Category: Effective Piano Practice Strategy

Get Everything You Need To Start Piano With My New Ebook!

11/26/2019

Cover of my new Ebook about "everything you need to start piano right!" A practical resource for piano students, piano learners and piano wannabees.

by Jenny Leigh Hodgins

🎹 I have exciting news for piano learners or those interested in playing piano! I have launched my first ebook,

What You Need To Know, Have & Do To Start Piano Right!

I’m excited to soon make this ebook available for purchase directly from my website! My ebook is the perfect gift for anyone interested in piano playing!

I created this valuable resource for those who:

want to learn piano
are returning to piano after a long gap
have a child interested in exploring music

My ebook is a practical, down-to-earth, all-in-one resource and easy-to-read guide for anyone interested in getting started or returning to piano lessons.

Want to know if this is the right book for you, your family, or a musical friend?

Let me clarify my new ebook's content with an excerpt from the introduction,

“Throughout my 30-year music and piano teaching career, I’ve been asked the same questions repeatedly by those interested in playing piano. Beginner to intermediate piano students have asked these same questions again and again.

Even advanced players, lacking a foundation of good practice habits, and frustrated with how to pierce through a plateau or further progress in piano, exhibited a need to learn piano practice basics. Many of these piano learners did not lack piano skill. They were stumped by repeated mistakes or by their inability to breakthrough musical barriers. They simply did not know how to practice piano effectively for consistent progress.

In my experience with teaching privately, in small groups, and classroom school music classes, all my students, and their parents or guardians had the same need for answers to these questions about successful piano learning. I’ve combined their biggest concerns and most recurring inquiries in this ebook.

As a pianist and composer of piano-based music, I know well the rich benefits and joy of piano playing. The issues piano learners face, and their desire to get started, return to, or keep pressing on to reap the rewards of piano progress, are what motivates me to provide this ebook. My intent is to help piano learners keep breaking through to new levels of piano performance.

Though I’ve written blogs on these topics, many have expressed continued interest in starting piano or more successful piano practice results. My goal in writing this ebook, as well as my upcoming (2nd) ebook, My Best Tips On How To Practice Piano Effectively, is to provide answers to these persistent questions in an organized, convenient way. I hope my books are helpful to those seeking successful or greater momentum for piano progress.

This ebook covers all the basics anyone needs to know about starting piano lessons, from how to find a quality instrument and piano method, to whether you need and how to find a good piano teacher, whether online tools for piano learning are valuable, what’s needed for a successful start to piano learning, and how to maintain continued piano progress.

I hope this ebook provides the answers you seek, and helps you successfully begin or continue your musical journey with enjoyable, confident, forward-moving piano advancement.”

My new ebook will be the perfect holiday gift:

for the musician in your life
for anyone interested in learning piano
as a foundation to prepare you for your child’s piano learning
as an all-in-one resource to get everything you need to start piano right!

WHAT READERS ARE SAYING ABOUT MY EBOOK:

"What a great resource for potential piano parents to have."
~-Krista Schupbach, PIANO TEACHER

"A great book that will inspire many people to take up piano lessons. It inspires me to continue playing and composing. Many people [will want] to start piano studies after reading [this] ebook. Looking forward to [the author's] next ebook."
--Alex Dawson, RETIRED PIANO TEACHER

"Excellent e-book! EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW BEFORE STARTING PIANO. There is just about everything you can think in [this ebook], like a bible of what you should know. I also enjoyed previous articles and links from [YourCreativeChord.com] blog -- which only strengthens [the author] as an authority on piano. Great job!"
--Joshua Sohn, FILM & GAME COMPOSER

"Genuinely, this is a good resource, and a reassuring one to someone coming at the piano with some trepidation, intimidation, or wondering, Am I too old to start?"
--Tracie Callahan, COMPOSER, MUSIC EDUCATOR

What You Need To Know, Have & Do To Start Piano Right! Ebook

$11.98

A practical, down-to-earth, all-in-one resource and easy-to-read guide for anyone interested in getting started or returning to piano lessons.

BONUS GIFT:

As my gift to you, with every purchase of my ebook, you'll automatically receive a FREE download of my original photo with a self-care affirmation.

Get Everything You Need To Start Piano With My Ebook, "What You Need To Know, Have & Do To Start Piano Right!" A practical, down-to-earth, all-in-one resource and easy-to-read guide for anyone interested in getting started or returning to piano lessons. Topics include what kind of keyboard is necessary, how to find a quality instrument and piano method, whether you need and how to find a good piano teacher, whether online tools for piano learning are valuable, what’s needed for a successful start to piano learning, and how to maintain continued piano progress. This ebook provides answers to those seeking a successful start or greater momentum for piano progress.

As my gift to you, with every purchase of my ebook, you'll automatically receive a FREE download of my original photo with an affirmation. The affirmation poster is completely free to download, print, use as a desktop wallpaper or screensaver for your computer.

The beauty of nature and positive words brings inspiration. We all need reminders. May this small gift of beauty and positive thought remind you of your immense potential for creative energy and inspire you to tap into your best self.

Yes! I want to start piano right!

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What Should You Do If You Keep Messing Up At The Piano?

9/3/2019

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Get my EBOOK, "WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW, HAVE & DO TO START PIANO RIGHT!

What To Do If You Keep Messing Up At The Piano, B X W piano keyboard, yourcreativechord.com

by Jenny Leigh Hodgins

If you’ve been following my piano practice blog series, you know my strategy for how to spend time at piano for the most effective progress.

If you missed those, check out: My Best Tips On How To Practice Piano Part 1, My Best Tips On How To Practice Piano Part 2 & My Best Tips On How To Practice Piano Part 3, where I walk you through my effective piano practice strategy in detail.

Continuing in your piano practice routine, you should practice each goal in this manner (as described in previous blogs above) for as long as you are able to muster full effort. Repeat the same practice process with your next goal, aiming to successfully play through several times in a row.

Stop if you make a mistake, or when you lose mental concentration. Remind yourself of your selected goal and reset back to the start. If you’re unable to keep your mind on things after awhile, or continue making the same mistakes, it may be time for a change. This brings us to decide What To Do If You Keep Messing Up At The Piano!

Starting anew without success after multiple attempts means you’re either doing something to block your progress, or you simply need a break to refresh yourself. If you simply didn’t achieve your goal, in addition to stopping and returning to the beginning, you must change your approach.

Take A Closer Look At The Problem
When I’ve chosen a specific practice goal, but continue having problems getting through the music successfully, I take a step back. By that I mean to take a closer look at the problem section. Analyze the trouble spot, looking for clues about what’s tripping you up. This often reveals a less obvious practice goal that you must focus on first, before moving on to your previously selected goal. In other words, you’ve taken on too much at once. Bite off only what you can chew, one morsel at a time.

How do you find the trouble to know what to practice? Ask yourself questions relevant to your music and piano playing level. If you’re a beginner, you may ask;

Can I play through this fingering?
Can I play with a fluent, steady beat?
Can I name the notes as I play?
Can I play this dynamic?
Can I play using both hands?

If you’re more advanced, you must ask questions relative to your level, too.

Am I able to play with proper finger touch, hand and arm motion?
Am I able to play with proper fingering with both hands simultaneously?
Am I using the pedal intentionally?
Am I cognizant of the harmonic progression as I play?
Am I aware of the form as I play?

Troubleshooting As A Target
These are simply examples of questions. You must look at your music specifically to break things down, one issue or item at a time, deducing where, within the music, you are completely confident you’ve mastered each aspect of your analysis. When you find a point where you are struggling to focus or answer a question, you’ve found a trouble spot!

An effective piano practice routine constantly involves this kind of reflection, and then zeroing in to practice only that section or areas that cause any issues. The way to accomplish more at your piano is determined by how much mental energy you’ve spent during your time at the piano. When you push yourself to be more conscientious of each moment and every phrase of your musical assignments, you will reap huge rewards with advancement as a musician.

But what if you’ve gone through this intense effort and you’re still having issues? I know how frustrating that may be, but there are two solutions that usually resolve any trouble areas.

Play It Slower, Sam
Most commonly, the solution to the problem is a slower tempo. Your next best step would be to stay focused on the originally selected goal, but play through your musical section at a much reduced speed. Playing music at a slower than usual tempo is often the most challenging kind of practice. Quite the opposite of most people’s impression that fast is impressive. (Though it can be, often piano players of fast passages easily find themselves relying on physical muscle memory, which, as mentioned earlier, is like a fragile house of cards!)

Sometimes we’ve made the mistake of relying solely on our muscle memory to play through musical passages. When the tempo is slowed down, that kind of false scaffolding is stripped away, leaving us to use our cognitive skills and tune in to refine our kinesthetic senses. This can feel like having the training wheels of a bicycle removed. We start off wobbly and lacking confidence or balance.

But when you slow the tempo, you allow yourself enough space in your brain to be fully mindful of each practice goal, whether it’s the notes, rhythm, fingering, dynamics or all these combined. If you’re able to play slowly enough to completely master each aspect of the music (whichever goals you’ve chosen to practice), you will gradually come away from piano practice with a deeper grasp of the music, both internally and physically.

But playing music that is familiar to us at a deliberately slower tempo can also cause us to trip up. This is even more basis for the argument to slow your playing enough to thoroughly choose and focus on one practice goal at a time until it is mastered.

Underwater Slow Motion Effect
One of the biggest problems with slowing down is that we’ve developed bad habits of playing at a tempo too fast. This tempo is stuck in our aural memory as well as our physical muscles. This makes for a tougher barrier to get through.

What I suggest is to look at your music through a new lens. Go to the extreme with your imagination. Pretend you’re playing through the musical phrase as if you are in an underwater film scene using a slow motion effect. Yes. That slow. Be intentionally and dramatically slower than the slowest tempo you can feel.

If it’s hard to keep the beat at that new tempo, set the metronome at the most ridiculously slowest tempo you can feel. Play the music along with the metronome. If necessary, count aloud before you play, clapping out or tapping the rhythm on your legs first. Then play through with this tempo using the metronome.

Once you’re able to sense the steady beat of this willfully chosen slow speed, go back through the passage following your effective piano practice routine. Stop if you make a mistake or lose mental concentration. Aim again to play at this slow tempo correctly three times in a row.

Discovering Your Musical Weaknesses
Typically, playing slowly in this manner will reveal problem areas you hadn’t discovered while playing at the faster tempo. Even better, playing slowly will allow you to more deeply and clearly master previously chosen practice goals. This kind of practice brings you much more quickly to the kind of cognitive engagement necessary for lasting piano progress.

Why? Because you’re finally going slow enough to allow yourself to fully think consciously and consistently toward your chosen practice goals. You may have thought you’d already surpassed this level of practice at your faster tempo. But the majority of the time, slower practice will take you further and, ironically, faster in piano progress.

What Should You Do If You Keep Messing Up At The Piano?
If you’re unable to keep your mind on things after awhile, it may be time for a break. This kind of prolonged, intensely concentrated effort cannot be sustained for long. Especially if you’ve just begun using this piano practice technique.

It’s perfectly normal and advisable to take a break when you’ve hit a plateau, lost your ability to pay attention to your set goals, or make mistakes repeatedly. Our brains need a moment to refresh.

You could choose to play through something without concentrating, just for the enjoyment of it. Choose something at a much easier sight-reading level, a previously mastered piece, or improvise for the sheer fun of it.

Play It Again, Sam
Once you’ve taken a short break, try again with renewed determination. You may find a burst of energy that helps you continue your intentional, slow tempo practice. You may notice already, a degree of improvement, fluency, muscle recall, or musicality emerging. This is a wonderful experience, bringing a joyful sense of accomplishment and newfound confidence as a piano player.

Enjoy that! It will keep happening again and again, each time you challenge yourself to give your all mentally to your piano practice sessions.

If you’re experiencing the opposite, unable to play without mistakes, or just can no longer focus at the practice goal with a slow tempo, you may need to leave the piano completely for a change of pace, scenery, a meal, drink, or even rest.

Celebrate and acknowledge your efforts no matter what! Each day, each hour, each moment that you’re forging your complete focus on piano practice in the way I’ve described in this series is an incredible accomplishment. You’re making progress step by step, sometimes without realizing it until you look back and see how far you’ve come in your musical skills!

I’d love to hear from you. It means a lot to me that my content is helpful. Please take a moment to join the conversation below to let me know if this blog is helpful to you, or if you have questions or suggestions!

If you’re a piano teacher, feel free to leave one of your favorite piano practice tips in the comment section!

Annnnnd...if you loved this blog don't forget to show your awesome support by sharing/liking/retweeting the link! Subscribe for more updates!

What You Need To Know, Have & Do To Start Piano Right! Ebook

$11.98

A practical, down-to-earth, all-in-one resource and easy-to-read guide for anyone interested in getting started or returning to piano lessons.

BONUS GIFT:

As my gift to you, with every purchase of my ebook, you'll automatically receive a FREE download of my original photo with a self-care affirmation.

YES! GIVE ME THIS EBOOK ON STARTING PIANO RIGHT!

Get my EBOOK, "WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW, HAVE & DO TO START PIANO RIGHT!

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My Best Tips On How To Practice Piano Part 3

8/6/2019

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GET MY EBOOK, "WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW, HAVE & DO TO START PIANO RIGHT!

CLICK PIANO TO SEE MY "HOW TO PRACTICE PIANO" PINTEREST BOARD! Photo by Jenny Leigh Hodgins

GET MY EBOOK, "WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW, HAVE & DO TO START PIANO RIGHT!

by Jenny Leigh Hodgins

This is Part 3 of a series offering my best tips for effective piano practice. Read Part 1 & 2 here:

My Best Tips On How To Practice Piano Part 1

My Best Tips On How To Practice Piano Part 2

Why Zoning Out Won’t Get You Anywhere With Piano Progress
Playing through the passage while zoning out mentally, immersed instead in the enjoyment of music won’t advance your piano progress. When practicing piano, you must be vigilant about where you place your focus.

You must have a clear focus. That’s why setting goals for your practice week and having a specific goal to work on for each moment of your current piano practice session are the first steps to your piano progress.

In My Best Tips On How To Practice Piano Part 2, I walked you through the fundamental steps necessary for effective piano practice. As part of that process, you will sometimes need to stop playing the piano. As mentioned, there are two reasons to stop; you’ve either made a mistake or lost focus on your specific goal.

How To Evaluate Your Piano Performance
During and after you play your selected musical passage with a goal in mind, you must learn to evaluate your performance with regard to whatever goal you are focused on.

Evaluation, as part of an effective piano practice strategy, is the active role you take in the constant problem state of getting your piano skills from your current level to the next. In other words, you must engage your own thinking about your piano skills.

Of course, your piano teacher will be of tremendous help in guiding you toward what specific things to be aware of, in regard to your current piano level. But you must be a proactive learner for greater momentum in your piano progress.

Going back to your piano practice scenario, after you play through the selected passage, ask yourself,

“Did I successfully accomplished my goal?”

Be Proactively & Fully Engaged At The Piano
Check yourself carefully here:

Did your mind wander mid-way through the passage to think about something other than your goal?

If so, it was not a successful run-through, even if you made no mistakes!

You must be cognizant of what you are doing at the piano so that your mind and your physical muscles store the memory of your successful playing!

Many piano students (I’m guilty of this myself) develop the habit of playing something correctly, but without truly spending mental attention on the music. This regrettably often results in moments of a complete blank when attempting to perform under circumstances that are different or involve stage fright symptoms.

It’s great that your physical muscles remember the music! But if you rely only on the physical memory alone, without engaging your intellectual concentration, you risk having a complete memory lapse.

Back to checking yourself on whether you’ve played through the selected passage correctly:

Did you make it through without any mistakes? If you made a mistake with your goal choice, you did not succeed.

In both these outcomes, making a mistake or losing mental concentration, you must return to the beginning and follow the practice strategy laid out in How To Achieve Your Most Effective Piano Practice in My Best Tips On How To Practice Piano Part 2.

When A Mistake Is NOT A Mistake
However, a word about mistakes. Be flexible with making a mistake if it had nothing to do with your selected goal.
Let’s use the example of attempting to play the fingering correctly through a four-measure musical passage. If you played a wrong note, or stopped the fluency of the beat, or played too softly when the dynamic marking indicates a louder dynamic, but you still played the correct fingering, any of those mistakes are not necessarily worth noting.

One Thing At A TIme, Not Multi-Tasking
If you played the correct fingering despite those other mistakes, it’s a victory. You met your goal. Especially for beginners, the ability to focus on one thing at a time while playing is the most important practice habit.

After playing through the passage with correct fingering a few times, you could then select the next goal to include one of the things that tripped you up earlier, such as playing:

all the correct notes
from start to finish with a fluent, non-stop tempo
the correct dynamics

How To Assess The Problem Or Unlock A New Approach
At this point of your piano practice routine, you’ve evaluated your attempt. You either were successful at the initial goal and have been able to play through correctly three times consecutively, or, something went wrong.

This is what you must think about:

What went wrong and why?

How can you solve it so that mistake is not repeated?

This is what it takes to forge your ability to assess your piano performance and adjust yourself accordingly.

How To Choose Your Next Best Step
If you were successful with playing your chosen piano passage through three times successfully, you must then choose a new goal. Perhaps, practice something that gave you trouble as mentioned earlier.

Your next piano practice goal will depend on what you need to master, or what is giving you trouble. Goals will also vary based on your piano skill level. Your previously established weekly or practice session goals will be your reference point for next steps.

Some common piano practicing goals could include playing through the passage:

with the opposite hand’s fingering

with correct rhythm and fluency of the beat

with both hands together at a much slower tempo

using the dynamics

evoking the mood of the musical passage

at a different tempo

You should try to continue practicing each goal in this manner for as long as you are able to muster full effort. When you begin to lose your ability to concentrate, remind yourself of your selected goal and reset back to the start.

If you are unable to keep your mind on things after awhile, or continue making the same mistakes, it may be time for a break. Stay tuned for my next blog in this series on effective piano practice, What To Do If You Keep Messing Up At The Piano!

I’d love to hear from you. It means a lot to me that my content is helpful and empowers you. Please take a moment to join the conversation below to let me know if this blog is helpful to you, or if you have questions or suggestions!

If you’re a piano teacher, feel free to leave one of your favorite piano practice tips in the comment section!

THANK YOU FOR SHARING this with a friend on social media or email!

What You Need To Know, Have & Do To Start Piano Right! Ebook

$11.98

A practical, down-to-earth, all-in-one resource and easy-to-read guide for anyone interested in getting started or returning to piano lessons.

BONUS GIFT:

As my gift to you, with every purchase of my ebook, you'll automatically receive a FREE download of my original photo with a self-care affirmation.

Yes! I want to start piano right!

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TIPS ON DEVELOPING PIANO TECHNIQUE

10/24/2018

1 Comment

GET YOUR EBOOK FREEBIE FROM "HOW TO PRACTICE PIANO EFFECTIVELY!"

Improve Your Piano Technique With Multiple Strategies But Singular Focus

by Jenny Leigh Hodgins

These are a few things that I have done over the years as a pianist and they have worked well to improve my technique and keep dexterity and fluency in my fingers.

Consistency Counts

One of the most critical things you can do to improve your technique is practice it consistently. In other words, practice every single day. Do not miss a day. Even if you can only play for five minutes, do not miss a day.

Another critical aspect is to practice effectively. See more detail and tips on that here.

How Much Technique

If you have two hours to practice daily, start with the idea of one hour of technique practice per day. The second hour spent on actual repertoire makes sense toward decent progress. During your piano technique practice, incorporate scales, etudes and other exercises such as those found in a good Hanon exercise book.

Scales, Accents and Varying Accents

Start learning all major and minor scales in 4 octaves. Play around with the rhythm patterns of the scales. For example, try playing a scale using the rhythm pattern of straight quarter note rhythms. Then accent the first beat (quarter note) as you play all four octaves of a scale. Then play the scale again (or another scale) as you alternate the accent to the second beat, then to the third beat, then the fourth beat as you play through each scale.

Use Varied Rhythmic Patterns

Use alternating rhythms; i.e., play your scales using the rhythm pattern of a dotted eighth note followed by a 16th note. Then switch to the rhythm pattern of a 16th note followed by a dotted eighth note. Then try an eighth note followed by two 16 notes. Then reverse that to two 16th notes followed by an eighth note.

Use Varying Accents

For each of the previous rhythm patterns, place an accent on the first note of each pattern. Then alternate the accent to fall on the second note of the rhythm pattern, creating a syncopated feel. Then, accent the third note of the rhythm pattern, and so on.

Try using a triplet rhythm pattern, placing an accent on the first note of each triplet pattern. Then accent the second note, then the third note of each triplet pattern as you play a four-octave scale.

Go Slow

Choose some of these varying rhythm patterns for your four-octave scale practice. Use a metronome at a very slow tempo and focus on very clearly articulating each of those accented notes within the rhythmic patterns with relaxed hand placement and curved finger-tips. As you get more fluent, speed up the tempo.

Using Dynamics

Another idea is to use the above rhythms and accents at the same tempo adding dynamics. For example, start your scale at fortissimo and as you play your scale going up the keyboard, decrescendo until you are playing pianissimo at the high range of the keyboard. Then reverse those dynamics.

Or play the entire ascending scale passage fortissimo then alternate when you descend by playing the entire descending scale passage at the dynamic level of pianissimo. Change the dynamic levels to whatever you’d like, incorporating crescendo, decrescendo, piano, mezzo piano, mezzo forte, forte, and so on.

For more practice tips, visit my Pinterest Piano Practice Tips board.

I’d love to hear from you. It means a lot to me that my content is helpful and empowers you. Please take a moment to join the conversation below to let me know if this blog is helpful to you, or if you have questions or suggestions!

If you’re a piano teacher, feel free to leave one of your favorite piano practice tips in the comment section!

THANK YOU FOR SHARING this with a friend on social media or email!

Recommended articles:
What Do You Need To Know, Have, Or Do To Begin Piano?

Find A Good Piano Teacher

Your Top 5 Best Tips From A Piano Teacher

What’s The Best Way For A Busy Adult To Learn Piano?

What Keyboard Do I Need For Successful Piano Lessons?

How Learning Piano Benefits Aging Adults

What To Do About Piano Practice When You Have An Injury

Learning To Be Creative

Listen to my original piano music here.

GET YOUR EBOOK FREEBIE FROM "HOW TO PRACTICE PIANO EFFECTIVELY!"

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Get Everything You Need To Start Piano With My New Ebook!

What You Need To Know, Have & Do To Start Piano Right! Ebook

What Should You Do If You Keep Messing Up At The Piano?

What You Need To Know, Have & Do To Start Piano Right! Ebook

My Best Tips On How To Practice Piano Part 3

What You Need To Know, Have & Do To Start Piano Right! Ebook

TIPS ON DEVELOPING PIANO TECHNIQUE

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