The Self Improvement Checklist: Robert Dumm

Many folks are aware of learning to play the piano via chording techniques. Some of the old traditional methods of reading music and practicing scales are of the past. Some people find that playing the piano is very relaxing and it gets their mind off of things. More and more, kids and adults are taking piano lessons and discovering the many benefits to playing for their own enjoyment, to performing in public and serving with the music ministry at their church. We know we need to practice, right? Here's a wonderful article I think you'll enjoy!

The Self-Improvement Checklist by Robert Dumm

"Do you feel stuck? Are you making the kind of progress in your playing that you really want? Many people don't realize it, but self-evaluation during practice is the most important step towards progress... so it's important to think about what kind of critic you are. What do you consider a super performance, a so-so or  poor one? What do you mean when you say, "The technique was fine, but the rest left me cold?"

To find out what is wrong, you must keep score by listing what exactly went wrong or right with your performance. Have courage! After the agony of self-criticism, there's always the ecstasy of success. None of this is dull. The game of self improvement is the liveliest game of all!

Here is a checklist to help you in your self-evaluation.

1. Tone Quality: Are the sounds that reach your ears full, rich and soothing or are they forced and noisy?

2. Rhythm: Is your tempo right? Do you keep a steady beat?

3. Phrasing: Do you make each phrase clear... is there a beginning, middle and end... do you allow each phrase to breathe?

4. Dynamics: What extremes of loud and soft are right for the piece you are playing? How much dynamic control do you have? Do you use dynamic nuances in small phrases?

5. Tone Balance: Do your high notes sing out over the bass? Can you hear the occasional inner voice when it is important?

6. Touches: Are your legato lines seamless.... your staccato notes clearly separated... do you try for varied touches to produce different colors?

7. Rests: Do you sense rests as alive, like spoken punctuation?

8. Pedaling: Do you wipe out your touch distinctions with too much pedal? Why are you using the pedal? For rhythm? To enhance sonority? To connect two sounds? Do you find yourself unconsciously depending on the pedal?

Answering these questions will help you gain valuable control of your musical resources, and make changes for the better in the performance of any piece. 

Robert Dumm is the author of Pumping Ivory and Instead of Scales 

For those who enjoy working on their technique and polishing up finger skills, you may be interested in playing Hanon Exercises





photo credit: The Spirit of the Music via photopin (license)






"The beautiful thing about learning is that no one can take it away from you." B.B.King

10 Quick Tips About Piano Practice

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 Mailbox Monday

Question: The children don't know how to practice their songs. Can you help?

Yes, thanks for asking this frequent question that is so common with many households.

I have written at least three articles on the subject. So, without copying and pasting all the information here in this blog post, I thought I'd share the links with you to look at in your free time.

I hope they will be helpful in your discipline as an artist to visit the piano each day and make the most of your piano lessons at home.

In 2005 I wrote: How To Practice The Piano In Five Easy Steps

In 20011 I wrote: Practice Tips

In 2015 I wrote: 10 Quick Tips About Piano Practice

 I decided to share the latest one with those in the beginner's corner.

1. Practice warm-ups first. When your hands are warmed-up properly, you will be able to approach a new song with greater ease and with less mistakes. Lack of tension produces more beautiful tones. Use scales and finger exercises for your warm-up. Always use curved fingers.
2. Practice slowly. Your brain cannot retain music information in detail when you play fast. It is necessary to play slowly and carefully at all times. Don't push your speed. Take it slow and steady. Play each warm-up slowly at first. When you can play smoothly and evenly you may gradually increase speed.
3. Practice short passages. Each day practice just one passage, and practice it very carefully and thoroughly. In the long run, this makes for a better practice session. When you have a short piece or song to work on, you will not feel overwhelmed.
4. Practice at the same time. First thing in the morning you are refreshed and ready to go. For others, school and homework come first. Follow up with a practice session in the afternoon or early evening.
5. Practice chart. A practice chart or journal is a record of your practice sessions, including what you practice and for how long. At the end of each practice session, write down exactly which piece you studied and the number of minutes spent on it. Make a specific list, set goals and try to meet them. Check each goal as you complete it. Make practicing a game or challenge.
6. Practice with correct fingering. Learn a song with the sequence of notes stepping up and down the keyboard. Learn the form of the movements to play the piece comfortably. Learn to be fluent in responding to finger numbers. If you are consistent with your fingering, you will be very secure and confident when playing in front of others. I can't emphasize good posture enough because it makes playing easier and enjoyable.
7. Practice right where you left off when you made a mistake. Students always start from the beginning of a song. They become very good at playing the beginning of a piece, but tend to be less proficient towards the end. Start over at the measure where you hit the wrong note.

8. Practice counting out loud. Counting out loud is good advice for the beginner student, especially during slow practice in the early stages of learning a song. It is an effective way to develop your sense of rhythm. Hearing your voice and your hands helps you with coordination between two hands as well as the timing of the piece. Counting the beat will help you play rhythms correctly. Counting out loud gets much easier with practice.
9. Practice each hand separately to the end. Take a few measures and within that segment play the Left Hand several times until you can play it comfortably with a rounded hand. Do the same with the Right Hand. Next play both hands slowly until you can play the segment comfortably before advancing to the next section. Decide if you want to practice each line or a couple of measures 2-3 times. Use a little weight when dropping into a key to make louder tones.
10. Practice looking at the music. As much as possible, try not to look down at your hands but look at your sheet music. It's fine to occasionally look down at your hands, especially after the piece has been learned. When you look at your hands just try to remember where you are on the sheet music, and do not move your head. Just move your eyes. When you look back up at the sheet music it will be easier to find your place on the sheet music.

All the best,

 "The beautiful thing about learning is that no one can take it away from you." B.B.King

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Piano Practice Tips

"NAMING or LABELING what we are doing in routine practice seems simple. By naming the activity or practice technique, we are giving it credence as something to be applied in different music practice situations. The name gives a label to use and apply and then apply it again. It allows us to transfer the skill from one piece to another piece and, thus, produces a higher skill of comprehension and practice skills.

WHOLE VERSUS PART PRACTICE: A skill or piece may be practiced as a whole or it may be practiced in pieces. Part practice in the beginning stage of learning a piece often is the most effective. Later, toward the end of mastering a piece, whole practice situations come into play more often.

CHUNKING: Chunking practice is essentially "part practice" - taking chunks of a piece & working them out individually. Determine the chunks or parts to practice before combining chunks into the whole. Take chunks of a piece of music & work them out methodically.

PROGRESSIVE PART PRACTICING: In this skill, practice the first step of a skill, & then practice the second part & put it with Part 1. Then, practice part 3 & put it with parts 1 & 2 and so on. A name here makes it possible to identify the specific skill to use when practicing.

BACKWARDS CHAINING: Practice from the end to the beginning, in other words from the last step to the first in a progressive manner but in reverse order. Learn the last "chunk" or part of a piece first, & then learn the next "chunk" followed by combining those two parts. Learn the third to the last section, & then combine the three sections. And so on.

SANDWICH PRACTICE: This practice technique is used when one wants to definitely master a certain difficult section in a piece. One might practice it (chunk it) many times in a single practice session, sandwiching it between compositions or practice segments. The chunk to be learned is reinforced over and over within a single day of practice.

SHOULD SOUND PRACTICE: The premise is this; if one could play accurately up to tempo, then one would not need to practice so much. The point is not to practice up to the tempo, but to practice the sound, and then the tempo will come in due time if the practice tempo requires relatively the same practice motions as the up-to-tempo version.

STOP PRACTICE: Play single measures or two in succession, up to tempo & stopping for several beats of rest between the groups before beginning the downbeat of the next unit that is played up to tempo. Imagine what the phrase will sound like.

PENNY PRACTICE: The premise is that one plays a certain passage correctly a specified number of times in a row, moving a penny from one side to the other side for each correct playing.

PLAY, HEAR, PLAY: This practice technique, used mainly in memory security practice, requires that you play one measure, internally hear the second measure, & then pick up, in tempo, & play the third measure, followed by aurally hearing or singing the fourth measure & so on. This establishes the security in starting a work on downbeats of measures.

PLAN, PLAY, EVALUATE: The step often missing is the accurate hearing or evaluation of what has just been played, so you discriminate what and how to practice next.

ONION SKIN PRACTICE: Play a phrase & add onion skins of sound as the phrase crescendos, and take away onion skins as the phrase decrescendos. This helps you to see, hear & then achieve fine gradations in sound variance.

ADD A GROUP PRACTICE: Play each beamed group of notes plus the first note of the following group. Work on this & then continue to add groups individually until all groups are linked.

RECORD/PLAYBACK PRACTICE: One of the best ways for you to objectively hear where you are & what you need to do next is to tape-record & play back your performance. Then listen to the music just played & practice from the tape recording. You'll discern what needs to come next in the practice from objectively listening to your own playing.

These are interesting and "CATCHY" names for various practice techniques. I hope these names give some SPICE and ENERGY to your practice!