This channel is so terribly underrated. Probably the best piano channel on youtube and only 6k subs...You Sir deserve a couple of hundreads at least! Great and informative videos with professional analisys of technique, watching one can be a milestone for a beginner pianist, and even the advanced can learn something!

Taking short breaks to reinforce memories is key to learning new skills or re-learning old ones (ZME science article)

I use Pomodorov technique , resting, naps, and not starting from the same part is quite an approach to a effective session. Remember what Liszt said: "think twice play one"

I think you forgot one extremely important step (at least for me) and that is fingerings. I always, no matter what piece I play, I always start learning the first section of a new piece by writing down the most optimal fingerings for my hands. This is REALLY crucial as we use muscle memory to memorize pieces. In order for the muscle memory to work it is crucial that we actually are consistent in our playing and play in the same way every single time. If we play just a little differently each time, then it becomes very difficult to learn the piece and also unnescessary timeconsuming.

23:40 OMG, you identified perfectly a seriously bad habit I have when it comes to learning new pieces. "A trick of our mind to avoid going out of our comfort zone... because starting a new section takes effort." To get out of this rut, I've made it a goal of mine to "learn all the notes" first, and get to the end of the piece as fast as possible, because I keep getting stuck on pieces that are 1/4th, 1/3rd complete and can't ever seem to let go of that imperfection in what I've already learned to move on.

Your suggestion of practicing hard measures separatley are exactly what my Coach tells me. She calls it "taking to the Woodshed". If measures 4 & 5 are causing problems start there and wirk it over and over. 5 times correctly... if you mess it ip on 3rd time, start counting over. 5 times in a row 100% correct. THEN go back to measure 1 and play through 5 if it's corrected ho on to measure 6 and go again until you hit another "snag" then pull out that section and do same thing. Thank you!

I am amazed by your generosity, offering so much information for free. Thank you so much!

I agree with everything you've said. I have the exact philosophy and recommendations when I give lessons. "Studying is solving problems" that's a must! 👏👏👏

Thank you, Im a musician and i was stuck in middle part of tempest sonata and whit this tutorial i got it all ❤❤❤

You are so RIGHT! As a pianist, I often "fake" it and hope that no one would notices my weaknesses! It takes a lot of courage to admit to your own mistakes and face the corrections. That's why practicing is not FUN.... I do appreciate your methods of breaking down the problems into smaller chunks. I often repeat the same mistakes many times until I see my teacher for revisions.

22:25 is in my opinion the most useful tip in this video!

This is PURE GOLD. Sir, you are the TOP G of piano youtubers.

Watching your videos I have to say that your lessons are really top quality. I'm learning so many things and details from you that I had never heard in the past from my music teachers. Your channel is in my opinion the best piano channel I've found in KZfaq. As wrote Pawel below, you should deserve many more subscribers.

I just found you in the you tube and I feel like I have found a treasure! You are the best, thank you for your videos

If I spent as much time focused practicing as I do watching Videos on music I could be playing at Carnegie Hall by now :) Great video as always. Thanks for the content.

Well, unpexpectedly I've found the best piano channel in the whole galaxy. Greetings from Argentina, Denis!!!

Excellent guidance!

I watched this video twice and was surprised how important it is. Every word was very helpful and in context and verified with my by my own practicing experience.

It is sad that there is very little information about how to practice efficiently. Most books about piano playing focus on the artistic side and leave out the craftsmanship side. Piano lessons sadly tend to be like this at the higher levels too. It is kind of ironic that the book you mention, "Fundamentals of Piano Practice" was written by a non-pianist. There is basically no great content by a great pianist or famous pedagogue I can think of that focuses on the craftsmanship aspect. Thanks for sharing some of the strategies you use, I agree with the previous comment, this channel is underrated!

Thank you for your wonderful tips. My current goal is to get to a better music memory - I'm working on it

Thank you so much. Brilliantly helpful video . Really glad I stumbled on your site

Случайно попала на ваш канал, Денис. Одно удовольствие смотреть ваши видео. Очень красиво всё снято. Вы тоже выглядите очень красиво. А ваша английская речь просто безупречная. Вы так все хорошо и понятно объясняете. Я даже записывала ваши выражения. Все очень высокого качества. Вы мотивируете опять начинать заниматься. Я прочитала, что вы учились у Маргариуса. Он преподавал в нашей Харьковской консерватории, когда я там училась. Это было очень давно. Спасибо вам за видео.

Excellent advice. Thank you. While I always try to be mindful when practising, these techniques are fantastic to reinforce meaningful progress. I learned a lot - thank you!

The tips are great! I find re-visit it every few weeks or every few months after some practice is helpful -- I pick up new tips when rewatching it especially from the demonstrations

Dear Denis, your lessons are first class. Thank you so much for helping me to improve and to resolve problems I have had for years. For instance the brillant Siciliano/Kempf I have managed to play fairly well thanks to your teaching gifts.

Very informative. It will be nice to have chapters in the video to make sections easier to find.b

Thank you! Well done!

Excellent advice! Thanks so much!

Fantastic tipps. I appreciate it so much.👍🎹

Thank you so much for such useful tips :)

Beautiful Video, Denis! I love to see the quality improving more and more. 🔥

You are so smart and insightful!

Thanks for this Video!

Thank you so much! Really informative video.

Thanks Denis, You should encourage me to learn music theory. This video is treasure for me, because when i stayed alone(Without teacher) several problems have and it is bit difficult for me to solve. Thanks dear ❤️❤️❤️

I found your advice quite helpful and have subscribed 😊

DZ I just purchased your “Basics of Piano Technique & Musicality”. I am so excited about having access to this work/teachings. Best on Web. Thank you so much my friend. You give an old guy like me hope. Cheers.

You accompanied me wash the dishes. Made a menial task meaningful! Enjoying your approach, thanks.

Thanks

I remember reading about a Liszt masterclass where he stated how to approach a new piece. Problem is, that I don't remember where I read it. I'm not even sure if it was Liszt who said it... but I found it really helpful when playing pieces which don't take too much time to learn to play for my individual level and also when learning a new piece (but then I do it with hands separately first and for passages, when it's more complex) "Play the piece once and pay attention to the notes (/keys). Play the piece a second time and pay attention to the rhythm. Play the piece again and add the dynamics. Play it again and pay attention to the expressiom marks. Again + Pedal Again + raise the tempo (? Don't remember this one clearly)" Maybe it's a good idea to add comfort and relaxation as the 1st - at least when learning a new piece. I think of course you don't neglect everything else, but everytime you play the piece one fundamental aspect of music more attention than the others. The idea is to get to know a piece as a whole when you can already approach it this way. You give one aspect after another attention and let your subconscious handle the others a bit more while improving one. If anyone knows where it can be found, please let me know. I will probably add it myself when I find it.

Thank you for your advices. I misunderstood the term of practicing. Obviously.😊 Thank you for sharing your knowledge.

Let's hear about how to practice the Chopin Etudes ans the Winter Wind Opus 10 #11 in particular. What would be your approach and regimen.

My favourite channel on youtube period.I have reached the level where I'm studying piano at the university but i figured out I'm still making some simple mistakes in my practicing.And you pointed them out so brilliantly!Thanks a million!

this video is a golden lesson for me though I'm learning the organ actually...as your techniques and practicing mindset applies to different instruments! However, it's quite hard to fight the temptation to go through once the piece correctly instead of practicing the details..

Sensacional! Fantastic! Wunderbar! 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼🙏🏼

Artur Rubenstein had some good, basic advice, which matches the structure of my lessons with my teacher. Half the time should be playing, Half, not playing. I seldom hear this in the practice room hallways of music departments.

Thanks!

I really want to learn this but am totally a beginner 🔰

A very common mistake musicians often make is just because it's easy to read they think it's easy to play it well, so it's really good to practice things that are easy to read but tricky to play well so you know that you can play as well as you can read it, then when you try to learn something that is more difficult to read it will be much more easy for you to play it well, in a nutshell practicing like this will help to ensure that your playing is in balance with your reading. P.S Maybe this could be useful to all you music making monsters out there.

Really great practice advice, a lot of gems in this video. Subscribed and I'm looking forward to more similar, helpful content for learning piano better

I like your tutorial. I find it very helpful. and I have subscribed your channel.

Thank you so much! My son started taking lessons 3 years ago, prior to that it was KZfaq. He loves listening to recordings but no one has suggested following along with the score. It seems so obvious a good idea after you mentioned but for 3 years no one mentioned and think of doing that! What's crazier is he would listen to his own recordings and follow along with the Henle to check for mistakes but we never thought to follow along with the recordings of the masters! LOL. It makes total sense!

Great video Please can help by putting de notes you are playing on the screen via any software of your choice

I would be curious to also see a video on what to focus your mind on during a performance, and what mental tricks and pitfalls there are. The transition from practicing to performing/recording is tricky, and also sometimes it makes you learn that you want to change or patch how you want to play but that’s also tricky to fix old habits… Btw, there seems to be a problem with your chapters, because the video playbar isn’t segmented. Not sure, but perhaps because there are colons in one of your descriptions?

Wow! What a valuable essence of practice wisdom! Golden words, thank you. Let me put one question: How many pieces would you recommend to work on parallel? One per day? Let's be conkret: there are 5 peaces not yet perfect. Should I work on all of them (with pauses) every day to make them perfect or one at a day and tomorrow the next one? Thank you.

Watching for applying this to playing better guitar. : p

Love ur Witcher-Shirt! .. oh and the lesson of course ;)

I saw a read compliment from Michael Moran on your etude from the Chopin competition. Could you do a video on your experience from it? How you prepared, your mental state and emotions. It's difficult to find personal stories on preparation. Also what would you have done differently etc

Thank you for this video. I tend to repeat over 20 times without mistakes the spot I'm learning. Starting tomorrow I'm going to follow your advice and lower the number of repetitions and sleep on them. Speaking of sleep, what do you think of mental practice? I'm experimenting these last few days mentally going over the session I practiced during the day before I go to bed, and I've noticed a considerable improvement in the memorization process, which results in way less mistakes the next day when I review it.

Some very good tips here, thank you! Do you find that student's learning speed increases when they adopt good practice techniques and as their skills improve? A big frustration for me is that even though I do practice thoughtfully, the length of time it takes me to learn even segments of pieces does not seem to decrease.

This is a very helpful way to structure practice. I'm confused by the chord progressions at approximately 19:53 onward. I think you say that you start with G major but I see D major chords in both the left and right hands and also in the key signature. Am I mishearing your narration?

Very good. Thanks a lot. I would like to know, how much to practice technique a day. Like should you spent 1/4 of your practice time for technique or more or less? Idk every time..

Я не играю на пианино, но было интересно

0:21 LMAO, luckily I wasn't drinking this water next to me.

Hi. Just wondering how much an on-line lesson costs. Many thanks for the great videos you make and your expertise.

how does one approach analytical memory on atonal pieces or things like scriabin later sonatas

Sorry, can't find a name of the book you've mentioned. Could you please kindly provide it?

Türkçe altyazı istiyoruz Deniz bey

Denis, what is a good source to learn enough theory to be able to identify the important harmonic and formal structures when learning a piece? I'd be really interested in a music theory course for pianists..any plans to make such a course?

I think I have practiced a lot of your recommendations. I really like the craftsmanship of learning new pieces. But I’m not a pianist and my time for practicing is maybe one hour every second day and 3-4 hours in the weekends (maybe every second week). I like Chopin and are practicing som of his etyds . My question is. Is it possible to learn very hard pieces in close to tempo if you practice disciplined but have so little time for practicing as I have? Sometimes I have played Chopin etyds in half or 3/4 of original tempo. But only on my own piano. Men I play on another instrument I always fail. And I have a lot of of possibilities. My profession is a piano technician and tuner. Only when I find a piano very similar to my own pianos touch, I can perform a difficult piece to my satisfaction.. And only after I have played several times before in a very slow tempo.

Merci !

nice shirt

Fundamentals of Piano Practice, by Chuan C. Chang

Funny comment at the beginning of your video about the common inarticulate misconceptions people mouth when they have little or no truly accurate information concerning their commentary. I find your piano techniques, and prowess to be beautifully applicable, and concisely articulate, but; I'm sure it evolved over much physical deliberation and disciplined practice hours... So, yes most people haven't any scientific prowess, and merely repeat what's popular, or worse, what they we told (word of mouth). Unfortunately, the lesson you might consider, if I was to offer some constructive advisement, is: As silly as it might seem, there is an actual association betwixt the ubiquitous WCR as an environmental adjunct bio-stressor, which is certainly been proven to be adverse to health outcomes of patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 (being, an increased severability and propagation of COVID-19.) This is verifiable at the National Library of Health, (NLM) and the peer published scientific literature at the National Institutes of Health. Always inform yourself, before you decide to ridicule what seems, others arbitrary evidence. If you look for an article which is one of many; titled: "The connection between coronavirus disease-19 and exposure to radiofrequency radiation from wireless communications including 5G." This WCR is a Wave Convertible Router (WCR) used in microwave WiFi, and is an ambient radiofrequency radiation, and is patented with the Coronavirus Patents, and is indirectly applicable to a wireless communication system... So, you might laugh at people who can't articulate themselves scientifically, but; you seemed to have clowned yourself in your own bigotry. Still, it was funny, and the lessons are terrific. ~ Inertia

'Scientifically proved' that learning hands separately is better?! As far as I'm aware, academic studies on this show evidence for the opposite. Citations please!!

i thought i was good as practicing and a fast learner. guess not😔

Jokes on vx at the beginning of this video have not aged well, especially with heavy handed pol involvement, people's loss of jobs, and the serious deleterious health effects it has had on an unusually high number of people, including young men dropping lifeless to the ground to their premature end.

Thanks!