What is the Fastest Way the Brain Learns Piano?

June 21, 2021 Leslie Young

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In thinking about how the brain learns piano, consider how we humans try to find patterns in our world all the time. In everything we do and everywhere we go, the brain searches to recognize patterns. Why? So that we can more easily learn and remember what we learned. Having information stored in memory as a pattern or part of a pattern makes retrieving it again much easier. Finding patterns and using them is part of how we learn and make decisions in life. Patterns are even involved in how the brain learns piano.

Here you can read about how researchers found that the brain processes pattern learning in a different way from probabilistic learning – which is guessing that something will happen based on past experience. MRI machines can produce images of where the learning occurs in the brain and what kind of learning it is: pattern or probability.

“We could see what parts of the brain were activated when participants figured out that there was a pattern — or realized that there was no pattern,” said Ian Krajbich, co-author of the study and assistant professor of psychology and economics at
The Ohio State University.
Krajbich conducted the research with Arkady Konovalov, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Zurich who received his PhD at Ohio State. The study appears in the journal Neuron. In this study, the researchers found different parts of the brain were active depending on two kinds of uncertainty that the participants faced. They found that probabilistic and pattern learning differ in how
they engage the brain.
The hippocampus was another part of the brain that was particularly active when participants were figuring out patterns.
“We found that people who had more hippocampal activity were faster learners,” Krajbich said. “They are learning patterns and developing rules that guide their decision and make them
faster and more accurate.”
Overall, the study showed that pattern learning is treated
differently in the brain from probabilistic learning.
“The brain is keeping track of more things than we previously thought,” Krajbich said. “It isn’t just about predicting what is coming next. It is looking for rules to help predict better and faster.”

So What is the Fastest Way the Brain Learns Piano?

When the brain recognizes the patterns within the language of music and the piano keyboard, then learning occurs much faster. Recognizing those patterns also produces stronger memories and long-term learning so new information and performance skills will not be forgotten.

What Patterns are in the Language of Music and the Piano Keyboard?

This does not involve rote copying of teacher demonstration or illustrations in a manual. It also does not involve finger numbers or hand positions.

Using patterns to learn how to more quickly read written music to play the piano involves a “thinking process” that begins with recognizing something already known (prior knowledge) and using it to produce new knowledge or new action.

For example, the student readily sees the brand name in the middle of the piano. It is used to find the group of three black keys closest to being underneath the brand. The beginner student presses down the three black keys and pretends to pick them up, placing the right hand thumb right above the white key that is the lowest staff space “F.” This becomes a pattern of locating the F key in front of every group of three black keys on the piano.

Y A M A H A

Some other patterns are:
* the skips and steps represented by the lines and spaces of the staff
* the repeated groups of two and three black keys
* using a group of black keys to locate a specific white key and its letter name

Later the student learns the whole and half step pattern of scales, bass octave/chord patterns for accompaniment, rhythms, composition patterns, and much more.

In the Revolutionary Piano Method, students must name the note as its key is played. This saves the name-key relationship into long-term memory and makes a huge difference in actual note-reading. It’s also a reason this is a fast way to learn piano because this thinking process is introduced right at the start. The approach prevents students from developing the crutch of playing by finger numbers or by how notes move on the staff (repeat, step, or skip). Find details here.

We humans do try to find patterns in our world all the time. In everything we do, the brain searches to recognize patterns – even in how the brain learns piano. If a student is taught using a thinking process to recognize patterns, then he can more quickly learn and remember what was learned.

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Leslie Young is the author/composer of the Revolutionary Piano Method. She co-founded a K-12th grade charter school in Texas and has been a piano teacher for about 40 years. She has had experience teaching a variety of students tackling piano for the first time or as returning students.

She states: “In teaching piano to students of varying ages, what also varies is a commitment of time and the amount of dedication. Children of certain ages may do very well with a parent as teacher; others may need someone who is not family to instruct them. Some older children and adults prefer to make progress on their own, and this method is designed to act as a meticulous guide through new material. Some adults and teens insist on professional teachers, which also encourages continuity. Because these books are self-explanatory, a new or experienced professional teacher will have no trouble using the Revolutionary Piano Method with students. It is an easy way to learn piano.”

Leslie believe that “learning to play the piano is more about diligence and perseverance” – but would add that just as critical to success is the method that is used, the encouragement of critical thinking, and the instructional principles that promote immediate success.

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