Here are five of the most essential principles that practically all piano students (amateurs, and sometimes advanced players) either disregard, overlook or don’t know at all.
1. Be slow and steady
Learn piano and keyboard very very slowly, especially, when you’re starting a new piece from the scratch. For time being, completely ignore tempo marks and using different rhythm patterns. Let all the right notes soak in to your muscle memory, then you can slowly pick up speed to its actual rhythm and tempo.
2. Relax your muscles
Loosen up any muscle that is idle, particularly the shoulders, the arms, the wrists and the inactive fingers. Abstain from raising any idle finger while playing, mostly it’s the little finger but it’s not necessarily the only idle finger.
3. Listen
Listen to whatever you play. Listen for notes, phrases, tone colors and rhythms separately. Point out any potential mistakes you’re making and the intensity and frequency of those mistakes and correct them.
4. Count loudly
Count your beats loudly and audibly. Try not to depend exclusively on the metronome for keeping rhythms. Some players mainly use metronome to maintain the tempo, not rhythm. Some practices that piano students do such as tapping your feet, counting by heart or clapping your hands are not entirely reliable. The best way to count is by counting aloud.
5. Practice with single hands first
Always practice with single hands first when you’re trying a new piece. You can never play a piece well with two hands unless you are thorough playing with both hands separately.
Throw in some passion on to all of this and you are surely on the right track with your piano classes / keyboard classes. To know such useful tips and implement them in your practice sessions, we recommend you to learn piano/keyboard from a professional tutor.