Piano Guidance
Piano Guidance
Photo: Charles Parker
I came back from a long business trip and took one week off, and have been playing piano 8 hours a day last 6 days. You can definitely play 8 hours depending on what you are playing and how demanding technically the piece is for your level.
Ghosting is the problem that some keyboard keys don't work when multiple keys are pressed simultaneously. The keystrokes that don't show up on the...
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First, avoid placing it in front of a window – especially a single pane design. Direct sunlight and exposure to the greater temperature changes can...
Read More »You should NEVER play so much that you experience fatigue and/or pain. Believe me - been there, done that, I paid dearly for it.Otherwise I think this should be an individual choice. My personal opinion is that you should never push yourself in that extent that you start to get negative feelings around your piano playing. There is no point in getting exhausted. I know this attitude might upset those who are fostered in the "no pain, no gain" spirit, with old fashioned teachers who drilled their little students to tears and got "fantastic" results - there are plenty of stories from big stars about this kind of drill, the idea that you must experience blood, sweat and tears in order to "get somewhere". In some places it is a whole philosophy, not to mention a moral thing - if you push yourself you are a "better" person than those who are just having fun, according to this moral.I mean, it could be right. For some people it could be right. Some people are masochists, deep down they enjoy being tormented. But this approach also has got its victims during the years, some students have been totally broken down by it. Some of the big stars lived unhappy despite their apparent successes. I have made up my mind that it is just rubbish. Pianists who truly enjoy every moment at the piano are the best pianists in the long run - if you ask me. And they are also happier as persons, and what could be more important than that???So, IMO you should follow your heart and do what feels best. If you don't feel like playing, then don't play. If you feel like play, then for God's sake, PLAY. At least until you start to get tired, like already mentioned. But if your body sets some limits, you can always go on practicing away from the piano. You can memorize, analyse, listen to your own recordings, plan your upcoming exercises and so on. Or go out and do some workout and mental exercises in order to stay strong and fit.It is also true that some people can practice for 20 minutes and do it very, very efficiently and smart, and others can practicie for 8 hours and achieve practically nothing.So there is no absolute answer to your question, this is an individual thing. Generally I would recommend far less than 8 hours a day, but I know those who play even more than that and are comfortably with it.
Tim Storms Tim Storms (born August 28, 1972) is an American singer and composer. He holds the Guinness World Record for both the "lowest note...
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Simply Piano: Membership There is no 'lifetime' membership as with some apps, but you do get a free 7-day trial if you give your credit card...
Read More »88 keys As piano music developed and evolved, the keyboard compass was gradually expanded in response to requests from composers who sought a broader potential for expression. By the 1890s, today's modern keyboard had become established with 88 keys spanning 7¼ octaves (from 2A to C5; 27.5 Hz to 4,186 Hz*).
The piano that Bartolomeo Cristofori first invented in Italy had only 54 keys. As piano music developed and evolved, the keyboard compass was gradually expanded in response to requests from composers who sought a broader potential for expression. By the 1890s, today's modern keyboard had become established with 88 keys spanning 7¼ octaves (from 2A to C5; 27.5 Hz to 4,186 Hz*). The human ear can hear sounds in the range from approximately 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz, but the upper limit of frequencies that the human brain can discriminate is at the very most around 4,000 Hz. Even if the compass were to be expanded by increasing the number of keys on the piano, to the human ear, the extra notes at the bass end would become nothing more than a rumbling noise, and the added treble notes would be heard as an unpleasant dissonant noise with no sense of being in a tonal range, and thus, musically, would be almost meaningless. Boesendorfer is making 97-key pianos with nine additional keys in the bass segment of the keyboard (2C to C5). However, the strings for these nine keys in the lowest bass segment are really only there to provide a richer sound when other keys are played by resonating with them. In reality, the extra keys themselves are almost never played directly. * When A is tuned to 440 Hz. The pitch of the individual keys will vary depending on the tuning method.
The easiest way to figure out the key of a song is by using its key signature. The number of sharps/flats in the key signature tell you the key of...
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Many pianists tend to be loners – the career almost demands it and self-reliance is something one learns early on, as a musician – but that does...
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"Jumping feels so hard because of the large muscle forces—landing from a jump puts a lot of stress on the muscles and joints," says Dr. Karp. "Even...
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One of the reasons the F chord is difficult to play is because it's positioned on the 1st fret of your guitar. A good rule of thumb to remember is...
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