How can I improve my piano skills?

Question

How can I improve my piano skills?

Answer 1

Improve Piano Playing

Answer 2

1

Answer 3

The level you might be playing is four. I know, it's high, but "Fur Elise" is a really tough piece; I know because I've had a rough time trying to play that song. But now, I'm pretty good at it, although it took more than a month!



Moving on, some ways to improve your piano skills is to practice everyday, but don't overdo it! At least ten minutes daily, practice (if you have a piano at home) the fingerings, chords, notes, and so on. If you're having a really hard time, remind yourself NOT to try to do the whole song in one sitting. Practice one measure (those spaces between the bar lines) if you're having a rough time. It might take a while, but you won't be so stressed about it.



Also, if you're trying to tackle a hard song, play what you can slowly first, then continue with the other parts.

Answer 4

5 simple steps for you =D 1. Find a Qualified Piano Teacher Don´t fall into this trapp from other people saying you don´t need a piano teacher. I highly recommend you grab your local paper or phone and find a qualified piano teacher. Why? Most importantly, you will learn much faster and eventually play much better then if you have to do this all by yourself. 2. Practice Regularly Never practice when you are tired you cannot focus and concentrate well enough to make good progress. Practice Regularly Piano playing requires good coordination and music reading skills. To get best results with your piano playing practice daily for at least 20-30 minutes a day. 3. Set Realistic Goals When studying your song, set realistic goals. Find a song that is right, and fits your musical knowledge and skills. For example if you are studying a Czerny etude make a goal to learn a new page every day or even a few measures depending on your level and skills. 4. Improve Your Sight Reading If you have no trouble reading music notes you learn a new song much faster. Keep working on your sight reading skills by making it a routine to start your daily practice with playing a few bars of a totally new piano piece. 5. Read Music literature of the Composer When you are playing a Mozart sonate and you don´t know anything about his life its more difficult to play with a good "character". Learn all about your favorite composer and try to find a good approach to play his/her songs. Enjoy music!

Answer 5

How one improves differs from pianist to pianist, but for me, I just try to learn pieces slightly above my ability.

A lot of people argue that scales, arpeggios and similar exercises do nothing for improvement, other than finger independence. I don't completely agree, but mostly because I enjoy doing them. My favorite exercises are a part of a book "The Virtuoso Pianist" by Hanon, although there's multiple videos on YouTube that you can use to learn from. Czerny's "School of Velocity" is a nice exercise book as well, but it's a little more difficult starting out than Hanon.

For scales, I usually just run through each (major and minor) in four octaves with a metronome at 120. I also do contrary motion scales and scales in thirds and sixths. If you haven't already, try some melodic and harmonic minor scales.



Fur Elise is considered to be a level 3 piece, and Piano Sonata no. 14 c sharp minor op. 27 no. 2 (Moonlight) is considered to be level 7. It's hard to judge a pianists level without knowing them and what they've played. However, you seem to be at level 3.



Hope this helped. :)

Answer 6

Improving Technique



Scales, arpeggios, traids, chords; nobody likes to practice all this technique! However, its importance is often overlooked. It is a vital part of learning and improving your piano playing. Technical exercises are always tricky, but it will eventually pay off once you can play your pieces (which are usually not as difficult) flawlessly! During practice times, it’s clear that technique stands no match to the fun and melodious pieces from our repertoire. But, there are many ways you can practice your technique without getting irritated or too bored.



Practice your technique a different way every time. Vary the:

1. Rhythms

Experiment with a variety of different rhythms. There’s no wrong way to mix it up! Ex. Long-Short-Short-Long.

2. Articulations

Try practicing the whole exercise staccato. Or with two-note slurs. Even try practicing staccato in one hand, while legato in the other. The possibilities are endless!

3. Tempo

Start out slowly if you’re having trouble. Slowly work your metronome up until you get to your required metronome marking. But don’t stop there! Go beyond what’s required, so when you go back to the original tempo, it will be even easier!

4. Dynamics

Try every dynamic marking- forte, piano, pianissimo, mezzo forte. Add accents, crescendos and decrescendos. Be creative!

5. Close your eyes

Practice muscle memory so that you can play them with your eyes closed. This will make you twice as confident when you play with them open!



Technique will never be boring again! Good Luck!

Answer 7

Your teacher will help you to improve your skills - that's her job.







As we can't hear your playing, this question is unanswerable. Can you play 'Für Elise', from beginning to end, or only the easy bit?







You mean, you're starting the first movement of the Moonlight Sonata. (the 3rd movement is difficult - far too difficult for someone with only eight months' experience)







Yes, you should. She has heard you play (obviously!), and is therefore in a position to make an assessment.



EDIT. @Chamal: You have a habit of copying and pasting from web sites, without naming the source. Are you trying to pass off your answer as your own? It isn't, because here is the source - http://www.wikihow.com/Improve-Your-Piano-Playing-Skills .....all you've done is add a few exclamation marks.



EDIT 2. @Mary:







It's only played at a moderate tempo: don't try to rush it. 3/8 isn't difficult - it's 3 beats, and each beat is one quaver (eighth-note). Basically, it's the same as 3/4 - three beats to each bar (measure).







That's what I thought:-)

Answer 8

Inspiration, find someone who is already a pro at it to look up to, idolize some great muscian, it takes off all doubting thoughts not to improve more and target a certain piece that might take you a higher level of skill, just enjoy it, don't pressure yourself.

Answer 9

Do more exercise

Answer 10

Manage your learning and practice time. Dedicate a time slot to sessions or training and be committed about it. Try not to allow anything to deter you from your practice. Commitment to practice is crucial to improving your abilities!!!!



Plan your practice. Although this is not necessary later, at first, when you're learning new things, it's important to know what you should be learning in the next few sessions so as to be able to measure your progress. This is supposed to help you keep track of your knowledge and skills progress, not be a tool to disappoint you if you didn't make the progress you hoped for in the time you expected. If you feel some particular concept took a really long time to master, don't worry. The important thing is that, in the end, you do master it.!!



Improve your musical notation reading skills. Many of the steps and tips to follow will either depend on, or greatly benefit from a proficiency in reading musical notation (sheet music). You can do this as follows:

Learn to read piano music if you haven't already done so. Make sure you understand most of the concepts of musical notation. If you want to improve your overall piano playing, you'll need to learn about more advanced musical notations such as dynamics, tempo, key and time signatures, clefs, etc. Knowing only how to read the notes themselves and their intervals won't be enough.

Learn to sight-read piano music. This will improve your ability to translate what you see and understand on the musical sheet into beautiful piano tunes.!!!!



Improve your finger placement and speed on the piano keys!!!



Practice the different scales using proper finger placement. Start by practicing going up the scale, then down, then up and down. Do each one at least five times using proper finger placement when practicing a certain scale.

Try to practice two or three scales before each session. Do this whether a "session" is a lesson with a teacher, or some free time slot you assigned to learning and practicing the piano.

Try to practice using sheet music that contains finger numbering on them, especially at first. This way you can be sure that you are playing correctly.

Practice with increasing speed. When learning a new song, or a new scale, start by playing it slowly but obeying the timing of the piece. Then, start speeding up, keeping proper time intervals between the notes. For example, if practicing a simple C Major scale, you'll start by playing each note (C, D, E, F, G, A, B) as a whole beat. Then start playing each note for half a beat (not leaving the other half beat as a rest), then quarter, and so on. Once you made a mistake, start all over again. Practice this for half an hour a day until you feel you can do it without making any mistake.

Practice proper chords finger placement. You can find many resources on the internet detailing proper fingering for each chord. Sometimes you'll find more than one optimal finger placement; this is a matter of preference, so follow whichever makes you more comfortable while playing (especially while progressing from one chord to the next).!!!!!



Memorize and practice musical scales, especially the most prominent ones. Learn all the Major, harmonic minor, melodic minor and chromatic scales. Master the scales and practice them. Also, if you're playing a specific style (such as blues, jazz, etc.), learn the scales of that style.!!!



Memorize and practice chords. Chords are multiple notes played together at the same time (on the piano, pressing multiple keys simultaneously).

Begin by learning the most prominent chords.

Learn the different inversions of a chord. Try to learn when and in what progression each inversion is used.

Practice chords by playing progressions. Start with simple ones such as the C-F-G progression. Once you've mastered those, go to more complicated ones.!!!!!~



Improve your musical aptitude (commonly called musical ear) by practicing listening to musical pieces and trying to infer their notes. Do this as follows:

Start with simple and slow songs. Try to find the notes of the song first by trial and error on the keyboard.

Try to name the notes using only your ear after that, and writing them down.

After you've finished a section, try playing the notes you've written down, see how close you were.

You might create some grading system and try to test yourself. Don't worry if you get only few notes at first. Just learn from the mistakes you make. Bit by bit, you'll some day be able to write down the whole song with great accuracy.!!!!!!!!!!!!



hope this helpful~~!!!!!