New answers tagged practice
1
I can play the first note or chord, and audiate the rest.
But how can you or anyone else know that it's correct without actually playing it so that it will be heard?
This just seems to get down to ear training and whether you correctly hear relative pitch relationships. You can "hear" it in your head, or listen to some actual music, but the real ...
1
If you learned music from sheet music, it's pretty likely (at least IMO) that you internalized it as a series of note names and rhythms. This means that, regardless of whether you ever figured out the piece's key, you internalized it with respect to the original key it was learned in. This internalization is especially emphasized in every genre and situation ...
1
For some, it's absolute: 'I learned that song in that key, and that's where it stays, for ever.' If it's a song that is sung (and played) by the person concerned, that's almost fair enough. They're in charge, with no (or little) reason to vary. I've worked with people like this, and it's almost written in stone. Which means when I want to harmonise, ...
0
It is standard training for jazz musicians to learn everything (perhaps not literally) in every key. So, yes, you should make it a point to play/sing your favorite songs and progressions in every key. My experience is that this becomes easier over time, so that such transpositions happen more naturally and require less explicit practice.
Keep in mind that ...
0
You can absolutely learn to play the piano properly and by yourself. However, to progress efficiently and correctly, you need to be committed and self critical. My recommendation is to pick a method book series Béla Bartók's Mikrokosmos notebook 1-6.
1
Yes, maximum speed of sustained muscle movement is a thing.
The human body is made up of fast-twitch and slow-twitch muscle mass; the distribution varies from individual to individual. I did not find a source talking about the effect of this specifically for musicians, but it is well known in athletics (i.e. here or - with more deeper references - here). For ...
1
The image above(*) shows a training strategy for increasing the speed, whereby you push a little above your current limit (the highest speed where you can still play clean) and then dial back a little.
In the above example, your current maximum speed for a particular phrase would be around 115-120 BPM. An exercise to increase that speed would start at around ...
3
You're running into the fundamental physics problem of K = .5mv^2. (source - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinetic_energy )
K = kinetic energy of an object in motion.
m = mass of the object
v = velocity.
Note that the energy scales with the square of the velocity. On average, doubling the speed of playing guitar or piano should theoretically translate into ...
13
In order to go faster, you need to practice a lot slower.
Yes, I know exactly how counter-intuitive that sounds. Bass/guitar player here, in a thrash metal band, playing at way too many BPM. The problem you're encountering is not that you're physically incapable of playing fast, it's that you're not accurate doing so.
In order to break that wall, you need to ...
5
I find the best way is to practice the music at a slower, manageable, speed until it's really under the fingers, and keep playing it at that speed. All of a sudden you find that you're actually playing it faster without realising it. I think it's because I think of a passage as having a certain amount of difficulty, so the more it gets into my fingers the ...
29
Almost for sure, the problem is that as you approach upper limits, you exert yourself more. When you're playing fast, your muscles have to relax INSTANTLY (like, already relaxing while you're pushing them down). The rule of thumb is this: the harder something is, the MORE relaxed you have to be in order to play it.
Try the following checklist (I'll give ...
8
What speed are you at?
Of course the laws of physics limit all speed to be less than the speed of light ;-).
And, there must be a limiting speed based on mechanical constraints of the human body. I have found that the key to speed is very slow relaxed practice of basic movements with attention to minimizing movement (or creating optimal movement).
Most of ...
0
How fast can you play something really simple, in terms of notes per second? You're probably physically capable of playing a more complicated passage just as fast.
1
This question is very convoluted and in my opinion self contradictory.
"Do you need to improvise to be a virtuoso?"
"how deeply connected with music do you have to be to be a virtuoso"
"Is mechanistic perfection sufficient or do you have to have proficiency in all aspects of music, imrovisation, composition?"
How are these ...
2
Short version: they all inform each other, but are not prerequisite.
I'm not a professional, but I am reasonably accomplished in improvisation, composition (my university major) and playing memorized piano pieces.
I started improvising because running scale patterns and doing arpeggios all day was too boring-- so I'd run up and down scales, throw in some ...
2
No!
A virtuoso is one who is highly skilled in technique.
Technique is mechanical skill in an art. Or a manner of artistic execution in music.
Improvising obviously needs mechanical skill in playing an instrument, otherwise even brilliant ideas won't come out right when played. However, the second definition seems to contradict that - what 'manner' is ...
2
If you want to be an improvisation virtuoso, you need to practice improvisation.
If you want to be an composition virtuoso, you need to practice composition.
If you want to be an X virtuoso, you need to practice X.
Et c.
One could also make the case that learning X can be (more or less generalized to) Y. It would be really interesting to see studies of skill ...
4
Being a virtuoso implies technical perfection. Some musicians who are fantastic improvisers have a very poor technique. The two skill sets are completely orthogonal.
2
TL;DR: The most important factor in dealing with keyboard control operations is in planning the movements — the "choreography". This entails studying the music to determine the best way to handle the change. Once determined, the exercises for dealing with keyboard controls all boil down to
learning to keep one hand steady while the other moves in ...
3
First thought: you have been at this only one year. That isn't a long time. Especially if your practice hasn't been effectively focused on rhythm and hand/finger independence, it won't just come spontaneously.
Second thought: think about the difference between composite rhythm and true hand independence. Composite rhythm is the rhythm produced by the two ...
1
Exercises are somewhat worthless. There is proper movement and improper movement. If you move improperly you will have fatigue, tension, strain, uneven playing, missed notes, etcetera. You can brow beat "strength and endurance" into improper playing but that will lead to injury in twenty or so years.
Proper movement obeys the laws of physics and ...
0
With a little imagination, one should be capable of coming up with exercises. Play scales two notes in one hand to one in the other, three notes, etc. Playing just scales, where both hands are together - even contrary - won't improve coordination beyond playing both hands in octaves at the same time.
Play arpeggios with one hand, single notes or chords with ...
0
Why restrict this to guitar? It's appropriate for any muscal instrument. Let's face it, each one has different ways which are used in note production, so initally, at very least, each needs to be studied from a practical point of view - how to get some noise out of the darned thing!
That's at a very basic level, after which making music come from it is the ...
2
This seems to be a long-winded way of saying "Should I practice my scales and other technical exercises aiming mainly for fluency, then practice 'pieces' thinking more of the artistic result?" To which the answer, of course, is 'Yes'.
6
I wouldn't compare rote learning in math with rote learning in music, because music is a temporal art and math isn't. For music you want to train reflexive movements so you can play without hesitation. Being in time is everything. But math doesn't really have that requirement. Certainly not with the split second timing of music.
...I don't see how you can ...
0
Practising is productive and fun when you achieve something. When you notice improvements. Practising for one hour just to serve the time is torture for the child and the parents, and frankly, it's wasted time. And I think this might be your main problem.
Playing the violin is an extremely complex activity where many aspects have to be taken into account at ...
3
This is a classic either or red herring of a question. Do we do A or B, the two cannot be done together. In fact this is not true at all. One can combine both methods and take what is useful from both.
Mastering any musical instrument involves mastering your own body movements, the physics of the instrument, and your connection with the instrument. You ...
1
Both are suitable but I would recommend:
Practice room for normal practice
Living room as a treat
Which is exactly what you're probably doing. I used to habitually practice in the bathroom because the acoustics were excellent. It made me slightly lazy and a little physically weaker than I could have been. I didn't have to work hard, so I didn't flex my ...
1
Room acoustics can be an important factor when practicing/performing music. If you are like me, I need to hear pleasant sound when I'm practicing or performing. That's part of what makes it appealing. But I also need to be somewhat versatile and be able to maximize the quality of sound in different environments. To accomplish that, I will practice in ...
4
I would recommend practicing in a mixture of different settings. Personally, I used to have problems playing too quietly in small spaces, because it felt like I didn't need to play as loudly to fill the room. As a performer, I think it's important to get used to a lot of different environments, so that you can feel comfortable no matter where you are.
4
Particularly on flute the room acoustics have a huge influence on the way the instrument sounds. If you are playing in a larger room with a lot of reverb you think you are producing a huge sound, and if you are playing in a room with highly absorbent walls you think you are producing a weak sound. Really you are producing exactly the same sound, it just ...
4
While it's pleasing to play/practice in a room which enhances the acoustics, if you really want to improve the "source sound" (i.e. what you're generating), a well-damped or anechoic room is best. It'll sound crummy, but will reveal the tiny faults in pitch or tone, allowing you to improve your technique.
Every now and then, switch to a place with ...
1
Extending a 20 minute practice session to one hour with interruptions about mistakes seems totally out of proportion for parental participation, especially for a seven year old.
There are so many things a parent can do to support a kid's practice, and it's probably best to ask the teacher how to help, but much, much less time should be added on to the ...
2
Lips are muscles. Muscles require you to build strength and endurance. This is true of all instruments that use the mouth.
1
Judging by your edit, it sounds like your role in practice is to point out what little things need fixing, and without you doing that, she doesn't fix them. It sounds like she knows it's useful, but that it's still aggravating. Why not focus on teaching your daughter to take on your role of pointing out mistakes in practice? That way, you can have a role ...
1
Richard's answer is great. I have no criticisms of it, only another trick to add to your practicing vocabulary: break the motif into groups. I'll share some images to show what I mean more clearly, but before I do I'll explain in words. Beethoven's motif goes Mi Re Do - Fa Mi Re - Do Ti La - So Fa Mi - Re Do Ti - Do; I'm using the hyphens to indicate the ...
4
If I were having this problem, I would approach it with the following four-step process:
1. Use the beats as anchors
By replacing pitches that aren't on the beat with rests, we can focus to make sure we know where these beats are to be placed. It's also important that you use accurate fingering here, so I've included what my fingerings would be:
(Note that ...
0
First, check your fingering. It may be that you are playing the passage so that your strongest fingers are striking each fourth pitch and resulting in an accent.
Then, practice slowly, placing a light pulse on the first note of each triplet. Listen as you go to make sure the accented and unaccented notes (i.e., first note of each triplet versus the other two)...
0
I am making a video about this but the answer is ...
... use a toothbrush ... the bristles ... soft and medium have different sounds but both allow you to strum an acoustic at full force very quietly.
In addition take painters tape, paper tape, and wrap it around the brush head, then squeeze the tape covering the bristles. Now you have a 'paper pick' that ...
3
I play the Violin, and there are things called "practice mutes" for Violins, Violas, Cellos, and even stringed-bass instruments. There is a wide variety of practice mutes for guitar, and they're quite cheap as well. I recommend you buy a decent practice mute and try it out.
2
"It depends" will always be the answer to that kind of question.
The main thing isn't so much how you load it at the front-- it's how you review over time.
That being said, I think daily exposure to all keys is more important to daily exposure to pattern XYZ, since keys are ubiquitous but pattern XYZ is not. So probably better to do it that way.
Top 50 recent answers are included
