Listening

Listening is the key to a lot of things in music.

It starts by listening to the sound you are making, the actual sound that comes out of the piano here and now. This will naturally guide your hand in the right attitude to go beyond a technical difficulty or to create the accurate tone and dynamic that the piece needs at that particular moment. Even during technical exercises, listening to every note from both hands with objectivity will make your practice very efficient, and most of all, enjoyable.

Listening to records, live music, and the sounds of the world around you will feed your inner universe with rich references that will bring depth and unique personality to what you are playing.

When it comes to learning new material, reading the score not only with your eyes but also with your ears makes it a lot more efficient. Try to hear the music before you play it, you might be able to just imagine the rough shape of a melody, or to hear it more accuratly. I recommend a very good ear training method by Marie-Claude Arbaretaz : "lire la musique par la connaissance des intervalles" (read music through the knowledge of intervals) that develops the connection between the written notes and your inner ear.

This helps for improvisation as well, to improve your ability to find the notes you want to play on the keyboard.

When playing with others, being able to listen to them and to yourself at the same time is very important. This will bring clarity and coherence to the music, and the audience itself will feel invited to really listen and enjoy.

To anyone interested in free improvisation I recommend Eddie Prevost's book  No sound is innocent, which is a deep reflection about various aspects of this practice.