply wasn't exposed to in my earliest years, somehow managed to eek out a degree in music/piano at University despite that, but no matter what the paper says, if something's missing from the playing, that tells all.  What that means is that I have been an extremely mixed bag as a pianist, and what that also means is that my mentor has had his work cut out for him ... hee hee.  Of course, there is a lot in there that is going unsaid, too .

I am concerned about total self-studying, especially about learning the "wrong" things. The wrong fingerings, practice routines etc. I've started to think "why am I doing these exercises? What do I learn?", and frankly the answer is usually quite fuzzy.

Yes, I know this very well, in fact.  It would be one thing to simply go along some path and just let oneself find out if it's a dead end or not (or be happy obliviously never knowing the difference), but it's a whole other thing to stand at the foot of a forest where there are seemingly infinite paths ... and have every fiber in your being trying to go down each path at once -- that is simply and utterly paralyzing.  

Interestingly, I think it's assumed that part of what makes a "good" autodidactic learner is somebody with, basically, a large ability to think for oneself.  I don't fundamentally disagree with that, but I do strongly disagree that having a teacher equates to being incapable of thinking for oneself and learning on one's own.  There are some individuals who are constantly having some kind of complete barrage of thoughts, where every, little glimmer of light (and there can be multiple glimmers of light at once) sheds some kind of hope in every direction at once ... haha ...     ... the right teacher (and, it's important that it's the *right* teacher) can be a HUGE help here in all sorts of ways.  Obviously, the ability to 'reason' and experiment and come to conclusions are very important aspects of growth and development, but generally, I think "society" tends to completely misjudge much of how that works, or even whether or not that is actually happening.  A great teacher will certainly not truly stand in the way of those skills being developed, but will actually greatly aid them.

I could go on and on  .  I happen to have *very* strong feelings on the subject(s)  .

This thread has helped me to shed light on my situation. I have some savings that I will invest in some piano lessons, and see how it feels basically. If I feel that I'm making much more progress, then I'll continue. If not, I'll stay with my self-studies. We'll see how it goes

Thank you K and lostinidlewonder!

Of course, I'm glad if it helped a bit.  I will say though, don't give up if the very first teacher you meet isn't what you hoped for.  Cheers !