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We're having a little contest, running until the end of March. Please feel free to enter - see the thread in the "I Did That" section of the forum. Don't be shy, have a go!
How to play without looking at the keyboard
- Thread starter breezybellows
- Start date
Javthedog
Active member
Just don't look - it may take a while, but.......Old school secretaries don't look at the typewriter.......pianists...... Start off without looking and - well - goodness me - you won't need to look. Find a reference point or 2. Listen. Most of all, practise! FWIW
The bellows, to make sure they don't catch on anything that would hurt.
Dingo40
Been here for ages!
His eyes probably aren't fast enough.
Dingo40
Been here for ages!
It's actually not really a joke. There are people who move their mouth while reading, and that drastically affects reading speed. Trying to watch (or even imagine!) your fingers while playing will cause linkages between your motor control and vision processing.That's a good point !
And I thought you didn't wear shoes in order to be able to feel the foot buttonsMy toes!
hahaha! No the truth is we don’t wear shoes inside our home else my mother would cut my toes off, and I just practice and then forget to wear shoes before doing the video!And I thought you didn't wear shoes in order to be able to feel the foot buttons
Shhhh… don’t tell anyone, ok?
Try steel cap boots.
you're secret is safe with me Jerryhahaha! No the truth is we don’t wear shoes inside our home else my mother would cut my toes off, and I just practice and then forget to wear shoes before doing the video!
Shhhh… don’t tell anyone, ok?
Dan Wigroth, The Unknown Accordionist
davidplaysaccordion
Active member
When sitting and playing my 4x I can easily see my right hand over the top although generally I don’t look because, as mentioned, you cannot read music and lol at your hands. When standing though, there’s no way I can see my hands so I rely on feeling the black notes to confirm where I am. As they gave their own 3/2 pattern I usually just feel them with the side of my finger as I play. Works for me. Fortunately I don’t play standing much.
I feel the black notes, but I think it is not the best way, I assume the best players go straight for the note and just spend a couple of extra years practicing.
Zevy
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That IS the best way to do it. That’s the way the pros did it. I only realized it after my teacher, Charles Nunzio, died and I was watching videos of him playing. I noticed how he would never looked at the keyboard but he would feel the position of the keys before playing.
Serves you all right for limiting yourselves to those silly piano-style keyboards. 
Zevy
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I don’t feel limited at all. I feel fortunate to have had good instruction from excellent teachers and I try my best.Serves you all right for limiting yourselves to those silly piano-style keyboards.
A virtuoso CBA player told me that he would love to play PA. But I know that both he and I will never make the switch.
Ventura
Been here for ages!
Piano keys have one huge advantage for Popular music focused
gigging musicians over chromatics..
everyone knows the notes go UP as you go that-a-way on the keys
and Down when you go this-a-way way, so it is easy to transmit
your intent to them visually as well as audibly.. therefore they can
easily buy in to the songs you play for them
with Buttons, most everyone watching has no clue whatinnaheck you
are doing so it seems like Wizardry, which is fine but they mostly
enjoy the music by being awed.. whom else but another qualified
musician would know what notes are coming next ?
this may be less of a disconnect for recital music, but for Pop
fugghedaboudit
heck, I think alla you button people are WIZARDS
gigging musicians over chromatics..
everyone knows the notes go UP as you go that-a-way on the keys
and Down when you go this-a-way way, so it is easy to transmit
your intent to them visually as well as audibly.. therefore they can
easily buy in to the songs you play for them
with Buttons, most everyone watching has no clue whatinnaheck you
are doing so it seems like Wizardry, which is fine but they mostly
enjoy the music by being awed.. whom else but another qualified
musician would know what notes are coming next ?
this may be less of a disconnect for recital music, but for Pop
fugghedaboudit
heck, I think alla you button people are WIZARDS
Well, I have a few "I did that" videos up showing closeups of both left and right hand, and Stradella wins the "wizardry" contest hands down. With CBA, you still see quite well which direction the music is going, it's just smaller movements. Admittedly table tennis makes for a worse spectator sport than lawn tennis, but at least the speed for CBA is not much higher than for PA, even if the distances are smaller.
Try bandonion for winning the obscurity contest: watching someone play a run on those is like watching someone type the alphabet on a QWERTY keyboard: you couldn't easily tell from looking at the hands that you are getting an ordered sequence.
Try bandonion for winning the obscurity contest: watching someone play a run on those is like watching someone type the alphabet on a QWERTY keyboard: you couldn't easily tell from looking at the hands that you are getting an ordered sequence.
What is CUMANA ?Those examples are definitely there... and then he goes and plays the 3 main notes in CUMANA in 3 octaves at super speed and hits every one without error... the man was incredible.
