Wearing earbuds while playing

[charro86]

Sometimes when trying to pick out a song from my ipod I forget to take out the earbuds when I return back to the piano to play.  I find that I really like playing with earbuds in my ears because I can better ear each note distinctly and even feel like I play better because of it in terms of articulation.  Has anyone else ever tried practicing while wearing earbuds?  Do you think this is a really bad idea?  I mentioned it to my piano teacher and he just looked horrified but I swear it reduces all the excess "noise" and I can better focus on the music.

[m1469]

Yeah, I've done that before!  It was fun .  I actually decided to experiment with earplugs as well as playing in the dark at the same time in a practice room in Uni.  And once in a great while these days I will actually play along with music in my earbuds.

[quantum]

Are you listening through the earbuds or are they just in your ear?

I've used full sized headphones when recording tracks, but would only use them when necessary.  

[charro86]

Hi, Quantum!

I'm talking about having earbuds in your ear unattached to any device.  I'm saying that having earbuds changes the quality of the sound I hear and that I feel like I can better hear the notes without any residual noise from the piano.  I know that sounds awful since filtering out the "residual noise" is also filtering out a lot of the sound that makes up the music, but at least on baroque pieces I just get this clear precise sound that I *feel* helps me play better. 

[Bob]

Yep.  Ditto.

Musician earplugs will filter out sound evenly too.