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The Power of Slow Practice: How Slowing Down Can Help You Master the Piano

Did you know slow practice can help you become a better pianist (or musician or runner)? In this video, we look at the benefits of slow practice and how to incorporate it into your routine. From improving memory to gaining more control, you'll learn how slowing down can actually speed up your progress. So, sit back, relax, and get ready to take it slow.
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Check out the Faber Follow-Along Calendar to Book 1 on Patreon (link below). If you've ever wondered how, what, and when to practice as a self-learner, this series is for you. We go through the entire Faber book together, step by step. I also give you supplementary exercises and pieces that go hand in hand with book 1.
Patreon: / pianoroadmap
Facebook: / pianoroadmap
Instagram: / pianoroadmap
PayPal: PianoRoadmap@gmail.com

Пікірлер: 64

  • @chlorine8477
    @chlorine8477 Жыл бұрын

    Pro tip: watch this video at 0.25x speed

  • @PianoRoadmap

    @PianoRoadmap

    Жыл бұрын

    😆 I see what you did there ⬆️

  • @MikeI273

    @MikeI273

    Жыл бұрын

    😂

  • @NeoZondix

    @NeoZondix

    4 ай бұрын

    I'm still on letter 3 of this comment

  • @andrewwilliams9580
    @andrewwilliams95809 ай бұрын

    I've made the mistake of learning incorrect habits and they're even harder to erase. Slow playing to begin. Always!

  • @goettling
    @goettling Жыл бұрын

    I am so guilty of not practicing slowly. When I do, improvement is evident. Thank you for reminding! Going to do or right now.

  • @childofMotherMary

    @childofMotherMary

    Жыл бұрын

    same, i get so impatient :/

  • @2011watchman
    @2011watchman Жыл бұрын

    Your commitment to teaching and sharing so much of your training & experience is incredibly helpful. As an older man taking up piano considerably late in life, I was uncertain how well or whether I could do it. Your rich content and calm, encouraging style of teaching have made learning piano albeit slowly a reality. Thanks so much for sharing a part of your life with us here.

  • @PianoRoadmap

    @PianoRoadmap

    Жыл бұрын

    Thank you for your kind words! It's always so inspiring to hear about people taking up music as an adult. I'm so glad to hear that my teaching style and content have been helpful to you. I love sharing my training and experience with others to help them reach their full potential. Thank you so much for taking the time to share your kind words and experiences with me. It's comments like this that make all the hard work and dedication worth it.

  • @pjmccarthy5898
    @pjmccarthy5898 Жыл бұрын

    I recently heard the phrase "practice makes permanent" which is just a way to underline what is being said here. Take your sweet time, savor the process, focus on the moment, be aware of what it is you are trying to do. Thank You for this!

  • @PianoRoadmap

    @PianoRoadmap

    Жыл бұрын

    I love that saying because it's so true! Thanks for sharing.

  • @richard135b7
    @richard135b711 ай бұрын

    I'm finally convinced. You convinced me today I should be doing more slow practice. Thank you

  • @uravghuman
    @uravghuman Жыл бұрын

    It feels like listening to an extremely informative yet caring podcast. Thank you so much.

  • @PianoRoadmap

    @PianoRoadmap

    Жыл бұрын

    Thank you!🥰

  • @MPardo-cx6jj
    @MPardo-cx6jjАй бұрын

    Miss, thank you so much for this video. I find your tips to be GREAT because you've "connected the dots" and "erased some question marks" in my mind. My teacher, who is a great pianist and a very good teacher is always getting on my case about not playing slow enough. I start off playing slow, but impulsively speed it up before I'm ready to??!! He mentions how Rachmaninoff and other great pianists, spoke about how slow practice was essential, however, he never "connected the dots" as you have! And everything you've stated make all the sense in the world to me! Thank you so much!

  • @posticious
    @posticious10 ай бұрын

    thanks so much for this video, I’m more than halfway through Ballade No. 1 by Chopin I’ll be incorporating this into my practice!!

  • @PianoRoadmap

    @PianoRoadmap

    9 ай бұрын

    Quite the project! Good luck 😃🥳🎹

  • @Susanzakho
    @Susanzakho Жыл бұрын

    You are a great teacher, many thanks for all your videos.

  • @jimh1487
    @jimh14877 ай бұрын

    This was very helpful. Thank you.

  • @PianoRoadmap

    @PianoRoadmap

    7 ай бұрын

    You're welcome!

  • @brendamengeling4653
    @brendamengeling4653 Жыл бұрын

    Thanks. I do slow practice but not often enough. I’ve been thinking that it will help me learn to play more connectedly from measure to measure. I’ve noticed over the ten months I’ve played that my maximum tempo for playing anything has gradually increased, and I bet that if I didn’t worry about how below the suggested tempo I sometimes play (110 bpm is my current max), I’d probably make better progress.

  • @Almightservant
    @Almightservant Жыл бұрын

    Thanks and greetings from Brazil

  • @PianoRoadmap

    @PianoRoadmap

    Жыл бұрын

    👋👋👋

  • @robertdyson4216
    @robertdyson42162 ай бұрын

    Very good. I liked the point about slow enabling you to finish feeling positive. I learned this from Shura Cherkassky.

  • @DesertRat332
    @DesertRat332 Жыл бұрын

    I always seem to want to play about 10% faster than the speed I can play everything correctly at. 😬But when I can force myself to play at what seems to be tortoise speed it helps my performance and my confidence. I like to play around with my practice pieces by not only playing them at different speeds but also playing them with improvised variations and even repeating certain measures over and over within the piece, then going on. Just "experimenting" with the practice piece or playing a simplified version as I am trying to learn it . I like the saying, "Amateurs practice until they can play it right, professionals practice until they can't play it wrong." 🙂

  • @PianoRoadmap

    @PianoRoadmap

    Жыл бұрын

    I love this comment! It's so relatable how we often want to play faster than we're capable of, but slowing down can actually improve our performance and confidence. I also think it's great that you experiment in your practice by improvising. It's a fun and creative approach to practice. Thanks for sharing your thoughts and experiences!

  • @dgpianomusic
    @dgpianomusic Жыл бұрын

    I love your content! It's helping a lot and very insightful. Thank you!

  • @dinobucz
    @dinobucz2 ай бұрын

    Awesome video!! 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼

  • @gsvenddal728
    @gsvenddal7282 ай бұрын

    Great vid.

  • @alexandersson909
    @alexandersson909 Жыл бұрын

    Thank you for this advise, Im Sure, IT works and will Help me...😺

  • @adultpianostudentofficial
    @adultpianostudentofficial Жыл бұрын

    Excellent video. I practice slowly. Videos like yours reminds why it is important.

  • @nawazsayed7110
    @nawazsayed7110 Жыл бұрын

    👍What should be the metronome tempo for slow practicing?

  • @PianoRoadmap

    @PianoRoadmap

    Жыл бұрын

    It varies from piece to piece. It can be helpful to first ask what the FINAL metronome tempo goal is, then divide that in half and go from there. For a slower piece, half tempo might be waaaaaay too slow. The key is to make sure it feels very easy and controlled for you.

  • @nawazsayed7110

    @nawazsayed7110

    Жыл бұрын

    @@PianoRoadmap Thanks for your suggestion.

  • @mutantkoffee

    @mutantkoffee

    8 ай бұрын

    0,5 bpm

  • @mzimmer1751
    @mzimmer1751 Жыл бұрын

    Slow is smooth, smooth is fast

  • @simondavies6270
    @simondavies62702 ай бұрын

    Thank you ma'am for making this video showing the importance of slow practice and the many benefits accrued. Appreciation from London UK👍.

  • @SooMisi
    @SooMisi10 ай бұрын

    You are great, thank you very much! My student has been following me since 9 and now she is a terrible teenager at her 15. She is on the final stage which she has to get done her grade 8 exam recording however none of my instructions she listened, witch long finger nails, creative fingerings, consistent incorrect notes, freely tempo…I am desperate. Last time I saw her she even lost her marbles, crying and yelled at me and saying she is not gonna waste anytime to practice slowly but also she says she can never compete this exam. 😭😢😩

  • @PianoRoadmap

    @PianoRoadmap

    10 ай бұрын

    That sounds rough but also normal. Between ages 12 & 16 is often the toughest time for the teacher/student relationship and keeping them as students in general. I'm sending you my best wishes 💜

  • @EmogeneHBedrosian
    @EmogeneHBedrosian3 ай бұрын

    Very clear, thank you.

  • @fatana9984
    @fatana99844 ай бұрын

    Perfect.thak you❤

  • @RenatoOliveiraGaming
    @RenatoOliveiraGaming Жыл бұрын

    Practicing slow helps a lot! But what about people who hear a song (pop music usually) for the first time and start playing it flawlessly in one shot? Is our take away that the music is easy enough for them so they don't even need to practice? Can this be achieved through training? Because it would be like a training about 'being able to play a song from the first time I hear on it's original speed and flawlessly', it goes against first playing slowly. The motivation for being able to do that is so that we can gather friends, ask them to name a song, and not take more than a minute to play it on piano. Really interested in your comments regarding this ability!

  • @PianoRoadmap

    @PianoRoadmap

    Жыл бұрын

    Hi, and thanks for your question! First, playing flawlessly is subjective :) What I thought was flawless 20 years ago is certainly not flawless to me now. Also, you're correct. Pop music is typically much less complicated than classical or other more linear music. Practicing slowly is a tool used when learning a piece that takes effort. You're describing playing by ear, which is a different tool. There are many pieces that I would never ever have to play slowly because they are so simple for me. And there are many that I MUST practice slowly in order to learn the notes and also keep it in control once I have learned them.

  • @billrogers5219
    @billrogers52192 ай бұрын

    I love slow practice, for all the reasons you mention. The only trouble I think can happen is if you decide to do only slow practice for a long time and try to inch your way up to tempo with a metronome. I think that when you do that, you can engrain movements that only work at slow tempos and you just cannot get up to speed in the end. So I like to spend a little while learning notes with slow practice, then quickly try to speed up to or above final tempo in very short fragments, just a measure or two, then hook up the fragments. I don't worry if I make some slips or mistakes, because I find that a little repetition at fast tempo lets the hands figure things out on their own. Then, once my hands know what sort of movements they are aiming at for full tempo, I go back and intersperse lots of slow practice to get the calm and control you are talking about. The few times I tried to get a piece up to tempo by playing so slowly that I never ever made a mistake and just gradually upping the tempo metronome click by metronome click, I never really liked the final result, maybe because it was more like speed walking than running. I think it helps to jump around between lots of different tempos, and it's OK to play fast and sloppy a few times in the process, as long as you do not just mindlessly do it again and again without ever cleaning up at slow tempo.

  • @PianoRoadmap

    @PianoRoadmap

    Ай бұрын

    Yes, this is great advice! I call these speed bursts and it's how I practice often. Thanks for sharing!

  • @TheCompleteGuitarist
    @TheCompleteGuitarist2 ай бұрын

    If you can't play it without making a mistake you aren't playing slow enough. I'm a guitarist not a pianist and a teacher and I talk about this with my students. Play slow and speed comes. It is not just about the mechanics, we are also forming a correct sound of the music, not one filled with errors. This is particularly important when working without recorded versions of what we are trying to play because the reality is, if you can't hear it, if you don't know what it sounds like, you can't play it.

  • @susiloandianto5411
    @susiloandianto5411 Жыл бұрын

    Makasih Kak ilmunya salam kenal nich🙋👌👍🤩

  • @PianoRoadmap

    @PianoRoadmap

    Жыл бұрын

    You're welcome!

  • @hippophile
    @hippophile7 ай бұрын

    Great advice. And usefully detailed. Thanks! So for an ethereal kind of piece at 72 bpm (Rachmaninoff prelude Op23#1, Largo) half speed would feel very lethargic. What bpm might you aim at for a general slow run through?

  • @PianoRoadmap

    @PianoRoadmap

    7 ай бұрын

    Think in percentages from your final tempo. For a run-through of a piece that is already very slow, you could try 75% speed. Or slower if you are just testing smaller sections for memory or clarity in general.

  • @NimeuMusic
    @NimeuMusic Жыл бұрын

    South Park reference! Subscribed!

  • @PianoRoadmap

    @PianoRoadmap

    Жыл бұрын

    😆❤

  • @jowr2000
    @jowr20005 ай бұрын

    Did find this vid helpful, but an example at the piano would have been helpful. Esp musical playing at the slow tempo.

  • @salvatoreriggi7344
    @salvatoreriggi73449 ай бұрын

    You are seriously beautiful....😍 Oh and the tips, I like the tips. They will surely help prepare me for my recital. Thank you

  • @foowishamewican
    @foowishamewican Жыл бұрын

    I practice slow but thats only because im trying to play songs way above my grade...is that good or bad?

  • @PianoRoadmap

    @PianoRoadmap

    Жыл бұрын

    If you want to play a piece that is way above your grade, it's ok, but limit it to 1 piece at a time. The rest of your piano songs should be at or just *slightly* above your current level.

  • @foowishamewican

    @foowishamewican

    Жыл бұрын

    @@PianoRoadmap I literally cannot wait to be trained by you. I know music was important to me but didn't realise how important till I started playing

  • @atommiller
    @atommiller3 ай бұрын

    Do you look at your fingers while playing piano? I'm struggling to focus on the sheet music once I sort of know a section. I find myself trying to follow the notes on the page, but I'm not really interpreting them. Does that make sense?

  • @PianoRoadmap

    @PianoRoadmap

    Ай бұрын

    I don't usually look at my hands while playing with music, but that's because I have years of playing and have a good sense of keyboard geography - kind of like using the QWERTY keyboard. Do you have to look down at your computer keyboard when typing? Probably not if you took typing classes. When you say you're not interpreting the notes on the page, are you basically playing for memory while looking at the spot in the music?

  • @atommiller

    @atommiller

    Ай бұрын

    @@PianoRoadmap That's exactly what I'm doing - playing from memory while looking at that spot in the music. And most of the time I'm looking at my hands, which I think I need to stop doing. Maybe it just takes years of learning new pieces & exercises until it's like typing on a computer without looking at the keyboard (which I'm able to do with no problem, having learned to type when fairly young.) I'm 21 bars into Bach's BWV 846, and that's the limit of my experience, so perhaps I just need to give it time.

  • @DihelsonMendonca
    @DihelsonMendonca2 ай бұрын

    💥 You forgot to say that people need to play slow, but with a steady tempo. You should play very slow, but keeping the time is essential. If not, if you stop to read some chords and go faster on the easier parts, this is a complete recipe for disaster. 🎉❤

  • @MiketheNerdRanger
    @MiketheNerdRanger Жыл бұрын

    I ****ing HATE slow practice. My mind just turns COMPLETELY off whenever I practice this way. It isn't engaging or rewarding enough for me to continue and I end up not being able to play better anyway. I have no way around this.

  • @PianoRoadmap

    @PianoRoadmap

    Жыл бұрын

    I like to sprinkle it in so it never feels like I'm doing it for a significant period of time. A slow measure here, then back to normal, a slow half measure there, then back to normal. And there are different variations of slow too. It doesn't always have to be painfully slow.