Hello, could you guys share some tips on Piano Playing Techniques?

Question

I was going to take a a diploma in performance but stopped mid-way 2 years ago. Now I wish to regain my piano playing skills that are obviously gone since there was so little practice for the past 2 years? What should be done so that I can be as skillful as what i was before??

Answer 1

I feel your pain, it sucks to go away from an instrument and come back to it. you need to be patient and allow yourself time to work out all the bumps. you can do it.

Here are some basic technical exercises that will strengthen your hands. For example: Scales (major, minor, chromatic) and arpeggios, they are boring, but they work. Do them in different and varied ways: legato, staccato, regular rhythm, alternative rhythm, alternative accents, separate hands, inverted directions...etc.

Start playing some of the pieces that you were playing before you stopped. Do it slowly and with a metronome. When you come across a bump in your technique, stop and fix the mistake. Play the bumpy section slowly to figure out what causes the problem.

Practice fingering changes, that's usually where the pumps are. Practice with only the left hand, because it's usually weaker then the right hand. You can even try humming the right hand melody while playing the left hand. You probably did this in musicianship class, it's kinda silly, but it works!

Remember to trust yourself that you can do it. Playing an instrument is muscle memory, if you can do it once, you can always go back to it. It just take time and patient. Good luck.

If you need more help, I would suggest taking a couple of lessons. Have fun!

Answer 2

You'll likely be pleasantly surprised how 'not-gone' your technical foundations are. Rusty, certainly, but not gone by any means. I had to do the same thing after surgery on my left hand and a 14 month period of enforced 'leisure', 25 years ago. What I did, when the time eventually came to return with a full set of hands , was to start to learn a new work from scratch -- nothing wildly demanding but with enough 'bite' to it to get my technical thinking going again -- which held tremendous musical interest for me. That way, there was always a strong spur to get past the dodgy patches where my dissatisfaction and frustration at the state of my hands threatened to get the better of me, because my musical will drove me on, where perhaps my technical one was tempted to chuck in the towel at times.

Within a matter of days, my hands were noticeably catching up wih my head and I could begin to think about restarting work on major repertoire items again. Conditioned reflexes have a really long half life before they 'rot' altogether: if your technique was well grounded to start off with before, it could well greet you as a long lost friend a lot sooner than you may fear now. And the only way of allaying those fears, is by getting your hands to a keyboard again... :-)

Answer 3

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Answer 4

You'll probably be even better than you were .. it's like swimming or riding a bicycle or typing ... you have a lot programmed into your subconscious mind, and it stays... it just takes time to get your muscles in shape again .. but in the meantime you yourself have grown, a very nice thing ...

Answer 5

Master the Hannon Book-complete edition

Answer 6

well,
for techinque
there is
Churney studies, Bartoks Miskrosomos (prolly spelled wrong)
G. Schirmer Sonata Albums