Your Top technique tips for improving playing...

[Soulsaver]

Now we don't want '...get a good teacher...' 'practice more' 'practice better'.

I know they're valid... but I've done these 'glib' ones...

However if you put how to get bang for you minutes in practice I'm sure we'd all welcome that...
.. and if enough contribute we could ask the mods to strip it out for a separate thread.

I know we've tried this before, but I've narrowed the scope... and we've got loads more members to profit & contribute....

Technique tips are especially good..

So come on ...<SIZE size="150">Get your tips out...!

 

[Soulsaver]

Here's mine for starters:
Keep fingers close to or touching the keys - the closer you are the more accurate and quicker you can play. I found this a big step forward as it helped me be aware of where my fingers are relative to each other and relative to the keys.

Exercises welcomed... I'll have a look for one of mine.

 

[QuaverRest]

Here's one from my piano studies which carries over to the PA- move your thumb underneath (ascending)/finger over (descending) to change position *while* you are striking the previous note. Makes for a much smoother transition and enables greater speed

 

[Glenn]

1. Relax that right hand. Tension in the hand will not be in your favour.
2. Don't skip over bits you find hard of fluff. In fact, practice those parts separately.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Soulsaver]

1. Relax that right hand. Tension in the hand will not be in your favour.

Yep - the problem is in practice its relaxed, in performance it isnt, and feels totally different - is the only way to resolve it is to perform until you can relax?..

 

[Nonny Mouse]

I didn't learn scales until well into my playing life. They certainly helped, although I don't practice them as often as I should!

Second tip? Play what you enjoy playing, you'll want play more.

 

[george garside]

totally agree with all the 'tips' posted so far. I would throw in ''play with others if at all possible''

It doesn't need to be with other box players , any instruments will do. keyboard, organ, fiddle, guitar, flute,mouthorgan, drum etc etc. it can be in your front room, garage or wherever. Better still join an accordion club, find a folk 'session' or even join a morris side (great fun!)
george

 

[BobM]

I used to practice RH finger ex's first before moving on to tunes etc. But I was finding that by the time I'd finished them I was getting tired. So now I play the interesting stuff first and finish off with the exercises, which is proving to be much better for me.

I use page 29 from the Anzaghi (P/A) book that I've transcribed and printed out in a few different keys, works better for me than Hanon ex's which seem to be all in the key of C.

BobM.

 

[Deleted member 48]

One of the best tips I heard comes from Vitali Dmitriev.
Try to play new pieces as slow as possible. Slow it down to a point where the music is hardly recognisable as music, very very slow. Try to play in this tempo without mistakes , until you can bind all the bits and pieces together without playing mistakes.
Gradually and, again very slowly, speed it up a little bit, until you finally can play at reasonable speed.
He said: "the slower you rehearse and exercise, the faster you will be able to play later on".

The difficulty lies in holding and keeping the same slow level, even in the passages you like and already master. One tends to play faster in beautiful music passages, forgetting about slow tempos.

 

[Soulsaver]

One of the best tips I heard comes from Vitali Dmitriev.
Try to play new pieces as slow as possible. Slow it down to a point where the music is hardly recognisable as music, very very slow. Try to play in this tempo without mistakes , until you can bind all the bits and pieces together without playing mistakes.
Gradually and, again very slowly, speed it up a little bit, until you finally can play at reasonable speed.
He said: the slower you rehearse and exercise, the faster you will be able to play later on.

The difficulty lies in holding and keeping the same slow level, even in the passages you like and already master. One tends to play faster in beautiful music passages, forgetting about slow tempos.

I agree with this tip, and especially the part that says play everything at equal tempo mastered or not...including the rests! - as my teach insists.

 

[Puxto]

1. Relax that right hand. Tension in the hand will not be in your favour.

Yep - the problem is in practice its relaxed, in performance it isnt, and feels totally different - is the only way to resolve it is to perform until you can relax?..[/quote]

I think the trick is in the shoulder.. I find if the shoulder and arm are relaxed, the hand is too, I usually give my arm a quick shake to loosen up before starting a song.

 

[Soulsaver]

Re the claw hand, close/touching the keys... tip - I spotted this example .... http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q...&mid=35DF9A9C6D2445456ACD35DF9A9C6D2445456ACD

Well played, shame about the electronic sound IMHO - makes the bass sound like a smokey Labour club from the 70s...

 

[george garside]

listen carefully to the detail of what you are playing (applies equally to those playing from the dots and those playing from memory). I is the key to phrasing, dynamics and ''playing the gaps''

george

 

[Soulsaver]

I don't know why this seemed to slip off the radar.. there must be many more tips to go at:

Thi s will be useful to the self taught (I'm sure you'll be made well aware if you have a teacher): Do not change bellows direction with you finger on a key... or in the middle of a phrase.

 

[Zevy]

This is mean: Record yourself and listen. Its difficult, but its worth the investment. You will hear things that you should improve.

Good luck!

 

[george garside]

never play faster than you can!

george

 

[TW]

...accurately....

 

[Johnathan]

One of the best tips I heard comes from Vitali Dmitriev.
Try to play new pieces as slow as possible. Slow it down to a point where the music is hardly recognisable as music, very very slow. Try to play in this tempo without mistakes , until you can bind all the bits and pieces together without playing mistakes.
Gradually and, again very slowly, speed it up a little bit, until you finally can play at reasonable speed.
He said: the slower you rehearse and exercise, the faster you will be able to play later on.

The difficulty lies in holding and keeping the same slow level, even in the passages you like and already master. One tends to play faster in beautiful music passages, forgetting about slow tempos.

To help with the above approach I find that transcribing the music I am learning into MuseScore is really useful. Once I have the piece in MuseScore I can play it back at any tempo. So I can start as slow as necessary and gradually build up the speed. By playing along with MuseScore it is easier to maintain a consistent tempo when playing at slow speeds. I find playing a piece slowly helps me to co-ordinate the left and right hand together and to discover the gaps between the notes that provide the opportunity to make changes of hand or finger position.

As an extra bonus, for those who are learning to read music, if you use the computer keyboard method of note entry to MuseScore then as you enter the music you are re-enforcing your recognition of the note names.

 

[Nuuksu]

Here's mine tips

1)Some day everything works some other day nothing works, don't panic next day it work again
2)Know single note melody and harmony of songs that you play, it helps to feel much more comfortable in public, also helps quite much when you lost track when playng complicated arrangement

 

[Dingo40]

Soulsaver,
The advice of keeping fingers as close as possible sounds reasonable, but have you seen the videos on YouTube of Myron Floren and Lawrence Welk, very fast players one would think, yet full of theatrical flourishes!<EMOJI seq="1f642">?</EMOJI>
It just goes to show: no matter what the proposition, someone will put the directly contrary view, almost always!<EMOJI seq="1f642">?</EMOJI>
The most aggravating thing is, they appear to be totally oblivious of their most obvious error and -worst of all- appear to do just as well!
Most annoying!<EMOJI seq="1f615">?</EMOJI>