How hard is it to do this trick at the piano?

[daddyo]

Thanks. 

[piulento]

Technically, not so much. But it's gonna take a while to get into the right mindset...
But either way, I don't think it's gonna contribute much to you as a pianist, it's just a cute trick.

[briansaddleback]

Honestly it is real hard to do. But if you practice that sort of thing for a few weeks should be able to do. Although she does have skill to do it I see she worked on that so I applaud her. She's cute too.

[quantum]

This is more of a cognitive exercise than a pianistic one.  However, IMO the concept is an important one.  The choice of material in this video may not be all that musically engaging, which gives it more the appearance of a party trick. 

Consider a case for contrapuntal music: joining two distinct themes together.  It is a useful skill when improvising music of this nature, or music which is characterized by superimposed distinctive thematic elements.  In my own improvising, a technique that is often used is to join two different themes together.  If I am playing on organ it could even be three subjects (RH, LH, feet) or two subjects with accompaniment. 

[rmbarbosa]

For me, Hanon may be usefull only to the study of octaves. One may play all his exercises as octave exercises. From no 1 to at least no 20.

[jimroof]

Music is language.  Hand exercises such as these are purely mechanical.  They are repetitive and eventually become 'reflexive' in their execution.

When I was a teenager I would wow my friends by playing the left hand of ELP's Tarkus while playing the right hand of Hoedown.  It was very easy.  The left hand was on auto-pilot.  To non-musicians it was a feat of the nearly impossible.  To a player, it would be the equivalent of chewing gum and playing the right hand part to just about any piece.

To answer your question... not that hard.

Now, to play two different MUSICAL ideas at once, with the language part of the brain fully engaged on each part... another story altogether.  When it comes to actual MUSIC, I cannot carry on the simplest of conversations when I am playing.  When I open my mouth when playing I am as likely to get a meaningful word out as I am to just drool somewhere...

[dcstudio]

When it comes to actual MUSIC, I cannot carry on the simplest of conversations when I am playing.  When I open my mouth when playing I am as likely to get a meaningful word out as I am to just drool somewhere...

geez I can yack up a storm  these days...    years of cocktail piano...  It doesn't seem to matter if I am reading or improvising or whatever my hands just go on playing.  I am fully aware of what my hands are doing and I am listening but at the same time I could discuss the Rise and Fall of the Third Reich if that was the topic of conversation.  It wasn't always that way... I, too, could not utter a word while playing.  Then it was like all of the sudden I could... only took approx. 25 years... give or take ...but who's counting.

[jimroof]

geez I can yack up a storm  these days...    years of cocktail piano...  It doesn't seem to matter if I am reading or improvising or whatever my hands just go on playing.  I am fully aware of what my hands are doing and I am listening but at the same time I could discuss the Rise and Fall of the Third Reich if that was the topic of conversation.  It wasn't always that way... I, too, could not utter a word while playing.  Then it was like all of the sudden I could... only took approx. 25 years... give or take ...but who's counting.

For me, it's as if my playing takes over all of the communication ability I can muster.  For me, music has always been language.  When I play something that I really have under my belt it is an almost transcendent experience. 

I used to KNOW when my playing was on target at a lesson.  If I played a 9 minute work and it felt like 9 minutes, it sucked.  If I played the same piece a month later and after I started it... all the sudden I was at the end, it worked the way it was supposed to.  The music was like a good book are a good movie and the perception of time was altered to a very strong degree.  When I was playing poorly (for whatever reason, usually just not having everything worked out quite yet), that 9 minutes could feel like the waiting room at the dentist's office.

I have given up on trying to speak when I play now.  Even when I gig in a cover band from time to time - forget about it.  People come up to me with requests "Do you know Achy Breaky Heart?" I cannot even muster the ability to tell them to go jump in a lake.

[dcstudio]

I have given up on trying to speak when I play now.  Even when I gig in a cover band from time to time - forget about it.  People come up to me with requests "Do you know Achy Breaky Heart?" I cannot even muster the ability to tell them to go jump in a lake.

oh I can relate to that.  I play solo piano gigs at a restaurant... they come up and ask me all kinds of questions...lol

achy breaky heart... I used to play in a big band that did that... but the title was scratched out on the lead sheet and instead it was replaced with... "itchy, twitchy, tw#t"--still can't hear that song without thinking about that.

[marijn1999]

Not that hard, I think. It is sort of like playing a Two-Part Invention by Bach, however the big difference is, as jimroof already mentioned, in a Two-Part Invention one also wants to pay attention to the way two different voices are played.

Playing two purely mechanical exercises at the same time would be much more easy than that. However, I don't recommend doing anything like this. Instead, learn a few Two-Part Inventions, and eventually Three-Part Inventions. At the time you have mastered some of them, you will laugh at this "trick".

BW,
Marijn

[emmasommerv]

Impressive, I had a look through your other videos aswell, she has a lot of talent, I teach piano so I know what the average 6 year old is capable of, and she is so far beyond that. I hope you keep posting videos, I'm very interested to see her progress!

[jimroof]

oh I can relate to that.  I play solo piano gigs at a restaurant... they come up and ask me all kinds of questions...lol

achy breaky heart... I used to play in a big band that did that... but the title was scratched out on the lead sheet and instead it was replaced with... "itchy, twitchy, tw#t"--still can't hear that song without thinking about that.

This is a true story...

I was playing in a small three piece band in the early 1990's.  I played keyboards and also kicked the bass.  Whatever was popular we played and did a lot of 60's and 70's rock/pop too.

We were playing at a small resort at Callaway Gardens in south Georgia and around the third set (of 4) someone requested 'New York, New York'.  We knew it and played.  After the third set was done, the manager of the club took the guitarist aside (it was his band) and just reamed him out a new one (if you know what I mean) that we played 'New York, New York'.  The manager had been drinking and it was an ugly scene.  However, neither I nor the drummer had a clue that this had happened.

We come out for the last set and Craig (guitarist) cranks his guitar up as loud as it can possibly go and started playing "Achy Breaky Heart".  Drummer and I just looked at each other and joined in.  What we did NOT know when we started that song was that we were going to be playing it for FORTY-FIVE MINUTES.  After about 20 minutes, we would take turns (guitarist and I) playing a few bars from whatever worked at that tempo.  I remember doing little bits and pieces of Genesis 'ABACAB' and 'Turn it on Again' as well as snippets from Roundabout, La Bamba, and whatever we could work in, but we never veered away from Achy Breaky Heart for more than 10 seconds at a time.

Needless to say, that was the last time we played there...