Consider sticking to very, very simple pieces for longer than you think possible. If you really love music and know the repertoire you may be tempted to go for pieces that are too advanced, too soon. So try spending some months playing ultra easy pieces. Play them so that you can play them without mistakes, but also use them to think about the simplest aspects of phrasing, articulation, sound production, etc. Get to where you can think about how you want them to sound and have them come out the way you have in mind. There are lots of Bach things from his notebooks and simple movements from the early Haydn sonatas, or Schumann's pieces for students that you should be able to play effortless and beautifully after a short while. Give your brain the experience of being completely at ease and confident at the piano.I'm advising this only because it helped me. I took up piano late in life with a strong background in classical guitar, voice, theory, and all sorts of ambitions to play major pieces. I worked like a fiend and was able to memorize and more or less get through a few medium difficulty Beethoven and Mozart sonatas, quite a few Preludes and Fugues from WTC, some late Brahms, even Brahms' arrangement of the Bach Chaconne for left hand alone. But I always stumbled more than I wanted to, always felt tense when playing for others, just the sort of problems you seem to be describing. Six months ago I decided to try to practice fluency, so I went back to the Anna Magdalena Notebook pieces, ultra easy Haydn and Mozart things and just concentrated on learning to play them fluently and comfortably. My tone production, articulation, and voicing improved a lot, I feel the music more while I play, I have far, far fewer stumbles, and I'm very gradually working back towards pieces with more notes. It took me a little while to win my teacher over to this plan, but in the end she agrees that it has done wonders. Give it a try, it only costs a few months, and it's fun to wring all the possible musical expression out of very simple pieces.I didn't give up technical exercises while doing this, though. I still worked on scales and arpeggios every day, and on Czerny's School of Velocity - but I did the Czerny at a low enough velocity that I could reproducibly hit all the notes. Trying to speed up and seeing what happened when I failed helped me concentrate on the details of shoulder, arm, and hand motions that I needed to correct. But this technical stuff was only about a third of my practice time. The rest was just playing those easy pieces as beautifully as I could.
Save the challenges for when you are confident in easier stuff and those challenges will be much more easily surmountable later on! I don't think you mentioned if you were studying with a teacher. They can be invaluable in diagnosing what specifics you might need to work on specifically.
I am pretty satisfied, though--last night I put on a good recital of Rachmaninoff's Prelude Op. 32 No. 10, the second movement of Beethoven Op. 57, and Schumann's Aufshwung. The first two actually went very well, and I am satisfied with my work.Taking a break from piano isn't so much an option, partly because I am looking to audition to a music school as a freshman this February.Just this morning, I had a breakthrough on a really tough measure in one of my audition pieces (Les Adieux first movement), and I'm really hyped now. But I have made it a point to start going through the Schumann Album for the Young every morning, and do a piece every day or two. I think that might help.
That makes me think that perhaps you want to try to some fast works to work on your technique. If you can do pieces at requiring fast tempos without mistakes, it will feel easier to tackle other pieces down the line. Again your technique should be in your comfort range and not at the brink of failure, so that you can truly work on interpretative elements and not just worry so much about technique. I would caution that you still do slow practice though even for fast works, you will just need more time to incrementally get to the written tempo. Why? You should not be practicing with lots of sloppy mistakes. An actor doesn't rehearse flubbed lines before a theatre performance. Similarly your practice session should be focused more on slower and more perfect versions of a piece rather than being impatient and trying to get to the written tempo.
I lean towards a routine over literature.Then push/stress areas. It always seems like that kind of push is something you're really aware of though. It doesn't seem to happen on its own. There's a hurt and self-inflicted, but not necessarily physical.Then ease back and reset form because the push can be damaging.
I am always hearing about pianists who are referred to as being technical monsters but lack maturity.Well I wish I could have that kind of technique! I mean this in the humblest way possible ... but I have so many interpretations and musical ideas for all manner of repertoire, from Clementi sonatinas to Ravel's Gaspard and such advanced pieces. I want to play those pieces so much, and I practice four hours a day trying to reach it ... Unfortunately, my performances are always littered with mistakes. I cannot overcome these pieces, regardless of how I practice (and yes, I have been consciously practicing section-by-section, as effectively as I know how). But in the end, there's still a maddening gap in my technique.So how do I build technique to a high level? I did Books 1-2 (and some of book 3) by Hamlet. I also am striving to re-learn my scales and arpeggios to get them to as even and smooth as possible. But in the end, none of it seems to help. My technique is still only mediocre, and frustratingly unable to match my musical ambitions and ideas.Any or advice or ideas?Thanks!
And that means, in no uncertain terms, that it should be specific to the "Morphology" of your hand, arm, shoulder, overall height, the way you pedal, et al.
Once again, you have to teach/relate to any teacher your Body Type. That is why one of my coaches, Thomas Mark, utilizes the term Body Mapping. www.pianaomap.com
I did Books 1-2 (and some of book 3) by Hamlet
Don't worry about the speed. The last couple of weeks before contest, when I had the movements totally learned, I could double or triple the speed without strain.
Some principles that I hope will help: if the notes constantly alternate direction, rotate your forearm like turning a doorknob. If the notes are moving in the same direction, use wrist circles. To be clear, as the notes in the right hand go up, the wrist is lower and moves to the right. As the notes go down, the wrist is higher, and moves to the left. Use the mirror of that for the left hand (wrist is lower when LH descends, higher when RH ascends). For trills and repeated notes, the wrist oscillates up and down (my professor likes to call it elevator wrists) and the fingertips even strike different parts of the key (slight in and out).Keep the fingers light and constantly monitor against the urge to continue pressing after they key has reached the bottom. It feels quite passionate to do so, but it restricts freedom and movement. I can't tell you how much my playing improves if I just focus on keeping my thumbs light (I had a ton of tension as a kid).
The caveat to slow practice: You will not improve if you practice the wrong movements slow. Play short passages up to speed (even if it's a horrible mess), one hand at a time, and see what movements your arm wants to make. Keep these movements at your slower tempo while you work out with more precision where your fingertips will go.
Finally, learn about technique by actually studying technique, not patterns of notes that Hanon or Dohnanyi or Czerny put together. Get your hands on the Taubman tapes. Read: Mastering Piano Technique by Seymour Fink, On Piano Playing by Gyorgy Sandor, The Craft of Piano Playing by Alan Fraser, Practising the Piano (all volumes) by Graham Fitch, 20 Lessons in Keyboard Choreography by Seymour Bernstein, What Every Pianist Needs to Know About the Body by Thomas Mark. Get a teacher!
Ah, I see. I have been trying to play lighter; the problem that I run into is that my accuracy suffers. Whenever I do a masterclass, teacher after teacher has told me to "get into the keys" more. The one time I actually tried to apply that, though, I got the opposite response: I'm playing TOO far into the keys. Where's the middle ground? I want to get a full tone when I play; at the same time, I want to be nimble and quick when necessary.
Well, I did read The Art of Practicing by Madeline Bruser, and it has done wonders for my technique already. The only one on that list that I could find at the library was Fink's book; I'm planning to read that as soon as I can get my hands on it. And I do have teacher--and lately, I realized just a what a good teacher I have. So I've been coming to her more and more with these issues, and it seems to be helping a lot.
In my opinion, there is no middle ground. Think of it this way: when you take a step, do you continue to press your foot into the ground to make sure you're going to be stable there? Even if you stomp your foot, are your leg muscles still engaged in keeping your foot down? If you are tip-toeing, can you possibly move from one foot to the next without your entire bodyweight being on a single foot, even if only momentary and even if only on part of your foot? So it is at the piano. Contact and keeping the key down do not require extra effort. Only partially putting the key down just causes excess tension in the muscles that now need to hold your arm up (since the piano isn't doing it for you anymore). Practice ultra slow, pausing after each note to check that gravity and the structure of your skeleton is holding the key down, not any extra pressing. Graham Fitch has better descriptions in his books, which are only available digitally, by the way.
I do get what you mean. And actually I learn more towards what you're saying, even too much--so much so that my sound is often to airy--as in, my problem is not going down enough. I'm trying to fix it, but the effect my "fix" is always harshness and loss of beauty and elegance.
This is good. At least you are adjusting. I have bad news for you: I can point you to resources, I can describe what it feels like, and if I were to see you in person, I could manipulate your hand and arm, but the one thing I cannot possibly do is get inside you and give you the feeling. Ultimately, you need to discover this for yourself. It's a great sign that you are able to shift from one side of the spectrum to the other. You are able to adjust, and your frustrations indicate you are able to listen as well. Now, try to fine tune it by degrees. Maybe you over adjust by pressing and getting a harsh tone, but can you press half as hard? A quarter as hard? When you are playing too light, can you play just a little heavier, but maybe not quite all the way down yet?
Can you please elaborate? That wasn't real clear.
Topic: How to build technique? 