Practicing with you eyes closed or blindfolded?

[spenstar]

I realized that I rely very much on seeing the keys when I am playing. This isn't too much of a problem for me until I get into songs with far apart hands that have constantly changing hand positions. Do you think blind practice would be a good way to develop a better sense of the piano and combat this problem?

[rachmaninoff_forever]

YES

It's good for developing keyboard geography.

[xdjuicebox]

RF, is there a particular way to develop this skill? No matter how much I do blind practice I still seem to miss a ton and it's infuriating. I have to feel the keys. I sit at the same spot every time but I just can't seem to find notes blindfolded off of a jump it's terribly frustrating. However, if I have a reference note, I can find most intervals within like a 10th but then after that...

It makes me particularly terrible at sight reading LOL

[pianocat3]

I made a cardboard shield to go over the keyboard. I make a point of looking less. When I look too much, my husband or teacher mention I'm slipping. I also got a piano with a high rack. All these efforts have made a big difference, very noticeable to observers, but it's still a work in progress. It's been a bad habit for many years for me, casually playing piano from time to time and only a year ago got serious about piano. Good luck!

[kawai_cs]

I really don't see why should anybody practice a difficult piece with large jumps with closed eyes? You do have eyes so why not use them?
In advanced pieces it is obviously not possible to control everything not getting nystagmus.  In such case however you need to control some of the key notes with your eyes and base the rest of the notes in relation to those key notes.
It is a different thing to practice sight reading trying to look at the keyboard as little as possible.
But why practice advanced pieces with closed eyes and make it more difficult than necessary? Unless you guys are already very advanced and have all the time in the world to spend at the keyboard...

[pianocat3]

I was looking up and down all the time while sight reading. My teacher says use peripheral vision and plan your looks for big jumps. I don't memorize.

[outin]

Obviously practicing with eyes closed improves muscle memory so it is a good practice strategy among others. For me it helps to learn complicated spots. But even if muscle memory is important when playing, but it is also unreliable in many cases. So I always use visual memory as well when memorizing piece. And planning when and where to look and where to trust your hands can really help manage something difficult.

To learn to play every piece eyes closed can take a really long time, so not sure it's practical unless one has unlimited time...

[leemond2008]

I often find that when I have learnt a piece I'll often close my eyes on certain parts without realising.
I'm not too sure if it's a good or bad thing, it obviously means that I have memorized it which isn't good because my sight reading is pretty terrible.

[iansinclair]

A few late thoughts here... first, organists (which I am) very rarely play without music -- and most of the time they are watching the music, not the hands.  Large jumps?  Changing manuals?  Odd pedal bits?  Changing registration?  Then you watch the hands (or feet, as the case may be)!

Since I started as an organist (I learned piano later), I still do that.  If it is a piece I have memorised, I watch the hands more -- might as well -- but not all the time.  If not, I am usually at least vaguely following the music, even for pieces I know very well indeed.

If you are playing with an orchestra or accompanying a choral group, you'd best be watching the conductor, at least from time to time!

So -- the bottom line is: figure out some way to learn to play the instrument without watching the hands, or watching them only for the more awkward bits.  You will gain tremendously in versatility and in sight reading.

[xdjuicebox]

Hey all, I'd like to recommend "Super Sight Reading Secrets" by Howard Richman. There's a training regimen in there for developing the ability to play blindfolded, and I'm finding that it works quite well for me so far.

[adodd81802]

.

[perfect_pitch]

Do you mind sharing the link? When you get a book with a title 'Super sight reading secrets', it seems a little dubious.

Would like to see for myself...

[adodd81802]

.

[xdjuicebox]

https://khosach.info/store/msresource/music/book/Music%20Theory%20-%20Super%20Sight%20Reading%20Secrets.pdf

Yes, that's the one! Good luck to you all!

[oldmancoyote]

Also available on Amazon (in case you feel guilty about copyright breaches, or simply want your nicely bound copy).