PRACTICE TIPS #20: Hands Alone

[Brent Hugh <bhugh@GRIFFON.MWSC.EDU>]

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PRACTICE TIPS is an occasional email newsletter with practical

piano practice tips and ideas, by Brent Hugh



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Hands Alone

-----------



In our St. Joseph Area Music Teachers Association meeting today we heard an 

excellent presentation on memorizing from Cynthia Hukill of Missouri 

Southern State College.



Dr. Hukill suggests that for strong memory, pianists should know the right 

hand part and the left hand part well enough to play each alone by 

memory.  You can practice these four ways:



     1. Play one hand as usual while playing the other on

        the fall board of the piano (silently)



     2. Play one hand as usual while "shadow playing" the

        other hand on the keyboard (just touch the keys silently)



     3. Play one hand as usual while singing the other hand's

        part



     4. Finally, know each hand so well that you don't have

        to do 1, 2, or 3, but can simply play each hand alone,

        by memory







A Few Comments from Readers About Our Practice Experiments

----------------------------------------------------------

So far this year I have suggested four "Practice Experiments" for you to 

try.  I have received some very interesting feedback from my students and 

Practice Tips readers.  Here are a few (more ideas and questions from 

readers will follow in later issues):





Mary Baehr:



"I would never have given these practice techniques a fair chance if you 

hadn't assigned them.  After the initial pain that comes with going against 

a habit, I found the 'not looking while playing' method not nearly as hard 

as I thought it would be.  It became a little game to find the patterns in 

the music. Usually I just 'end up' memorizing something by playing it so 

many times and paying some attention here and there. Pretty soon the 

fingers know where to go, but the mind isn't so sure.  In other pieces I 

had noticed  that after the initial memorization, I had to go through it 

again and re-memorize the piece  to get it right.  The music had to be 

transfered  to my mind -- to make sure I not only knew what the right notes 

were, but to  know for certain what the right notes WEREN'T.  Getting the 

music in your head first can save a lot of muddling."





Gary T.:



" . . . The one that is working real well is the pencil method. (Playing 

the part right and moving the pencil higher.) I find that doing it right 7 

times before moving on to the next section works better. I also find it 

important not to make the section too long, as in no longer than 2 measures 

for me or the improvement is not as great.



"Instead of a pencil, I drew 7 circles on a piece of paper and move a 

penny. I found I was always picking up the pencil to make notes and 

forgetting where I left off.



"Anyway, thanks to your tips, I'm improving much faster than I used to. I'm 

just an amateur, but it's fun to improve."







Happy Practicing!



--Brent, who is running off to try #1, #2, #3, and #4 on some Chopin





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PRACTICE TIPS is by pianist, teacher, composer, and internet nerd

Brent Hugh.  Brent knows about practicing mostly because he *does*

it, and in fact is toddling off to do some of it just about now . . .



Please remember that this tip is but the tip of the elephant's left

front toe--it's not even close to the whole elephant that is

"how everyone in the whole world should practice the piano".



Practice Tips Archives (updated about once a month):



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http://www.mwsc.edu/~pianocmp/









+++++++++++++++++++ Brent Hugh / bhugh@griffon.mwsc.edu ++++++++++++++++++

+   Missouri Western State College Dept of Music, St. Joseph, Missouri   +

+               Piano Home Page: http://www.mwsc.edu/~bhugh              +

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