Music students may feel both excited and frustrated when they learn a new piece of piano music.
Marie Dvorkin, from Piano Forte Music School, has some tips that will help you, beginner or advanced, to manage your emotions and make learning music enjoyable.
Before a student touches the keys of the piano, the first step in learning music is before they touch their fingers.
Marie suggests that you look at the written music. Pay attention to the key signatures and the time, and remember the composer.
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A student can use the time signature to determine the tempo and style of a piece. 4 time has a different feel than pieces written in 6
Note the key signature. Do you want the piece to be written in a major key or minor? What notes are important for the student to remember?
When students are learning a new piece of piano music, the next step is to identify who composed it. A student should also be able to identify the composer’s name. This will give them an idea of the style of the piece. Johann Sebastian Bach’s Baroque sonata has a completely different musical style than Fryderyk Chopin’s Romantic piano sonata.
Although students might not be able to understand the meanings of many of these terms and names as a beginner, it’s part of learning how to play the piano. Marie emphasizes to all musicians in her programs that learning new music is an important part of music theory.
Time for the Notes!
Once the student has spotted the composer’s time, key signatures, and composer, they can begin to look at the actual notes. Marie suggests that students may have noticed certain dynamics and tempo notations in the music. Marie advises them to ignore these.
Instead, concentrate on the notes and ensure that the student’s fingers are in the right place on the piano keys. Because the student’s hands must be free to move over the keys, it is crucial that fingers are in the right position. A student pressing a key with the wrong hand will cause the keys to move unevenly.
Don’t expect the student to master the entire piece the first time they start to play. You can only learn a few lines or a few measures at a given time. It might help students to listen to the music before learning a new piece of piano lessons in south bay.
Students need to practice their fingers and understand how different touch can affect the volume and sound of a note. The only way to increase strength and confidence in the fingers and hands of a student is through practice.
Like Magic
Marie says that the most important thing is the notes. The real magic begins when the student understands the notes.
Students will be able to recognize the music’s flow and then notice the tempo, phrasing, and dynamics. Other techniques are also important, such as when to play staccato (short and distinct notes) or legato (long, continuous notes). Finally, the student will be able to recognize when the piano pedals should be used and when they should not.
Each step builds upon the previous. Once the basics are understood, a student can then focus on the nuances. Knowing the composer of a piece is a great help here. Baroque pieces have a completely different style than contemporary, romantic, or classical pieces.
The musician can bring his or her emotions to the performance of the piece if the student has a good understanding of the composer and the period in which it was composed.
Time to Remember
Memorizing music is another step in the learning process.
Students will learn to recognize the notes as they play the staffs and measures over and over again. Marie suggests that students should get into the habit to memorize the pieces they play. Start small.
The memorization process works best when it is done in small sections, just like when students learn a new piece of piano music.
Overnight Success?
It takes time to go from being a beginner to a skilled pianist. Students spend a lot of time learning the basics and then moving on to the advanced techniques once they have learned a new piece.
How can you speed it up? Practice, Practice, Practice.
Marie states that all of this knowledge is useful for musicians and allows students to understand how music is made, why certain chords were used, and what they mean.
Students must first consider all aspects. The notation is the first, followed by finger position and articulation, tempo and dynamics, and then the pedal. It takes time to learn music.
However, it all depends on how hard a student works.
Marie says that when Marie and a student look at new music, she always keeps in mind the individual needs of each student. Each learning experience increases the student’s ability. Every new note that a student plays is a learning experience.