My teacher has recently introduced me to Chopin music, starting me off with the Waltz in A minor(Opus Posthumous) Quite disappointed because I really wanted to go on the Bach Inventions. Oh well Anyways, I've got the song down for the most part at a slow, preliminary pace.To play it at tempo, I memorized the left hand patterns and notes. The problem here is, I have to STARE at my left hand position itself on the A to the A to the D to the A and so on. I'm starting to get irritated because you don't see professionals stare down at their keys when they play. No! They close their eyes! It is strikingly odd to me - how? I mean I did start working on this song just a few days ago.. but, still hits me as a very good question.Considering my personal problem, how can I train my hands to maneuver around the keys without having to make myself look at the keys? I really do enjoy closing my eyes when I play, but after I hit a wrong key from faulty knowledge of the location of the keys, I have to open up my eyes in disappointment.Do people just "play enough" to get the knowledge of where the keys are? I'm having a hard time believing that's really the only way.. Just play enough music and your hands will know. I was told I should just play the piece till my hand muscles memorize the notes on their own.. is that sound info?Blah. Basically, how do I practice playing without looking at the keys and not needing eyesight to find the appropriate notes?
Blah. Basically, how do I practice playing without looking at the keys and not needing eyesight to find the appropriate notes?
The subject of my reply is mythology versus reality.Accordingly, my former coach (with a degree from Nelita True at Eastman) told me that he has turned pages for endless accompanists who "pawed" their left hand when then performed in public. And then my late teacher Dr. Jack Roberts (DMA from Gyorgy Sandor at Michigan), taught me to just play it a hundred times with the left hand, and that would do it.When I pressed him by telephone in later years to teach me classical improvisation/keyboard harmonic analysis, he blurted out that he was just a "seat of your pants" pianist. That means he was basically playing by ear, and getting everyone else to think he was some kind of photographic memory genius.The point is that: Claudio Arrau, Artur Rubinstein, and (if you watch the videos closely), Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli all stared at their hands (eyes squinted or not)!
Based on the last two posts, why would anyone who has ever played the piano (and this is the true definition of a Troll) believe that when I referred to multiple Concert Pianists "staring at their hands" that this would mean they are staring at their hands and fingers.If so, your credibility, as a technique student, is zero. As a Troll, you are 100% correct.
What made you think the last post was directed to you? It is a common misunderstanding that pianists look at their hands and from experiments it seems that less experienced pianists actually do that.And talk about trolls
"and from experiments it seems that less experienced pianists actually do that."No they do not! And, as a pianist/philosopher (GROAN!), just what part of the hand/finger/wrist/upper structure are they looking at?
And, per the OP, this is a very big deal. As one of my coaches Dr. Thomas Mark quotes Edna Golandsky as saying: You can't miss (a note) what you are right over.Further, as Dr. Mark suggests, the overall (paraphrasing) hand/body choreography of placing your hands, lower arm, upper arm, shoulder, and upper chest structure in line with a particular piece is crucially important.What I am saying is that your eyes are a significant part of that OVERALL process. And, yes it is a comprehensive, in my opinion, process.
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However, I came up with a methodology of my own which allowed me to then sight-read the notes to 47 piano concertos (two a day) in the next five years.
It seems you have not seem the video where eye camera was used to compare a student and professional pianist and where their eyes were focused at while playing. I cannot post a link unfortunately, but google might be able to help.
Yes, experienced pianist may well look at the keys or their hands, but most of the time they don't have to. Being able to play without looking at the keyboard gives you all the freedom to look at something else (the music you are sight reading, the conductor you should be following, the singer you are accompanying, the person you are trying to seduce...) and makes you feel more secure when performing.
My teacher has recently introduced me to Chopin music, starting me off with the Waltz in A minor(Opus Posthumous) ....Anyways, I've got the song..............
...how can I train my hands to maneuver around the keys without having to make myself look at the keys?
Topic: How to play without looking at the keys? 