Are You Listening?

Playing the piano is all about, well playing...isn't it?

Not always! 

Listening is an ongoing activity that musicians do...without really thinking much about it!

• We play our notes on the keyboard and listen while we play don't we? That's how we know when we've made a mistake or when we've gotten something right. 
• We also listen to a piece that we're learning while we're learning it because it helps us to hear what the piece is supposed to sound like. 
• We might even listen to a recording of something we've played because it helps us hear from a more objective view point, how well we performed. 

So it seems that we're experts at listening, doesn't it! All of the time, our ears are taking in information that we process and then apply to our work on the piano, which results in better piano playing. <--- At least that's the goal!

But...did you know that you can listen better? 

There are a few things that you can do to "fine tune" your listening skills that will produce better results from your practicing. Let's take a look at what a few of them are. 

• Be aware of "what" you are listening for, when you are practicing because that extra focus will bring important details to your attention so you can fix them if needed. If you are working on playing a scale at a steady tempo for example, you will want to focus your listening on how well you are playing the notes at a steady pace, rather than focusing on if each note is correct. Ultimately you want to listen to both, but just focus on one at a time to begin with. 
• Test yourself - make sure that what you are "hearing" when you are playing is actually what others might be "hearing". You can do this by recording yourself playing your piece, exercise or scale. It also helps to walk away for a few minutes after you have recorded yourself and then come back and play the recording. This gives your brain time to clear out a bit, and lets you hear even more objectively what is on the recording. Are you surprised at what you hear, or did you play exactly how you thought you did? 
• Listen first. When you are learning a new piece, find a recording of it online and listen to it before you play it the first time. This is so helpful to just help ground us and give us a good starting point for a new piano piece. If you can't find one, ask your teacher if you have one to record it for you. Also, keep listening to that while you are learning the piece, because it will give you a good comparison reference for challenging spots. 

It's kind of amazing that we can even "divide" up our listening to include several different areas of focus at the same time. Think about how much you focus your hearing on while you're playing the piano. You're listening for tempo, correct notes, dynamics, articulations, and a lot of other things.

We have to do this in "regular" life as well, and the really neat part is that as we learn to develop better listening skills in our piano playing, we'll become better listeners for our friends, family, co-workers, and even strangers. As always, our musical paths teach us much about our life in general and always provide us with sharpened skills to live better. 

Stay Tuned to LessonsOnTheWeb to learn much more and achieve your dream of playing the piano!