"Fundamental of Piano Practice" is an interesting method for playing piano. But it contains very useful informations for playing any other instrument.
Written by Chuan C. Chang, the book is quite a voluminous reading, so I made a more practical summary. You can view and download it from the link below.
CHAPTER 1 – Basic Practice Methods (pag. 11 on book)
Since the beginning students must learn to practice musically in order to acquire technique.(3) Starting a Piece (pag 13)
Learn only music you can perform.
Start assembling a repertoire immediately.
Listen to recording of pieces you decide to learn.
Next, analyze the structure of the piece and estimate how long it will take to learn it.
Start analysis by numbering all the bars.
(5) Reading, Fingering (pag. 17)
Most important rule for fingering is that, for same or similar passages, always use the same fingering.
(6) Hand Separate Practice - HS (pag. 18)
Technique is acquired most quickly using hands separately practice for music that is difficult and require technical development. If can be played hands together at final speed, skip hands separate work.
To practice HS choose 2 sections to practice, one for each hand. Practice one and switch as soon as the working hand gets tired.
Playing hands together (HT) is a separate skill that must be practiced after all HS work is done.
HS practice is used to increase brain speed.
The ability of one hand to teach the other is more important than most people realize.
(7) Difficult sections first, Segmental Practice, Continuity Rule (pag. 19)
Practice the most difficult sections first because you must spend the most time there. Similarly, it’s clever to start studying a piece from the end and going back, because generally at the end of a performance is when you are more tired.
Choose two short segments to practice, one for each hand. The shorter is, the faster you can play without forming bad habits.
When choosing a segment, always include the beginning of the next one (conjunction).
Finish each project before moving on to the next, and finish related projects first.
HS and segmental practice are the most efficient practice methods for acquiring technique quickly.
(8) Relaxation and Gravity (pag. 20)
Relaxation means relaxing all unnecessary muscles. You are relaxed when you can feel gravity.
(9) Parallel Sets, Conjunctions, Cycling (pag. 21)
Parallel Sets (PS), also called chord attack, provides the fastest way to increase finger speed.
PSs are groups of notes that can be played simultaneously with one hand (such as 2345) and every note appears once.
Take a short phrase of notes and segment it into group of 2 notes. Practice these 2 notes reducing the pause between them ideally up to “zero” (the fastest you can).
Then, keep the second note and add the first next note from the same phrase, practicing PS as did before. Similarly, you can choose other 2 notes from the same phrase.
Practice PS extending it to group of 3,4,5 or more notes.
PSs accomplish 2 objectives: (1) train the brain to handle high speeds and (2) increase speed as quickly as possible.
PS exercises are not mindless repetitions: they are part of music and must practiced musically.
(10) Parallel Sets Catalogue (pag. 24)
Parallel Sets are diagnostic tests for discovering weakness and methods for correcting them. They are not exercises to be practiced repeatedly. They are used only when necessary to solve problems. Once solved, you have gained a technique for life.
(11) Basic Key Stroke: Legato, Staccato (pag. 26)
Legato is smooth play. This is accomplished by connecting successive notes, even overlapping them. Chopin considered legato as the most important skill to develop for a beginner.
(12) Speed Walls – SW (pag. 29)
HS is an effective weapon against speed walls (SW) because most SW are related to play hands together. The next weapon is segmental practice. Parallel Sets are the most useful weapons. Relaxation is fundamental. Another effective weapon is Outlining. Quiet hands is also helpful. In principle, if you always practice musically, you will never encounter SW.
SW can be related to bad habits and learning new things is a good way to erase old habits.
SWs forms when you try the impossible.
(13) Metronome (pag. 30)
Develop the habit of using metronome and your playing will undoubtedly improve.
Use metronome to check speed, to reveal errors and where they exactly are, and beat accuracy (idea of tempo is never constant while playing).
Once timing is achieved, turn metronome off. Metronome must not over used because excessive use of it leads to non musical playing.
(14) Memorizing (pag. 30)
Memorize every piece of music you learn before practicing it. While learning any segment when starting a piece, memorize it. First memorizing and practicing as one process leads you to learn the piece faster.
Once a short piece or movement is memorized, break it up into logical smaller sections of about 10 bars and start playing them randomly. Practice the art of starting play from anywhere in the piece.
Do not repeat the same segment too many times because memory is not reinforced proportionately to the number of repeats.
Memorizing HS is effective because you are dealing with only one hemisphere of the brain.
Slow practice is a good test for memory because there is more time for the mind to wander around.
Types of memory:
- Music memory
- Hand Memory
- Keyboard Memory
- Photografic Memory
- Theoretical Memory
Hand Memory is a necessary component of memory, wich is automatically acquired as a byproduct of repeated practicing. Dependance on hand memory is the source of most memory problems because it relies on reflexes over wich we have little control. Reliable memory can only be estabilished by adding other memory methods.
Keyboard Memory is the easiest to use, because it can be acquired while practicing the piece and memory is reinforced every time you play it.
Photographic Memory needs to be cultivated if you aspire to become advanced musician. You should photographically memorize at least the first line or page of every piece you learn. In this way you will develop capability to photographically memorize every score you’ll learn.
Start photographic memory by memorizing one hand at a time. Memorize bar by bar. Do not add bars unless all the preceding material is well memorized.
Remember to make associations during memorizing. The more associations, the better.
Photographic memory permits you to work on music everywhere and improves your sight reading.
Theoretical Music use the knowledge of music theory to help memorization: key signature, chord progression, structure.
Use all of the previous memory types and remeber, the more you memorize, the more you can memorize. Use the forget 3 times rule: if you can forget and re-memorize the same thing 3 times you will remember it indefinitely.
Memory Maintenance: memorized repertoire needs to be maintained.
Abandon the memorized pieces and re-memorize later as needed.
If you memorized before practizing the pieces and practiced only from memory, the results generally qualify as well memorized.
A most effective maintenance procedure is to use Mental Play (MP) playing it in the head.
(15) Mental Play - MP (pag. 37)
It is the process of playing the music in your mind or on a imaginary instrument.
MP is the best antidote against performance anxiety.
On MP you tend to make the same mistakes as on the real instrument. MP is one of the best tests for memory.
(19) Breathing (pag. 47)
Breathing exercises are beneficial for music purpose and for wellbeing in general.
(20) Endurance, Brain Stamina (pag. 48)
Playing requires control, not muscle powers. Playing requires conditioning brain for stamina. That is why mindless practicing of exercises doesn’t work for stamina. Most efficient way for gaining stamina are to play finished pieces and make music, and practice difficult sections HS continuously.
Play some easy pieces between intense practice sessions.
Separate music from technique is counter productive because brain is not exercised, you develop non musical habits and waste a lot of time.
In order to control stamina, you need sufficient oxygen intake, i.e. increasing amount of blood circulation in the body.
(22) Slow Play (pag. 50)
Slow play is beneficial for practicing relaxation and correct keystroke, as for good technique in general. It reinforces memory: slow play is insurance against black-outs. Habit yourself thinking ahead of the music you are playing: think at least one bar ahead of the music and practice feeling the keys before playing. It is one of the best ways to erase bad habits. Practice the ability to detach yourself from the music, and mentally wander around and multi task, suh as looking around or talking to someone.
Always end practice session with slow play.
(24) Quiet hands, Fingers, Body (pag. 56)
For Bach Inventions, quiet hands becomes necessary at speed close to final speed. Bach choose the speed with quiet hands in mind. HS practice is important for quiet hands. It is best not to start with HT until you can play quiet hands with both hands. In order to master quiet hands, practice quiet fingers and quiet body. Choose a short segment (HS or HS) and practice keeping all fingers near the keyboard, eliminating all unnecessary movements.
Staccato Practice, Soft Practice – SP (pag. 58)
A particularly effective method for developing finger independence and accuracy is staccato practice. Parallel sets get you up to speed so quickly that you can start HT before you have sufficient accuracy to synchronize the two hands accurately. SP is the best way to convert that speed to technique (HS) and to accurately synchronize the two hands (HT). SP should be practiced as well as HS.
SP helps with practicing relaxation.
SP is helpful for accuracy because you have less help from other fingers to locate the next note.
SP will greatly improve memorization of the piece because this action is completely different from hand memory. You may find that to work on memorization all over again, wich is a warning that you had not memorized adequately.
(26) Speed, Rhythm, Dynamics (pag. 60)
Technique for speed is acquired by discovering new hand motions, not by speeding up a slow motion. The most important rule is: never practice anything incorrectly, or, equivalently, never try the impossible. Let the hands determine the optimum practice speed.
Keep speed to a minimum for accomplishing your experimentation, then reduce speed and practice the new motions with accuracy.
Improving musicality is important for increasing the speed.
Repetition is the most important element of rhythm: music works because of satisfaction which is provided by creating an anticipation or tension, and then resolving it.
How to practice rhythm: Rhythm must be treated as a separate subject of practice with a specific program of attack. Set aside some time for working on rhythm. A metronome can be helpful. Double check that your rhythm is consistent with the time signature. Check with the score to see if the correct notes carry the correct accent strictly according to the time signature. Only then, can you decide which rhythmic interpretation is the best way to play and where the composer has inserted violations of the basic rules.
Having carefully checked the rhythm when practicing HS, check again when starting HT.
When starting HT practice, exaggerate the rhythm.
Rhythm is often referenced to speeds that exist in nature, such as the speed of the human brain or the heartbeat.
(27) Fast Play Degradation - FPD, Eliminating Bad Habits (pag. 64)
Play any composition at full speed (or faster), and you may suffer "Fast Play Degradation" (FPD). The following day, you can't play it as well. This happens mostly with HT play.
HS practice is the best solution.
It is important to cultivate the habit of listening to yourself, and it is the teacher's main job to show what "musical" sounds like. The ability to distinguish between musical and nonmusical is the most important skill that students must cultivate.
The best way to get around this problem is to videotape. Do it enough times until you learn how to listen to yourself and you will be able to listen while practicing.
Another bad habit is playing at the wrong speed.Some students might tend to perform pieces too fast. Slowing down just a little may enable them to play accurately and beautifully and, in the long run, acquire technique faster.
Stuttering is caused by stop-and-go practice in which a student has a habit of stopping to replay a section every time there is a mistake. At a mistake, always play through it; don't stop to correct it. Make a mental note of where the mistake was and practice that section later. Fish out a small segment containing that mistake (typically a few bars) and work on it. Once the habit of playing through mistakes is established, students can graduate to the next level of anticipating mistakes and taking evasive action, such as simplifying the section, maintaining the rhythm or melody through the flub, or even speeding up just a little and using hand memory to carry you through.
(29) Scales: Nomenclature and Fingerings (pag. 69)
Scales and arpeggios must be practiced, to acquire basic techniques and standard fingerings for routine playing and sight reading, so that they can be played without thinking about where each note and finger goes. Practice them in all the major and minor keys. Once you become familiar with the fingerings, there is no need to practice them every day although they make excellent warm up exercises.
(37) Hands Together (pag. 86)
How do you know that you are ready to start HT? A good criterion is HS speed.
Typically, the maximum HT speed is 50% to 90% of the slower of the RH or LH speed. As a general rule, get the HS speed well above final speed, typically 110% to 150% of final speed, relaxed, and in control.
There is a world of difference in how the brain handles tasks in one hand and tasks that require two-hand coordination, which is why you learn faster by practicing the hands one at a time. HT skills require the coordination of the two halves of the brain, and there are comparatively few nerve connections between them. This is why HT motions take longer to learn. Bad HT habits are the worst because, once formed, they take forever to unlearn because they took so long to learn.
Most HT practice methods are the same as for HS, such as segmental practice, most difficult sections first, continuity rule, practicing softly, and staccato practice.
One method of HT practice is "adding notes": take a short segment and play the more difficult hand HS, repeating the section continuously (cycling); now start adding the easier hand, note by note. Make sure that, as you add notes, you keep the same fingering as during HS practice.
The biggest disadvantage of learning HS first is that, initially, the HT coordination tends to be weak. Therefore, practice accurate timing between the hands, using staccato practice. The ability to play HT at speed is insufficient; the two hands must be accurately coordinated. Therefore, once you complete a piece HT, play it as often as you can and make music, because playing finished pieces is
the most important part of learning playing instrument and developing technique. Having a repertoire that can be played at a moment's notice is the difference between a musician and an amateur because you can truly develop technique to the level of a musician only by playing finished pieces.
(38) Outlining (pag. 87)
Outlining is a method for accelerating the learning process by simplifying the music; it works for HS, but is used mainly for HT practice. The simplifications are accomplished by using devices such as deleting "less important notes" or combining a series of notes into a chord. The original music is recovered by progressively restoring the simplified notes.
For a given passage, there are many ways to simplify the score, and students using outlining for the first time will need some practice before they can take full advantage of the method. Advanced outlining can get far more complex than what students can manage and will need a teacher's help. However, everybody must eventually develop the ability to outline without help.
One idea behind outlining is that, by getting to the music first, the technique will follow more quickly because music and technique are inseparable. Outlining can also be used to increase the precision and improve the memorizing.
Easy methods of outlining are (1) deleting notes, (2) converting arps into chords, and (3) converting complex passages into simpler ones; this is where music theory comes in and can get complicated.
An important rule is: although the music is simplified, retain the same fingering that was required before the simplification. For HT outlining, simplify one or both hands so that you can play them HT easily, then gradually add the deleted material. Note that outlining is an extremely useful skill for sight reading.
(41) Playing Cold, Warming Up,Conditioning (pag. 93)
Playing cold means sitting down and playing without any warm-ups. It is a necessary preparation for performing because it is the fastest way to strengthen your performance ability.
Use cold practice to find out what can be played cold and what can not, and how long it takes to warm up so that you can play more difficult material. The most effective solution is to warm the body so that it can send warmer blood to the hands.
Conditioning refers to the readiness to play resulting from daily practice; it is like a permanent "warmed up" state. Playing easy pieces for a long time is not as effective for conditioning as practicing difficult material for shorter times. With enough hard work, you can skip one day of practice without significant detriment, whereas if you practice only easy material, skipping one day will decrease conditioning noticeably. Thus at every practice session, end the session with a good workout using difficult material.
(42) Musicality, Touch, Color (pag. 94)
Teachers play a critical role in showing students how to play and practice musically.
Musical phrases generally start and end with softer notes, with the louder ones in between; when in doubt, this is a good default principle. This is one reason why so many compositions start with a partial bar – the first note of a bar usually carries the beat and is too loud.
You must consciously create a conversation between the two hands, or voices.
The best criterion that you are practicing correctly is the reaction of others -- if your practice sounds good to others, then you are doing it right.
The idea is not to imitate someone else's "beautiful" touch, but to eliminate undesirable aspects of their own.
Musicality must be practiced at all times, from day one of HS practice. Not practicing musically is the main reason why so many musicians are afraid to perform.
(45) Sight Reading, Composing (pag. 101)
- Keep the eyes on the music; do not look at the keyboard/fingers.
- Learn all the common musical constructs.
- Look ahead of where you are playing, about one bar, or even more, as you develop the skill at reading the music structure.
- Play through mistakes and make them as inaudible as possible. The best way to do this is to make it sound as if you had modified the music.
- "Practice, practice, practice". Although sight reading is relatively easy to learn, it must be practiced every day in order to improve.
Practice the art of scanning through a composition before sight reading it, in order to get some feel for how difficult it is.
When composing, don't worry if at first you find it difficult to start a piece or end it – there are simple solutions you can learn quickly later. Start by building a collection of ideas that you can later assemble into a composition.
Once you have composed for several years, start taking composition lessons.
Don't try to learn all the composition rules at once, but learn them as you need them. Mental play skills are necessary for composing.
(47) Performance Preparation, Videotaping (pag. 106)
Videotaping is one of the best ways to improve musical playing and to practice for performances is to videotape your playing.
During a performance, students tend to get blackouts, etc., at unexpected places where they had no trouble during practice. Recording sessions can flush out most of those problem spots. Pieces are not "finished" unless you can record them satisfactorily.
Video taping takes time but, fortunately, you only need to do it a few times. After the first few sessions, you quickly reach the point of diminishing returns after you have identified the major issues. There is no need to re-identify them many times.
All mistakes originate in the brain. All the necessary information must be stored in an orderly manner in the brain, with no confusion. Therefore, you must have a simple, mistake-free memory of the piecethat can be retrieved in spite of all the added distractions.
The practice routine for recital day is to play nearly full speed once, then medium speed once and finally once slowly. That's it! No more practice! Never play faster than recital speed. Don't play your heart out, play with minimal expression and reserve your "heart" for the performance.
If, during these allowed practices, you make a mistake that is "stubborn" (most students can recognize these), it will almost certainly recur during the recital. In that case, fish out the few bars containing the mistake and practice those at moderate speeds and HS (always ending with slow play), then test it at almost final speed, and end with several slow plays, just those few bars. If you are not sure that the piece is completely memorized, play the insecure section very slowly several times. At this time, MP is critical -- it is the ultimate test of memory and readiness to perform. Practice MP at any speed and as often as you want; it can also calm nervous jitters because it satisfies the urge to practice on performance day, and keeps you occupied instead of worrying and getting more nervous.
For the week preceding the recital, always play at medium speed, then slow speed, before quitting practice.Medium is about 3/4 speed, and slow is about half speed. More generally, medium speed is the speed at which you can play comfortably, relaxed, and with plenty of time to spare between notes.
For working on long pieces, avoid playing the entire composition many times. It is best to practice short segments of a few pages.
Avoid learning new pieces during this last week. You can still practice any piece that was previously learned.
Make a habit of playing yourperformance pieces "cold" when you start any practice session.
Blackouts can be eliminated by using several procedures. The first is mental play (MP). Practice starting from anywhere in that structure, so that you can restart after a blackout.
Slow play is the best way to reduce the dependance on hand memory. Therefore, playing slowly before quitting is absolutely essential for the week before a performance. Every practice session must be a practice session for avoiding mistakes.
Casual Performances are probably the most effective and easy ways to practice performing. These are different from formal recitals because of their greater freedom and reduced pressure. The secret to performing is musical practice.
Playing snippets is effective: the ability to stop and start anywhere in the middle of a piece. Start with short snippets, then gradually try longer ones. It's much easier to play snippets mistake free. Once you have done this type of casual snippet performance on 4 or 5 different occasions, you will have a good idea of your performance capabilities.
Don't perform a piece you had just learned. Let it stew for at least 6 months; preferably one year. If you had spent 2 weeks learning a difficult new piece, don't expect to be able to play snippets that had not been played at all in those 2 weeks -- be prepared for surprises, such as blackouts.
Practicing them slowly will help. Can you still play them HS? HS play can be one type of snippet performance, and you can play them very fast! Make sure that you can MP everything.
(48) Origin and Control of Nervousness (pag. 114)
Nervousness is a natural human emotion and arises in critical situations. Therefore, it is normally a performance enhancing reaction. Nervousness makes us concentrate all our energies towards the critical task. Most people dislike nervousness because it is too often accompanied, or is caused, by fear. it needs to be kept under control.
Playing easier pieces will reduce the supersaturation of worry.
The eagerness to make music for the audience can prevent performance anxiety.
Performance training must include lessons on how to react to various circumstances, such as when you make mistakes or have blackouts.
(49) During, After the Performance (pag. 117)
Do not assume that there won't be any mistakes. Instead, be ready to react correctly with each mistake, or more importantly, anticipate an impending mistake that you may be able to avoid.
Most students, when they make a mistake or when they anticipate one, get worried and start playing more slowly and softly. This is a formula for disaster.
Although hand memory is not something you want to depend on, this is one time you need it. Hand memory depends on habit and stimuli; therefore, in order to enhance hand memory, you must play slightly faster and louder. The faster play makes better use of the playing habits, and leaves less time for moving some wrong muscle that might derail you. The firmer play increases the stimuli for the hand memory.
Learn to anticipate mistakes and to avoid them by using these avoidance maneuvers. Another method of playing through mistakes is to make sure that the melodic line or the rhythm is not broken, even at the cost of missing some less important notes.
If you have a blackout, don't try to restart from where you blacked out unless you know exactly how to restart. Restart from a preceding section or a following section that you know well.
After the Recital: Review the recital and evaluate your strengths and weaknesses so that your practice/preparation routines can be improved.
Those who make mistakes probably have not yet learned to play sufficiently musically and almost always are not using MP.
After such repeat performances (in fact, after every performance), play it slowly as soon as you can, in order to erase the fast play degradation and "reset" the music in your mind.
(59) Project Management
Every time musicians learn a new piece of music, they go through an exercise in project management (PM).
- Preparation: A project must have a plan based on knowledge of what is needed to start, execute, finalize, and maintain it after completion. It must have an objective and a time table.
- Start: you must know how you are going to execute, finalize, and maintain.
- Execution:
- Never try the impossible; work in manageable chunks -- even easy chunks; the easier, the better. Simplify. Successive chunks should overlap.
- Make sure that each chunk is finished before going on to the next one. Practically all chunks of a project support each other; this is one reason why they should be contiguous (continuity rule). Contiguity is most important in projects.
- Every system has knowledge or experience based "tricks" that lead to success. Any education is helpful because education teaches not only knowledge, but also how to seek knowledge. Know the pitfalls: what not to do.
- The project must pass periodic tests to see if it is progressing according to plan and even the best laid plans often need to be modified or improved.
- Finish: to finalize a project, you must have a precise definition of the goal.
- Maintenance: Worthwhile projects are useful for a long time and require maintenance.
No comments:
Post a Comment