It can be very irritating when you are beginning to learn any instrument to move forward onto intermediate levels of playing. This is particularly true with the piano as the learning curve can be quite steep even for the most musically talented individuals. To essentially feel confident as to where to put each of your ten fingers and to unite both hands together in a natural way can take years to acquire. Here are a few ideas to help make that phase between beginner and intermediate a bit shorter and bit more comfortable. For more information on piano playing and for a list of some of the best home study books available see the Learn Piano website

 

Making yourself a rigorous practice plan and sticking to it is one of the most essential things you can do .Firstly you need to practice daily… on the days when you don’t have time you should at least sit down and play for just a couple of minutes so as to not lose the coordination that you have gone building up over a period of time. You really need to persist with this even when it seems that you are going weeks without making progress. The development you are making is internal and will one day all come together and  begin to click but until then the improvement will at times appear non existent.  Stick with it as it will be worthwhile ultimately.   The answer is determination and daily repeated practice.

Your practicing needs to be considerably more than merely sitting down and playing your pieces and exercises.  It will be a lot more constructive if you can construct your practice sessions a little.

You might want to learn all of your scales. This can be somewhat boring and from time to time frustrating but once you interiorize them you will find your performance becoming way more natural regardless of what you play. If you are learning to play by reading music or playing ‘classical’ pieces then you ought to learn all of the major and minor scales and arpeggios. If you are learning to play by ear or want to learn how to read chord sheets then it would be a good idea to learn some blues scales or pentatonic scales in addition. These are good for learning to improvise.  You could also check out the following site for supplementary information on learning piano in the home: How to learn piano

Practicing your scales should take up a good section of your practice time. As soon as you have practiced the scales you can then move on to playing your pieces. Don’t simply play them through from the beginning until the end again and again. This is not very constructive. Begin by going right to the hard passages and study them first. Play the tricky bits slowly, with separate hands initially…and once mastered you then move onto a different tricky passage. Lastly you can play the piece from start to finish a few times without stopping.

Try to keep your learning repertoire down to just a few pieces at a time. It is better to master just a few pieces than to have a variety that you never have the time and energy to perfect.

Use a metronome when you are working. This is crucial for your timing. You can employ the metronome for your scales just as you can for your pieces. Stay in control and reduce the tempo when you are practicing in order that you can play correctly. Once you can play something slower then you can begin to slowly notch up the speed until after a few weeks you are playing your pieces or scales at a decent speed. You also might want to try some moments of playing at a much faster tempo than required and then slowing back down to a regular speed. You will be surprised at how straightforward the normal speed seems after having done this.

Playing along with people is great practice and you should try to do this whenever you can. Even when you can ‘t get together with other people then you could always play along to your music collection. Even if you don’t have the sheet music it is always good practice for the ear.

As a final point, on occasion it is a good idea to let go, put on your best pianist face and just fake that you know how to play and that you are very versatile. Sit back and play along or improvise with others. {You will absolutely make mistakes but this does not matter.It doesn’t matter if you make mistakes (you will)}. The aim of this exercise is to allow you to understand what it would be like to be an accomplished pianist and play with assurance. You will definitely be surprised at some of the sounds you will be producing. There is a video review of the absolute best piano course available here:  How to learn piano

I hope that these few tips will allow you to persist in what can sometimes be a long and demanding transition from a beginners piano level to an intermediate piano player.

Intermediate Blues Piano Lessons : Blues Piano Improvisation

Compare______________________________________________________

INTERMEDIATE TECHNIC 2 & 3 BASTIEN Piano lessons book MUSIC PIANO KEYBOARD $9.99

Intermediate Blues Piano David Cohen New VHS Lessons $34.89

eMedia INTERMEDIATE PIANO and KEYBOARD METHOD Lessons Tutorial SOFTWARE $59.99

Learn Keyboard Blues Rock Intermediate Piano Lesson DVD $19.99

Piano Lessons Are Fun – Book 1 – Late Elementary/Early Intermediate $8.95

“INTERMEDIATE REPERTOIRE 2″ PIANO LESSON BOOK ~MUST C~ $5.99

---

Compare______________________________________________________

First Lessons in Bach $7.91 Books I and II of this traditional edition in Schirmer`s Library of Musical Classics have been combined in an affordable new volume. An excellent resource for Late Elementary to Early Intermediate pianists.

---

 Mail this post