Getting Back into Piano

During this quarantine period, it seems as though there are fewer jobs and more applicants than ever before. So between my coursera courses and job applications, I’m taking the time to try my hand at the piano again. Not that I stopped, it’s been on and off for a long time. I just did not have as much interest at mastering it before. The timing for my new-found interest is unfortunate…my piano has been neglected from my on-and-off interest, with keys towards both ends often getting stuck, or off-tune. I have little hope for fixing it. the last tuner said there was only so much he can do. Until I get a new piano, I plan to power through! In the meantime, I wanted to share some tips and strategies that I have learned over the last month.

In my new and vehment desire to learn the piano, I’ve discovered details about the musical community that I can’t believe I did not notice before. Take youtube. I always knew it existed, and that people post videos of them playing instruments. I did not know that there were relatively professional vloggers (think Casey Neistat) that broke down music subjects. One such vlogger is Nahre Sol. She has amazing videos that break down Lo-fi, beboop, or even some fun warm up practices for the piano. Her videos are well made, and while she occasionally mentions music theory that I unfamilar with, it has given me the opportunity to find out what I can learn next. I’ve also been inspired from hearing these vloggers talk about music!

There are several reddit communities for Piano. What I call the main one, r/piano, is very friendly. Topics range from what piano to get, sharing performances, and tips to get better. I don’t plan to submit my performances anytime soon (I’m very shy), but this community made me realize that recording yourself is a great way of realizing issues in your playing. A tip I strongly recommend to those wondering about odd wrist pain. If you are not shy about your performances, r/piano has a monthly ‘piano jam[^1]’! A moderator posts a collection of pieces for classical, jazz, movies and even video games, and people have a month to learn them and post the results.

Importantly, I found a book thanks to r/piano: Fundamentals of Piano Practice. It’s a collection of wisdom for any piano player to use. Especially important is that it has advice that any solo player (like myself) should take to the piano. It has great advice that I’ve heard professional musicians give. For example, focus on separating the hands, and play only those parts of the pieces that are challenging. There is other advice, such as Hanon or similar practices must not be the bulk of your learning. They are mostly useful to absolute beginners learning their fingering, and even then, may cause tendonitis if done poorly.

I’m planning on working myself through learning to heart a good number of pieces before I get hired! So far, I’ve been having fun with the Chopin Nocturnes, and plan to move to Debussey next (unless Gershwin gets me first).

[^1] As of writing, the most recent piano jam is found here: June 02, 2020. The piano jams can be found at the top of the r/piano page.