FROM LEFT AND RIGHT - Notes on how to study

FROM LEFT AND RIGHT

Notes on how to study

«Small mistakes can turn into bad habits difficult to uproot».

 

1. When studying, be careful so that the tempo with which you play a piece is neither too fast, nor too slow, but is the exact tempo which will enable you to observe and perform all those things that you have in mind and wish to perform. Try to think of everything in advance; do not correct anything after having made a mistake.

2. When studying non-stop, your interest for what you are playing gradually fades away. For that reason, it is best that your study consists of small pauses that will allow you, on one hand, to not lose your interest and on the other to relax and avoid the danger of hypertension.

3. It is best to study a phrase of four bars until you learn it in great detail, almost off by heart, rather than studying one or two pages, repeating these from beginning to end.

4. When studying, you should be relaxed and it is best to take a shower before beginning your piano study. The desire to study should come from within you, it should not be something that you thrust upon yourself. For reasons well understood, it is best to study during the morning hours.

5. Choose pieces that you personally enjoy studying, otherwise you will have no enthusiasm left to finish what you have started. The most important thing of all is to maintain your enthusiasm until the end. Do not blame your teacher when observing no progress in your work; look for the one at fault inside you.

6. One way of learning a piece is to first learn it all in terms of rhythm, melody and fingering gradually adding the details to it. This strategy allows for the initial enthusiasm to be maintained until the end.

7. Personally, we prefer the method of performing the piece from the start bar by bar in every detail. This way you train your fingers to do all those things that you wish them to do, from the start. In this way there will be no need for changing any parts in your performance afterwards, as you will have these ready from the beginning. It is much more difficult to change something after you have learned it and has become a habit.

8. The slightest detail, if neglected and not noticed from the beginning, will become much more noticeable when playing the piece in its normal tempo and will be much harder to correct.

9. After having learned a piece, do not lose your concentration; always stay on the catch until all those elements composing the piece become passion, habit and second nature.

10. If you do not succeed in performing a certain part of the piece, both subdivide this into smaller time values (semiquavers, demisemiquavers), and convert it into exercises. It is best, once having learned this technique, to transform all difficult parts into exercises rather than study several exercises not directly connected to the piece.

11. When studying a piece in a slow tempo for the first time perform this in a soft tone, as it is a habit to play more loudly when the piece is performed much faster.

12. When studying a Fugue for the first time, first play the different voices separately, paying no real attention to correct fingering, while simultaneously singing another voice out loud. This way, the various musical lines become engraved in your mind. As a second step, study separately the music corresponding to the left and to the right hand. In this way, you shall acquire correct understanding as far as playing the Fuge is concerned.