Practicing Technique

[xjerbearx]

Heey, I've been playing piano for awhile, like a couple of months, self-taught, and its been going good, I just finished a beautiful piece- the main theme of Final Fantasy 7 =P.

So I've been reading threads throughout this section of the forums and I've been seeing alot of comments suggesting to practice technique such as playing scales etc. I know technique is really important in music regardless of the instrument. I tried the Hanon Exercises 1-4  for awhile and felt that I didn't progress as much compared to learning a new piece, I learned it through youtube x.x .

So can anyone suggest technique exercises for the piano. When suggesting the exercises or pieces can you also explain what the piece helps with in a technical aspect such as rhythm, finger coordination, finger strength/independence etc. I just want to know in what aspect I'm improving so I can keep my technical palate well-rounded.

Thanks!

[orangesodaking]

Hmm. There are a few options. Tell me a little more about what kind of pianist you want to be, so I can give you more detailed ideas: If you want to become a good classical pianist, you need a good teacher who knows how to teach classical repertoire. If you just want to become good at playing the piano, a teacher is still recommended. Also, can you read music? No matter what, I think that's a good skill to have.

Technique does include but is not limited to virtuosity, finger dexterity, and stamina in the wrist/forearm. It also includes the ability to play soft (and very soft), have a variety of touches and produce a variety of tones from the piano (yes, you actually can vary the quality of the sound on an acoustic piano), and it's tied very closely to thinking and playing "musically" (AKA playing MUSIC instead of just hitting all the right notes). To learn all this well, I suggest finding a teacher.

BUT if you want to stay self taught and play casually for enjoyment, I think you should find simple pieces/songs (both classical and modern) and practice your sight reading ability (putting the score in front of you for the first time and trying to play it at first sight), like one of the beginner Alfred books. Those may be beyond you, but there are piano books of all difficulty levels out there to try this.

It also doesn't hurt to practice playing by ear and "dictation" (writing out on sheet music what you hear). It's another good skill to have, because when you're with your friends and they want you to play that new popular song on the radio, you will know how it goes.

I guess it depends on how good of and what kind of a pianist you would like to be. Just trying to give you a couple options. And don't take these with more than just a grain of salt, because this is just what some random person on the internet that doesn't know you is suggesting.  

But that's great that you chose to play the piano, and I hope you get what you want out of it.

[mudbucket]

My advice is really to get a good piano teacher. You might not necessarily have to continue on with a teacher but at least start with one so you know you are doing the right thing.

And then they will ultimately teach you how to practice. I suppose once you get a grasp of that... then you can go without one.

[ihavetoleave]

I think you should try the Czerny,I don't know what it helps with,but every lesson my teacher ask me to play it,and I have to spend a lot of time on it.I think it's very important ,also difficult to play well.

[xjerbearx]

About the teacher... I really can't get at the moment because I just started taking violin lessons =P.


As for orangesodaking's reply...
I'm not sure what kind of pianist I want to be, but I know that I want to play melodic songs from video games and some classical music, I also love improvising but I'm not good at it at the moment x.x... So I guess a classical/modernish hybrid =P. I was inspired by kylelandry on youtube, so my goal at the moment is to become at least half as good as him x.x.

As for the playing aspect I can control my dynamics well and I add my own feeling to the music through dynamics and rhythmic changes such as ritardando accelerando etc and my own little add-ons to the melody/bass, I didn't know about adding colours to my playing through a variety of touches, but I have a digital piano so I don't know if that will affect how I can personalize the music through touch...

Oh one issue with my playing is that I find it hard to play pieces where hands are moving positions constantly while looking at the sheet music, especially the left-hand, my left hand is actually stronger than my right hand so I know strength isn't an issue but playing appregios and melodies at the same time gets me lost a bit.So if i want to improve my sight reading further I need to take my eyes off the piano but thats hard, so can you suggest exercises or habitual changes for this?

I can read sheet music and my sight reading skills are okay, I mean I can play single-note melodies commonly found at the 1st alfred book really well, I went though that whole book with sight reading, but I find it kind of hard to identify chords on the spot, it takes me like 5-10 seconds to figure out a chord...

My ear is somewhat developed, I can easily figure out the melody but I haven't tried figuring out the bass notes, I don't know why but I find it a little difficult identifying bass notes...

I never tried dictation, but I'll be sure to try it ^^".

I hope this clarifies my skill at the moment a little x.x

And I still don't understand how playing scales is beneficial so I would appreciate an explanation thanks ^^.

[Bob]

Scales are easy way to keep in shape. 

They're helpful for understanding the background environment of music.  And for chords. 

Although the standard answer is that you get scale fragments in the music you play which is somewhat true.  It depends on the music you play.  You get chords too, so arpeggios (broken chords) are good to practice too. 

Scales will help with ear training and dictation too.

And sight-reading.  If you know what key you're in, you can see the scale topography on the keyboard -- Instead of 12 notes, they're are only 7 that are the main ones. 

[xjerbearx]

Aside from scales I've heard of things like Bach Inventions, Etudes and such for practicing technique, are these good for beginners?

[quantum]

And I still don't understand how playing scales is beneficial so I would appreciate an explanation thanks ^^.

Scales and chords are part of the vocabulary of music.  You use them or parts of them to create pieces.  

Think of it like this, you learn a vocabulary of words.  Once you know the meaning of a bunch of words, you can create coherent sentences out of them.  You can also read sentences by other people and decipher the meaning of the words in them.  

[xjerbearx]

Scales and chords are part of the vocabulary of music.  You use them or parts of them to create pieces.  

Think of it like this, you learn a vocabulary of words.  Once you know the meaning of a bunch of words, you can create coherent sentences out of them.  You can also read sentences by other people and decipher the meaning of the words in them.  

I already understand the theoretical aspect of scales but I don't understand why people practice is daily and such, I was just wondering if this had anything to do with technique or basics such as finger positions etc.

[gyzzzmo]

I already understand the theoretical aspect of scales but I don't understand why people practice is daily and such, I was just wondering if this had anything to do with technique or basics such as finger positions etc.

I myself usually play each scale twice a day wich doesnt take long at all.
I dont believe they're that essential in understanding 'the vocabulary of music' (at all), but it is very important that you can play them fluently especially in for example Mozart's music.

[quantum]

I already understand the theoretical aspect of scales but I don't understand why people practice is daily and such, I was just wondering if this had anything to do with technique or basics such as finger positions etc.

Practicing scales, chords, and technique can help you establish commonly used finger movements and patterns.  For example, when you see a fragment of a scale in a piece you can apply a fingering you are already familiar with to such scale fragment.  As gyzzzmo noted, some technical patterns form an important part in certain styles of music.