Q. I'm looking to buy a new piano, am currently using a Yamaha upright and playing at a diploma level.
How do I choose the best one?
My Yamaha was a random piano that was recommended by the salesperson that my parents bought 10 years ago, so I have no idea.
A. The only way is to go out to someplace that sells pianos and try them out. If for some weird reason you go to a vendor and they say you're not allowed to play the pianos (it happens sometimes), then you need to leave immediately and go somewhere else.
What I would suggest is that you pick out two or three pieces, or sections of pieces, that you can have ready to play. It all comes down to personal preference of course, but here are a couple of things you might think about:
1. Pick at least one thing to play that is fast. What you are trying to do is test the limits of the piano action. A simple scale is probably not going to do this for you; you should pick some real piece of writing. If you can outmatch the piano on speed, then you need a better piano.
2. Pick something very light (quiet) to play. It is generally very simple to tell how a piano sounds when you're playing loudly by just playing a couple of loud chords. Playing softly is a different story. If you find that maintaining a generally quiet sound is so difficult as to make small changes in dynamics impossible, then you need a better piano.
3. Make sure you test the pedals. The sustain pedal should be able to actually sustain (obviously) but more importantly you should be able to control how much it sustains. Pressing the pedal down halfway should yield a shorter sustain; a quarter of the way even shorter (but still noticeable). The wider the range of control, the better. Also, check the una corda and sustenuto pedals. On upright pianos, the sustenuto pedals are generally not true sustenuto; they are just sustain pedals that work only on notes below middle C. This is not really a huge issue (and is all but unavoidable) but it is good to know. Also, some Yamaha uprights don't have a sustenuto pedal at all, instead they have a "practice pedal" that uses a piece of felt over the strings to dampen the sound. This may or may not be useful to you, but once again it is good to know.
4. Test the range of the piano. Generally the treble keys are pretty good, but if not that will probably be the first thing you notice. What you want to do is play around with the very high and very low registers. You're looking for pretty much the same thing both ways; when you hit a note on either extreme end of the keyboard, can you actually distinguish what the note is? In other words, you want the bass notes to sound rich, not muddy (imagine a deep gong, rather than a "splash"), and you want the soprano notes to sound clear, not tinny (imagine chiming as opposed to the sound you might hear if you strangled a kitten. you sick kitten murderer you).
Well that should pretty much do it. Oh, in response to your story; I'm sure salespeople are very nice and beneficial members of society who go home in the evening to loving spouses and families. When you're buying a piano though, their only job involves pointing their index finger in the general direction of the pianos and then getting out of your way. You have all the tools that you need to figure out what piano you should buy, and salespeople are just mindless distractions for you (once again, I'm sure they're very nice people though).
What is the WRONG way to teach yourself guitar?
Q. i'm teaching myself to play guitar, out of a book. theres this chord that i've been practicing for a while now. i can't seem to change to it fast enough, am i doing something wrong? everyone always says that if you teach yourself the wrong way to play guitar, then you wont learn anything. how do you "learn the wrong way"?
A. Mhm as somebody said thumb around the neck, alot of guitarists get away with it but ALOT don't
here is an old post of mine
alot of people i see here post things such as ''i taught myself piano its easy''
let me say any instrument is easy (&these are most likely the ramblings of people who have only played guitar a few months), but to properly play it & understand what the heck your doing (this helps your creative process when writing your own stuff or just in general) is another different matter.
i could be taught to recite out 10 basic piano tunes, but give me the likes of Mozarts music & ask me to use certain techniques that are heard on piano. i would fail (as would all the people claiming ''its easy'' on their respective instruments)
the problem with teaching yourself guitar (or any instrument) is that alot of people give up they get frustrated. (supposedly 90% of self taught musicians quit)
also alot of people can ''play'' guitar, ie bang out a few songs & intros eg starirway to heaven. But there is a notable difference heard between a self-taught guitarist playing a song & a trained guitarist.
guitarists are a dime a dozen, everybody plays guitar (heck i play guitar) however a decent guitarist is hard to find this is where you can benifit from lessons as most people don't take lessons.
Lessons are definitely a great idea, a teacher can show you techniques & correct you. i still get corrected over things i do at my lessons.
alot of the internet resources aren't that great, again it is alot of amateurs with bad technique posting who started out similar to you, or looking to make a quick buck.
every music autobiography i have read (& i read quite a fair bit of them as i LOVE music) the guitarist/any instrument, has gotten lessons at some point.
there are a rare few virtuoso (ie talented) people who didn't get lessons but even at that they start practicing with other people who have got lessons & learn off them.
As somebody said those ''guitar for dummies'' are great, however that is as a side tool to reference to. not to just teach yourself, at a glance you learn the basics but when you study those books they can get quite complicated & a teacher can clear any questions you have.
a teacher also encourages you to practice & gives you set goals.
Don't get me wrong you can learn by yourself but if you are in any way serious about wanting to play music & want to get to a good level, i'd DEFINITELY suggest lessons. Also alot of people seem to start their music career out on guitar as it is such a famous instrument & lots of people own guitars in some form. Don't be suprised if you feel like quitting guitar because everybody plays it after a few months it happens to alot of people, it doesn't mean you aren't musically talented.
PS try not to ask people to give you the chords to a song, its better if you can work them out yourself it creates an ear for certain notes. however make sure what you are playing is correct.
PPS: i read here an answer off somebody who was in a music college, she roughly said ''the teachers would cringe when they heard that a new 'self-taught' musician was coming to the colllege, because the teachers all knew he/she would have to be retaught due to them having bad technique''
Rory Gallagher- Walk On Hot Coals (ROCK, the 5 minute solo isn't as good as the ''irish tour'' solo, but jesus christ this rules & it highlights the bands chemistry)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=709KHLppvOM
''Rory's death really upset me. I heard about it just before we went on stage, and it put a damper on the evening'' Jimmy Page (Led Zep)
How to get the most out of you practice?
Q. What are some important tips and things to keep in mind to get the most out of you daily piano practice?
A. Its all about how you practice.
Everyday you practice, you need to tell yourself something new about the piece that you didn't tell yourself earlier. Vocalize your practice. You need to speak to yourself, out loud about the concepts in the piece. Tell yourself the dynamics, but specifically how loud or how soft you want to play. Ask yourself if the sections can be softer, or are you soft enough. Tell yourself the fingerings. Reinforce this by memorizing hands separately. Tell yourself lengths of phrases, where the climaxes are, articulation marks, performance directions. The more vocal you are, the better the piece will be. You need to be active when you learn. The more you tell yourself, the more you will discover.
Aim to practice slowly and without pedal. Listen very carefully for well articulated notes, correct rhythm, balanced textures and voicing of chords. Memorize small sections hands separately. If you think you know the section, take up some manuscript paper and notate the music. You should be able to notate everything about that section - notes, articulation, rhythm, dynamics and fingerings.
Spend time listening. I imagine that you practice like most people so you think you listen, but not in detail. Listen to ends of phrases so they are not clipped, that your legato comes from finger legato and not pedal. Remember, pedal is a not a tool for playing legato, pedal is a tool to color music. Listen for eveness in all your running notes. Listen carefully to the phrase direction. Is it moving properly. A good way to listen is to record yourself, then sit with the score and objectively go through the piece.
A good way to improve tricky spots is to transpose the sections into different keys. Keep the same fingering as the original. This will help because it forces you to learn the intervalic relationship of the notes and refines your listening skills. Anything to activate your mind when you practice is good.
all these things can be done away from the piano as well. Learn to score study. Practicing doesn't have to be at the piano, it can be at a table. Conduct yourself through the piece telling yourself what you want to do in terms of musical qualities. That is how I practice when i am flying on tour. I open a score and go through each line reminding myself of what to do.
Practice needs to be conscious. Often, our practicing is not. We think we practice but we are just going over the motions. That is why things get worse. We assume we know things, but in fact we don't. The best practice philosophy is to know that you don't know the piece as well as you do. Always go back to practicing a piece the way you first did. Slowly, hands separately and in sections. When you know a piece, what you are to do is to continue to reinforce things. Tell yourself the notes, harmonies.... etc. The more active you are, the better you will know the piece.
Tips to help secure a piece:
You should always know what key you are in.
Practice all passage work slowly, memorizing the fingering.
Memorize in large sections - no patterns, sequences, look out for repeated sections and understand the form of the piece.
Practice without pedal so you clearly hear every note
Be able to sing all parts of the piece by memory out loud
Be able to start any where in the piece.
The mistakes you make when you play, again are because of detail and are usually a mental thing. When you make a mistake you must over come it consciously, not physically. Playing it over and over won't help. You need to tell yourself what the mistake was, why it happened and how to fix it. Mistakes are preventable, they are not accidents. Mistakes are caused by errors in practicing and preparation. Do not be fooled that mistakes are accidents. In music there are never accidents. Mistakes are also the result of a lack of focus and concentration.
Everything leads back to how you prepare for a piece. The first thing is to practice with detail - always do slow practice, practice more hands separate than hands together. Be humble, understand that even when you are done practicing, there is more to do. You never know a piece well enough until you can write it out on staff paper with every single marking and notation on the page. Horowitz would tell students in master class that knowing a score means you can notate the entire score out with every marking and that memory represents complete understanding of the piece.
Often students and teachers think memory is memorizing the notes and being able to play it back. This is wrong. Memory is the complete knowledge of a piece - notes are only 10%. You must know all the articulation marks, all the rests, every phrase marking, every dynamic, every fingering, note values, pedal marks... etc. Everything on the page, including the page numbers should be known.
This type of detail separates those who are great artists and professionals from those who are amateurs. Musicians with concerts, faculty positions, touring dates are those who respect the music and give it every ounce of focus and detail it requires. I suggest you look into the way you prepare. I often get this question when I do guest lectures from students and teachers and the root always comes down to how someone practices.
Nervousness is a result of poor practice and unconscious practice. The more conscious you are, the less nervous you will be because you will know more about the piece. When you know a piece really well, then you can move forward if you have a mistake, recover easily and continue to make music. You have to believe in your practice. When you trust what you do, the nervousness goes down. We get nervous because we feel we will make a mistake which means we think we didn't practice enough. Well if you are detailed in practice, and have gone through all the steps I've given you then you will feel much more comfortable. But you have to trust yourself.. even if you practice hours with good detail and don't trust yourself, then its over. You have to trust.
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