A question I get asked pretty often is: “I have a busy couple of weeks coming up, what if I don’t have much time for piano practice?”
My usual answer is “just do what you can”, which, now I think about it, is annoyingly non-specific.
For the past couple of weeks I’ve been short of time myself (on top of family stuff and running the YouTube channel we’ve been working on the next stage of our house renovations).
I’ve used the situation to develop some specific tactics for practising in time-limited conditions. I’ve come up with five:
— If I do nothing else on a given day, I practise my scales. Running through all the majors and harmonic minors takes around 7 minutes, which is enough to keep me flexible.
— I’ve isolated three or four difficult sections from pieces I’m learning. Typically these are just a bar or two long. I’ve saved a photo of each one to the camera roll on my phone, so when I have a few minutes I can sit at the piano, put my phone on the music stand, find a nugget of score and work on it.
— Sometimes I just sit down at the piano and play through a piece I know. This isn’t mindless, as I’m always looking for ways to improve, but it’s a quick and satisfying way of getting something done (and also good for stress…)
— Similarly, I sometimes sit down and play a couple of run-throughs of a short improvisation (the jazz rhythm changes, for example, or a I-V-vi-IV progression).
— I try to make it all as frictionless as possible. Any printed music I need stays there on the piano stand, and ideally open at the right page. Digital scores I’m working on live as open tabs on my iPad, so I don’t waste time hunting for them. I’ve chosen sections and pieces that don’t need a lot of warming up (no big stretches etc.) so if necessary I can just sit down and practise for two or three minutes — though I always warm up a little if I can.
You’ll have to manage your expectations when you use these tactics, because you’re not likely to make much progress with your playing if you’re only practising for a handful of minutes a day. But you might find them useful during busy times to keep your skills from getting rusty.
Perhaps the most useful thing they’ll do is keep you in the habit of practice, so that when your schedule returns to normal you can slide easily back into a good routine.
Do you have any tips on how to handle piano practice when time is short, maybe based on your own experiences?
Did you know you can improve your piano playing by working on your ear skills?
A keen ear improves your ‘mental representation’ of music, whether you’re reading sheets or improvising. Good ear skills = a better sense of what you need to play = faster progress.
Best of all, you can work on your ear away from the piano. Start with the exercise in the image. Choose a low note in your vocal range (not necessarily C) and sing, whistle or hum the broken chords.
Level 1 uses root position chords, Level 2 first inversion, and Level 3 second inversion.
If you find it’s tough going, that’s good — stretching yourself is the way to make progress! If it's too hard, practise at the piano, playing the notes while you sing.
Let me know how you get on in the comments… and if you’d like more science-backed tips on improving your musical skills, check out my latest book, How To Be A Better Musician:
👉 www.bettermusicianbook.com/
*UPDATE: I've replaced last night's discount code with specific discounts on individual products — that way people who are buying through links in videos get the saving too*
Hey everyone! Just a quick one to let you know I've launched a new webstore over at www.billspianostore.com/ — basically it's a one-stop-shop for all of my current products. It's powered by Paypal (via Payhip.com) so you get the peace of mind that comes with PayPal's industry-leading security. I also offer 100% no-quibble refunds on all products if you buy something and decide it's not for you. Take a look today!
Just a heads-up that I've released a new podcast episode to accompany my book, How To Be A Better Musician. This episode discussed Chapter 2 of the book, which covers some of the science of music learning: incredibly useful stuff if you're seeking to understand why practice always seems so difficult (basically because it has to be difficult to force your brain to adapt) and how you can optimise your routine from first principles. You can stream all the episodes from the podcast page at www.bettermusicianbook.com/ — they're completely free, even if you don't yet have a copy of the book.
I've produced quite a few videos this year, but this is the one I most enjoyed making. It hasn't done amazingly well for views (no surprise, as it's a little different from the type of material I usually post) but if you're at all interested in music and music-making, I think you might like it. It's only seven minutes long, so if you have a chance, give it a look, a "like" and — if you feel inclined — a comment. I'd really appreciate it.
Thanks very much for watching and supporting my channel this year, Merry Christmas to those of you who are celebrating it, and best wishes for 2023!
Hey everyone — a pretty big announcement today! My new book, How To Be A Better Musician, is finally finished and on sale at www.bettermusicianbook.com/ — on the website you can also find the first couple of episodes of the accompanying podcast, which is free to listen to. Right now the book is digital only (you can get both EPUB and PDF files) but I'm aiming to get a print edition on sale later in 2023.
This one has been a long-time coming, having been repeatedly postponed in the turmoil of the past year or two. I'll be talking more about in videos and on social media soon!
I’ve heard stories about various creator-oriented scams doing the rounds on YouTube at the moment, and I’ve just had my first! If you see any comments from a user called “text me on Telegram@BillHilton” saying you’ve won a piano - or anything similar - please ignore them.
Any offer I run through the channel will be announced via a video. I don’t do any offers or communication with my viewers via Telegram.
I deleted this first one within minutes of it being posted, and aim to do the same with any follow-ups (which there will doubtless be)!
Hey everyone! This most recent video is a bit of a departure for me — it's a short, non-technical video essay, exploring some important issues about what we put into our music. It takes a couple of quotes from the legendary musical theatre composer Stephen Sondheim as a starting-off point and explores how, as musicians, we manage the relationship between the technical and emotional sides of what we do.
Have a look, let me know what you think and tell me if you'd like more of the same. My channel is going to continue to be focussed on piano, music theory, musicianship and musical creativity tutorials, but every now and then I want to branch out a little. I produced this because it was something I really wanted to say, and the skills I got to practise while I was making it are, I hope, going to come in handy for future stuff.
If you're interested in comping — the art of writing or improvising a piano accompaniment to a sung melody line — then here's Sarah Alexandra showing how it should be done. Well worth a listen and a watch: in particular look at the percussive stuff that's going on around around the 3 minute mark, and contrast it with the softer beginning and end.
Hey everyone! You might recall that not long ago I was asking your opinion about how I should publicise the YouTube Shorts that I make. Since there was a pretty substantial proportion of you that said that you found notifications for Shorts annoying, I've been keeping them off the subscriber stream. However, like I said, what I'm going to do is post links to recent Shorts I've made here, on the Community tab. So recently I've published...
"Interlock your Chords for Great-Sounding Progressions" --> https://youtu.be/8KEyaBR74Fk
"Practise 2 Hands Together on Piano with Contrary Motion Scales" --> https://youtu.be/gUAdfJNBbSI
"An Easy Chord Substitution" --> https://youtu.be/U5xZ3EbBrd4
I've also been posting them over at www.instagram.com/billhilton — so if you prefer to get your short form content that way, be sure to subscribe to my Instagram!
Piano, improvisation, chords, music theory and more!
Most of my videos are piano tutorials. I have a series of 21 tutorials on how to play piano for beginners, and dozens of other tutorials you'll find useful if you're a pianist who already has some basic skills and you want to move outwards into areas like improvisation, jazz piano, blues piano, rock and pop piano, songwriting and more.
I also have quite a few tutorials on music theory, chords, songwriting and composition and related areas if you're trying to improve your overall musical skills.
If you have any questions about anything piano or music theory-related, or suggestions for tutorials you'd like to see, give me a shout!