"When It's Easy, It's Fun!"

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Two Ways To Practice Piano – Part 2

We are going to focus on the second way of practicing that was outlined in the previous article.

Remember, one of the main goals to strive towards when playing, is to be able to play without having to do a lot of thinking. That is, getting our playing on "automatic pilot".

This second way of practicing will help you attain this goal faster. This practice technique is called "Practicing to Perform".

When I originally starting performing professionally, practicing the scales, arpeggios, and other technical studies would be the norm. But, what I noticed was that nervousness would be overwhelming. Not only that, the songs played, and the improvisations did not sound all that great.

It was at this point that I started practicing to perform. In other words, when I would sit at the piano, I would pretend there was an audience of 5,000 people that had paid big bucks to see me play.

Now, the setting was different, and everything was on the line. My practicing was taken to a whole new level.

Here are six steps you can follow to get started with this method.

1) Have a list of several tunes you want to practice (2 - 8 would be sufficient).

2) As you approach the bench, look beyond the piano and pretend your audience is excited and waiting.

3) This next step is extremely important. Pretend that you are the best pianist in the world!

4) When you play, do not stop for mistakes, rhythm-blotches, or anything else. This will upset your audience if you do. Not only that, but you will actually learn to create some interesting new ideas from your mistakes on the fly. This is helpful, because contrary to public opinion, musicians make lots of mistakes when they play. They are just "creativity experts" in dealing with them.

5) After you finish playing a tune, immediately go to the next. Do this until you have played all of the songs on your list.

6) When you have finished your mini-concert, stand up and take a bow if you wish.

As you can see, with this method, there is a lot of imagination involved. There are many different advantages using this method.

First, when you actually perform in front of an audience, it feels like you are practicing! You will still be a little nervous, but not as much. Your performance anxiety will be much less.

Secondly, you will notice that your confidence level goes up a lot.

Thirdly, you will not be as hesitant when someone asks you to play something.

Fourthly, your songs and playing will begin to sound much, much better!

These are just a few of the benefits you will receive when practicing to perform. I am sure you will think of many more benefits as you apply this practice technique.

Until then, have fun on your journey to becoming a better piano player.

If you would like to check out all of my podcasts (audio lessons online), click on one of the links below:

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Have Fun!

Charley Wyser
easypiano.com

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