So, “… hand-together early in practice…” doesn’t mean that you don’t do hands separate work. Rather, it means you don’t delay transitioning to hands together work. It’s not an either/or question.
For example, when working on a piece, you would start with a small section, say a bar of music.
- Work on the right hand, then the left hand, then both hands together.
- After this, work on the next bar using the same process.
- Then, you string the two bars together. Rinse and repeat.
Kageyama goes on to state: “The top performers utilized a variety of error-correction methods, such as playing with one hand alone, or playing just part of the excerpt, but there was one strategy that seemed to be the most impactful. Strategically slowing things down.”
- Should you learn to play the piano one hand at a time or simultaneously?
- The top practicers didn’t all go straight to playing hands together.
- However, they all slowed things down to correct errors.
- Kageyama asserts, “Of the eight strategies above, there were three that were used by all three top pianists, but rarely utilized by the others. In fact, only two other pianists (ranked #4 and #6) used more than one…”
And the most effective practice strategies? Numbers 6 – 8. Even though playing hands together topped the list, identifying and correcting errors, slowing down tempos, and repeating until the passage “stabilized” got employed by five of the top six practicers.