If you can hear it, you'll play it sooner

If you can hear it, you'll play it sooner. Here is how I practice the piano on an ideal day.

• I warm up my muscles with gentle stretching.
• I decide what I'm going to accomplish today. It is usually just a couple of things.
• I'll listen to a recording of the piece first. You may be thinking why does a professional musician need to listen first, can't he just sight read it? Yes, I usually can. But, when I listen first, I start with an artistic impression. From this the question becomes, "how to I get the sound in my head out of these black dots on the page?"
• Boom, sight-reading, I mean learning, is now much easier. The piece is "learned" quickly and efficiently. I can now enjoy "playing" the piece. One danger students succumb to through inefficient practice methods is that they become bored of the piece long before they learn it.

Enjoy the video above, some helpful help from a master musician.
 
Cheers,

 David Story