What helps you learn piano pieces faster? :)

My old teacher used to tell me to play a new song EXTREMELY slowly at first to make sure everything is absolutely correct cuz if u make too many mistakes at the onset ur brain will simply remember how to play the mistakes.

i am 83 and i did simple exercise finger independence it took me 3 days . feel happy i unterstood it merci

- Listen and watch the score on KZfaq, 0:22 - Study the score, 1:15 - Make notes on your sheet music, 1:50 - Analyze sections of the piece, 3:13 - Practice hands separately, 4:17 - Practice hands together in sections, 5:24 - Your brain loves repetition, 5:40

Another tip for pianists is to practice very slowly like at a tempo of 30 which will improve them by a lot

Whenever people wonder why studying music theory is beneficial/practical for a performer I always think of the benefits regarding learning pieces. When you can start to see the music on different structural levels it's so much easier to memorize a piece. This is because you're memorize IDEAS and not just "notes." The latter would be like an actor memorizing the letters of their script... that sounds awful, right!? We want to memorize IDEAS and then the details. I definitely concur with LISTENING to the music. It baffles me how so many students walk into lesson without having spent any time listening to the piece they're working on. When you get the piece in your ears, you're more likely to catch your mistakes because you have a working reference in your mind. Unless you have great aural skills and sight reading skills, odds are you'll have no idea you made a mistake because you have no aural reference to judge your playing against. Not only that, but it inspires your playing, phrasing, and dynamics! Scores are often full of erroneous phrasings just because they conform to the standards of the time (like phrasing within measure lines rather than using phrase markings across the bar). Luckily for us, we can even listen to NUMEROUS interpretations of a piece and pull different parts from different recordings that we like and make a conglomerate effort. Lastly, I also teach to work on music in sections. I like to change it up though. Perhaps we'll work on measures from left to right or perhaps right to left. By this I mean learn, say, measures 1-2, then 3-4, and then play 1-4. Or perhaps learn 3-4, then 1-2, and then play the four together. It just depends on the piece, the student, and what the struggle is. Sometimes it helps to change things up just to avoid falling into "auto pilot" mode.

Yesterday I tried your method for learning a piece quickly. I have been trying to move from John Thompson’s grade 3 book to the grade 4 book and want to learn the theme from the 2nd movement of Beethoven’s 5th symphony. I actually never thought I could do it. But using the methods you teach in this video is working a treat! I played right hand only about 20 times of just the first section. I also listened several times to a youtuber playing that same piece. I can’t thank you enough for such great advice. It’s working! I know I have a long way to go but now I know I can get there.

I do this thing called the 5s game where I keep repeating sections until I can do it 5 times in a row perfectly

[Now for something completely different] For me as a performer, sharing a story is more interesting than just playing a musical composition. When hearing a work for the first time, I pay attention to my initial reaction, and any impressions, images, and even colors it evokes. This I store as the piece's "emotional index". I then create a narrative to go with it- doesn't have to be anything super precise, just a loose story arc ("In this section a guy falls in love, here he is rejected, here he's depressed"). I can make it as silly or serious as I like- whatever helps me attach an emotion or image to each chord progression, melodic theme, etc.. The more senses involved in memorising something, the quicker to learn and harder to forget. So the notes become the "words" to my stories.

I actually have four tips for practicing a piece. My first tip so far for piano practice is stay at the piano for at least a half hour to a full hour to get the most out of your practice. This will allow you time to warm up for as long as you need, give you time to put in the reps each day like he mentioned with the 7 sets, and to just make it a quality practice session and a substantial step in the right direction. My second tip is to practice multiple things in that hour so your practice is more well-rounded than just warming up and one piece for a full hour. I got done with about half an hour of practicing one super hard piece and one less challenging piece while using the other half hour sight-reading since that's my biggest weakness with piano. My third tip: unless you don't struggle with tension in your fingers and hands when you try to play fast like I do, make sure to stretch out your fingers and hands before you even touch the keys. Literally use your thumb and pinkie to make your fingers do stretches so far apart from each other that the sensation of the stretch travels from your fingers to the flesh in the center between them. Then just do a few typical neck, shoulder, ribcage, arm, and back stretches just to release any physical tension whatsoever. My forth and final tip: DON'T try to go fast with a piece immediately. Slow it down to half the speed minimum, practice both hands separately, bring those up to speed, slow it down again when you put your hands together, then finally bring that up to speed once muscle memory starts to kick in. I hope you find this helpful.

Great advice. Also it's good to chain sections together during practice. So for example, if you learn section 1️⃣, when you practice section two always start that section from the last part of section one. That way you won't ever miss the transition between the two sections. I teach dance this way and it helps me learn harp music better. Thank you so much for the advice. I hadn't thought about half of your suggestions.

As a person leaning piano by myself this video is very informative and helpful. Thank you so much!

Jazer! You don't know how I almost gave up learning pieces until I saw your life-changing video. I can't thank you enough and now, with your 5 steps, I can start over.

Ive been playing piano about 75 years and never before have I heard such practical suggestions to slghtread and learn a piece more quickly.Thank you Jazer. I'll be back for more. SJ .

I’m 13 and I have my heart set on becoming a pianist and I’ve been practising about 5-6 hours a day daily and I only started about 2 months ago, I’m pretty confident this isn’t just a ‘phase’ and I’m taking my Abrsm grade 3 exam in about 5ish weeks, do you think I’ll be able to catch up to other kids my age? I know it’s not good to be comparing myself but I want to enter a competition next year and I’m wondering whether I’ll have the skills and technique required to have good performance

By the time I learn a piece, I'm so bored with it I never want to play it again...

Thank you for the tips! I like to Paint the sheet music with different colors for specific sections. It may seem childish but It really helps me ☺️

Practicing by sections is doubly important because of the way the brain stores information. If you make a mistake during a performance because you ran out of coordination energy or gas, then you would remember the last section to start over instead of starting from the beginning. Try playing the Rhapsody in blue, you'd know what I mean.

That Nocturne is incredibly beautiful. I hope to learn it someday. Also, you have uploaded the video on my birthday. Thanks :)

I am happy to know that I was already doing these 5 steps while teaching myself a piece of music and learning.

This is the most helpful video I’ve found so far, and went into detail on things I already kind of picked up from my piano class. I need to practice and get ahead in my class so I can have a chance at going into the masters class with a professional teacher. Also that piece you learned is the exact one I’ve been trying to learn!

Been learning to play hymns on the organ. This is exactly I needed since I need to learn bunch of songs in a short period of time. Thank you so much!

Five good points - I will be using all of these from now on, makes perfect sense. I choose pieces of music that I like (generally classical) and never get bored with these during the learning process which sometimes does take a long time but always worthwhile sticking at it. I will also sometimes totally ignore whole parts of the tune until I can play (say) the first section properly - then I'll tackle the next. This I find helps me as I can see some results earlier on which helps me keep at it and not get discouraged (which does also happen with tough pieces that are above my level) but nothing good comes easy I've heard sometimes, so best thing is to just keep at it.

This helps A LOT! Thanks so much. My daughter is playing a piece in two days so this is a fantastic video to prepare her!

For a new piece, if I have to learn it as quickly as possible, I'm finding practicing for 15 to 30 minute slots throughout the day helps a lot. Coming back to the piano after an hour or so break, seems to refresh my mind. I think this is enabling the theory of Primacy Learning, which means people usually remember whatever was first and whatever was last in a block of learning something. The more firsts and lasts you have, the more you learn.

I suggest the *"Ling Ling"* method

Oh my gosh, I used your methods, particularly a new one for me, of looking for patterns and themes, one hand at a time, and made SO much progress in so little time. I think this will also help with memorization which I’m generally not very good at. Thank you so much for these tips!

Jazer, I want to let you know your clear, concise, and professional approach to the correct way to learn and practice is extremely helpful for me. I now trust that I am learning the right way to develop my skills. Keep up the good work. Thank you so much!

Very much like the way you explain things and go back to the root of the problem. I have been playing for about 15 years (60 years old now), but apparently you have to keep going back to the basic rules when trying to study a new piece. It really does help and motivates to move on. Your friendly face helps as well i have to say. Love that smile.

Love your videos, Jazer. Please do keep them coming. I am a beginner and find your instruction and experience soooo invaluable

the "your brain

I'm 71and started playing just a few years ago so I'm still a beginner. When I watch a piece I've been assigned on KZfaq I always wish I could see a video of how the piece was approached from the very first. Seeing someone perform the piece without mistakes is fine but for people who need the foundation, a few videos showing how to start learning would be great!

I love how accurate these tips are! Especially the themes one, it really can be applied to anything you are learning! Thank you for the video!

Thank you so much for this vid. I am currently learning Cannon in D and I have seen a big change in how I learn songs. Your amazing, keep it up! ❤️

Step number three (learning the piece hands separately) is very important! Ever since I’ve started playing I’ve learned every piece hands separately, and when I know each part is ready, I join them (in exception of very simple pieces).

Hi Jazer, Great Vid. I am 63 and started learning when I was 7 just the way you described. Both my teacher and my parents (bless them) were results based, so I just became a party piece player. Taking around 3 months to learn Beethoven's Moonlight, Fantasie Impromtu etc .In my 9 years of learning I got to grade 6 and along with a few other pieces for (low key) talent shows I ended up being able to play around 25 pieces. Had I been encouraged (made) from an early age to start sight reading, my repertoire now would be vastly greater as the time taken to learn a piece much quicker. So my advice to anyone wishing to be a serious pianist, do regular sight reading! Don't get me wrong, I am grateful being able to play them, and struggle like this every time I want to play a new piece but wish I had the opportunity to get used to real-time sight reading as we learn reading a book. Hope it is useful cheers!

I love Chopin. I’m working on this exact piece now… I Taking it apart, studying it and looking for patterns- sections - and practicing hand separately; yes I’m following the 7 x advice it’s working … I love this piece and I’m seeing results … time …This piece touches my soul … thus motivating me to… lastly what an honour for you to play this for your dad.. beautiful

Wow, this is honestly so helpful.. I'm going to try the "7 sections" thing

I started learning piano at the age of 29...last year..and today saw this video...thank you for sharing..may God bless you

Finally. Something that is not complex and can be implemented easily! Thank you so much! It really helped me boost my learning speed

That is the best advice I ever got. I started after 30 years with playing piano again, and it was so difficult in the last four weeks, when I started again, to train new songs....but with your advice my finger are doing it by themselves! I love 7 times repeating....it really works and I learned today one DIN A4 Side, practised only a half hour like maximum, and now I can play it without mistakes. So even if I started now with easier peaces, I get it! That's real effective exercising. I normally never played in front of others, because I am nervous and made then a lot of mistakes. But now I feel safer, and I am sure, soon I will play without nervousness, because you teached me to feel safe! Thank you for that. Playing will be much more fun now.

Love your channel, thanks for the tips. We've been watching with my son who has been playing his second year and it is all very useful for him :). He's had many of these exact questions.

Awesome....! I'm 6 months new and LOVE these simple tips :)

Jazer, you are so friendly and cheerful it cheers me up just watching your vids every day! Gives faith in humanity. thanks for being there have a great day

I've listened to your videos over several years, and you have consistently been one of my best Piano teachers. Your advice for learning a piece bit by bit has been enormously helpful. I enjoy your videos and watch them repeatedly. Thanks for sharing your love of piano 🎹 playing.

I think you could mentioned harmonic analyses cause it's comom after baroque epoch, like sonata form. Also in baroque epoch we have The fugues with a differents analyses. I think could be useful explain that, cause it's so commom, and becomes easy to understand what is happening. After all those things are patterns.

1- escuchar la pieza varias veces en yt 2- organizar las partes hacuendo anotaciones en la partitura 3- agarrar dos barras y practicar con manos separadas unas siete veces para asi progresar y entender mejor 4- cada x cantidad de barras juntar las manos, no juntarlas recien al final 5- grabarse a si mismo para ver los errores

Yayyyy people start talking about how to learn well and better and fast!

Before listening to a recording or viewing a video, I would use to score to practice some audiation to attempt to translate the ink into sounds in my mind. That is a useful skill in sight reading too.

Great to see an Aussie piano youtuber! Great video!

Thank you, Jazer! Great tips as always 👍 one that I also find useful is to spend some time figuring out the best fingering, if the piece doesn’t come with any suggestions.

I've recently started playing again after years not doing so, I'm able to practice every day and currently choose easier pieces but, always, always slower than correct pace, that way I find I can take your advice and play a section at a time slowly. Thanks for what you do! Jane in Dorset, UK.

Love this practical advice! So helpful as always and just in time as I begin learning this lovely piece. Thanks again.

piano is something you can become a pro at with practice. all pianist are skilled from simply practicing

Great video and you have a perfect voice for the voice over industry. Perfect for a wildlife documentary.

Jazer, I really appreciate your videos. I'm primarily an trombone player and a vocalist myself, and what you say often has significance even if you don't play the piano. Back in 1975 (!) I started college as a music major, and my lack of piano experience was a big problem for me then. Now that I've recently retired, I'm looking on starting to learn it now that I have more time.

Great video. Thank you for sharing such a personal story about the Chopin Nocturne. The world is a better place for having music ❤️

I have one week to learn the last page of a piece that I have to play for my exam. Hopefully I can do it!

im asian, things just flow. yeah

Jazer, What a delightful presentation. Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us. You are very inspiring and such a good teacher. thank you!

Hello Jazer, I started playing saxophone in grade school and then played guitar for twenty-five (25) years, so the bass clef is new to me. The treble clef with my right hand is no problem at all for me, but that darned bass clef is preventing me from learning my first piano piece, "The Entertainer," by Scott Joplin. You have been a great help in giving me the encouragement need to not "Give up!" Thank you!😎

Ive currently spent 9 months on a 4 minute piano song and am only 3 minutes in. If this pattern continues ill have it done in 3 months.

A trick I learned is to handle individual notes in sequence as chords instead of broken. That really helped me out alot. If you see chords in score; play them as broken likewise.

Jazer you are like breath of fresh air!!! I love the way you explain things. Just wanted to let you know. Now I gotta get back to my practice. Thanking you from Canberra 😃👍🎹

Jazer you finish by saying that’s all for today which makes me smile because you have just said soo much, thank you, your wisdom is much appreciated.

I’m 63 and just started taking lessons in January. Had to stop for a month, and found your information very practical and helpful. Kind of trudging through some pieces, but breaking them down into smaller sections, like 8 measures at a time really helps. I do have a question though, in your opinion, is it better to completely learn a piece before adding the pedal, or should the pedal be added at the same time as the hands? Thank you for all your help.

Step 5: Record yourself. So you can become a KZfaqr when you get gud

Thank you Jazer! I love your voice and how you make difficult things easy to understand!

You are a fantastic teacher who gives useful advice on learning a new piece. Much appreciated to your tutorial.

I like to do the whole piece with each hand first to understand the piece’s personality, and practically so I have more master of my fingers 😊

I've played for a month now and I'm having some trouble learning new pieces, guess I'll just go and practice more.

I saw a view videos, now i come allways back to you. I like your Style of teaching and you are very kind and emphatic. The Nocturne in E flat with a heartwarming story in the subtitle - it's great. Thank you very much for every single video you made. Your Grandfather ist proud of you. God bless from germany!

I am just getting back to my piano after a long time away other than bits and pieces. I found you this morning and already learned so much from you!! Thank you so much!!

Thank you Jazer I passed my piano exams and got merit 😲 💗

Why do pieces sound more beautiful when you see the person playing it (not from a CD)?

Thank you! Great advice! I've only learned two pieces before, though I do make up music on the piano (in keys I am familiar with.) I've been given a piece to learn for a friend, one that I thought it would be impossible for me to play. I listened to it with the score a lot, also watched Rousseau's video with the electronic visualiser which I found helped me understand the patterns. Then have been learning one hand at a time a section at a time. I will stick to your seven times repeating method in the hope that I can learn it quickly. The piece is in F, E and C major. So I've been doing some scales in those keys too. Thank you for the great video, lovely playing, I'll check out your other vids 😊

Finally, a video on practicing without all the fluff. Just simple, straight-forward advice! Thanks Jazer

How do you reprogram when you’ve mistakenly learned a wrong note? It’s really annoying. Edit to add: thanks for a great video!

Love to play Chopin's Nocturne in Eb on both the piano and the cello. It was a recital piece for me in college on the cello. It was easier to memorize on the cello. Learning pieces by memory enables the performer to concentrate and focus more on musicality, to really feel the music. Thank you so much for sharing!

Excellent, thanks a lot, I have been following your advice and getting faster results.

When you were 18 years old? You still look 18 ! :) I love pieces that have a special place in our hearts.

I have trouble with understanding the notes/reading them quickly , do you have any tips on that?

I LOVE your videos, you're straight to the point and very informative

Thank you for great advice on practice. I also like to analyze the chords in a piece and play them to get the sound in my ears. I do not spend enough time with hands apart so I will start doing that.

my mom(who has a degree in piano performance) always had me start at the last measure and work backwards so i wouldn’t learn the first part, get bored, and stop

0:28 Yea but Im not able to read sheet notes neither so now we're even

Excellent tutorial. These 5 steps are basic and important than any others for a piano student. Thanks for the good teaching.

Thanks for your helpful suggestions. Sometimes we need someone to point out the obvious, and motivate us to actually do it!

Ive been learning to play the piano since 4 months back, now my father wants me to play four pieces in the church tomorrow....🙁

I'm a first-year student...was next to impossible to find a teacher willing to take a new student my age...67...It took making over 20 calls, then begging, offering to pay double...Finally found one who was willing to interview me, see what level I was playing after 7 months taking piano lessons from a woman from our church....but her husband became obsessed with me, began stalking me...became dangerous with my having to get help from police...anyway, that was very upsetting for me and I was too discouraged to touch my piano for 2 months until mid January and now I'm enjoying my new awesome teacher who is most encouraging for me....but sight reading is still very hard...i can read bass clef but very slowly! I'm playing Prelude in C major...and one other... I play them without mistakes, except for fingering...my hands are HUGE...reach C octave plus to an E...is 9 keys. BUT that is a problem with my longer fingers bumping the black keys....My teacher said to just play slowly, but correctly...thats hard for me as I sound like a child...but oh well. When I'm well enough, i will spend up to 4 hours practicing...usually no less than 3 hours...I'm hoping to be able to play well enough for church in about 4 yrs or less. We shall see...just finding it hard to site read bass clef notes.

Wonderful suggestions and advice. i am just beginning to learn the piano and your suggestions are invaluable. Thank you so much!

Your video has always been helpful to me and this is another level again. I'm gonna do this. Thank you.

TL:DR P R A C T I C E

Thank you for your time and lesson Mr. Lee

U right, record while playing makes heart beating crazily!!!

It's very clear that you know what you are talking about. I like that very much. I also learned the second nocturne by Chopine because it is so relaxing. I admire the fact that you see the emotion in that piece. I'm going to try to practice the steps you listed in the video. I struggle with learning sheet music. I'm currently learning Scott Joplin's: Maple Leaf Rag. Thanks for your content, friend!!!

Ha ha I was actually looking for tips because I was having trouble learning Nocturne, and it was so pleasing to see that you use it as an example. Thanks for these great advices.

❤ANOTHER GEM OF A LESSON, THANK YOU !!!!

❤Thanks it’s great help to me and it’s really nice to have someone like you!😊

I love this and you!!! This is so helpful. Thank you so much