Sometimes
the teacher learns more from the student than the
student does from the teacher. Hopefully, not too
often, but today I would like to share with you some
great practicing ideas that have come from my piano
students over the years:
1.
A Colonel in Virginia that I taught for several years
got up at 4AM every weekday morning and practiced
on an electronic keyboard with headphones so he wouldn't
disturb anyone at that time of the morning. "I
love the early morning", he said, "because
it's so quiet and peaceful and I'm fresh and raring
to go. No phones are ringing, no people walking into
the room, no disturbances at all. I practice for a
half-hour, have breakfast, and then hit it for another
half-hour -- all before I have to show up for work.
When I get home in the evening, if I'm too tired to
practice, I don't feel guilty because I've already
got my licks in for the day. And if I'm up to practicing
some more -- well, it's a bonus!"
2. An
elementary school teacher in Indiana told me she took
each piece I assigned her and transposed it into all
12 keys -- not written out, but at the piano -- in
her head. She said "It doesn't always sound so
hot, but I find that if I keep at it day after day,
I can at least get by in the most difficult keys,
and it makes the easier keys seem real simple. And
it gives me a perspective that I just wouldn't get
it I just played it in one key -- the key it is written
in. I've learned that each key has it's own "feel",
and some keys are bright (like "D") and
some keys are mellow (like "Db").
3.
Another piano student with a similar idea, who was
the Minister of Music in a Catholic church, said he
took one whole month of the year and devoted it to
mastering just one key. Since there are 12 months
in the year and 12 Major keys, that works out perfectly.
So in January he played everything he could find in
the key of C, and transposed anything that wasn't
in C into C. In February he went up 1/2 step to the
key of C# (also known as Db enharmonically) and played
everything in Db and searched for pieces written in
the key of Db, and so on. By the time the year was
up, he had a pretty fair grasp on the 12 Major keys.
I suggested that he devote the next year to the 12
minor keys, and the next year to the modes, and the
next year to polytonality, etc., etc. -- but as I
recall he decided to just recycle through the 12 major
keys, since he used them so much more than the ones
I suggested.
4.
Still another piano student took an idea from me and
twisted it a bit. I suggested that she play along
with pieces she liked on tapes and CD's, so she would
get a feel for the motion of the song. (I used to
do that by the hour when I was a teen-ager, and it
paid off big time for me!). She took the idea and
tried it and liked it so much that she started getting
videos of people playing the piano. She arranged her
TV and video player so that she could be at her piano
while the video was playing, and she would play along
with the pianist on the screen, following her/his
hand motions and arm motions and finger position and
thereby getting a feeling for the flow of the music.
(Patterning). Her creativity is paying off for her
-- she is advancing rapidly. (And by the way, don't
think she is "copying" the person she is
watching -- not at all. It's the same principle as
watching Michael Jordan moving toward the basket,
or watching Sammy Sosa swing a bat -- it just gets
you in the right groove before you apply your own
style to it.)
5.
A doctor I have taught for years makes a idea file
of things he has learned about piano playing over
the years. He notes where in a given book or tape
or video I discuss such and such a topic, and files
that alphabetically. Then later when he needs to refer
to that idea, he simply looks up the idea in his file,
locates the video or cassette or book, and presto
-- he can review that idea or concept almost instantly.
It's like a card catalog in the library -- makes finding
things so much faster than flipping through endless
books trying to find that idea you saw long ago. With
the advent of the computer a person could store and
categorize ideas such as this very quickly.
Hope this gives you some ideas of your own!
Duane Shinn is the author of over
500 music books and music educational materials
such as DVD's, CD's, musical games for kids, chord
charts, musical software, and piano lesson instructional
courses for adults. His instant piano chord finder
software titled "How
To Find Any Piano Chord Instantly!" has
been used around the world. He holds advanced degrees
from Southern Oregon University and was the founder
of Piano University in Southern Oregon. He is the
author of the popular free 101-week online e-mail
newsletter titled "Amazing
Secrets Of Exciting Piano Chords & Sizzling
Chord Progressions" with over 58,600 current
subscribers.
(Source: http://EzineArticles.com/)
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