As with almost all activities, improving at the piano requires commitment and patience. However, it is also very important to work in the right direction and improve in several areas. A mechanical and distracted study brings few results, and we run the risk of becoming discouraged and giving up.
In this lesson, I have tried to analyse the main aspects in the study of music, and piano in particular. Let’s see how these aspects are related to each other and how you can improve technique, hand independence, reading and theory, for an orderly and effective study path.
Just imagine a musician who is totally lacking in one of these five skills: a musician with no technique, no ear, totally unaware of harmony and theory, unable to read the score, or unaware of any musical style and repertoire.
Many amateur musicians have a good ear, know their repertoire and have decent technique, but often do not know music theory or cannot read the score, and consequently struggle to relate to other musicians adequately.
Conversely, it may happen that a very studious musician acquires considerable technique and knowledge but neglects the musical ear and listening to music, thus running the risk of not developing creativity and imagination.
That is why a good musician should never neglect any of these terrains, instead trying to develop evenly. What use is an exceptional technique if we are poor in all other areas? Conversely, how do we employ an excellent musical ear, if we do not know how to move our hands on the instrument?
If approached in the right way, piano study is within everyone’s reach. It is important to tackle difficulties one at a time, when possible, and try to grow in several areas at once.
This is the approach I propose to my students in order to tackle each subject at the right time, without any frustration or waste of energy.
The piano technique
When we talk about piano technique we are referring to the physical and manual skills needed to play. Technique includes the position and movement of the fingers, hands, wrist and arms, but also the posture of the whole body. To get over technical difficulties, it is very often important to be thinking about the right thing.
In particular, during the first years of study, your efforts should be directed towards keeping your arms and wrists relaxed. Often the effort of reading the score leads us to stiffen our arms and wrists, even without realising it. Let us try to explore this concept further.
In the first months of studying the piano technique, trying to impose precise positions on the hands and fingers is counterproductive because it almost always leads to more tension and stiffness.
If you have only been playing for a few years, you should always try to take tension off your hand and wrist, rather than imposing a position that you believe to be correct. It doesn’t matter if your hand is a little more spread out or a little higher, the main thing is that your wrist is soft and your hand relaxed.
This will make it more natural to bend your fingers and use the lever principle to press keys with minimal effort. Don’t underestimate the importance of the seating height. Positioning yourself at the right height in relation to the keyboard favours a natural and relaxed approach.
Practical tips for studying technique
Here are some suggestions for studying technique, depending on your level.
- First year: I advise you not to do specific technique exercises, but to focus on reading and independence. Exercise books for beginners already contain all the technique you need
- Second year: study scales on one or two octaves. Choose a second-year manual that also has technique exercises, e.g. Duvernoy op.176.
- Third year: study scales on two or four octaves. You can also study the first 20 exercises of Hanon, the virtuoso pianist
- Fourth year: my favourite book is Czerny op.299, they are completely technique-oriented exercises but very pleasant to listen to and fun to study.
Staying soft and removing tension from the hand, arms and wrist is essential to address the second major issue: hand independence.
Hand independence
The most challenging thing for beginners playing the piano is hand independence. Although almost all instruments require excellent coordination of both hands, the piano requires a full independence.
Regardless of the exercise book you have chosen, it is important to practise the right way: slowly, steadily and with concentration. Playing the piano at the beginning can be tiring, which is why it is important to have a method of study that helps you relieve your mind of all unnecessary effort.
To improve hand independence, you need to learn to read music. Reading serves you precisely to coordinate your hands, and learn to tackle exercises where your hands play different things, in order of difficulty.
Practical tips for developing hand independence
Personally, I really appreciate Beyer Op.101, of which I have also made a video course. However, there are many methods for the first year. Regardless of which you choose, or which is proposed to you by your teacher, here are some tips for developing independence.
- Follow an orderly and effective workbook
- Study well with separate hands
- Try to put the two hands together very slowly. Playing slowly is not easier, but more difficult! And that’s why I tell you to practise slowly, because it forces you to be aware of everything you do, instead of going through the most difficult passages in a rush, helping yourself with your ear.
Music reading
In my many years of teaching, I have often encountered pupils who were very gifted, both in terms of their ear and their manual dexterity, but who lacked the patience to learn to read the score.
It is not difficult to explain why: if you can already play something pleasant by ear and your hands walk quite well, why put yourself through the effort of a slow and boring study?
However, things are not so simple, let us try to explain why.
Playing the piano without reading music
In some cases, I tried to go along with this attitude, trying to teach how to play the piano without using any sheet music. Regardless of how talented and intelligent my students were, the results were disastrous, always.
I have wondered for a long time why reading the score is necessary to play the piano, and I have come to the conclusion that there can be no growth in hand independence without the help of reading.
Reading the score is the first device we have to coordinate our hands. Seeing the two staves helps us to coordinate the hands and gain independence. If we play by ear the independence of the hands does not improve and sooner or later we will find ourselves in a dead end, unable to make progress.
Practical tips for learning to read the score
Here are some tips for improving in reading music. Some people find this work extremely tiring, but there is no need to practise so much, constancy is more important. Even as little as ten minutes a day will take you a long way.
- Use an exercise book, gradual and orderly, and try to read music 10 minutes a day
- Before playing anything new, spend a few minutes reading the notes an exercise always read the notes, out loud and without playing. This way you will struggle less when you try to play it, and you will also gradually improve your reading.
- If you happen to have free time away from the piano, e.g. if you often travel by train or spend a few days away from home, you can take a solfege book with you and use this time to improve your reading skills.
While playing the piano requires hours of practice (at the beginning, at least 30‘/45’ a day), improving in reading can take as little as ten minutes a day. Reading music is not at all difficult, especially if we do not try to read and play at the same time.
It remains to cover the last major subject of study: music theory.
Music theory and harmony
The piano is an orchestral instrument and it is great to know scales and chords, how harmonic progressions work, cadences. This will give you tools to learn and understand many songs, and will also lay the foundations for the study of improvisation.
However, learning chords is useless if our hands cannot play them. This is why music theory and harmony are subjects that are not worth tackling during the first year of study. Much better to concentrate on independence and music reading, which are really essential for taking the first steps.
If your goal is not to play classical piano but you want to play songs, spending a whole year doing exercises could be exhausting. In that case, when you have passed the halfway point of Beyer op.101 you can start to learn the main chords and play some simple songs.
However, remember: in order to play a song decently, you will need good hand independence. To achieve this you will need to keep practising methodically and with commitment!
Practical tips for studying music theory and harmony
Per conoscere meglio la musica in generale, questi sono argomenti che potresti imparare, in ordine di difficoltà :
- Major scales and the circle of fifths
- Triad chords
- Cadences and the simplest harmonic progressions
- Seventh chords
- Like reading sheet music, music theory can also be a pleasant pastime when you are away from the instrument and cannot practise.
hIf you are interested, there is a harmony course on this site to address these topics (and others) in an orderly, step-by-step manner.
Conclusion: the right balance between technique, independence, music reading and theory
Studying piano is definitely a challenge that requires intelligence, patience and method. If you are not in a hurry and try to appreciate every moment of study, even the first steps, you can usually get further and get great satisfaction from the study of music.
Knowing what to expect is crucial: in the first year you have to learn to read and improve the independence of your hands. This will be the basis for the next steps. Good luck with your studies, if you need any advice leave a comment and I will be happy to answer you. I look forward to hearing from you!