I'm really enjoying these videos from the youtube channel "Heart of the Keys", aka Annique Gottler. She takes a piece that is new to her, practices it for a minute, ten minutes, and an hour, and tries to perform it after each practice session. The more recent ones have lots of good tips, and she is not shy about showing the difficulties and mistakes that she makes.

Here is a good example:



Sam

Her tips are good but I think the idea of "performing" a piece after 1 minute is ridiculous. With the pieces she is playing 1 minute is not enough to even do one proper sight read through.

But her videos are pretty good, I agree. 👍

Even after an hour she doesn’t play the whole piece. Yes, there is a bit of hype to bring in an audience. But I think it is a very realistic portrayal of the work involved, even for an advanced player.

Sam

Oh, Sam! If you kneew the number of hours I put in, just to embed a simple tune in my head (decent reading is now out of the question) you'd be shocked!
But I have to count it as gain.
i just love the sound, the vitality, and the work-out for my brain.
I am fast becoming a third rate poet . . . .against my will haha

A curious desperation seems to exist among accomplished or famous artists and creators to preserve their enigma at all costs as if it all comes out of the blue. It is refreshing to come across the odd few who discusses their functioning in everyday language and don’t care what people think.

I just watched her Claire de Lune - she has the same counting problems as the rest of us, which she corrected in the 1 hour practice period. We tend to play it the way we have heard it, which is rarely the way Debussy wrote it.

Sam

I'm not sure what the pedagogical point is of continuing to practice the opening section with melody and accompaniment in separate hands when the score clearly indicates alternating hands. She admits it is "wrong" yet she continues to practice it that way. I would say: slow down and practice it right.

Contrary to what she says, for me, at least, I find it much easier to follow the "fine print" (i.e. proper hand distribution) than her initial attempts which she claims easier than the alternating hands direction.

As for the one minute, ten minute, one hour regimen, I don't see much value in it.

Regards,

Yeah, I'm not sure what the point of a 1 minute practice session is on a new piece, except maybe to quickly judge whether it will be too challenging to play or not. Either way one would need to have very solid sight-reading skills and be extremely familiar with all of the keys, in order to judge anything within a minute.

If anything I would say that the thinking should be the opposite, something like:
- 1 hour hands-separate practice
- 10 minutes slow practice (hands-together)
- 1 minute hands-together at tempo

I would start with
- 1 hr hands together slowly — as the goal should be to play hands together as soon as possible
- 10 min hands separate practice ( sections where hands together identified problems )
- 1 min hands together at tempo (targeting either the fastest or most problematic section )

For a concert pianist, a one minute practice session may be enough to get a vague idea of how to play the piece, and poses a difficult challenge. It makes no sense for a novice.

If you take the time posted on the video literally, it's what advanced players with years of experience would be able to do. For the average learner, 1 minute of playing is still practice. It'd take a week or longer to get through the notes on the first page.

There are learners on YT tracking their progress from 0 to playing a few songs in 6 months to a year. They are much closer to what an average player like myself would be doing. A minute of playing would be like a day to a week for many of us. My last piece by Beethoven has 2 movements in a moderate tempo. The difficulty is less than half of the one on the video. Took 1 week to learn a movement and another week to polish it. The 2nd movement the same.

The bottom line is to set realistic goals and keep track of your progress. Regardless the level of the pieces you're playing, aim to bring each piece up to a performance level.

The one minute piece is self-deprecating entertainment as the audience empathizes with her self-imposed suffering.

1 minute!? Usually takes me 5 minutes to realise I've forgotten my glasses and can't see what I'm playing 😳

Come on people - it's fun, entertaining, and a realistic look at what she can do with a new piece that she has never seen before. I find it fascinating that, even at her level, she has some of he same problems that all piano students have with new pieces. Much more informative than the usual "look how great I am" videos on youtube. I hope she makes more of them and I wish her the best of luck with her music career.

Sam

Yes, exactly! I agree with every word.

I don’t think anybody was trying to disparage the videos. It was just a discussion about how the challenge is likely out of reach for most here re: the 1 minute practice.

I mean she can sight-read pieces better than it would take many of us months to learn.

YouTube videos have to be condensed and somewhat "flashy" to appeal to the average 5 second attention span of internet and social media users, so I'm not blaming her for making this type of challenge. That said, she is not the only one showing glimpses into her practice. I'm a Josh Wright subscriber and he has some non-public videos where he literally shows his initial practice sessions on some pieces and thinks out loud how he approaches them. It gets boring sometimes (practice should sound boring) but it does show some of the thought processes.

There are so many charismatic pianists demonstrating and teaching on YT that you need a hook not just to attract audiences, but also get them to stay with you. One minute -> 1 hour 'challenge' is as good as any.

Though I must say that when I watched the same 'challenge video' on Rondo alla turca afterwards, I was perplexed, not just at the fact that she'd never played it before, but also at the way she sight-read it, which doesn't seem to be up to the level commensurate with her piano-playing abilities (nor with her attempt at the Liszt here).

The 1 minute-10 minutes-1 hour is a format that is used by many people on YT and not only for music. So here is a little tour:

Piano: Anna Khomichko playing Clair de Lune, obviously a piece of cake for her. Looks like she barely needs the 1 hour.



Vs Heart of the Keys



Another pianist: obviously less successful



Violin: TwoSetViolin, the humoristic challenge



Violin again: Abrami who BTW is an excellent pro



Here she is playing a wonderful piece by Piazolla: nothing to do with the subject but I like it.



The Flute: pretty boring. You can skip it. But she still made 25k views !



House building (miniature): dont even know what sort of software she is using. I did not know it existed ! I wonder if that is a frequently shared hobby. Looks easier than piano. I should try it.



Drawing challenge: if you have some skills (I dont)

I don't agree with the people who say 1 minute practice is not effective. They are just not practicing efficiently enough. I used simply piano for 1 minute and not only can I now play la campanella with their advanced algorithmic training methodology - so could everyone within a 10 mile radius!

You can suggest it to the pianist in the video i posted above. He obviously has some difficulties with the piece.

I'm sure there are pianists out there who could more or less sight-read Un Sospiro though, so it makes sense. I don't think you need to be a concert pianist to attempt the 1 minute challenge, but you certainly need to be in the advanced range with good sightreading and memorization skills.

Well, anybody could do it - you just need to pick the right piece!

Sam

Sight reading is 1 skill. Some people have a good memory or can play by ear. Whether you need your glasses or hearing aid, some people who are blind or deaf play music like normal people.

The time it'd take an average person to read through a piece, someone with a good ear can hear it once and reproduce the notes to a high degree of accuracy.

It doesn't make sense because sight reading through Un Sospiro just once takes more than 1 minute.

I enjoy watching the Heart of the Keys 1 minute/10 minute/1 hour challenges. I'm not much of a sight reader and I was curious so I tried it with a Clementi Sonatina, which is easier than the music I normally play. It was fun! I recommend it!