1, First, listen to your teacher play two notes staccato, or detached, and two notes legato, or smoothly. Can you hear the difference? Second, sing the two notes to ‘lah’. Singing is usually legato because it is difficult to hum or sing staccato. Listen to your own singing and hear how the notes join. Sing the letter names of your notes as you try to play smoothly. Notice that your singing is legato. When you play staccato, it sounds like hic­coughs and in smooth playing you do not want to hear a hiccough. Third, play any two notes. As you play the first note, press down and lean on the first note so hard you cannot lift it. Then press the second note down. Listen to your playing. The notes should sound blended and joined. The secret is to press the first note so hard it can’t lift into a staccato. Hold the first note down and the moment note two reaches the bed of the key, lift the first note. Practice until you can play smoothly without pressing hard on the first note. 

2. Another technique is to slur two separated notes together in legato style. Play C with the first finger of your right hand and join it to F with the fourth finger. Look at your wrist. Pretend your wrist is a smiley face’s mouth. Swing your wrist to the right in the shape of the smile. This wrist movement will help you play the two notes legato or smoothly. Swing your wrist left or right depending upon the location of the second note. 

3. Ask your teacher to place her fingers over yours while you play two or three notes. Feel the weight of her fingers as she plays legato. Ask her to play two or three notes legato into the small of your back while you play. Feel legato on your back. Play it.

4. On your score ask your teacher to draw lines joining the notes that should be legato. Whenever the melody moves upward or downward, join the two notes together. Note it is a physical impossibility to join two notes that are the same. The first note is always detached or staccato.

How do I play one hand legato and the other staccato?

1. Pretend you are two people. Your right hand plays legato, the left lifts or detaches. Try to do this trick on the fall board of the piano. Change hands. Play left legato and right staccato. Now try to do this trick on the keys. The secret is to press the legato hand down and prevent it lifting while you lift the left.. Press hard! Don’t lift! Finally, try to play your right hand without pressing so hard. See how easy it is to do this trick! 

2. Pretending a heavy giant is sitting on the legato hand and some balloons are attached to the staccato hand may help you feel the difference.

Even though each day seems jammed with activities, you can find time to practice. You have spare moments, but you must hunt for them. 

Decide the minimum amount of time you need for practice in order to accomplish your goals. For most piano students, this min­imum is three to six hours each week. If you wish to become a better pianist, you must do more. 

Follow yourself for a typical week and notate your activities for each section of the day. Look for slots of fifteen or thirty minutes when you have nothing to do. Include the times you watch TV, lis­ten to cds/tapes, browse the Net. Decide how many of these you are willing to give up for practice sessions. On the chart, write (a) for times you are and (b) for times you are away from a piano and could do finger exercises, memorize, or learn theory. Here is an example in which the hobbyist has found ample time to prac­tice by giving up some TV/Net and using (b) ‘away from the piano’ time. 

If you are being intellectually honest with yourself and cannot find any time at all, look at your schedules over a month, six months or a year. You may find chunks of time you can use. When I was a young professional, I set aside two hours each weekend as well as four hours a day during the month of August for practice sessions. I lost some repertoire, but did not lose my finger dexter­ity and my ability during these years. For mothers, top college students and rising professionals today, our work weeks are sixty to eighty hours. Without these hours, we cannot succeed in the mod­em world. However, our hobbies, our love for the black and white keys, may be sustained and enhanced by careful planning and determined motivation. This love and ability is too precious to lose to the necessities of the market place or to the demands of modern parenting. Plan wisely and you will be successful.

Once you begin to practice, become your own teacher and write down the number of minutes you practice each day/week and the items you have practiced. Be honest with yourself. Reward yourself with a pat on the back if you stayed on track and practiced at least sixty percent of the time. Do not be too tough or too lenient. By keeping track on paper you can see what you are doing. Give your study habits birthday parties after one week or two weeks, a month, or a yean Gradually, practicing will become a habit and you will be organized well enough to indulge in the joys of your hobby.

Teachers are your major source of this knowledge. Also immerse yourself in recordings and concerts until you begin to hear, feel and understand styles, rhythm and individual characteristics of the music you like best. Look for local contests in which students play all Baroque or Bach pieces. Can you pick the winners before the judges announce them? Listen to the sounds and watch the hand technique. Did they use the pedal? Attend a contest for Romantic music. Why does it sound so different? Did they use the pedal? How did the technique differ? Did the students sit at the piano in a different way? Attend concerts by great pianists. If you do not look at the program, can you tell which pieces are Baroque and which are Romantic? Have a discussion with your teacher about the differences between these two styles. Try to incorporate what you have learned into your playing. Do the same with any styles you love and develop your ability to assess the ways in which pianists interpret this music? 

Read library books about the lives of the composers you are studying. How does the music reflect the happenings historically? What were the composers saying? Find pictures, preferably in an art gallery, from the composer’s era. Often the artists and the archi­tects were reflecting the same ideas as the composers. When you play, whether it is Romantic, Jazz or Church Music, think of the era, the historical setting and the beliefs the composers and artists were presenting. Try to express, as well as you can, the composer’s intentions. 

How can I play one hand louder than the other?

(1) If you can’t hear your own playing clearly, ask your teacher to listen and tell you which notes are out of balance and which hand is too loud or too quiet. (2) To play louder, lean your body into your fingers. To play quieter, lean your body away from your fin­gers. Be sure your feet are flat on the floor and lean into the foot on the louder side. (3) Pretend a huge giant is sitting on your hand on the louder side. Pretend balloons are tied to your wrist on the quieter side. 

Sometimes you will need to play one side of your hand quieter than the other side. Pretend your hand is two hands and do exer­cises 1, 2 and 3 above. Watch out for your thumb and pull back the weight if it is too loud. 

How can I learn to play beautifully?

Playing beautifully is dependent upon all the factors. The most important is listening to your playing and lis­tening for beauty: the rise and fall of melodic lines, relaxed, golden touches on the keys and the beauty of each note as your total play­ing sweeps across the keys.

Yes, group lessons are a wonderful alternative to individual lessons because they are not expensive and teach you the fundamentals of playing in a friendly group setting where you will meet others just like yourself who are wondering if they really want to study the piano. 

1. Sources

Places to look for group lessons are: 

a) Music stores, especially those selling sheet music or pianos. 

b) County and local school district evening classes. These are usually very reasonable and are held in local schools or community centers and taught by teachers qualified to teach adult groups. 

c) A large school/community center/music store will offer several levels of beginning group piano lessons and you may repeat sections you did not understand or move to higher beginning levels of study. Many of these centers have excel­lent faculties that teach privately as well. 

d) Private teachers who have electronic laboratory studios and are trained in up-to-date group methods. They usually advertise in local papers or may be found through musical associations. 

e) Summer sessions at conservatories and universities provide board, room and college credit, if desired, from renowned teachers with class and private lessons. These courses pro­vide you with a large view of the piano world and you will hear noted performers and have access to university libraries. 

f) Elderhostel courses for those fifty-five and over are held in universities as well as holiday venues in many countries. Some include group piano lessons. Catalogs, published quarterly, are sent to every US public library and are avail­able also from Elderhostel, 75 Federal Street, Boston, Mass, 02110-1941, or phone (617) 426-8056. If you are on a lim­ited income, scholarships are available. In the US inclusive week-long courses are $350-$400. International courses of two to three weeks are about $2,500 and include transporta­tion, board, room and courses.

2. The Piano Laboratory

The group laboratory rooms will be equipped with five to ten pianos and headphones tied to a master piano controlled by the teacher. You will be able to hear your teacher, your own playing or everyone playing together. You will find your participation in this modern technological laboratory an exciting experience and much fun. You will become comfortable with an electronic keyboard, learn to read notes and play simple tunes. 

3. Cautions

Learning to play an instrument well is dependent upon not only your natural ability, practice time and personal motivation, but also upon a teacher’s ability to guide you to use your hands in expert ways and to analyze each step of your interpretation into the beauty intended by each composer. Learning to play a musical instrument well is accomplished only through expert individualized teaching. In a group setting, this cannot be done. Habits of incorrect hand usage and interpretation of scores are difficult to eradicate. Thus, early in your studies, individualized attention to your abilities and needs is required. In music, the great teachers produce the great performers. Even if you have no intention of becoming a great performer, a fine teacher can help you avoid the physical pain of incorrect hand usage and lead you to beauty in even the simplest piece.