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Has the piano always been your first love? Do you always dream of becoming a piano prodigy? If your answer is yes, going ahead with just conventional piano lessons might not be the right thing to learn and master the piano, and accomplish this dream. There’ve been many music students who show no signs of improvement, even after years of piano practice. It doesn’t matter if you are a beginner or a professional, playing piano for years or haven’t even touched the instrument in real life yet, reaching the stage of a true pianist is a forever learning process.
The music maestros who teach at reputed institutions like Journey to Music Mastery believe that there’s much more to continuously grow and improve as a pianist, than just developing finger strength and executing piano course comparisons. Here are some impeccable ways that have proven to be helpful for numerous aspirants to become better piano players:
1. Investing More Time in Practicing
Like all old proverbs, ‘practice makes a man perfect’ is a wise piece of advice. If you are practicing only in your spare time, the chances of improvement will be very bleak. You need to learn to prioritize your piano practice and set up a defined schedule for it every week. Mixing it with other low-priority tasks can act as a roadblock in your way to learn and master the piano. Ensure that there are no distractions during the set time schedule so that you can simply focus on the instrument. This method might not help you improve instantly, but after a few months, you would be able to realize the importance of a strong commitment to practice.
2. Mastering the Art of Sight Reading
If you truly aspire to become a professional piano player, practicing sight-reading and honing your improvisation skills is very important. Without a doubt, practicing the same piece over and over until you get it perfect is a good exercise, but picking up a random piece every once in a while could help you improve your sight-reading to a great extent. You might make some mistakes at the start, but do not get disappointed and quit mid-way as they are an inseparable part of the overall learning process. Instead, give your best to take it to the finishing line and repeat the entire process a few more times for a sound measure.
3. Going Slow and Steady
People often relate the adeptness of a musician to his or her speed of playing the piano. Doing so might be justified in some contexts, but playing too quickly might be some musicians’ desperate attempt to hide their mistakes. If you listen to them carefully, you would notice that they are missing a few notes and not playing up to the mark. There might be particular sections in some pieces, wherein you find it difficult to catch notes. The expert tip here is to never rush through. It’s always better to pause the metronome, and practice at low speed till you perfect it. If you’re taking lessons from a trusted platform like Journey to Music Mastery, these tips are fostered in your piano practice from the very first day.
4. Competing with Your Own Self
You might think of this tip as an obvious one, but the fact that most musicians stop challenging themselves after reaching a certain proficiency point makes us keep it on the list. Think of playing an instrument as the process of bodybuilding. If the bodybuilder settles on a certain weight and doesn’t challenge himself or herself to lift heavier weights, he would be labeled as semi-proficient. Similarly, a piano player must make it a habit to practice more difficult pieces in order to stand out from the ordinary. But it’s better to seek professional help to meticulously set different difficulty levels at different stages in your piano practice. You could partner with Journey to Music Mastery to recognize your strengths and weaknesses so that the piece you pick to challenge yourself matches your proficiency level and targets your weak areas.
5. Setting Achievable Goals
Excess of everything is bad, and so is overburdening yourself by setting unrealistic goals. Nobody becomes a genius overnight. It requires the perfect amalgamation of hard work, practice, and dedication to improve your piano playing skills. If you like to dream big and set difficult goals to challenge yourself, you need to re-evaluate those goals whenever you find yourself struggling to meet them. Consult with your piano teacher, wherever necessary.
6. Playing Classical Pieces
Classical music might not be very interesting, but mastering it is an important step to improve your technical skills. If you go ahead without practicing classical music, playing complex pieces, later on, would be almost impossible. So, before enrolling for piano lessons, do not forget to execute a comprehensive piano course comparison to find out if they focus on both contemporary and classical music.
Bottom Line
Becoming an exquisite musician is a gradual process. We hope that the above-mentioned tips serve as your guiding light in the way to success, and your fingers become more confident on the piano.