What's the free throw of piano study?

November 10, 2024 8:18 AM

What's the piano playing equivalent to practicing free throws in basketball? Meaning: an activity that you can learn the basics of once and after that you can practice it forever and it will continue to improve your game. And you can do it without a whole lot of thought.

I have a piano at my disposal but no time for lessons and no mental energy to teach myself from a book. But I can marshall 5-10 minutes here and there. A few years down the road when I have free time I would like to take lessons. In the meantime I'd love some kind of mindless exercise I can do over and over again without much thought and it will benefit me later.

posted by duoshao to Media & Arts (11 answers total)

Scales! Scales scales scales. I learned to do piano scales in high school and I still know how despite barely having touched a piano since.

Major scales, minor scales, modes if you're fancy.
posted by humbug at 8:19 AM on November 10, 2024 [20 favorites]

Similar to scales but more focused on fingering is the Hanon exercises.

You barely have to read any music. Once you figure out the fingering pattern you can practice from memory.
posted by SaltySalticid at 8:29 AM on November 10, 2024 [11 favorites]

Scales, intervals, chord progressions, transposing.
posted by michaelh at 8:42 AM on November 10, 2024 [2 favorites]

I love this question. Yes, scales, absolutely. Keeping in mind to have good form as well. Meaning, don't stretch to reach the notes and use rotation. Also be mindful of weight transfer between the fingers.

There are tons of videos on rotation and scales; here's a short one to get you started https://youtube.com/shorts/aUGw3B1PxSA?si=ByrHNwgTUTonDEtm

Also start with B major because that is the most comfortable for the hand. C major is actually challenging because it's all white keys.

There are pros and cons to Hanon. They can be really boring and if you don't have good technique you can injure yourself. If you play them properly using rotation, you can develop pretty good agility. You can play them in different keys and using different rhythms as well (1+2 3, 1 2+3, 1 2 3+, short long short long, long short long short, 4 slow notes 4 fast notes and vice versa). Hanon says to lift your fingers high to develop finger independence but this is a not a good idea because it creates a lot of strain and tension.
posted by foxjacket at 8:46 AM on November 10, 2024 [3 favorites]

Are you starting from square one, without any prior piano experience at all? If so, I would really encourage you to take at least a *few* lessons with a real person to get started, or at least watch some online videos. If you're just figuring out how to hit the right notes by yourself, it's very easy to develop bad habits regarding hand placement, shoulder & elbow motion, etc. that will hold you back or maybe even cause injury as you progress to more advanced levels. Un-learning these bad habits later on can be very frustrating.
posted by Johnny Assay at 8:53 AM on November 10, 2024 [6 favorites]

Scales, arpeggios, and Hanon.
posted by twelve cent archie at 8:55 AM on November 10, 2024 [1 favorite]

You don't mention whether you can read music. If you can, all the above advice is great. If not, I would say that learning to read music is the first order of business.
posted by Dolley at 8:56 AM on November 10, 2024 [2 favorites]

Also want to second Hanon if you know how to read music. If you do not know how to read music, good to take a few lessons to learn the basics of scales and reading. To get faster and faster in music reading, music apps are great such as teoria.com, especially basic note reading. This music app is kind of like free throws when you have time. I also like Richman Music School's app to read notes.

Also, pick up a metronome to help you get faster and faster in scales once you are playing the piano. A nice alternative to Hanon in the beginning is Beyer - less mind numbing but still practices finger skills.
posted by ichimunki at 9:09 AM on November 10, 2024 [4 favorites]

Learn 4 chords and play hundreds of songs! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7H7lOxnDQk&t=7s
posted by night_train at 11:00 AM on November 10, 2024 [2 favorites]

+1 on scales (also do them at 3rd and 10th intervals) and arpeggios.

The ii-V-I and I-IV-V-I cadence sequences. These are included after each scale in good scale books.

Play your scales in the order of the circle of fifths.

All this is counterproductive without proper positioning and mechanics. Keep wrist relaxed, use the weight of the arm, and avoid straining hand muscles.
posted by dum spiro spero at 5:00 PM on November 10, 2024

I have a very low tolerance for busywork and I found Hanon exercises to be excruciating. I’d probably have been a better pianist if I could have put in those hours, but it felt too abstract and too far from the mechanics I actually needed.

Probably the #1 thing that would have helped my own practical skills would have been chord progressions with transpositions. I can sight read melodies so I can sing and play other instruments directly from a score, but I’m a terrible sight reader on piano. When I’m trying to read music at speed, chords just look like piles of notes and I can’t recognize them for what they are. I needed the reflexive skill to see a chord and be able to play it without thinking about it, and I just never got it.
posted by fedward at 8:03 AM on November 11, 2024 [1 favorite]