Well, he is suited to play highly technical songs only, one without the needs of interpretation.

Hi. There is no simple answer to this and your question is quite general. You haven't said what level you play at now or what you are referring to as 'hard songs', nor for that matter what you consider to be fast. There are many many levels of piano and musical mastery and each time you find your self getting better you get to see a little further over the horizon of what's possible, a new level of expertise to work for.


However, having said that there both efficient and inefficient ways to practice and learn material. If you are trying to play music that you more or less already have the technique for, there are some great ways to learn it faster than is typically done (well again this is quite subjective), however if the material requires advanced techniques that you haven't yet acquired, well things are going to take more time.

There is a book (free) called 'The fundamentals of piano practice" by Chuan C. Chang http://www.pianofundamentals.com/book You can download a pdf version as well. It's not the do all and end all of piano playing and there are some controversial ideas in there but it does have a few chapters on learning material, memorizing methods and allot on making your practice more efficient. Again I don't know how advanced you are but I would say although allot of the techniques in this book can be fantastic, they are generally more advanced ideas and I don't think they should be an excuse not to practice the basic aspects of piano playing to build a groundwork of finger strength and dexterity. I still found the book really useful though. Good luck.

Bit of a topic bump here, Sharma
Also, Chang's book has been lavishly discussed in these quarters.
Thanks for posting though.

Two words: Systematic and Exhaustive.
That's how.

The question was about quick ways ...
I suppose he can try quickly and systematically exhausting himself. Whether it helps, dunno

SwanY, I believe you are only here to plug this free piano lesson stuff. Even posting quotes from that site.
We do not like that kind of 'participating' here. Also I'm not sure you know or understand what this site is about.
We are serious classical musicians here who mostly have no need or desire to learn chord progressions and pop stuff.
Please take your business elsewhere.

Hi DebussyChopin,

I believe you have something there. When I think back long ago when I was a kid, there were whizkids who seemingly could play anything, and if prestissimo so much the better for them. But their playing was mechanical, lifeless, devoid of any feelings. I remember that my teacher used to encourage more musicality from them, but to no avail. And if they had to learn and play lyrical music, it was as if they had been dropped onto a forbidden planet. Their one-sided capability couldn't recognize, never mind cope with the need for expressiveness. And insofar as prodigies are concerned, quite often they're a flash in the pan--they come on the scene, create a huge stir, but then drop out of sight never to be heard again. Me? Well, I wish I could play prestissimo, but I get a phobia much beyond moderato. But that's OK because when I play lyrical music, I believe I can always find the beauty dwelling there. I'll gladly take that any day!

David

Was this posted in the wrong forum ?

Hi Chris,

Nope. Debussy Chopin's remarks to which I responded are over on page 1.

David

Ah right. That was a post from august last year though.... and this user has not been back since then.

I guess I should have checked DebussyChopin's activity. On some sites, the "pseudonym" is in hypertext, and you can just click on it to see their profile and date of last posting. Here if you go to Members, it just gives the joining date. So where do you find that "last post date" info at Piano Society?

David

You go as fast as that, David? I am afraid to play any faster than adagio!

Click the small 'Profile' button under the post area to see those details. This person is a 'one-day poster' and I should remove him/her.
In any case, if you feel the need to reply to such an old post it would make sense to check that the poster is still here.

Hi Chris,

Thanks for that. We learn something new every day. (Or if we don't, then it's a boring day.) I just assumed that was also the Member screen. Good to know it's more detailed.

David

Hi Richard,

Well, I'm really most comfortable in andante, but yes, to move above that comfort zone I must "psyche myself up" to reach that higher tempo. When I was young I could play Chopin's "Revolutionary" Etude and similar, but as time went on, it seemed more difficult and worrisome somehow. At fast tempos I fear uneven or even inaccurate playing. I do make it a point though to challenge myself once a year. For purposes of 2010 it was Catoire's "Etude-fantastique" marked allegro, which went over very well thankfully. So did that raise my confidence level about playing fast music? Nope!!! So how do I invoke and execute it? I heed Josef Hofmann's simple dictum: "Will it!"

David