Virtuoso Piano Playing

An imaginary piano is not really a piano. It is a make-believe piano. To practice on the imaginary piano, we must know: the pitches and which fingers to play them the rhythms Chopin form Correct amount of muscle use and body weight Here is how to practice on the imaginary piano. Lie down on the mattress or whatever can support the entire body weight. Head, back, waste, legs and feet should be on the mattress. Place the hands flat next to our body. Raise the wrist, feeling rested down. Finger pads (2, 3, 4, and 5) or inner side of the thumbs remain on the mattress. Imagine that your hand is already at the appropriate position on the piano even when there is more than one position to play. Imagine that the mattress is the keyboard that requires very little to make sound. Slight depression will be all we need. Depress the mattress with the playing fingers in a very small amount . (Sort of) Hallucinate sound as the fingers depress the mattress. It is OK to believe i...

The goal of practice is to get us to play a piece of music with accurate pitches accurate rhythms accurate articulation accurate dynamics accurate tempo in accurate posture accurate form accurate combination of muscle use and body weight use accurate use of appropriate pedals If we look at the sheet music and process it on the spot, with wrong pitches and rhythms, we are considered to be sight-playing (looking at and playing the sheet music for the first time), which often gets the teachers angry (teachers, you need to specify what you want your students to achieve after practice. Don't just get angry!) 

Sometimes, when we like a piece music so much, we can sort of hear it in our head even without playing it on a media, on Youtube, CD, DVD, or BluRay. This takes place a lot throughout the day, but when it happens at bedtime, it can be annoying - forgotten words, forgotten melodies, or simply just repeating over and over in our heads. It might be considered obsession, but we sort of have to be able to do it on any piece of music we are studying.

Completely straightened fingers/hands/forearm = Tension Completely bent fingers/hands/forearm = Tension

Moving Changing position State of Muscles Floating: Finger pads (2s, 3s, 4s, 5s)/sides (1s) above the keys, not touching Can be caused by elbows too bent or shoulders raised too high Should be avoided as it causes fatigue in the shoulders Somewhat Floating and Somewhat Resting Down: Finger pads (2s, 3s, 4s, 5s)/sides (1s) contact with the keys 1s are short fingers - they can or may not be touching the keys all the time When keys are not played , muscles should be at this state. Somewhat Resting Down, but not completely Resting Down: Finger pads (2s, 3s, 4s, 5s)/sides (1s) at the points of sound or bottoms of the keys When keys are played , muscles should be at this state. Resting Down: Finger pads (2s, 3s, 4s, 5s)/sides (1s) at the bottoms of the keys Completely resting down makes the fingers lazy to move Should be avoided Pushing Down: Finger pads (2s, 3s, 4s, 5s)/sides (1s) at the bottoms of the keys Forcing the fingers down at the bottoms of the k...