Sunday, June 18, 2006

How to train up?

I was trying to have my fingers on the piano's keyboard earlier the night. Hoping that by striking the keys and playing some chords, I could somehow train my ears to identify the chords that are being played on the piano.

How do I train the ears to do so?

I also realised that I need to work on my sense of rhythm if I were to do better in the sight-reading component of the music practical exams. I hope I still have enough time to prepare myself well enough for the sight-reading?

Anxiety seems to be catching up at times, and that in itself, is an obstacle. Maybe the best musicians are those who have learnt the art of performing under a relaxed and natural frame of mind and body?

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love the piano and I love how you love music. It's like your best friend.

Ivan Chew said...

I'm probably the last person you'd want to take music advice from, but for what it's worth: Maybe you'd want to record your own playing on a computer and then play it back. I've been reading your music-exams-are-coming posts with interest. Based on my experience in learning how to play a certain song (on my own), I think the trick is to take a positive mindset and trust that you'll master the piece. The more one thinks about playing it, the more mistakes are made. It's basically the same principle as taking any exams. All in the mind. Practice is needed to acquire technical proficiency but beyond that, mental strength is needed. So either you believe that you can, or you simply cannot. Good luck!

Hilda said...

Just wanted to say that you should definitely try to find a way to relax when you're playing. I've been running into a LOT of problems due to tension and anxiety. Though sometimes it seems to be a good motivating factor, in the end it will not really help you. Both of my oboe teachers have suggested that I do yoga as a way to relax. I haven't tried it yet though. I am reading some books about this and when I finish them I will let you know if they are helpful to me.