Learning IMPOSSIBLE Pieces Through MICROSCOPIC Strategy, Example 2

[@slkchao]

Thank you for your time for creating these quality resources for improvement at the piano 🙏

[@davidchangmusic]

Thank you so much for your extremely kind words - that means a lot! 🙂🙏 So happy to be of help!

[@olibeets]

I like this concept because it makes me realize that for the most part I have used the opposite "macroscopic" strategy. Partly because that for me is the better way to nail the overall rhythms and dynamics of the piece and focus on identifying key harmonic points. I take a microscope to things towards the end (or as particular sections take my fancy if they're within easier reach) but in the beginning my interest is in reconciling what my ear finds interesting to what's going on, and getting body, arms and wrists used to what I need to do before the more intricate parts. That might all be to say, I do go across the score atomically like this, but I have a non-linear approach to nailing parts of the score, particularly if there are more gentle sections. I can't vouch for my approach as I have loooots of pieces on the go and none of them finished but it keeps things fun!

[@davidchangmusic]

Hello there! Thanks for these very interesting thoughts! Sure, there’s no absolute right or wrong way to layer strategies - use the methods of mine that are useful to you and discard those that don’t serve you at this time. In terms of “macroscopic” strategy - I really like the way you described it - I think of my logistical methodology - there’s a little playlist where I talk about the complete planning of fingering and the complete planning of musical detail (or you can search for those). I also think performance itself (I have lots of videos on performance on the channel too) is definitely the 30,000-foot view. Sight-reading itself is also obviously big-picture or “macro”. I think the thing to be cautious of in practicing bigger from the start is in preserving quality - are you practicing sections correctly more or often or incorrectly more often? I’ll go more “micro” if I think I’m recording coordinations that are of too low a quality. Totally with you also on keeping things fun! I also made videos called “Designing Enjoyable Piano Practice and Life Tasks” and other similar videos under my “Mindset” playlist… it’s so important to actually enjoy what you’re doing if you want to achieve great efficiency and results over time: kzbin.info/www/bejne/nIGzpH5tj8ucesU kzbin.info/www/bejne/eWGUlZKomrBkjq8 Anyway, so glad you find this helpful!

[@maximuswilliam318]

Hi! Can you do a video series of how to sight read fluently in the piano with maximum efficiency, quality independence through strategy like the 14 layers of strategy video series that you did? That's all Thanks! Hoping for a positive reply.

[@davidchangmusic]

Hi there - thanks for this comment! That’s a great question. Sight reading is honestly an entirely different skill - it wouldn’t be layered in the same way as all the other layers of strategy, musicality, and technique, etc. that you see on my channel. I did make videos on why and how I memorized 150 pieces in a year: - kzbin.info/www/bejne/o2fIc3uMop5nn80si=Z1mk9nkx_lN9nFIF - kzbin.info/www/bejne/eXXWoGiAmsSoobssi=pf6mhTRx9RPAb_r7 Here are things I often recommend to greatly improve sight reading: - If you can’t immediately recognize all notes in both clefs, the iOS app Notes - Sight Reading Trainer (paid version) is quite good - The ability to quickly learn small pieces greatly contributes to your sight reading ability (like the 150 Piece Challenge, 40 Piece Challenge, etc.) - Literally practicing sight reading for 5 minutes a day (or some consistent amount) trying as best you can to NOT STOP - Literally use my logical methodology in general If you learn really ambitious pieces using my methods, your sight reading skills will improve greatly. However, I wouldn’t say that I currently have a sight reading “method” the same way that I do the rest of my more progressive strategies. That’s a great idea for the future, though - thanks for this - will think on it!

[@maximuswilliam318]

@davidchangmusic Thank You :)

[@pianoplaynight]

Another excellent video! And the Italian pronunciation was very good. (I'm a native speaker). Keep it up David, really love your videos. The idea of studying smaller chunks and memorizing them really helps a lot while performing too, cause you always have a lot "checkpoints" in case you come to a halt and mess up. One small question: when working on the small sections, are you supposed to go to full speed? Or in different/slower speeds?

[@davidchangmusic]

Haha thank you so much - that really means a lot! I record 8 KZbin videos back to back in one day every 8 weeks or so to try and keep things sustainable. Yes, if you’re curious, you can check out my mental practice playlist - I call it the “strongest memory technique” because you can start from literally ANYWHERE in the music from memory if done well. All my methodologies all work together if you go deep enough over time. Great question! I would start at whatever speed is optimal for “solving” very small sets / sections, so it’s usually a conservative speed. I would stay at that speed the entire time while expanding to small sets, medium sets, entire pages, etc. from memory (see my 14 Layers of Strategy playlist or specifically my Rule of Expansion). Made a little video on a hypothetical ideal starting tempo: kzbin.info/www/bejne/l4KZgnykrZp-gcU Personally, I would also be doing metronome practice at that slow speed using my “all loud” with accents touch (and many other parameters). I would then go through my metronome cycling process with the entire piece. (See my “Physical Methodology” playlist if you want to start layering on some of these other elements gradually, but be warned, those are whole worlds in and of themselves too.) Anyway, in short, I stay at a slow speed (whether with or without the metronome) while going from very small to small to medium to large to entire piece, etc…. I can then aggressively increase the speed if I preserved absolute quality the whole time: kzbin.info/www/bejne/mImamXaBh898sLs Hope all this helps!!

[@RoxiTube1]

I'm a baby beginner 😂 I start in the middle with 2 notes and add notes on each side... I find this helpful 😊

[@davidchangmusic]

Haha awesome and great to have you here - very happy you find this helpful! Thanks for watching! 🙂🙏

[@douwemusic]

Hey David! What software do you use to read and annotate the sheet music?

[@davidchangmusic]

Hey there! Surprisingly, it’s just Apple / native iOS stuff… it’s literally just “Files” or “Photos” :) The same features are actually available on your iPhone too if you’re an Apple user, though it’s only on the iPad you can use the Apple Pencil, obviously. If you hold the Pencil there for a moment after drawing a circle or line or something, it turns “perfect” using their “Perfect Shapes” feature (you can even do this just with your finger on your phone!), which I love. As a result, I actually have not used specifically-for-music apps like ForScore, etc. Maybe if I make it big one day, I can get sponsored by Apple lol… I certainly love how convenient they’ve made my teaching, etc….

[@davidchangmusic]

As you probably know, I also use the fancy technique of holding my phone in my hand to show you my iPad 🙂

[@douwemusic]

@@davidchangmusic Thanks for the elaborate response! Unfortunately, I have a Samsung tablet, so I guess I'll have to ask other people for suggestions!

[@davidchangmusic]

@@douwemusic My pleasure! Oh, got it. I honestly have no idea there. Best of luck!! Thanks for watching :)

[@richarddoan9172]

When one is learning a section, what tempo are you aiming for? Do you aim for 100% speed? Or do you aim for an intermediate speed (50%, 80%, whatever) for the smaller sections, and then bring the whole piece up to speed over time?

[@davidchangmusic]

Thanks for this question! My answer is the second thing you said - it may be a slow, conservative speed (what you described as “intermediate) for the smaller sections… but then I’ll expand them using spaced repetition from very small to small, then medium, then large, then very large sections… then the entire piece, more or less… then aggressively increase the speed. I’ll also copy and paste an answer I wrote to another similar question here: I would start at whatever speed is optimal for “solving” very small sets / sections, so it’s usually a conservative speed. I would stay at that speed the entire time while expanding to small sets, medium sets, entire pages, etc. from memory (see my 14 Layers of Strategy playlist or specifically my Rule of Expansion). Made a little video on a hypothetical ideal starting tempo: kzbin.info/www/bejne/l4KZgnykrZp-gcU Personally, I would also be doing metronome practice at that slow speed using my “all loud” with accents touch (and many other parameters). I would then go through my metronome cycling process with the entire piece. (See my “Physical Methodology” playlist if you want to start layering on some of these other elements gradually, but be warned, those are whole worlds in and of themselves too.) Anyway, in short, I stay at a slow speed (whether with or without the metronome) while going from very small to small to medium to large to entire piece, etc…. I can then aggressively increase the speed if I preserved absolute quality the whole time: kzbin.info/www/bejne/mImamXaBh898sLs Hope all this helps!

[@richarddoan9172]

@@davidchangmusic Thank you for the explanation! I've been wondering about this question for a very long time (first learn an entire piece at a slow speed, or learn smaller segments at tempo). I look forward to digging into your videos!

[@DavidFelipeAlvaradoSalas]

To add to this, I personally would speed up in small chunks, the same way you learned them according to this method. As granular as you need, you also speed up very granularly, even a couple notes, like in this video.