How to practice piano

I did some research to try to improve the limits of my playing. After the fact, I thought it would be a good idea to share my notes.

1)Work out your own fingerings, write them into your score with a sharp pencil, and divide the music into hand-position groups. The fingerings must be consistent if the figure is repeated.

2)Do not finger every note, use fingering where there is a difficult figure or where it is needed to get the hand into position to play the next figure. Chords should be fingered also if needed to get the hand in position to play the next figure.  Focus on what is natural for the hand; try to finger adjacent fingers in sequence to make the fingering simper

3)Practice the piece slowly in sections one hand at a time with the chosen fingerings. Do not play hands together until you can play hands apart with the correct fingerings without difficulty.

4)For pieces where there is a counterpunctal voice that passes between hands, choose which hand has the voice at certain points in the piece and finger it right or left hand as appropriate and practice it as such

5)Do not play the whole piece slowly until you can play all of the sections with the correct fingerings without difficulty.

6)Do not play the whole piece at tempo until you can play the entire piece slowly with the correct fingerings without difficulty.

Click here to return to the Concert Hall. Ars Magna