this post was submitted on 13 Jun 2023
6 points (100.0% liked)

Piano And Keyboards

356 readers
1 users here now

Post your piano/keys stuff here. Ripping some Chopin, Beethoven, Bartok, or whoever? Love it. Just got a new Hammond and rotary speaker and want to show it off? Can't get enough of it. Got a band with a really awesome keyboardist, and want to show them off? Gimme it. Stuck in the orchestra pit with nothing to do for three hours waiting for your one moment of celesta glory on The Magic Flute? I feel your pain. Just discovered Oscar Peterson and want to share your astonishment? Fam, same. Learning piano and got noob questions? I'm here for it. Got an original DX7 and want to show us all how to program new voices? I've actually never figured that out, can you teach me too?

Rules:

  1. Don't be a jerk.
  2. Self-promotion is encouraged, but try to also post stuff that isn't you.
  3. Be cool about giving and receiving feedback. When in doubt, see r1.
  4. Having fun is mandatory.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

How long does it take you to get from never seeing a sheet before to playing at the recommended tempo? Just wondering what's typical.

It typically takes me several weeks at a minimum, with the caveats that I have little time for practice and am self-taught because I don't have money for a teacher.

My process is this: practice each hand independently in chunks, bring each hand up to the 'normal' tempo, then put the hands together at sloooow tempo and gradually raise the tempo. The last part takes the longest. Does anyone have suggestions for improving my process?

top 1 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

It depends on the piece. I play a lot of jazz, rock, funk, and adjacent styles, and so I'm typically going off of chord charts or just by ear, and in those instances, I can get something passable hacked together in a few minutes. If I'm playing an accompaniment part for a vocalist or soloist, those are usually simpler so as to not step on the toes of whoever is in the spotlight, so I can usually put that together in a week or two, with the caveat that that's not a big part of what I do on the reg. When I was doing a lot more classical type playing, particularly in college when I was getting my piano degree, I would do it pretty much the same way as you and it would take a similar amount of practice time for a relatively short but difficult piece, like a Gershwin prelude or a Joplin rag, or even longer for something like Danzon No. 2 by Marquez, which I did with my university orchestra, with the caveat that because I was spending multiple hours a day doing it, my overall turnaround time was quicker.