i mean practicing the pieces , not only one. One is not enough , and different composer 's pieces also.Cause There are different techniques in every Composer's work. To me it is more important to see and feel what composers are about than scales practice. Cause it also nourish your technique musically. Hope it helps.
+Gus tropacool No no scales are very important and crucial to developing speed and control. If you know your scales and can play them well, it makes learning songs much more easy.
I am so grateful for these videos! You are so generous with your time and talents. I hope that all the energy you are putting out is returning to you with blessings!
What an excellent resource for teachers and students alike! I feel that relaxation is not emphasized enough when a student begins playing piano. Thank you for this!
I know this is a tongue in cheek comment. But really, practicing 9hrs a day is terrible advice, especially because it's (what you practice and how you practice more than how much you practice. Besides 9hrs a day would be sustainable for maybe a week or so at most...now if you just mean overall playing amount/per day you are correct. (Playing 9hrs per day and practing 9hrs/day are 2 very different things). An average of 2-3 hrs/day of practice (on average over many many years is the best way to go for sustainable playing over a time of decades. Temporary bouts of 5-6 hrs /day will be good for closing gaps to next levels of technique and such, but again it's not sustainable forever. All of this advice is of course geared towards someone who wants to become a professional. If this is not the goal, then an HR or maybe 2hrs at most a few times a week will be more than sufficient.
@@kedapofeng8993 well hello there, fellow Ling Ling devotee, #TwoSetViolin :) I would say next to Eddie's actual pre-2set violin instructional vids, this guy (Dr Josh Wright has bar- none, the best RUclips music instruction vids.) So good to see twoset audience in great instruction places!!
Hey Josh, I've seen you at the Chopin national competition last month in Florida, and thought your performance was superb! You should have gotten top 3 at least! Best wishes on your future career.
aloha23 Thank you so much for attending and your kind words. I thought the first three rounds went really well...finals could have been better though! Have a wonderful week.
interesting points ,if anyone else needs to find out about learning how to play piano online try Jadonite Piano Player Buddy (just google it ) ? Ive heard some extraordinary things about it and my partner got excellent results with it.
I found the tips from this video very helpful, as Im a beginner and dont have much time to practice and Im 24 yrs old (old already) the only thing that makes me still interested and enjoy practicing music is the brief easy to understand tip and instruction videos like this. Thank you so much for your dedication Josh
I find exercises which focus on finger independence very helpful. In particular Schmitt, and Pischna. Another good exercise is placing 5 fingers on CDEFG, and holding fingers 1,3,5 down (CEG) and playing 2,4 (D,F) as legato as possible and close to the keys. Then inverting. Anything that make a you have to think about your fingers individually will definitely help. Once again, great video!
I think very minimal finger movements are essential to scale playing. My teacher also taught me to use rotation when playing scale, which is incredibly helpful as well.
I've discovered your videos yesterday, they're absolutely amazing and you're helping me a lot. I particularly love the fact that you're soooo humble and encouraging! I tell you what: I watched a masterclass by Lang Lang and I was horrified how this man is so famous, it should of been you giving that masterclass, you certainly know your stuff!! And I love the fact that you brought up Argerich and the sonata by Scarlatti, one of my favorite performances by her. Keep it up man, all the best in your career!!
Lots of good players aren't very good teachers. Depends on why they're not good to fix it. Some are too humble, they think they're not very good. Some have played too long to give a beginner good tips on how to learn.
Been taking piano for years, off and on and have started anew to practicing scales. I appreciate how relaxed your fingers are. The faster I go, the more tense my fingers become. Thanks for your video
Thank you Josh for taking the time to generously share these techniques with us , in recent months the 4th and 5th fingers of my right hand have become weaker and slowed up .. Your lessons have really helped .
I am so grateful to you for sharing your knowledge, time, and passion FREELY. That 12 year old boy hit home. .. i have heard the exact same words too many times regarding my scale technique: namely , "how are you playing your scales so fast like THAT". You were imitating my hands in your video!.. I'd know my hands anywhere. Can't wait to get to work on this stuff. thanks again
Good stuff. I took this anti-tension approach to heart a year ago and the improvement is far and beyond any improvement made in the distant past. Not to mention much more enjoyable
Wow this video actually captured a lot of what I was doing wrong in my daily practises and explains a lot of the mistakes that I've been constantly making and repeating, and I wasn't even aware of the fact of my fingers' flexing and my hand/arm tensing up... Absolutely great tips thank you!!
:D Coming from someone who feels they have a perfect technique and thinks their technique isn't too far from perfect, I'm always astonished to find out there's something else I don't know about technique from you, Master Josh--Thank you so much!!! :D
All of your videos are so very delightful and informative. You simply have the most gentle and patient and humble approach in teaching. Sum it up, you are a great teacher. Thanks!!!
wow,,,just watched a bit of one of your competitions!! Great command!! I get the jitters before a jazz set I can´t imagine the adrenaline before a Chopin Competition!
Once again, excellent material. I'll start putting this to work immediately. The music I'm playing isn't classical, but I'm sure the principal of relaxation applies all the same. Thanks again for sharing this valuable info, Josh.
Just one thing, when hanging your hand down loosely from the shoulders, the fingers do not curve as extreme as you suggested when talking about the 2+3 trill. Thus tugging in finger 3-5 like you suggest is not their natural position, but it certainly avoids the shaking associated with them being held above the keys. And their is nothing inherently wrong with them giggling along during the 2-3 trill. But I agree that it looks more elegantly the way you do it. If the trill is short however, I would rest the fingers above the keys and let them giggle along so they are ready for their next task. Just a thought.
Thanks Josh, I am trying to play again after many years of neglect lol and in need to do scales the right way again and I do have the problem with my right ring and little finger flexing and I injured that finger too.
ingrid aquino It's something that I see in many students, as well as in myself in certain passages. If you're diligent about relaxing your hands, you can overcome it quickly!
Thank you Professor Josh! A Fantastic and Amazing technical lesson on developing fluid piano technique. I am old in good health, and have not played the piano for many, many years. I love Chopin, sometimes Debussy, and the classics, especially Schumann and Rachmaninov. I am going back to the piano, my first love. Who can forget a first love? I certainly can not. Thank you for this great video! Sarah Hagen
Ha! I have that tense levitating little finger issue on my plank (fretted stringed instrument played flat a bit like a keyboard - sort of) and assumed it was just an annoyance I had to live with. I'm going to give your suggestions a go and hope I remember to give you credit once it's sorted. A lot of the other things you say are relevant too.
Hi Josh, thanks for all your videos, I have learned a lot about all your concepts and I would like to ask you to share a bibliography of piano technique, or books where you have learned technique. Greetings and thanks again.
Are you sure the wobbling exercise really makes the hand more neutral? From experiments on both myself and students, I find lifting fingers is a panic reflex to stop the whole palm falling down through a droopy and inert finger. Wobbling makes my finger stand up into more life, not more neutral. I also use conscious finger lifting to empower the standing finger into more action, before letting them dangle back down (while keeping the standing finger active and alive). I find this kind of conscious finger lifting is ironically the quickest cure for unwanted lifting. Once the playing fingers are keeping the hand open, with more action, the panic reflex vanishes. Drooping after producing tone is the underlying fault, which causes the panic.
Wow! I've had the same problem your 12 years old student reported for years. My pinky creates a mind of its own and it really bothers me. I will try this out right away! Thanks!!!
a very good exercise that few people know about is using say your keyboard but triggering a synth with almost no decay. You can also add paper to the strings on a real piano to get a harpsichord type sound. this will really reveal inconsistencies.
This was very helpful, thank you. I find myself often getting that forearm burn and have a permanent stuck up pinky and straight 4th finger. I will give these techniques a try.
Getting rid of tensions. A lifelong battle! I'm trying double octave scales (C and D) focusing on wrists but I always feel there is something wrong! I'm also doing some work around Hanon's exercices (mostly trying to play each hand at a different volume) and I become so tense when I try that! I don't know why! But maybe I'm going to fast. I'm only 9 months into piano practicing (I play about 10 hours each week) and these kind of things doesn't get fix in a week. It is very impressing to see how fast you can play scales!
I like your approach. Very organic and fluid. I rather play slow and fluid opposed to fast and ridged. I know when our approach to making music is carefully executed speed and accuracy follows; It takes patience. How would you go about improving ones ability to sight read?
I have played for 9 years and none of my piano teachers ever taught me scales or exercises... I just practiced reading music and timing. So just last year I started to practice them, because I hit a brick wall. I see tremendous progress already but I really am struggling with gaining speed and playing them in my actual piano pieces... Would you have any advice for me?
Thanks a lot for this trick...can you tell me what do you think about the technique of Edna golandsky, cause I haven a lot of doubt about it, but I like it cause it's a really relaxed way to play
Love your technique! Thanks for sharing! How can I keep from freezing when I go to piano practice?? I've been playing hard for 1.5 yrs. and am 63yrs. old My dad was a professional pianist and I basically learned from watching him, but am finally learning to read music. I can play better at home but freak during practice. Any advice would be welcomed!!!
I have a problem where the pinky on my right hand is inextricably linked to an extent to the fourth finger (I cannot hold the pinky down individually without affecting the fourth finger, and I cannot lift the fourth finger very much up individually without raising the pinky). It's impossible for me to "tuck" the pinky while playing the fourth finger like Horowitz (I can do it on the left hand). Is it still possible to eliminate the pinky lift given my physiological restriction (short of surgery??)
acediac1 Yes - try practicing Schmitt Preparatory exercises, specifically the ones that have you hold down the fourth finger. Then do the ones where you have to hold the fifth finger. These finger independence exercises should help :)
Never heard about you. But man, you are fantastic! the fact that I'm a jazz musician doesn't change anything: I have some ideas to adapt your teaching to my style.
Congratulations. i'm trying to improve the speed of the octaves execution when I play, and your video it helped me a lot to re practice in the way that you suggest… Thank you... I saw some videos from your piano playing, a lot of classical master pieces… absolutely fantastic execution and technic with great feeling… Thanks again for your videos, regards, Alex.
The pinky goes up when there is an excess of contraction in the palm. And the palm is where the attention need to go to put 4 and 5 down. The reason for it is totally physiological and it is that in the palm each and every tendon regarding the movement of the fingers and hand plus all the " non movement" muscles are all very close to each other. There is where we accumulate the tension. There is where every unwonted movement and position start
this video is awesome. my piano techniqiue really sucks. i serioususly need to start practicing everyday. When i record myself with this bebop transcription of Bud Powell it really sucks for technique. maybe it would help if i played on weighted keys it would sound better but using the keyboard i'm frustrated with the unevenness and velocity disparity in my playing. i'm ready to start taking classical training if i have to just to be smoother. i can play the notes and the lines but it sounds very ameteur-ish. this video im sure will help some of the problems i have. I get nervous playing certain parts of the tune and i notice tension when that happens. Then when i relax i feel myself relaxing inak my arm and hand but my listening gets relaxed too smh. I'm sure this along with slowing what i am practicing down and really work on my technique for each line will help tremendously. thanks for this free video. cant wait to check out the performer you mentioned as well she sounds like a world class player!!
hello Josh, I really enjoy your video's. But i would like for you to have a better view of what your hands are doing. From the side view, I can't really tell exactly how you are playing the notes. you make so much sense when you explain things . Fantastic job. Mimi-Wilda
Dear Dr. Wright, Thank you very much for your video. When I play piano I have a lot of tension from my wrist to elbow, there for specially when I have stress my hands and fingers can't move. Could you please guide me what can I do to over come this problem? Thank you for time and consideration your confirmation would be appreciated. Sincerely, Narjes
Thanks for your excellent series. I don't want to be too pedantic, but raising the fingers is technically "extension". When you make a fist, it is "flexion".
![GEEK TIMË [OFFICIAL AUDIO]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/ry-6RvkH880/mqdefault.jpg)
I am guilty of never practicing scales, I just jump right into the piece.
same here ;D
No one should feel guilty of not practicing scales. Scales doesnt mean anything. Practice does
Gus tropacool You mean practicing the piece you are working on; rather than scales?
i mean practicing the pieces , not only one. One is not enough , and different composer 's pieces also.Cause There are different techniques in every Composer's work. To me it is more important to see and feel what composers are about than scales practice. Cause it also nourish your technique musically. Hope it helps.
+Gus tropacool No no scales are very important and crucial to developing speed and control. If you know your scales and can play them well, it makes learning songs much more easy.
I am so grateful for these videos! You are so generous with your time and talents. I hope that all the energy you are putting out is returning to you with blessings!
Nothing ia working good for him granny he doesnt even have enough bucks for a haircut
@@lakshyarajput2854 Mean comment!
@@goettling seriously how dare I !
@@lakshyarajput2854 mean comment
@@goettling shame on me
What an excellent resource for teachers and students alike! I feel that relaxation is not emphasized enough when a student begins playing piano. Thank you for this!
Brilliant! I'm a piano teacher myself, very useful, very inspiring. Thanks.
Same here!
How to develop fluid piano technique in 2 super easy steps
1. Practice 9 hours each day for 10 years.
2. Done.
Welp! Time to devote my life to do just that! Thanks bruh
Are you keeping my lights on for me? :)
I know this is a tongue in cheek comment. But really, practicing 9hrs a day is terrible advice, especially because it's (what you practice and how you practice more than how much you practice. Besides 9hrs a day would be sustainable for maybe a week or so at most...now if you just mean overall playing amount/per day you are correct. (Playing 9hrs per day and practing 9hrs/day are 2 very different things). An average of 2-3 hrs/day of practice (on average over many many years is the best way to go for sustainable playing over a time of decades.
Temporary bouts of 5-6 hrs /day will be good for closing gaps to next levels of technique and such, but again it's not sustainable forever. All of this advice is of course geared towards someone who wants to become a professional. If this is not the goal, then an HR or maybe 2hrs at most a few times a week will be more than sufficient.
You mean 40 hours?
@@kedapofeng8993 well hello there, fellow Ling Ling devotee, #TwoSetViolin :)
I would say next to Eddie's actual pre-2set violin instructional vids, this guy (Dr Josh Wright has bar- none, the best RUclips music instruction vids.) So good to see twoset audience in great instruction places!!
Hey Josh, I've seen you at the Chopin national competition last month in Florida, and thought your performance was superb! You should have gotten top 3 at least! Best wishes on your future career.
aloha23 Thank you so much for attending and your kind words. I thought the first three rounds went really well...finals could have been better though! Have a wonderful week.
Josh Wright I wish u teach in NC... any way what the name of the best Piano Technique Marth Arqridge
***** Martha Argerich
interesting points ,if anyone else needs to find out about learning how to play piano online try Jadonite Piano Player Buddy (just google it ) ? Ive heard some extraordinary things about it and my partner got excellent results with it.
I found the tips from this video very helpful, as Im a beginner and dont have much time to practice and Im 24 yrs old (old already) the only thing that makes me still interested and enjoy practicing music is the brief easy to understand tip and instruction videos like this. Thank you so much for your dedication Josh
I find exercises which focus on finger independence very helpful. In particular Schmitt, and Pischna. Another good exercise is placing 5 fingers on CDEFG, and holding fingers 1,3,5 down (CEG) and playing 2,4 (D,F) as legato as possible and close to the keys. Then inverting. Anything that make a you have to think about your fingers individually will definitely help. Once again, great video!
matthew xiong Thanks for the thoughts Matthew. I teach from Schmitt all the time - it really helps a lot!
I think very minimal finger movements are essential to scale playing. My teacher also taught me to use rotation when playing scale, which is incredibly helpful as well.
I've discovered your videos yesterday, they're absolutely amazing and you're helping me a lot. I particularly love the fact that you're soooo humble and encouraging! I tell you what: I watched a masterclass by Lang Lang and I was horrified how this man is so famous, it should of been you giving that masterclass, you certainly know your stuff!! And I love the fact that you brought up Argerich and the sonata by Scarlatti, one of my favorite performances by her. Keep it up man, all the best in your career!!
Maria Lobato Thank you so much! I truly appreciate the kind comments :)
Lots of good players aren't very good teachers. Depends on why they're not good to fix it. Some are too humble, they think they're not very good. Some have played too long to give a beginner good tips on how to learn.
English teacher: Should have been
Been taking piano for years, off and on and have started anew to practicing scales. I appreciate how relaxed your fingers are. The faster I go, the more tense my fingers become. Thanks for your video
Man, you have incredible hair. Love it. Thanks for the tips, too.
Dave Perry dude wtf
omg killed me hahahahah
Lmao no homo
Magnet Boy why not?
Hahahaha
pinky up meant he was trying to be extra classy
pinky pie
Super Pony 3 Patrick star, is that you?
Great, genuinely understanding of what he is doing and dedicated to sharing his knowledge teacher of the piano playing. Rare quality.
Thank you Josh for taking the time to generously share these techniques with us , in recent months the 4th and 5th fingers of my right hand have become weaker and slowed up .. Your lessons have really helped .
I am so grateful to you for sharing your knowledge, time, and passion FREELY. That 12 year old boy hit home. .. i have heard the exact same words too many times regarding my scale technique: namely , "how are you playing your scales so fast like THAT". You were imitating my hands in your video!.. I'd know my hands anywhere. Can't wait to get to work on this stuff. thanks again
Josh, your videos and teachings are absolutely smashing ! Period.
Good stuff. I took this anti-tension approach to heart a year ago and the improvement is far and beyond any improvement made in the distant past. Not to mention much more enjoyable
This literally couldn't have been better timed. Been struggling for weeks listening to my uneven scales. Thank you so much Mr. Wright!
Ghanghyun Shim Thank you for your support!
Wow this video actually captured a lot of what I was doing wrong in my daily practises and explains a lot of the mistakes that I've been constantly making and repeating, and I wasn't even aware of the fact of my fingers' flexing and my hand/arm tensing up... Absolutely great tips thank you!!
:D Coming from someone who feels they have a perfect technique and thinks their technique isn't too far from perfect, I'm always astonished to find out there's something else I don't know about technique from you, Master Josh--Thank you so much!!! :D
Hey Josh
could you please show the finger technics a bit closer that we can see ?!
Great ! ur one of the best teacher on RUclips ! I'm waiting 4 more videos 👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽
Def. I will check out your other vids you are the first one I found that explains technique in a way is easy to comprehend.
Josh ! ! ! Tnx for the advice ! ! That with the tension in the 4 5 th finger solves a lot of troubles in my practice ! ! !
All of your videos are so very delightful and informative. You simply have the most gentle and patient and humble approach in teaching. Sum it up, you are a great teacher. Thanks!!!
wow,,,just watched a bit of one of your competitions!! Great command!! I get the jitters before a jazz set I can´t imagine the adrenaline before a Chopin Competition!
Very helpful, i can't stop seeing you videos Josh, just love it! i love playing piano!
You are a great teacher Josh, your energy and all that you transmit is just brilliant ! great work
***** Thank you for your kindness :)
Thank you very much indeed for your tips and for sharing your experience and your thoughts
Excellent teaching, valuable concepts and concisely presented
Once again, excellent material. I'll start putting this to work immediately. The music I'm playing isn't classical, but I'm sure the principal of relaxation applies all the same. Thanks again for sharing this valuable info, Josh.
Tom Glander Thank you Tom! I appreciate your kind words
Just one thing, when hanging your hand down loosely from the shoulders, the fingers do not curve as extreme as you suggested when talking about the 2+3 trill. Thus tugging in finger 3-5 like you suggest is not their natural position, but it certainly avoids the shaking associated with them being held above the keys. And their is nothing inherently wrong with them giggling along during the 2-3 trill. But I agree that it looks more elegantly the way you do it. If the trill is short however, I would rest the fingers above the keys and let them giggle along so they are ready for their next task. Just a thought.
Nice relaxed chatty manner plus expertise.
Thanks Josh, I am trying to play again after many years of neglect lol and in need to do scales the right way again and I do have the problem with my right ring and little finger flexing and I injured that finger too.
ingrid aquino It's something that I see in many students, as well as in myself in certain passages. If you're diligent about relaxing your hands, you can overcome it quickly!
I never even thought of this! Thank you!!
awesom advise, probably just what i needed to get more relaxed scales. i always get tence with large fast scales
Thank you Professor Josh! A Fantastic and Amazing technical lesson on developing fluid piano technique.
I am old in good health, and have not played the piano for many, many years. I love Chopin, sometimes Debussy, and the classics, especially Schumann and Rachmaninov. I am going back to the piano, my first love. Who can forget a first love?
I certainly can not. Thank you for this great video! Sarah Hagen
I have learned so much from watching your tutorials. Thank you so much, Josh!
Thank you so much! So happy I found you!!! This tip was precisely what I needed!
Thanks Jossh!!Excellent trick!
Josh, thanks a lot for sharing the tips. You have no idea how important these concepts meant to me. Regards from Brazil.
hauff Thank you so much! Best of luck in your studies!
This video is right answer on right time for me... . Thankyou Josh, God bless you!
Sri Agustinus
Wht
Your scales are amazing! Thx for sharing interesting tips.
Ha! I have that tense levitating little finger issue on my plank (fretted stringed instrument played flat a bit like a keyboard - sort of) and assumed it was just an annoyance I had to live with. I'm going to give your suggestions a go and hope I remember to give you credit once it's sorted. A lot of the other things you say are relevant too.
Hi Josh, thanks for all your videos, I have learned a lot about all your concepts and I would like to ask you to share a bibliography of piano technique, or books where you have learned technique. Greetings and thanks again.
Thank you, Josh, for an extremely useful video. I will be exploring many more of your videos! :)
LOL at the end of the video I got an Ad of this guy
Incredible, Josh! I hope to one day play as fluidly as you!
Splendid analysis Josh , With much respect and wishes from India
Superb! We are responsible to teach 'neutral position' and 'release into neutral' and thank you for presenting it like this.
wadecottingham Thanks Wade! I hope you're doing well
Very useful videos! All of them! thanks a lot for sharing
Good stuff, Josh. Glad I found your channel.
Are you sure the wobbling exercise really makes the hand more neutral? From experiments on both myself and students, I find lifting fingers is a panic reflex to stop the whole palm falling down through a droopy and inert finger. Wobbling makes my finger stand up into more life, not more neutral. I also use conscious finger lifting to empower the standing finger into more action, before letting them dangle back down (while keeping the standing finger active and alive). I find this kind of conscious finger lifting is ironically the quickest cure for unwanted lifting. Once the playing fingers are keeping the hand open, with more action, the panic reflex vanishes. Drooping after producing tone is the underlying fault, which causes the panic.
Wow! I've had the same problem your 12 years old student reported for years. My pinky creates a mind of its own and it really bothers me. I will try this out right away! Thanks!!!
a very good exercise that few people know about is using say your keyboard but triggering a synth with almost no decay. You can also add paper to the strings on a real piano to get a harpsichord type sound. this will really reveal inconsistencies.
Much needed information josh...thanks
Really like your technique for trills and it works. Thanks.
This was very helpful, thank you. I find myself often getting that forearm burn and have a permanent stuck up pinky and straight 4th finger. I will give these techniques a try.
Getting rid of tensions. A lifelong battle!
I'm trying double octave scales (C and D) focusing on wrists but I always feel there is something wrong!
I'm also doing some work around Hanon's exercices (mostly trying to play each hand at a different volume) and I become so tense when I try that! I don't know why!
But maybe I'm going to fast. I'm only 9 months into piano practicing (I play about 10 hours each week) and these kind of things doesn't get fix in a week. It is very impressing to see how fast you can play scales!
That was brillant teaching Josh.
I tried that shaking and it gives a really pleasant fealing of alignment and centering. That the weight is behind he playing finger.
I like your approach. Very organic and fluid. I rather play slow and fluid opposed to fast and ridged. I know when our approach to making music is carefully executed speed and accuracy follows; It takes patience. How would you go about improving ones ability to sight read?
That was very very helpful! Thank you and God bless you.
Josh Wright you are as always right :-)
Great video.
Jazzper79 Haha thank you for your kindness
that's the problem i have, not relaxing my fingers, i'm glad i hit your video, cause i thinjk it will be a big help, thank you!
I have played for 9 years and none of my piano teachers ever taught me scales or exercises... I just practiced reading music and timing. So just last year I started to practice them, because I hit a brick wall. I see tremendous progress already but I really am struggling with gaining speed and playing them in my actual piano pieces... Would you have any advice for me?
Taylor Parker pay better attention to your surroundings
That's shameful. They should give you a refund :) to not even mention it...
This is such a great video. Thanks Josh
Thanks for putting this out Josh, this is very insightful and practical. I just wish I had seen this about 30 years ago. LOL.
Awesome video man. Keep em coming.
Thank you, I think this will prove very helpful.
Tyler Glidden I appreciate it Tyler :)
Thanks a lot for this trick...can you tell me what do you think about the technique of Edna golandsky, cause I haven a lot of doubt about it, but I like it cause it's a really relaxed way to play
Love your technique! Thanks for sharing! How can I keep from freezing when I go to piano practice?? I've been playing hard for 1.5 yrs. and am 63yrs. old My dad was a professional pianist and I basically learned from watching him, but am finally learning to read music. I can play better at home but freak during practice. Any advice would be welcomed!!!
Thank you, seems to be very helpful in the long term
Great Lesson Josh.
I have a problem where the pinky on my right hand is inextricably linked to an extent to the fourth finger (I cannot hold the pinky down individually without affecting the fourth finger, and I cannot lift the fourth finger very much up individually without raising the pinky). It's impossible for me to "tuck" the pinky while playing the fourth finger like Horowitz (I can do it on the left hand). Is it still possible to eliminate the pinky lift given my physiological restriction (short of surgery??)
acediac1 Yes - try practicing Schmitt Preparatory exercises, specifically the ones that have you hold down the fourth finger. Then do the ones where you have to hold the fifth finger. These finger independence exercises should help :)
thanks for the information! very informative for myself, a beginner
thanks!
Never heard about you. But man, you are fantastic! the fact that I'm a jazz musician doesn't change anything: I have some ideas to adapt your teaching to my style.
fantastic lesson,thanks Josh!
Thanks! This is very helpful!
Thanks, Josh. I never realized that I was flexing my pinky until this video.
Congratulations. i'm trying to improve the speed of the octaves execution when I play, and your video it helped me a lot to re practice in the way that you suggest… Thank you... I saw some videos from your piano playing, a lot of classical master pieces… absolutely fantastic execution and technic with great feeling… Thanks again for your videos, regards, Alex.
Alex Mavrogenis aka Lex Parker Thanks so much Alex! I truly appreciate your kind words of support
Very useful tips, well explained! Greetings from the Neverlands
I missed Josh Wright Piano TV! :)
The pinky goes up when there is an excess of contraction in the palm. And the palm is where the attention need to go to put 4 and 5 down. The reason for it is totally physiological and it is that in the palm each and every tendon regarding the movement of the fingers and hand plus all the " non movement" muscles are all very close to each other. There is where we accumulate the tension. There is where every unwonted movement and position start
You are a great teacher
Good teaching Josh
Thanks alot from Saudi Arabia
Thanks for this Donald
this video is awesome. my piano techniqiue really sucks. i serioususly need to start practicing everyday. When i record myself with this bebop transcription of Bud Powell it really sucks for technique. maybe it would help if i played on weighted keys it would sound better but using the keyboard i'm frustrated with the unevenness and velocity disparity in my playing. i'm ready to start taking classical training if i have to just to be smoother. i can play the notes and the lines but it sounds very ameteur-ish. this video im sure will help some of the problems i have. I get nervous playing certain parts of the tune and i notice tension when that happens. Then when i relax i feel myself relaxing inak my arm and hand but my listening gets relaxed too smh. I'm sure this along with slowing what i am practicing down and really work on my technique for each line will help tremendously. thanks for this free video. cant wait to check out the performer you mentioned as well she sounds like a world class player!!
So helpful. Thank you!
tips really works! thank you so much, my pinky has been fixed
such a great teacher!
very useful, thank you for sharing this, Josh!
:)
hello Josh, I really enjoy your video's. But i would like for you to have a better view of what your hands are doing. From the side view, I can't really tell exactly how you are playing the notes. you make so much sense when you explain things . Fantastic job. Mimi-Wilda
Amazingly!! Thanks a lot.
terrific video. Thank you for sharing your wide knowledge. Marie, professional musician in Germany
Dear Dr. Wright,
Thank you very much for your video.
When I play piano I have a lot of tension from my wrist to elbow, there for specially when I have stress my hands and fingers can't move. Could you please guide me what can I do to over come this problem? Thank you for time and consideration your confirmation would be appreciated.
Sincerely,
Narjes
Excellent. Thank You!!
Thanks for your excellent series. I don't want to be too pedantic, but raising the fingers is technically "extension". When you make a fist, it is "flexion".
jj3941 Haha thanks so much for the insights! I'll have to incorporate that into my vocabulary
Cheers for this video mate, helpful business