25 April 2018 Playing Piano and Brain Function

Playing Piano and Brain Function

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Music has a kind of magic to it. Even if you hear a song you haven’t heard in years, you can tap your toes to the beat and sing along as if you learned it yesterday. We carry music in our hearts for our whole lives. 

Music also has the power to tap directly into our imaginations. We’re just learning how music can directly impact us to make us smarter, healthier, even happier. And while hearing music can do all this and more, new evidence is also suggesting that learning to play an instrument can increase your cognitive function. That could help with everything from increasing your planning skills to helping reduce anxiety. Playing Piano and Brain Function

What can it do for you?

Piano Players Are Multitaskers

Learning to play the piano puts your brain into overdrive. Many different levels of brain power are needed to sight read the music, put both hands into action with different movements, follow pitch, form chords, maintain posture, control your breath, and tap your toes to operate the pedals. Think of this as a workout for your brain!

Piano Players Build Brain Power

The mental demands of playing are so significant, a piano player’s brain is structured differently than a person’s who doesn’t play. Piano playing strengthens the bridge between the right and left hemispheres of the brain, making the frontal lobe connections more efficient. That boosts problem-solving, language, and decision-making skills. 

Piano Players Are More Likely To Think Outside The Box

If you look at one of the top qualities employers look for in an employee, it’s the ability to think outside the box. Piano players are innately proficient at creative thinking, and are more likely to be able to come up with new solutions to open-ended questions. Piano players literally think about complex problems differently, so they come up with more creative solutions. 

Think this only happens when you’re young? Think again. Studies have shown that learning to play the piano can help with cognitive abilities no matter what age you pick up the practice. 

If you’re interested in learning to play the piano, we can help you with your first step. 

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21 April 2018 Is Piano Hard To Learn?

Is Piano Hard To Learn?

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Are you ready to learn a new talent? Playing the piano is a skill that can last a lifetime. 

But how difficult is it? Is it hard to learn the piano? 

The answer isn’t as straightforward as you might think. Sitting down for the first time can have you tinkering out a tune. But to master piano as an art form can take a lifetime to perfect. 

Along the way, you’ll encounter many things that make the process difficult. If you avoid them, it makes your practice sessions easier. Is Piano Hard To Learn?

Learn With A Teacher

It’s always easier to learn the piano with expert guidance. If you’re not ready for private lessons, try group classes instead. Classes are perfect for beginners as they’re easy to take from home in your free time. You can find many different opportunities online – learn anywhere, any time. 

Then as you progress, a private teacher can help you:

  • Establish good habits
  • Provide proper teaching materials
  • Help you make stylistic corrections
  • Holds you accountable

Practice, Practice, Practice

There’s a saying you’ve probably heard: practice makes perfect. We actually think the saying should be: perfect practice makes perfect. Just sitting down and pounding out a tune three times every day won’t make you a better piano player. But if you sit down and enjoy what you do, you’ll see improvement all the time. 

As a general rule, strive for at least 30 minutes of practice per day. You have to put in the time if you want to see improvement week to week. 

Have The Right Expectations

Keep your expectations in check. If you start piano lessons with visions of performing Rachmaninoff tomorrow, you’ll be greatly disappointed. It’s important that you get the basics down to have strong building blocks for playing in the future. If you jump into pieces that are above your skill level to early, you’ll get frustrated and have a stronger urge to quit. 

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21 March 2018 7 Tips For Good Piano Posture

7 Tips For Good Piano Posture

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Playing the piano is more than sitting in front of the keyboard and tapping a few keys. You need a quality piano to have the perfect sound. And you need to feel your best and sit at the keyboard with good posture to ensure that sound comes through. 

Relax your fingers

Tense fingers won’t roll across the keyboard naturally. To find the right finger shape, place your hand gently over your kneecap. Feel the curve of your hand? That’s how you want to approach playing the piano. Keep your fingers gently curved and relaxed as you set out to play a song. 

Balance7 Tips For Good Piano Posture

The piano seat you use will help keep your body in alignment as you play. You should sit up tall and straight, with your head aligned over your body so your back and shoulders don’t experience undo stress. Wiggle your shoulders to help you relax. You can gently turn your head until you feel it come into alignment on your shoulders. 

Use a footrest 

As kids learn to play the piano, they often have trouble sitting properly at the keyboard. They tend to slide to the edge to have easier access to the floor. In order to keep them properly positioned on the bench, place a footrest or a few books on the floor so they sit comfortably at the piano. Having their feet on the ground will help them relax their upper body. 

Wrist action

While many people think piano playing depends on the fingers, most of the movement actually comes from your wrist. It’s important to keep your wrist flexible to transfer energy from your arms into your fingers while you play. The wrist should be able to help bounce the fingers into play and then up again all through the song. It should always feel comfortable and relaxed. 

Arm alignment

When sitting at the piano, the elbow, wrist, and pinky finger should all line up. Kids have a tendency to rotate their hands so their wrists are bent. If you focus on keeping the wrist straighter, you’ll be more comfortable throughout your playing. 

Allow gravity to help you play

Move your chair or bench away from the piano and practice holding your arms as if you are playing. Feel how they bounce and move? Your arms should never have resistance or be anything but comfortable while you play. Practice relaxing your arms from the shoulder down. Once you have this feeling down, transfer it to the way you play when you’re sitting in front of the keyboard. The action should come from your arm, not your fingers. 

Sit and Lean

Kids sometimes have a hard time sitting in one place. They slide all over the piano bench. But for proper hand placement and to learn piano efficiently, they should sit in one place and lean into position as the notes of the song change. Again, a footrest can help them root into the bench and give them more strength as they play. 

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18 March 2018 The Worst Thing About Playing The Piano

The Worst Thing About Playing The Piano

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What’s the worst thing about playing the piano? No, it isn’t the constant barrage of requests you’ll get from your family and friends. It isn’t the daily practice routines you’ll place on your calendar. 

If you don’t practice the piano the right way and pick up bad habits, you’ll be wasting your time. 

How do these bad habits form?The Worst Thing About Playing The Piano

Many bad habits are caused by stress from practicing pieces that are too difficult for your playing level. To overcompensate for what you can’t do, you reach beyond your means to play in any manner you can. 

Another bad habit is using the damper or soft pedal too frequently. This is a sign of an unqualified teacher. Overusing these pedals only makes bad playing that much worse. 

Some pianists will play without any regard to musicality. They bang away at the notes simply to get through the song. If a student equates completion or loudness with achievement, the result is playing simply to master the notes. But playing the piano is so much more. It takes a trained ear to listen while they play. Creating the right sound involves feeling what you play. 

Then there are incorrect finger and hand movements. This is common without formal training, and is also connected with beginners who simply bang away on the keys. Weak fingers are caused by not allowing your arms to do the work. And when a student continues to play this way, it takes time to be retaught to connect with the full dynamic range of the piano. 

Stuttering can be caused by stopping at every incorrect bar. If you focus on your mistakes, it only makes the mistakes more apparent. Instead, play the music from beginning to end. Don’t stop and correct it. Make a mental note of where you stumble and go back and play that section again. Work on specific areas until you can take it to the next level. Then start the process again.  

The worst thing about bad habits is they can take a long time to eliminate. We fall back into old patterns easily. 

Therefore nothing creates better learning more than learning the right way the first time. For example, a good piano instructor will set you up for positive learning right from the start. And learning to play on a high quality piano will give you the musicality you need to succeed. 

Bad habits can happen. But if you take the right steps and give yourself all the tools you need to play better, you’ll enjoy the process that much more. 

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14 March 2018 Building Piano Habits or Correcting Piano Mistakes

Building Piano Habits or Correcting Piano Mistakes

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What does piano practice mean to you? Unfortunately, for many parents, they associate practice with time or repetition. Have you ever said this to your child?

  • It’s time to practice the piano for 30 minutes.
  • Play the song 25 times before you get up.

In both cases, playing the piano becomes a chore. They associate it with something they are forced to do. They start watching the clock. Or counting and speeding up the song to get through it quickly. Neither of which instill the love of music into their hearts. Building Piano Habits or Correcting Piano Mistakes

Talk with their piano teacher about finding ways to encourage them to play without making it a chore. Here are a few ideas as well:

Start a practice journal. This doesn’t work for everyone, but if your child is motivated by seeing how well they do, recording their progress can give them a log of how much they accomplish. It gives them things to strive for each time they sit down and play the piano. 

Good practice is more than learning particular pieces. It’s also about building good habits and learning strategies that make playing easier. That’s why we play scales. That’s why repetition is good. 

Practice should also be about incorporating what makes a child feel good. Each child has different goals and dreams. Are they motivated by playing particular pieces? Are they motivated by receiving gold stars? This should be about encouraging your child to do better for themselves, not solely to meet your particular goals or desires. 

Use technology. There’s no getting around technology everywhere in our lives. Why not give them piano skills through different gaming and training apps too? These tools can encourage your child beyond just playing and give them the desire to improve their skills too. How about conducting? Or developing their own music? There are literally apps for that. The key is finding what motivates your child the most. 

Have any questions about motivating your child to become better at playing the piano? We can help. 

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7 March 2018 Is A Digital Piano The Same As A Keyboard?

Is A Digital Piano The Same As A Keyboard?

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Are you thinking about buying a piano? Already decided to invest in digital rather than acoustic, but not sure what the difference is between digital pianos and keyboards? 

Digital pianos lie somewhere between acoustic and electronic keyboard. Their goal is to mimic an acoustic piano as closely as possible. In general, the higher the quality, the more realistic it becomes. It will be the same length as an acoustic with 88 piano keys. It will allow for a greater variation in sounds due to sound modification. Is A Digital Piano The Same As A Keyboard?

Digital pianos not only have the 88 keys to match an acoustic piano, but they also tend to have weighted keys, which makes them feel more like an acoustic piano while being played. They have built in speakers to further qualify the sound. 

Most digital pianos have a MIDI output which allows you to connect them to a computer via the interface. This allows you to record and edit your playing as well as control other sounds and instruments at the touch of a button. 

Keyboards are typically smaller than a traditional acoustic piano. You’ll often find electronic keyboards with 61 keys – 4 or 5 octaves – as opposed to the traditional piano which has 6 octaves. What makes keyboards unique is their portability. They also provide a wider range of sounds and have the ability to interact easily through MIDI or USB connectors. 

When playing a keyboard, you’ll notice the keys tend to be a bit smaller and easier to press than a traditional piano. This can take getting used to if you are proficient on a traditional piano. While young children might find this process easier, it’s important to keep in mind that transition to an acoustic can be difficult for someone who’s learned on a keyboard. The shift in feel can be difficult to translate. 

Acoustic pianos are larger, bulkier, and difficult to move. In general, you’ll place an acoustic piano in your home and leave it there. 

With keyboards, they are portable by nature. You can pack them up after each session, sliding them into a closet or underneath the bed. They work well in apartment or dorm living because they are flexible with their movement. You can also use the headphone feature which makes the playing silent.

Digital pianos mimic acoustic pianos. They can take on any size. You can select an upright to place up against the wall, a stage piano -portable piano – to use with a live band, or even a grand piano to make a statement in any room. 

Which piano is for you – digital or a keyboard? We can assist you in any way. 

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4 March 2018 How Long Does It Take To Learn Piano

How Long Does It Take To Learn Piano

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Ready to start playing the piano? The piano can give you a skill you’ll enjoy for a lifetime. 

But one of the things that hold people back is the complexity of the instrument. Maybe you’ve sat down at a piano and plunked out a few notes. Maybe you’ve taken a few lessons and are wondering where it all ends. 

How long does it take to learn the piano? 

The real answer depends on what that question means to you. How Long Does It Take To Learn Piano

How well do you want to be able to play?

For some, they want to learn to play the piano for the joy of music. They have a few songs in mind they’d love to play. 

For others, they have visions of world-class classical pianists in their frame of reference. They see themselves playing Bach or Rachmaninoff’s concertos with ease. If that’s you, it may be years of concentrated study with a piano master to play them well. 

Most people have their desires fall somewhere in between. 

Whatever level you’re hoping to achieve, your progress depends on how diligently you practice and how much time you put into the process. It also depends on your teacher, how motivated you are, and how quickly you learn throughout the process. 

For many of the learning programs out there today, piano studies are grouped into about 10 levels of play. When you reach a certain level, you can expect to be able to master any piece at that level with just a few weeks of practice. You’ll learn both playing skills and technical prowess along the way. 

In general, it takes about a year of dedicated study to achieve every level. But again, this is only a rough guideline. Someone who dedicates hours of practice each week is going to progress faster than someone with only one or two. 

If you are serious about maximizing your progress, find a great teacher that knows when to push. They will ensure you have all of the skills and resources in place to push you as far as you choose to go. 

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21 February 2018 5 Things You Should Know About Buying a Digital Piano

5 Things You Should Know About Buying a Digital Piano

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Ready to buy a piano? It can seem like a difficult task. Do a little searching online, and you’ll come away more confused. Should you pick up the free one on Craigslist? How much should you invest to ensure it’s high quality?

And just when you think you understand the difference between an upright and a grand, you find something else to add to the mix: acoustic versus digital. If you’re leaning towards the digital, what should you keep in mind?5 Things You Should Know About Buying a Digital Piano

Ensure 88 Keys

While the number of keys has changed throughout time, today’s modern pianos have 52 white keys and 36 black keys for a total of 88 keys. While you can find keyboards with lesser amounts, if your goal is to learn how to play the piano, avoid purchasing anything with a lower count. A full range will ensure you have the ability to play any music. 

Make Sure The Keys Are Standard Width

One of the fun parts of learning to play the piano is your ability to sit down at any piano and start to play. For this reason, it’s important to ensure the keys on your new digital piano are standard size. Be wary of “toy” pianos which usually have narrower keys. A standard piano key width is approximately 23mm wide. If you find one significantly narrower, it’s better to move on. 

They Keys Should Be Weighted

The keys should also feel like a traditional piano when they are pressed down and played. It makes the keys feel more like the keys of a traditional piano. Without weighted action, the keys on the keyboard will feel more like an organ. It will also be more difficult to convert your skills to a traditional piano. 

Avoid Bells and Whistles

When shopping for a digital piano, it’s easy to be wowed by the extra features attached. The buttons, lights, and hundreds of different instrument sounds and features can look fun and appealing. In most cases, those extras are rarely used throughout the life of the instrument. You will likely play on the acoustic setting the majority of the time. You just won’t use your piano to make a sound like a tuba. If you’re looking for extras, select things you will use: a built in metronome can be handy for learning rhythms. 

Make Sure It Has Pedals

At a minimum, be sure the digital piano you select has a pedal called a sustain pedal. It’s impossible to play modern music without one. If you select a high quality digital piano, one pedal shouldn’t be a problem. It may also have the second or third pedal as well. 

That’s it. If the digital piano you are considering has all five things, it will most likely be a piano you can play on for years. 

How can we help you select the perfect digital piano for your needs?

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14 February 2018 Best Piano For Beginners

Best Piano For Beginners

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To start your child out on the right path, you’ll need to invest in a quality piano. Not just any piano will do. 

If you wanted your child to take up tennis, you wouldn’t present them with a basket of flat balls. The game would quickly become difficult, and your child would be discouraged. 

The same applies to music. While you might not need a professional quality piano, having one that doesn’t do the job well will leave your child anything but excited about practicing. A good experience while learning should be your ultimate goal. Best Piano For Beginners

With so many options available, where should you start to look? 

You’ll find three different categories: electronic keyboards, digital pianos, and acoustic pianos. 

Acoustic

Consider acoustic pianos to be the real thing. The sooner a student has the opportunity to practice on an acoustic piano, the better. Acoustic pianos produce sound from real strings and real wood, which offers a level of responsiveness and a range of dynamics no digital can ever match. 

True, acoustic pianos are your most expensive category. Depending on if you look at uprights or grands, they can cost into the thousands of dollars. But there are options. You can find good used pianos on the market. If you are purchasing a used, don’t fall for the “finding one for free” on Craigslist trap. These are often of poor quality and even worse sound, which will make the playing experience bad. 

Digital

While it’s impossible to completely simulate the experience of playing on an acoustic with a digital, there’s nothing wrong with starting on a high quality digital. Digital pianos are designed to sound and feel as much like an acoustic piano as possible. They are smaller, meaning you can tuck them away when your playing is through, and less expensive than an upright piano. 

They can also be motivators to kids that want to combine their love of music with their love of technology. Digital pianos make it easy to transfer their music to the computer for easy editing, posting, and sharing. 

Keyboards

Many parents get hooked into keyboards because of the price. Yet they don’t offer a beginning student all they need to learn piano. They may learn key placement, but keyboards often don’t have properly weighted keys and don’t have the sounds that carry through on a real piano. And because they often don’t have a full 88 keys, they won’t be able to play every song presented to them, which isn’t enough for advanced students to move on. 

There are advantages and disadvantages to all. The best way to make your decision is to weigh your odds, and learn all you can about each of your choices. We can help. 

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10 February 2018 How Piano Pedals Work

How Piano Pedals Work

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Why you need them? Don’t select keyboard without them. 

Buying a piano for the beginner in your life? Thinking of purchasing a keyboard to save on space and money? Don’t forget the pedals. 

Many people try and go the least expensive way to bring music into their lives, only to realize that they didn’t purchase an instrument they could grow with over time. 

When learning to play the piano, you’ll generally start with the keys. But very quickly you’ll incorporate the pedals into your music. They aren’t difficult to learn or use, and can make your music sound even better. How Piano Pedals Work

Sustain Pedal

The sustain pedal (the right pedal) is the most frequently used of all pedals. This is why you’ll find sustain pedal inputs feature even on beginning keyboards. 

A piano consists of a series of strings that are hit by hammers when keys are pressed. When the key is released, the hammer returns to its place, resting the string and stopping the tone. To prevent strings from other unplayed nots resonating when notes are hit, a damper bar sits on the strings to keep those strings quiet. When the sustain pedal is depressed, this damper bar is lifted. The notes will continue to ring out after the keys are released. 

Sostenuto Pedal

The sostenuto pedal (middle pedal) is similar to the sustain pedal. When depressed, only the notes that are being played at that point will sustain; any notes struck after that point will not. The sustained notes will hold until the pedal is released. 

This can be used, for example, if a player wishes to hold bass notes while playing melodies over the top. 

Una Corda Pedal

The Una Corda pedal (the left pedal) is sometimes known as the soft pedal. The strings on an acoustic piano are usually grouped into threes for each note and tuned together for a richer sound. When a key is pressed, the hammer normally hits all of these string simultaneously. The una corda pedal shifts the internal piano action to the right, so that the hammers hit only two strings, resulting in a softer sound. 

On a digital piano, strings don’t exist. These effects are recreated digitally. 

Thinking of buying a piano? Make sure they have the proper pedals to ensure a lifetime of learning. 

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