This year’s teaching theme is technical development. A significant portion of a pianist’s practice time is spent working on scales, triads, chords, and arpeggios so that we have that facility at our fingertips [pun intended!] when we encounter those elements in our repertoire. At our recent group class, my piano students and I were discussing technique. My dictionary defines it as “a method or way of performing the technical details of an art; technical skill: The pianist’s technique was brilliant…”
Great example. My students and I tried to define brilliant technique. Then we watched some excerpts of Lang Lang and Vladimir Horowitz in performance.
In the week following group class, I collected students’ ideas for different ways to practice our technique. To become better players, and to save us from boredom, here’s a peek at our list so far:
I just found your site and love it!
this article is old…2 years old…but I’d love to see what other things were on this practice list! 🙂
I found the list when I was getting ready for this year!
1) down-up
2) loud and quiet
3) transposition
4) 1 oct. in quarter notes, 2 oct. in eighths, 3 oct. in triplets, 4 oct. in sixteenths
5) use opposite articulation, i.e. one hand staccato/one hand legato
6) in swing rhythm
7) sing with solfege
8) practice only a specific section, i.e. top turnaround of a melodic minor scale
9) practice with one hand, then the other. If you are RH, make your LH go first!
10) practice contrary motion
11) play with a time signature and counting aloud
12) different tempos
13) practice with a metronome
14) play scale in thirds