Tips to Jog the Memory
One of the most difficult things about playing the piano is memorization - especially when you're practicing to play in public. You play the piece again and again, but when the big moment arrives, it's as if you've never played it before, and you have to struggle to get through each measure at a time. Hopefully, this has never happened to you except in an occasional nightmare, but if you're worried about memorizing your music, there are a few memorization techniques that the pros use - and you can, too. For many pianists, the most important tool to memorizing music is their CD player. Listening to the piece over and over again will help ingrain it in your memory - especially those difficult bits that you have to work at a bit harder.
By listening to the piece repetitively, it becomes part of your ear training, so that, once you sit down to play it (assuming, of course, that you've practiced it sufficiently), your memory will kick in. It's an invaluable tip, and you'll find that ear memorization can be as important as the all-important muscle memory that pianists also rely upon. Another tip is to carefully learn and memorize each hand separately; this is especially helpful in learning classical pieces and scores. By getting each separate hand down rock solid in your learning process, you'll find the going will be much easier when you're ready to put it all together - and you'll find that you've memorized more than you thought you had.
Piano Maintenance--When to Tune?
When it comes to taking care of a piano, we've all heard the same old saws about how not to polish the keys with furniture polish (your fingers will slip all over the place!) and why it's better to move that vase of flowers away from the lid - there's nothing worse than water rings on a $75,000 Steinway. But did you know that you really should tune a piano at least twice a year? Some piano owners - particularly those who don't make a living performing - give their pianos the old once-a-year tuning and think that it's sufficient, but it's important to remember that pianos react to temperatures just as people do. Pianos are particularly sensitive to heat and air conditioning - after all, they spend their lives indoors.
When you turn on the heat during the fall and winter, your piano will respond to it; likewise, when you put on the air conditioning, your piano will feel it too. Pianos respond to dryness or humidity in the air, and humidity in particular can cause the wooden structure or the soundboard to swell, while excessive dryness can cause shrinking and cracks in the structure and soundboard. That's why, within two weeks of putting on or turning off the heat for the season, you should get the tuner over for a visit. It's well worth the money and effort twice annually, and your piano will repay you with beautiful music all year round. In the meantime, happy holidays, and whether you're playing it or listening to it, be sure to enjoy all the wonderful piano music of the season.
Seth Winter
Owner, Preferred Tunings
Indianapolis, Indiana
http://www.preferredtunings.com/
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