10 Steps to Successful Performances

 You Can Pick Up A Lot Of Things When You Look At The Music Away From The Piano:  Phrasing  Dynamic Markings  Rhythm  Things Your Teacher Marked For You In Your Lessons  Sing The Melody To Understand The Music  Memorization - Close Your Eyes And Test Yourself. ▪ Can you see your fingers playing the keys as you are performing with your eyes closed?

 What Is The Piece About?  What Is The Composer Trying To Convey?  What Are You Trying To Say Through This Piece?  How Do You Feel About This Piece?  Does Your Piece Tell A Story?  Do You Ever Think About The Mood?  Find Adjectives to Describe the Various Passages.

Worried Happy Shock/Surprise Wildly Pained Rowdy/Sinister Reverent Sadly Lovingly Peaceful Thoughtful Regal/Stately Bizarre/Silly Jokingly/Witty Arguing/FightingScary/FrighteningCommanding Giddy Diabolical/Devilish

 Don’t Play Your Piece 100 Times Without A Goal  Practice 4-8 measures at a time carefully examining: 1. Hand position 2. Notes & Rests 3. Fingering 4. Counting 5. Evenness 6. Touches – Staccato, Legato, Tenuto, Accents 7. Sound quality of each note 8. Phrasing 9. Dynamic control 10. Pedaling

 Repeat and examine carefully in short sections.  Mark phrases & work through the most difficult one first.  Work through the section slowly without mistakes.  Repeat correctly with concentration. Don’t repeat mindlessly.  Never practice with a mistake – not even once. Our fingers tend to remember what we do the very 1 st time do something.  For each 1 time that you play something wrong, you need to play it 7 times correctly to undo the damage.  Try to remember the corrections from your lessons and practice them correctly.  It is very important to practice immediately after your lesson while you still remember your corrections.

 Each time you make a mistake….Stop!  Examine your mistake.  Figure out the reason for your mistake before you start correcting it, especially the technical problems.

 If you encounter a very difficult section in your piece:  Practice that section by itself hands alone.  Don’t continue before you straighten out the problems.

 Take a short break after 1 hour or if you feel tired. You won’t be able to concentrate if you continue to practice for a long time. Taking a short break is good for you.

 75% of 75% of finished speed  This doesn’t mean you should play like a machine.  Always keep the music & expression in mind.  Always practice with dynamics & phrasing.  Always balance melody & Accompaniment.

 Piano Playing Requires So Many Qualities  Intelligence, Spirit, Wisdom, Emotion, Imagination & Physical Skill  To get all of these elements to work for you, you need to work very, very hard.

 Everybody is busy….But everyone has the same 24 hours in a day.  Manage your time well, you will have enough time for all the things you want to do.  You must make time for daily practice if you want to play well.