5 Technique Hacks: A Cheat Sheet For Piano Or Keyboard Beginners

When learning any musical instrument there are always tricks and hacks for beginners to push your skills forward.

It isn't always necessary to plug away at endless amounts of theory worksheets and books to become a competent keyboard or piano player.

If you want to learn keyboard or piano but don't want to have the pressure of learning all the theory you can quickly turn your passion and love of music into a success by learning practical hacks so you progress in a shorter period of time.

Many famous musicians and artists have taught themselves to play by ear, and have gone on to have very successful music careers.

Playing without sheet music as a guide will also bring out your creativity and allow you to stamp your own style and identity on any song.

If you want to take a few shortcuts then follow the simple guide below for success in becoming a keyboard or piano star:

If you are undecided about what way to learn keyboard or piano and you just want a quick and fun method then it is best to learn to 'play by ear'. There are many courses that will support you in learning this way, and you will benefit tremendously being taught in this style.
If you want to learn some theory then just practice the basics. This should be enough to take you on to being a decent keyboard or piano player. By the basics I mean memorizing where all the notes are positioned on the keyboard or piano so you can find notes within seconds when learning a new song.
Did you know that practicing in short bursts of 15 minute sessions every day is far more beneficial to practicing for long periods? This is great news for beginners who might not have much free time to learn.
When learning your first full song break it down into small sections and work on it hands separately initially, then put it hands together once you are comfortable.
Rhythm is one of the hardest things to grasp along with co-ordination when learning, so make it your goal to focus on this as soon as you start to learn. For example, when you have worked out the rhythm, notes and structure of a song then play along to a metronome or drum beat. Keep it at a slow consistent rhythm to start with and gradually increase the speed until you reach the original timing of the song.

How to perform piano and keyboard: Sing & Play Keyboard

How to fast-track your piano and keyboard playing as a beginner: Piano & Keyboard Melodies

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Organ Pedal Technique: How to Change Position Correctly With Your Feet to Avoid Lower Back Pain?

There are numerous instances in organ music, where the organist has to change position of the feet. Such places might include scale passages, ascending and descending melodic lines, sequences etc. If such passage is played incorrectly for extended periods of time, chances of developing lower back pain are quite high. If you are curious to know how such lines should be performed, this article is for you.

First of all, it is important to maintain the straight position of the upper body, face the music rack, and point your knees to the direction of the feet. However, in playing melodic lines which extend from the right side of the pedal board to the left side (or vice versa) it is not possible to perform such passages with ease and fluency without changing position. In other words, if you play on the right side of the pedal board with your both feet and have to jump suddenly downwards to the left side, you have to switch to different position.

Push-off with the opposite foot when changing position. When suddenly changing direction and position on the pedal board, apply the following trick and you will be able to achieve the precision without pain and strain of the lower back. If you play on the right side of the pedal board and want to switch to the left side, find a suitable note in your music and push-off with your right foot. As you push-off with this foot, move your lower body in a position where your both knees are pointing in the direction of the feet (left in this case). On the contrary, push-off with the left foot, if the melodic line ascends to the right.

It is very convenient to change position on the long note of the pedal line. However, if you see only fast-moving notes in such episode, you can still achieve the same effect with correct repetitive practice. Take this fragment, and play it in a slow tempo a few times and try to change position as described above. Practice this fragment until you can play it correctly at least three times in a row.

Consult your physician if the pain persists. Note that the above trick applies only in cases when the lower back pain arises from the incorrect playing habit. However, as we all understand, lower back pain might have various different reasons. In such cases and if the pain persists, it is best to consult your physician for medical advice.

By the way, do you want to learn to play the King of Instruments - the pipe organ? If so, download my FREE video guide "How to Master Any Organ Composition" http://www.organduo.lt/organ-tutorial.html in which I will show you my EXACT steps, techniques, and methods that I use to practice, learn and master any piece of organ music.

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What Is the Most Powerful Technique Which Helps to Achieve Fast Tempo in Organ Music?

Many of my organ students ask me for advice in reaching the fast tempo in their organ pieces. They often struggle to achieve this level of fluency either because their technique is not developed enough or because they do not know how to practice the piece in order to be able to perform it in fast tempo. Today I will share with you the most powerful technique which will help you to achieve the fast tempo in practicing organ compositions.

If you have difficulty playing in a fast tempo any particular organ piece, here is a special technique you could use. Try to work in shorter fragments like one beat first, then practice this piece in half of measure, then the entire measure and so on until you can play an entire line without stopping. Let me explain how it works.

You see, if this composition has to be performed in a fast tempo, then playing the entire work might be too difficult for you at the moment. However, you may notice that you can play all voices together very quickly just for one beat easily. Play just one beat, then stop and hold the chord. Look at the next beat. When you are ready, play another beat and stop. Look at the next beat, prepare and so on. So you will practice stopping every beat.

If you have never tried this before, this kind of practice might seem strange to you. You maybe wondering what is the point of stopping at every beat. What happens is that although you stop every beat, you can play the notes of that beat very quickly. And so practice a few times playing the piece this way until you feel comfortable enough. Then make your fragment two beats and stop every two beats. Then one measure, two measures, four measures, one line, two lines, one page, two pages and so on. While practicing this way, you will begin to notice that your ability to play the piece in a fast tempo improves gradually over time.

When you stop and hold your chord, do not rush to play the next fragment. Instead, make sure you look ahead and understand in your mind what the next fragment is. Only then play it. In other words, play only when you are ready.

Reaching the level when you can play organ music fast is not so easy. As you can see, the system is simple enough for most organists to understand but not too many people reach that kind of proficiency. However, you must persevere and practice with never-give-up mentality.

One thing in particular is helpful here - having a clear goal in mind. In other words, try to have a vision or a goal of what it is you are trying to accomplish. If you say that your goal or dream, for example, is to be able to play that wonderful prelude and fugue by Bach or Toccata by Widor at a concert tempo, then you will have the necessary motivation to persevere. No matter how boring, how tiring it will be to practice, you will stick to the plan and successfully accomplish your goal.

By the way, do you want to learn to play the King of Instruments - the pipe organ? If so, download my FREE video guide "How to Master Any Organ Composition" http://www.organduo.lt/organ-tutorial.html in which I will show you my EXACT steps, techniques, and methods that I use to practice, learn and master any piece of organ music.

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Ar You Using This Technique Which Helps Eliminate Mistakes in Organ Playing?

Although attention to detail is crucial in practicing your organ music, it is not enough to be able to play without mistakes. You need to have a special kind of mentality. Here I am referring to the focused mind which can help you to reach that optimum performance state which in turn will empower you not only to play without the mistakes. In this article, I will explain this mental technique and how to achieve it.

The mentality or the mindset of a world-class organist is similar to the state of mind of an athlete or a martial artist. Athletes refer to it as "Being in the Zone". Martial artists say that "their body should be relaxed but the mind should be on fire". In other words, they have an alert but clear mind. They have to throw all of their thoughts, insecurities, and mental blocks away and simply be in the moment.

Various traditions have different techniques which can help you to achieve that state of mind. Some of the most popular are breathing, meditation, or prayer. In organ playing deep, regular, and slow conscious breathing from the lower abdomen will help you to improve your mental focus.

If you do the same in your piece, you will start to notice some really interesting things over time. Try to stay focused on your breathing and notice how your mind gradually calms down, your body relaxes, and you are be able to control your movements much better. In turn, the risk of hitting the wrong note by accident is much lower.

If you do play an incorrect note or two during your performance, let it go and force yourself to stay focused and not keep your thoughts on this mistake. Very often if we make a mistake, we think about it for a while when we are playing, we lose focus, and consequently make more mistakes. So no matter what went wrong you have to try to stay focused until the very end.

It is interesting how we can make mistakes even in a slow tempo in an easy spot. This is how it may happen. As we are playing, we might be aware how well we play or how easy is this particular episode and again, we may lose our focus. The solution is to keep your focus until the very end.

I understand that for most people it will be hard to achieve this level of focus on the organ. However, if you consistently practice slowly, work in fragments, give a great attention to details, and keep your attention on your breathing, eliminating mistakes actually is not too difficult. Simply change your focus from how not to make mistakes to fulfilling the musical needs of the piece, be in the current measure, and your performance level will improve dramatically.

By the way, do you want to learn to play the King of Instruments - the pipe organ? If so, download my FREE video guide "How to Master Any Organ Composition" http://www.organduo.lt/organ-tutorial.html in which I will show you my EXACT steps, techniques, and methods that I use to practice, learn and master any piece of organ music.

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Organ Playing: How to Use Piano Exercises to Develop Left Hand Technique

One of the main difficulties an organist can encounter is a weak left hand technique. An underdeveloped left hand can lead you into a number of problems when playing organ music. Very often organists have trouble playing more than one voice in the left hand. Additionally, when they encounter fast passages in an organ piece, their playing might lack precision and clarity. Consequently, majority of organ repertoire is inaccessible to them due to the underdeveloped left hand. If this sounds familiar to you, read on to find out how the left hand technique can be improved.

Obviously you can improve your left hand technique by playing special exercises on the piano or the organ. It is important to understand that both hands should be developed at a similar level.

I have to admit that the exercises, like Hanon's Virtuoso Pianist are a bit mechanical and it takes some willpower even to play through the Part 1, but the results are really great. It is a great way to develop your technique by only playing one hour a day. I can testify personally that whenever I have not enough time to practice my organ music, if only I continue to play through the set of Hanon exercises daily, my manual technique is in good shape.

I have to add that most of the time I practice them on my organ and not on the piano. Because organ mechanics might be lighter than the piano (at least on a small instrument), it is possible to add a coupler for more resistance. A great thing about practicing Hanon exercises on the organ is that you can turn the power off and play on the silent keyboard. That way you won't annoy your family but the results will be the same.

A word of caution - always pay attention to how you are feeling. Some fatigue is OK but if you start to feel tension in your hands, you should stop at once and take some time to relax your hands and shake off the tension. This is really important if you want to reap the best results and not to hurt yourself.

Take a slow tempo at first (60, 50, even 40 beats per minute). Later you naturally start to play a little faster and faster until you reach 120 beats per minute.

If you continue practicing the exercises regularly, I can guarantee that you will see the definite changes in your left hand technique already after a few weeks.

You may be thinking that theses exercises are good only for pianists. However, just think how much the legato Romantic organ technique was influenced by the piano technique in the French symphonic organ school (Widor and Vierne, for instance) and you will have no doubt about the benefits of exercises for the organists.

I recommend playing the exercises before your regular organ practice because it also serves as a fantastic warm-up.

By the way, do you want to learn to play the King of Instruments - the pipe organ? If so, download my FREE video guide "How to Master Any Organ Composition" http://www.organduo.lt/organ-tutorial.html in which I will show you my EXACT steps, techniques, and methods that I use to practice, learn and master any piece of organ music.

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4 Tips for Developing Perfect Pedal Technique by Playing Scales on the Organ

Many organists understand the importance of playing pedal scales on the organ. Because they can help to develop flexibility of an ankle, pedal scales is one of the best ways to achieve the perfect pedal technique. However, very often organists hesitate to incorporate them in their daily practice because they do not know how to choose the most efficient pedaling for playing scales. In this article, I will give you 4 tips in playing pedal scales which will help you to move your organ playing to the next level.

Keep the knees and heels together. The traditional way of playing pedals is to keep the knees and heels together. In other words, both your feet should move as one unit. I understand that for some people it will be hard to do so. In this case, at least try to keep the heels together when playing pedal scales. This is necessary because we will choose the most efficient pedaling based on this technique.Play legato. The next important point is to play with legato touch. This means that there should be no breaks between the notes. This is actually not always easy to achieve in pedal playing. I remember how hard I had to try to be able to play the notes evenly and without breaks even at a slow tempo when I was a student. It took me at least a week to master one scale. However don't be discouraged and don't give up. Just stick to it.Toe-toe-heel-heel technique. The most efficient way of choosing the pedaling is to use toe-toe-heel-heel technique. This means that we play the first note with the left toe then with the right toe. The third note is played with the left heel and the fourth - with the right heel. After that just start playing with the left toe. This technique allows us to keep the heels and knees together and to play with the inside of the feet.Adjust the pedaling when necessary. Sometimes it will be necessary to adjust the pedaling according to the accidentals because we can't play the sharp keys with our heels. For some keys you will have to start the scale with the heel etc. In these cases, I recommend you start choosing the pedaling from the middle of the scale and then work your way downwards. For keys which have 3 consecutive sharps or flats, such as D flat major or F sharp major, you will have to slide from one sharp to another with the same toe.

Take a slow tempo, and master one major and one minor scale a week. Try to achieve a nice legato and see that all notes would sound evenly. Next week add another pair of scales (in the order of ascending number of accidentals) until in about 12 weeks you can play all of them. Then it will be sufficient to play them only once during your daily practice. If you do this regularly, your ankles will become much more flexible and you will start to notice tremendous changes in your pedal technique.

By the way, do you want to learn to play the King of Instruments - the pipe organ? If so, download my FREE video guide "How to Master Any Organ Composition" http://www.organduo.lt/organ-tutorial.html in which I will show you my EXACT steps, techniques, and methods that I use to practice, learn and master any piece of organ music.

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Organ Technique: Tips for Choosing the Best Pedaling for Early Music

Early organ music requires a different kind of pedaling than Romantic and modern compositions. Just like fingering, choosing correct pedaling allows good articulation, phrasing, and touch, among other things. Whether you play music of Schlick, Buxtehude, Sweelinck, Bach, or any other Renaissance or Baroque composer, you will benefit from the correct pedaling methods. Today I would like to give you my advice on choosing pedaling for 16th, 17th, and 18th century organ music.

Do Not Use Heels. The rule in pedaling early organ music is to avoid using heels. In countries, like France, pedal keys were very narrow and it could be played using toes only. Moreover, very often organ bench on historical organs was in a position were playing with heels was simply impossible. In other words, the full foot of an organist could not fit between the organ bench and the sharp keys. Although in Italy pedal keys were not as narrow, they were quite short. So the only option on many organs was to play with toes. In addition, on the clavichord sound made by the heel would produce a squeaking effect. Since clavichord technique was the basis of organist technique as well, all toes pedaling is the best choice in early organ music.
Alternate Toes. Perhaps the most popular pedaling technique in early organ music is alternate toes. It basically means that some passages of pedal lines should be played using toes of left and right foot in alternation. For example, try to play the ascending C major scale in this way: left-right-left-right-left and so on. Start the descending scale with the right foot. Make sure that the notes would not be played legato. In other words, you should try to achieve small articulation between notes. Shorten every other note a little so that you will make small accents on strong beats.

Note that you should not use feet crossing with this technique. In other words, do not put you foot behind or in front of the other. Instead, move both your feet together as a unit. If you perform the C major scale in this way, it will be easy to feel the pulse and alternation of strong and weak beats.

I recommend regular practice of major and minor scales in most common keys using alternate toes technique. In other words, play scales with up to two accidentals which were the most often used in the Renaissance and Baroque music. This practice will help you to master not only this technique but also the natural articulation.

By the way, do you want to learn to play the King of Instruments - the pipe organ? If so, download my FREE video guide "How to Master Any Organ Composition" http://www.organduo.lt/organ-tutorial.html in which I will show you my EXACT steps, techniques, and methods that I use to practice, learn and master any piece of organ music.

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Organ Technique: 3 Tips for Changing Manuals Accurately

Many organists struggle to change manuals with accuracy. Very often they might hit the wrong note accidentally which does not sound good in performance. Is it possible to overcome the difficulty of changing manuals and play with precision? In this article, I will give you 3 tips which will help you to avoid hitting the wrong notes when changing manuals.

Practice opposite changes. Because it is likely that you will encounter an organ where the Great is either the first or the second manual, it is also important to practice switching manuals the opposite way. This can be useful also because you will not always know which manual will serve you best in each specific situation. So you have to be prepared to jump upwards or downwards.

If only one manual is available, imitate manual changes. My organ students often ask me if it is really necessary to have a two manual organ at your disposal to practice manual changes. You can practice majority of organ repertoire on a one manual instrument, even on the piano. When the time comes to make a manual change, just imitate the movement you would do with you hands if you had several manuals. In other words, make a mental note of the change, physically move your hand upward or downward but continue playing on the same manual. This type of practice greatly saves time because it involves a powerful strategy - visualization. Using this technique, we visualize the manual switch and make appropriate movements with the hand but use only one keyboard.

Imitate the movements on the table. I explained how manual changes can be practiced on one keyboard but you may be surprised to find out that it could be done on the table as well. Just do all the movements of the hand and pretend you are playing the real organ and jump upwards or downwards for manual changes. This technique is a real time-saver. You can practice on the table even during TV commercials. Imagine how much of your precious time that will save.

If you follow my suggestions, your accuracy will improve over time. Try to plan this in advance, practice slowly and repeatedly. When you hit the wrong note when changing manuals, always go back, correct the mistake and practice until you can't make the same mistake again. In other words, make your manual changes automatic. Take advantage of the piano or the table and the difficult jumps will become easy to you.

By the way, do you want to learn to play the King of Instruments - the pipe organ? If so, download my FREE video guide "How to Master Any Organ Composition" http://www.organduo.lt/organ-tutorial.html in which I will show you my EXACT steps, techniques, and methods that I use to practice, learn and master any piece of organ music.

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Organ Technique: Avoid These Pedal Playing Mistakes to Facilitate Your Progress

Are you struggling to take your pedal playing to the next level? Or perhaps wondering why your performance is not stylistically appropriate. Chances are you are making common mistakes which might slow down your progress and do not allow to make your playing sound convincing. Please read on to find out the solution.

Looking at the feet when playing the pedals. This can happen quite often, especially at the beginning stages of organ playing. Since the pedal board is unfamiliar to the beginner organist, there is always a strong temptation to locate the keys by looking at them. However, it is always better to look at the music and try to feel the pedal board with our feet. If we insist on not looking down, then after a very reasonable time we will begin to feel where any specific pedal is. Pedal preparation also helps to achieve that.

Not using the entire leg in early music. In order to depress the pedals we usually use the motion from an ankle which is the correct way to play music written after around 1800s. However, not every organist knows that for early music, and especially on historical instruments or replicas of old organs the depression of the pedals should be done using the entire leg.

This theory is debatable whether or not it is applicable to the performance of early music on modern instruments. We should at least try to adhere to it when playing old instruments or instruments that are built in old style.
The technique of playing pedals using the entire leg comes from the clavichord which was popular stringed keyboard instrument at that time and an instrument of choice of practice for many organists. It was the clavichord technique which became the basis of organ technique (at least in German-speaking lands). On the clavichord, the depression of the pedal keys is achieved mainly using the weight of the leg. Otherwise the string of the clavichord would not make a deep and reverberating sound. In consequence, this technique was applied to the pedal playing on old organs as well.

It is really important that you develop the right practicing habits early on in your pedal playing. Being strict with yourself and paying attention whether or not you are making the mistakes in your performance can save much precious time. However, it is never too late to start fixing the mistakes and forming the right playing habits. If you follow my suggestions carefully, you will have more chances to perform difficult organ music with confidence.

By the way, do you want to learn to play the King of Instruments - the pipe organ? If so, download my FREE video guide "How to Master Any Organ Composition" http://www.organduo.lt/organ-tutorial.html in which I will show you my EXACT steps, techniques, and methods that I use to practice, learn and master any piece of organ music.

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Organ Technique: Four Common Pedal Playing Mistakes

Although every organist wants to have a perfect pedal technique, many of them make similar mistakes. These mistakes inhibit the progress of an organist and form incorrect playing habits. The quality of the music also becomes not as good as it could be. Therefore, it is important to recognize these mistakes and try to correct them.

Using heels in the Baroque music. There are exceptions to this rule, but the tradition is that we should avoid using heels in early music. This is because the pedal boards of historical organs very often are built in such a way that playing with heels would be quite difficult. For example, the pedals of the French classical organs are very narrow and short. Even more so is with Renaissance organs.

By the way, using toes only technique it is much easier to achieve the desired articulation - articulate legato touch. However, not every organist is taught this way even today. This is partly because the legato school of organ playing was applied to the early music for a long time.

Avoiding heels in the Romantic and Modern music. I have met some organists who play even the 19th century and 20th century compositions with toes only. Toe-heel technique has strong foundations in the Romantic organ tradition and we should not hesitate to use it when it is appropriate.

My guess is that some organists avoid using heels for various reasons but one of them might be that they don't know the principles behind toe-heel technique. They don't know how to do efficient and solid pedaling for scale passages. In consequence, the pedal part performed in such a way might sound too choppy and detached.

Using left foot only. This is quite normal way of playing for theater organists and I am not criticizing them now. They need their right foot for many toe studs they have on their organs; they also use this foot for swell pedal and crescendo pedal excessively. Their left feet technique becomes very efficient and virtuosic.

However, there are some organists who hesitate using the right foot for pedal playing. This is partly due to the lack of proper training. They are only capable of playing long sustained notes in the pedal part and much of the concert organ music is inaccessible to them. Although people who start playing organ from the beginning using the correct technique definitely have an advantage here, but it is never too late to start forming the right playing habits.

Playing with too much power. Have you observed organists who play the pedals (and the manuals for that matter) with such tremendous force that you could even hear the unnecessary noise coming from their feet (or fingers)? I have met such people and they really would benefit much more if they could try to relax their feet (and hands) and not hit the pedals with too much power.

Actually, we should have the feeling of playing about mezzo piano on the pedal board. Use only as much energy as you need to depress the pedals and not more. Anything above the minimum power just creates that extra noise, makes the articulation imprecise and creates a chance of even breaking a key or something in the mechanics of the organ, like a tracker.

If you avoid making these mistakes and practice wisely, you will have much better chances to successfully develop a good pedal technique. Even the most difficult and virtuoso organ compositions would not seem too complicated for you to learn. In order to achieve this level, try to form good practicing habits.

By the way, do you want to learn to play the King of Instruments - the pipe organ? If so, download my FREE video guide "How to Master Any Organ Composition" http://www.organduo.lt/organ-tutorial.html in which I will show you my EXACT steps, techniques, and methods that I use to practice, learn and master any piece of organ music.

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