Improving My Practice Routine

[kazlock]

Hello. I started playing piano two years ago at the age of 19 when I heard some pieces from Liszt and Debussy in my Great Composers class. I was really eager to start playing, so I started (slowly!) chipping away at these pieces right off the bat, relying on my experience playing Guitar and playing French Horn in middle school band. Here's a recording of my latest progress if you're interested - https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php?topic=60260.0

Its been a blast so far, but I think I'm ready to get a little more serious and start training to become a well-rounded pianist. I want to work exercises into my practice routine that will improve my:
    - Sight reading
    - Finger dexterity
    - Music theory knowledge
    - Playing by ear
    - Overall confidence/comfort in playing

I will still continue learning new romantic-era pieces. I'm going to start on Schubert OP 90 no 3 soon, which was recommended to me by someone on this site. But I also want to start doing exercises to improve my abilities, that way I will be able to learn more pieces more quickly  .

Can you recommend exercises that will help me improve these attributes?

[indianajo]

As you may have noticed, all candy is not a nutricious diet. All pleasure pieces do not make for a well rounded education.   
The most basic exercises, the Schmitt ones, even out the strength and flexibility of the 5 fingers of both hands.  Play both legato (connected) and stacatto (detached evenly). Pianostreet has an electronic copy of this. I used the G. Schirmer book. 
After a year of that I did Edna Mae Berman exercises.  These are in graded books.  Not having a teacher you would have to figure out the teaching points by yourself.  Thumb under turns, raising and lowering the wrist on arpeggios, etc.  I suggest you hire a college trained professional at least for a few lessons to make sure you are not making posture mistakes that can permanently injure you.  See a factory ergonomics text about keyboard use if you don't believe me. 
After 4 years of Ms. Berman I went on to the Czerny School of Velocity.  The Boston edition has them in some sort of difficulty order. 

[briansaddleback]

I have to agree with indianjo above on the advice that if you pursue being a "well rounded" pianist (meaning you take it seriously and the playing /performance of music with respect to it and to others you share it with) then you do have to get into some meat and potatoes of exercises and a strict  (but also flexible ) practice routines. We all can have different opinions on how we go about this, his suggestion above and mine are different, and that is the beauty of true piano practice, there are many distinct paths and sub paths.
I do suggest as well czerny 299 and 740 (later when you get finger control more down).

For those who aspire just to 'play' pieces then it is fine to chase candy. But when someone announces, whether to oneself or publicly, the pursuit is now serious, you got to put in the work.

And the work is not just playing the notes at high speed.

Anyone , and I mean anyone, can after some short time learn the notes of any piece.

The rub is, that the 90% elbow grease work of learning a piece is refining/solidifying it artistically/technically, refining/solidifying it by paying attention to articulation, evenness in fast passages the fingers (most obviously between 3rd and 4th fingers and the passing of the thumb) , voicing (fifth finger /fourth finger work ) , dynamics <have a digital? play at a high volume and concentrate on playing p or pp with it>, and all sorts of difficulties of the hand (to name a few, quickly contracting and expansion of palm of hand <this is a big one lot of people don't notice , but it contributes a lot between distinguishing an experienced student and a less experienced>, ability to press down chordal notes evenly all at once when playing p or pp or lento <fast it is easy; try this , my digital has a BRight setting which is very biting and it really reveals like a magnified mirror for pores, if the notes are played together correctly or not, and this setting has allowed me to get better at that over time>,  and personal expression w conjunction to respecting the author's /composer's intentions etc.

THat is piano. That is art.
Learning the notes quickly to a point of playing it fast under muscle memory per se, and posting a youtube video boasting "hey , learnt this in 2 days, so excuse my mistakes, im still better than you, and my repertoire is now a thousand pieces" pretty much sums up unfortunately the rest who think that is all to piano.
Nope.

[euguffotra]

Hello, i'm new to this website, i'm 20 years old, and am an aspiring musician

[louispodesta]

Hello, i'm new to this website, i'm 20 years old, and am an aspiring musician

Thank you so much for your comment.

Finally, there is someone who may share my total opposition to this pedagogical logic.  And, that is the rapidly advancing notion associated with what I term the "Recipe For Baking A Cake" approach to the successful study of this great instrument, the piano!

And, I thought I was learning pieces beyond my reach:  Jeez!

So, should we all believe that this is just your average OP asking an innocent question?  I seriously doubt it.

If not, then why don't all of the rest of us, who have spent most of our lives dedicate4d to the study of the piano, just say:  well, hey, cool, awesome, whatever dude.  How can we help you?

[coolpianoman]

 But I also want to start doing exercises to improve my abilities, that way I will be able to learn more pieces more quickly'   

Let me say right at the start that I am not a great pianist but I have made significant strides in the last year under a superb teacher and I know what has worked for me.

I have never had any grounding in technique when I was young so I have a lot of catching up to do. I have also listened to a lot of piano music throughout my life so I know the repertoire and how this stuff should ideally sound in the hands of a professional.  I am also very musical having played in rock bands - amazingly a lot of amateur pianists are not actually music - again in my experience.

So... I agree that developing a sound technique should help you to learn pieces a bit more quickly but possibly not as much as doing masses of site reading every day - something that the majority of pianists struggle with - again in my experience. I keep a log of my site reading time as it will be my major focus in 2016.

I have found that covering scales and exercises as a regular half hour of my regular 90 minute piano lesson I have totally transformed (my teacher's words - not given to excessive statements) my control and finger independence. 

I am also my own self critic when learning pieces and my alter ego (Vladimir Horowitz) won't allow any sloppy playing.  Best not to ask about my alter ego as you would think I was a real crank.  Good luck

Chris   

 

 

[rmbarbosa]

There are some fellows who decided to learn piano because they like some specific compositions. Commonly, all they like the same well known compositions: fur elise... Nocturne no 3 of Liszt... Chopin... Turkish march...
In my humble opinion, this is not pianism but only musical frivolity...
In order to really play piano one must begin with Bach, Scarlatti, Haendels, Carlos Seixas; after, the classics (Clementi, Mozart, some Beethoven) and only latter the romantics.
I dont see how can one understand the preludes of Chopin without the preludes of Bach, for example. I dont know how can one play Chopin without a solid knowlege of opera...
Music is a very serious thing. It is not a matter of "taste" but a matter of knowlege and love.
this is not any kind of criticism. Only an allert. When one plays only what he/she loves, he/she never will be an accomplished pianist...

[coolpianoman]

I do agree with this last post in terms of the development of repertoire and tackling pieces in an order which makes musical sense. I also note that many attempt to play pieces which are way beyond them technically and a simple piece well played can be far more satisfying to play and to hear.

However in my experience of hearing a lot of pianists (largely through piano clubs) few players are actually 'accomplished pianists' and due to time, age and other factors they are never likely to be.  This includes me!

But .. and here's the point people approach the piano with very different objectives. For some to play a recognisable piece in a way that satisfies them is a big achievement.  My objective is to play the piece as accurately and beautifully as I can as I have a superb  instrument too.  That however makes the piece sound accomplished whenever I achieve this (which is rarely) but an accomplished pianist? - I think not.

There is no problem in setting out what it would take to reach the summit as an ideal but (and I am only guessing here) a lot of forum members (probably the majority) are on the lower slopes.

Chris