Estimated reading time 4 minutes
Table of Contents
Introduction
How does your brain learn to play the piano with two hands? Daniel Coyle, in The Talent Code, tells us generally how the brain acquires skill, and I’ll give you specific tips for two-handed playing. Read more to find out how it works.
This post uses some technical terms. See the definitions in the Glossary below.
How Does Your Brain Learn to Play the Piano with Two Hands? By Myelinating Your Neurons
How does your brain learn to play the piano with two hands?
- Acquiring skill on piano, any skill, will be a process, and not just for two-handed playing.
- According to Coyle, when you slightly exceed your skill level, making some mistakes, your brain coats your neurons in a substance called myelin.
- Myelin optimizes your neurons so that they fire more efficiently.
- This means that making a few mistakes helps to supercharge how you learn.
Coyle says:
- “The goal is always the same: to break a skill into its component pieces… memorize those pieces… then link them together in progressively larger groupings…” (84).
- You achieve this by slowing down the song until you find a speed you can manage.
- Once you’ve gotten it down at slower tempos, repetition becomes essential.
- “Nothing you can do… is more effective in building skill than executing the action, firing the impulses down the nerve fiber, fixing errors…” (87).
- This gives you the big picture of how your brain learns a skill like playing the piano with two hands.
Next, comes the practical tips.
How Does Your Brain Learn to Play the Piano with Two Hands? Practice Tips
Mobile users: tip your phones 90o to the right to better read the score.
Right Hand (RH) Piano Part:
Left Hand (LH) Piano Part:
Try these practice tips when learning to play a piece of music with two hands. You need to break down your tasks into smaller pieces.
- Start by playing hands separately.
- Begin with the right hand (RH) in the first example.
- Then, play the left hand (LH) in the second example. For your convenience, I’ve included finger numbers for each note.
- Next, one bar at a time, put your hands together slowly.
To help you, I’ve included hands together lines and hand icons (including finger numbers) in the examples below to show how the hands line up. Also, I’ve provided soundtracks so you can hear how it sounds.
Some students have a hard time figuring out which hand should play when.
- Try tilting the score 90o to the right (see the rotated example below).
- Notice that RH and LH on the piano now line up with the treble and bass staffs in the score.
- As you move forward in time (using the red and blue counting numbers), ask yourself which hand plays?
- It’s all about keeping track (at any given time) of whether you play RH, LH, or both.
- That’s how your brain learns to play the piano with two hands.
- Once you’ve gotten comfortable playing the tilted score, turn it back to its normal position.
If these examples are too hard for you, apply these concepts to a piece at your playing level.
- For instructions on how the color coded rhythm works, see Color Coded Eighth Note Clapping.
- If you can’t read music, check out Playing the Piano with Color Coded Notes.
Piano Part with Two-Handed Playing:
Hand Icons (churien.deviantart.com/art/hand-template-blank-272630198) by Churien is licensed under CC BY (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0). Modified by Geoffrey Keith.
Concluding Thoughts to “How Does Your Brain Learn to Play the Piano with Two Hands?”
By now you’ve got a pretty good idea of how your brain learns a skill like playing the piano with both hands. Now you just have to do it. Set your goals and constantly reassess them. Be persistent and don’t give up!
Related Content:
- Ways Around the Difficulty of Playing the Piano Due to Short Fingers and Small Hands
- How to Overcome the Fear of Performing in Front of an Audience
- Why It’s So Hard for Someone with a Good Ear to Learn Sheet Music
- Why Do Minor Keys Sound Sad to Me?
- Do I Really Have to Learn Music Theory to Learn How to Play Piano?
- Why Do Pianists Occasionally Play Their Hands at Different Times as They Perform
- What Are the Small “>” Signs Above or Below the Notes?
- After They Can Sight-Read What’s Left for Musicians to Learn?
© 2022 Geoffrey Keith
Join me for in-person or online lessons today!
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