The piano was invented around 1700 when an Italian by the name of Bartolomeo Cristofori decided that he did not like the lack of control over the volume of the harpsichord. He switched out the plucking mechanism with a hammer to create the first working piano. From there students from all over the world have learned, and created, new and interesting music.
It is a musical instrument that does take some time to master, though, and that can only be achieved through hours of practice. Through the years many musically driven people have learned the hard way that there are some simple, common mistakes that need to be avoided. There are also some proven piano practice tips that will help you learn along the way. Let’s jump right in and discuss them both.
- Proven: Setting goals is perhaps one of the most important things that you can do. If you are struggling with hand placement, for example, you should set a goal to overcome the problem and play a couple of pieces without going back to bad placement. Make sure you set goals that you can reach, though, otherwise you will become discouraged and stop trying.
- Mistake: Speaking of hand placement one of the biggest mistakes new piano players make is finger placement. It may make it easy to learn some keys if you have your hands placed on top of the specific keys, but it makes it much harder to play the keys in the correct tones. You need to start with proper finger placement and use this basic technique each and every time you sit down to play.
- Proven: Remove all the distractions that you have. Mobile phones are one of the biggest distractions that we all have. Throughout the day we are messaging people, scrolling through social media platforms, and watching funny videos that randomly come up in our feeds. And if that Snapchat notification goes off it is mandatory to check it. You get the point. If you are distracted, you can never focus on the task at hand.
- Mistake: Planning a session that is too long, or too complicated, can lead to mental and physical exhaustion. You need to set an amount of time that is comfortable for you, and that works into your day. Start the session off with some practice keys and then move on to some easy piano songs. From there get to the main part of your session and then finish off combining what you learned for the day.
- Proven: You need to fight against getting into bad habits. They can be extremely hard to break once you have done them a few times so be aware of your technique and style, and do not allow any shortcuts or habits get in the way. Bad habits need to be removed immediately, if not sooner.
- Mistake: Posture is one of the most common mistakes that pianists make. This is not just directed at new learners, either. People that have been playing for years can ignore their posture and pay for it later. Your posture throughout the session can be the difference between having back and shoulder aches, and not having any twinges of pain at all.
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These are some of the most common and proven piano tips, as well as the mistakes that all of us make at one time or another. Mistakes are good learning points, though, as long as you do learn something from them. The tips provided here, and by your instructor, can lead you in a straight line on your road to excellence. It is important to remember that if you want to achieve a specific level that you must practice, get feedback from outside people, and never give up.
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