How Tiny Changes Can Produce Amazing Results in Piano Performance: Part 4
“If you can get 1% better each day for one year,
you’ll end up 37 times better by the time you’re done.”
Excerpt from Atomic Habits by James Clear
How can you replicate this approach in your piano performance?
In thinking about the changes a person could make to improve overall piano performance, I had decided on two main categories:
1. Improvements in the physical and mental functions in the actual performance
2. Improvements in the environment and the body
I have posted concerning 4 items in the second category, that you can reread:
Room Temperature
Shoe Heel Height
Piano Bench
Seat Cushion
Last week I added two more items, that you can reread:
Dehydration
Healthy Snacks
I’m continuing in this category with hands – nails, strength, and exercises.
Here’s a great site about how to improve the hands that should result in improved piano performance.
Nail Length
Personally, I know the difference in my playing when I have nails of the “perfect” short length or if they are too long. Seems like I have around a 5% improvement in performance when my nails are just right; anyway, it is a noticeable difference in feeling the keys and in attention diverted to the nails instead of concentrating on the composition.
Ideally, nails should not cause any hand or wrist position changes in order to play the keys optimally, including strength of finger strike. Shorter nails allow for a curving of the fingers and less tension while playing. The performer has greater speed and more control, leading to more expression capabilities. There’s no clicking of nails produced when nails don’t touch the keys, and there should be no chance of injury due to long length.
Strength
By strength I mean hardness of finger strike on the key while maintaining optimal finger tension and arm/wrist movement. This is best explained in video. It may seem overwhelmingly nit-picking at first, but it absolutely affects performance in a positive way after becoming a nonthinking habit.
Exercises
At this site, there are exercises for improving the function of the wrists, forearms, and fingers. There are suggestions for the pianist with smaller hands, such as how to compensate with arpeggiated rolls and playing the keys deeper (moving the hand further away from your body).
I had an amazing five-year-old scratch-beginner student who instinctively did what she needed to do to “roll up” to those keys that her tiny fingers could not yet reach. It was instructive for me and just plain fun to watch her play. For the young, it only gets easier to play as they get older.
The flexibility and motions of the hand are quite amazing and beautiful, as well as functional. To be at peak performance, these are just more considerations as to how tiny changes can produce amazing results in piano performance!
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 student
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 believes 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.
What Would the First Lesson for a Young Student Look Like?
What Would the First Lesson for a 6 to Teen Look Like (video)?
View sample pages of all the books for students
ages 6 to teen:
View sample pages of all the books for students
4 to 5 years old:
View sample pages of all the books for older
teens and adults:
View the books on Amazon:
