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I saw the discussion of looking at one's hands while playing (on Sandy's thread) and the disagreement about whether this is a problem.
I was mighty surprised to hear anyone say you should never look at your hands. My thinking on it is that you should look at your hands as much or as little as you need to play the piece correctly.
When a piece is memorized, of course you can look at your hands. Where else would you look? Staring out at the audience would freak everyone out.
When you're reading, you'll want to look at the music as much as you can to avoid losing your place. Even then, you'll need to look down for big jumps.
The real issue for me has been where to look when looking down. I recall playing one piece (Chopin Waltz in Am, posthum.) that had jumps on the left hand and a tricky single-note melody without jumps on the right. I was bouncing my eyes between the left and right hand. My teacher held a piece of paper over the right hand so I couldn't see it and told me to play. I was surprised to find that the right hand could do just fine without looking, so I was free to just keep my eyes on the left.
Just one pianist's opinion . . .
Cindy -- not a pro or advanced pianist or anything
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There seems to be a huge controversy about this. I personally feel that if you have to look at your hands you will not become proficient sight-reader. That's not to say you can't glance at your hands occasionally for jumps and such, but making a habit of looking will certainly retard your ability to sight-read since you will be unsure of how to navigate the geography of the keyboard without looking. Once you've gotten used to it, playing "by feel" becomes very natural and comfortable. I only look at the keys when I have to make jumps or blind leaps. I have a mental image of the keyboard layout in my head so even though I don't look at the keys "with my eyes" I "see" them in my mind.
When it comes to playing memorized repetoire there's really nothing stopping you from looking at your hands and I don't think it's a problem if you do. To me the main reason not to *ALWAYS* look at your hands has to do with increasing your ability to sight-read and perhaps, and this is just a theory of mine, with a sense of security at the keyboard. If I absolutely HAVE to look at every single note I play or look every time I move the hand that makes me very dependent on my eyes, if I make one false move and don't look in time, I could hit the wrong note. If I can generally play a piece through solid without looking (except for a few hard parts with big jumps where I have to make some quick glances) then I *personally* would feel much more secure with the music because I can play it without having to focus intently on watching my hands. Again, this is just me personally here.
Since I have been working with my teacher on keyboard chreography (playing chords, inversions, cadences etc. by feel in every key) and also practicing my scales without looking I personally feel that my confidence at the keyboard has grown. I am a better sight-reader now and I can hit the notes with more conviction because I know exactly where they are without looking. I think back to the old saying "The hand is quicker than the eye", if I have to look constantly then the speed of my hand is throttled by the speed of my eye. If I know instinctively where the notes are I can play faster than my eye could ever keep up with.
There are some ppl on this forum that will tell you that you shouldn't *EVER* at your hands. I think this is a bit strong of a conviction, but I will say that for me personally learning to play without looking has had the added benefit of lowering the amount of time it takes to learn pieces, increasing sight-reading tremendously and having a sense of more control over the instrument.
I have two pianist friends who are both pretty advanced players. One plays only classical and the other plays classical and a lot of jazz stuff including a lot of transcriptions of pop songs that he makes up for his own amusement. Neither one of them really look at there hands at all when they play. I know this is a textbook "argument by anecdote" fallacy but if it worked for them...
DISCLAIMER :: These are just some observations from an amateur pianist with a modest 1.5 years of experience (4 mos with a teacher). I too would like to hear what others in the PW community think about this very interesting topic.
~pianocliff
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I'm glad to see this started as its own thread, as I think this is an interesting topic deserving full PW treatment.
I contributed to Sandy's thread where this topic came up recently because I was made very nervous by the people who were advocating "don't ever look at your hands", because I DO look at my hands quite a bit--constantly, in fact, when it's a piece I have memorized, and I end up memorizing most pieces I work on.
However, I have noticed that I also tend to focus almost exclusively on my left hand, and I only glance at the right when I have to make a rather large jump on the keyboard and want to be sure I'm getting the right key. I was worried that I looked TOO much at my left hand, in fact. I considered it a bad habit and attributed it to a deep, dark secret from my past, which is that I played the accordion for 7 years as a child (is that confession going to get me kicked out of the forum?) but have been playing piano now only for a year. So all along I have had no problem with mastering the right hand, and all my effort is dedicated to learning the left hand. That's why it was interesting to hear Cindy say that she now focuses on the left hand, too. I'd be interested to hear what others of you do, and from some of the teachers out there regarding what they think is the "proper" balance in looking at left vs. right, as well as the larger issue of how much to look at all.
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wasn't a problem for guys like Ray Charles,, who seemed to have no problems at all.
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ROFLMAO! Wow kb, thanks a bunch for a such a refreshing glimpse of insight!
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This topic sparked quite a bit of interest in one of Sandy's previous threads. Here's the link to that thread for those of you who didn't catch it previously. Just remember to post your responses in this thread http://www.pianoworld.com/ubb/ubb/ultimatebb.php?/topic/32/1309.html ~pianocliff
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Personally, I'm trying to learn to play without looking at my hands. I find that even something as simple as scales can fall apart if you're used to looking at your hands and then you don't. Likewise, if you're used to playing a piece by not looking at your hands and then you just happen to look down and watch them for a few seconds, you may find it falling apart as well.
So now the first time through a key, I play with looking at my hands and then I play through it without looking. That way I get used to both ways. I'm still not up to playing most of my music without looking though.
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I think for me is the realization that if I don't look at my hands, I actually don't miss as many notes as I thought I would...although I do miss more if I try to play up to speed. I've been experimenting with playing memorized pieces without looking at my hands (or a score). I'm finding it quite an interesting experience as I'm actually listening more to what I play and concentrating on the feel of the intervals and distance for jumps...... hmmmmm...... I do believe that not "depending" on looking will increase sightreading ability... I've found an interesting thread about this on another forum it's http://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php In the techer's section..lots of interesting comments and suggestions.
It's the journey not the destination..
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Sandy can you post a link to the specific thread you are referencing?
Nevermind, I actually found several threads by searching for "looking at hands" see this link: <a href="http://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php?action=search2;params=YnJkfCd8MSwyLDMsNCw1LDYsNyw4LDl8InxzaG93X2NvbXBsZXRlfCd8fCJ8c3ViamVjdF9vbmx5fCd8fCJ8c2VhcmNofCd8XCJsb29raW5nIGF0IGhhbmRzXCJ8Inxzb3J0X2RpcnwnfGRlc2N8Inxzb3J0fCd8cmVsZXZhbmNl"> (search results from "Looking At Hands")</a>.
~pianocliff
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I remember early on (I've had 6 years of lessons), I tried very hard to play without looking at my hands. I was obsessive about it.
Once during my lesson, I was fumbling with some section, but I was stubbornly looking up the music, refusing to look at my hands. After repeatedly messing things up, my teacher said, "Look at your hands! What's the use of not looking if you can't play the section unless you look?"
I think the upshot (in her opinion) was that you should look at your hands when you *need* to look at your hands rather than looking for the sake of it or out of habit.
FWIW, for recitals, I actually practice where my eyes will fall, making sure they go where they need to be for this or that tricky section, or making sure they're in the middle if the hands are very far apart. This may make me something of a freak, I don't know . . .
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Likewise, if you're used to playing a piece by not looking at your hands and then you just happen to look down and watch them for a few seconds, you may find it falling apart as well. Bob, isn't that weird? Say I start a new piece, and because I don't know it I must read the music. Time passes. Eventually, I can play the thing and don't need the music and I'm on my way to memorizing. That first time when I play without music and am completely free to look at my hands can be a bit disorienting.
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Anybody wonder about Takeshi Kakehashi's "view" on this topic? Or Stanislav Bunin, or_____, or_____, or?
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Try looking down at your hands with your periphery vision. Develop using vision and feel, that the instructions go to you head (sheet music) and head makes it go to your fingers. It's not hard, just tricky.
Theodore Alamo Music Center San Antonio,Texas
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I spent the first 1.5 years of my piano playing learning on my own. I did not begin forcing myself to avoid looking at my hands until I started lessons less than half a year ago.
During that first, self-taught period, I naively looked at my hands constantly. I struggled through reading pieces, with my eyes moving back and forth between my hands and the music. I became very adept at memorizing pieces by looking at the positions of my fingers on the keyboard (it was probably the easiest way for me to acquire a repertoire, as reading the music while playing fluidly was impossible). The result is that I'm good at memorizing that way, but the downside is that, 2 years into this, I'm still horrible at sight-reading.
I've only recently started to try to force myself to develop a good tactile sense of the geography of the keyboard. I still look at my hands sometimes, but I limit this as much as possible, because I fear that that habit reinforces my brain's dependence on the IMAGE of my hands on the keys, rather than the way my hands FEEL. The visual crutch I've used all this time has kept me from developing sightreading skills. I view it as a major handicap that I now have to struggle to overcome.
I do think it's important to avoid any dependence on looking at your hands not only so that you can look at the music whenever you need to, but also because, depending on the settings you play in, you may have to look at other things as well: a conductor, bandmates.... Freedom from having to look at your hands will make you a better sightreader, and, in general, will open many doors musically. So, while I think it's a bit extreme to say "never look at your hands", I highly encourage people to resist depending on looking at their hands as early as possible in their piano study.
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Some people have also mentioned that they memorize faster by looking at the hands during practice sessions. This is an interesting relationship that I haven't really thought about before. When I memorize something I try to have a visual image of the score in my mind so in a weird way I am memorizing by having a sight-reading "buffer" in my head. What I mean is, when I play I am following an imaginary score in my mind. Even if there are no notes in front of me I "see" sheet music in my head. Is this weird? I don't really try to do this it just happens when I practice....
For tricky passages I will also think about the way the hands look but again I do this in my head. So for instance I'll see a DMajor chord and I'll think ok so that's a D (between the 2 blaks) and an F# (first of 3 blacks) and an A (between the 2nd and third of the 3 blacks). I will see the map of the keyboard in my head and just touch the keys on the keyboard w/o looking.
I guess I could augment my memory of pieces by looking at the hands but (at least in the way I learn) I already "see" the hand shapes in my head. It is kind of weird how this developed over time because I didn't start out thinking this way, it just sort of gradually developed and now I find that if I try to look constantly I'll be slowed down and distracted. One thing that I do sort of subconciously is use my peripheal (sp?) vision on the left hand. For instance in Chopin's C Minor prelude there are some LH octaves that I will sort of spot with my eyes before landing. I don't look at the entire hand, just the bottom note of the octave because I can feel the interval of an octave wihthout looking.
~pianocliff
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Originally posted by pianocliff: Some people have also mentioned that they memorize faster by looking at the hands during practice sessions. it's very true, because it gives you also 'visual memory' over your hands and keyboard.
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I can atest to memorizing faster by looking at your hands as well. I tend to only look at my left hand as well. I've been playing for about 7 months and I've memorized 5 pieces and I'm about halfway through 3 other pieces. But like others said this seriously hinders your sight-reading ability.
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Also, not all teachers are the same but I know that mine would much prefer that I look if I have to rather than stretch or grope for the keys. Playing by "braille" drives him crazy. I guess there's a balance that we can achieve...... eventually??
It's the journey not the destination..
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I can see this problem with "forcing" yourself not to look (EVER), however that isn't how I would learn to play without looking. I have built up my abilility to play w/o looking gradually. I think this is a wise approach because you aren't making unnatural movements but rather you are refining an accurate tactile memory of the keyboard gradually. I do think that doing the exercies in Howard Richman's "Super Sight-reading secrets" helped me to approach not looking in a healthy way that doesn't feel forced or contrived. (Man, when is this guy gonna start throwing some advertising revenue my way ). I can't play all my arpeggios w/o looking yet but the ones that I can play w/o looking are solid. I think you have to look at first obviously (unless you are blind then you have no choice) and then build up to not looking. When you are sight-reading you don't have time to look at everything so it will quickly become apparent to you if you don't have a firm grasp on the layout of the keyboard when you sight-read. When I practice a difficult technical part of a piece I will often look at my hands if I can't do something properly and concentrate on the movements my hands/fingers have to make. Here I'll experiment for a bit to make sure I am using a fingering and hand motion that is relaxed and comfortable. Once I have the most efficient hand movement for that particular section down, I stop looking at my hands and play without looking. It isn't hard for me at this point to do this and requires a lot less effort than you would think. You have to actually try this to believe me but trust me, you probably don't "have" to look at many of the passages you can't play w/o looking currently. Eventually I think you get so good at doing this sort of thing that you can sight-read almost anything without looking because you can instinctively put your hands and fingers in the right positions to play the notes coming up in the piece you are reading. This is the essence of good sight-reading (IMHO anyways) and as an added bonus the keyboard familarity you breed will make it easier to learn new pieces because your hand will naturally mold itself to the musical patterns in your pieces. As for playing "by braille", you only need to grope for the black keys initially, when you are first starting out, after a while you can find them instinctively because you have developed an acute sense of tactile memory that will be just as fast and in most cases many times faster than having to look at the keys. ~pianocliff
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Cindy said
I think the upshot (in her opinion) was that you should look at your hands when you *need* to look at your hands rather than looking for the sake of it or out of habit.
I remember my typing class in high school. First rule, don't look at the keys any more than necessary. It worked except when we came to the numbers, I didn't follow rule #1. The result? To this day I still glance down when typing numbers.
I have made a concious effort since I started taking lessons not to look at the keys. In the beginning I was constantly looking which is probably part of the normal learning process.
The only time I consciously look now is when improvising, trying to improvise is more like it. When reading I glance. My teacher has instilled in me the importance of getting a "feel" for where you are on the keyboard by using the black keys as reference points. Float your fingers over the top of the keys so you know where you are, especially when making jumps. This has taken a considerable amount of time to learn and I am a far way from mastering it but I am sticking to it and it seems to be working well. I DO glance down but only for split seconds to reference general locations rather than a specific key. When learning a new piece I study the piece carefully before attempting to play it. I work out fingerings and mark them on the score as necessary.
I don't necessarily believe there is any best way as we all process information differently but minimizing the number of steps required to perform a task would seem to make the process of learning the task simpler.
Now you can take this information on face value, coming from a 1 year 8 month first time piano beginner. I trust my teacher implicitly. He has been so instrumental in my progress by his astute observations and comments. His first rule from the beginning when I started with him a little over a year ago, make as much effort as possible by whatever means necessary to minimize looking at the keyboard.
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