How to play without looking at the keyboard

[colinm]

 

[JerryPH]

What is CUMANA ?

 

[JerryPH]

Now play that 2 times faster, thats kind of the way Cory plays... lol

 

[JudyKimp]

All my buttons are white both left and right! It was actually surprising how much a climbing vacation interfered with subsequent accordion ensemble play: not because of strained fingers/sinews but because of calluses: I wasn't able to distinguish the patterned buttons from the smooth ones by feel, making reorientation tricky.

Wow - it's a good thing I don't play guitar anymore!!!! I hadn't thought of that!

 

[cestjeffici]

All my buttons are white both left and right! It was actually surprising how much a climbing vacation interfered with subsequent accordion ensemble play: not because of strained fingers/sinews but because of calluses: I wasn't able to distinguish the patterned buttons from the smooth ones by feel, making reorientation tricky.

None of the treble buttons on my Scandalli Air III are marked. I also can't see the buttons so it has been a real adventure but I am getting there.

For me it is a matter of visualizing the buttons as I play, kind of like playing blindfold chess. My piano accordions are much easier for me and I have used a system very similar to what Breezy is doing. Careful fingering and slow playing. I usually work backwards though. I see where I need to end up and then work backwards to get the starting fingering to keep the transitions smooth.

My next problem is going to be selecting registers that I can't see and getting back on to the keys and buttons. I also use a waltz (Echo Waltz) from PH Book 2 to practice large jumps. I play it every day as part of my warm up until I get i right every time at least twice in a row. Victor Wooten in his book "The Music Lesson"* describes the ability of your fingers to know where they are. I didn't believe it but after 20 months of playing Echo Waltz my ability to correctly land larger jumps has greatly improved. I am no longer conscious of how I'm doing it, it just happens.

*If you haven't read this book you should.

 

[Tom]

None of the treble buttons on my Scandalli Air III are marked. I also can't see the buttons so it has been a real adventure but I am getting there.

For me it is a matter of visualizing the buttons as I play, kind of like playing blindfold chess. My piano accordions are much easier for me and I have used a system very similar to what Breezy is doing. Careful fingering and slow playing. I usually work backwards though. I see where I need to end up and then work backwards to get the starting fingering to keep the transitions smooth.

My next problem is going to be selecting registers that I can't see and getting back on to the keys and buttons. I also use a waltz (Echo Waltz) from PH Book 2 to practice large jumps. I play it every day as part of my warm up until I get i right every time at least twice in a row. Victor Wooten in his book "The Music Lesson"* describes the ability of your fingers to know where they are. I didn't believe it but after 20 months of playing Echo Waltz my ability to correctly land larger jumps has greatly improved. I am no longer conscious of how I'm doing it, it just happens.

*If you haven't read this book you should.

Thanks for the tip Jeff! Victor Wooten’s book is “free” (legal, ethical) on Hoopla, read for us by the author. Downloaded it this morning, looking forward to it.

Kind of like tune “muscle memory” I guess. I have tunes I can play while talking to people. But I still need work on getting my hands in place without looking/feeling.

 

[Accordionna]

It made a big difference for me when I started to train to play without looking at the keys. Feeling the keys was making me more relaxed than looking at it. The biggest difference is when I'm actually learning the song. When I didn't have to look back and forth at the keyboard and the sheet music.

The connection between not looking at the right hand and improved sight reading is worth a bump. Rowlf, the piano-playing Muppet tickles me, and yet...

When I pull out a new piece of music, I connect to the treble (play its scale, chords, and arpeggios). I add the left hand in support them. (There are other preliminaries after this positioning, of course.)

When my music is in front of me while folks are singing along, I want most of my attention on their engagement, with glances at my stand for reference

When I'm playing with an ensemble by sight, what happens in solo practice supports that.

When I'm excited to start something new without finding my place -which (TBH) happens a lot- inevitably I'll be reminded to make that effort.

 

[Accordionna]

None of the treble buttons on my Scandalli Air III are marked. I also can't see the buttons so it has been a real adventure but I am getting there.

For me it is a matter of visualizing the buttons as I play, kind of like playing blindfold chess. My piano accordions are much easier for me and I have used a system very similar to what Breezy is doing. Careful fingering and slow playing. I usually work backwards though. I see where I need to end up and then work backwards to get the starting fingering to keep the transitions smooth.

My next problem is going to be selecting registers that I can't see and getting back on to the keys and buttons. I also use a waltz (Echo Waltz) from PH Book 2 to practice large jumps. I play it every day as part of my warm up until I get i right every time at least twice in a row. Victor Wooten in his book "The Music Lesson"* describes the ability of your fingers to know where they are. I didn't believe it but after 20 months of playing Echo Waltz my ability to correctly land larger jumps has greatly improved. I am no longer conscious of how I'm doing it, it just happens.

*If you haven't read this book you should.

I need to read the book!
I've witnessed your effectiveness.

 

[Thomas N]

I will add that a lot of it is TIME. These professionals that so effortlessly play have spent incredible amounts of time in their craft. For a lot of them it's their actual profession.

The rest of us are just hobbyists - some more serious than others. We have wives, kids, full-time jobs that can push 50+ hours a week, and more. Sure, some professionals like Frank Marocco had the same commitments - minus the job. Accordionist was their job.

There simply isn't enough time for the majority of us. I once read that when Art VanDamme was perfecting his playing in his early days that it was not uncommon for him to put in TWELVE HOURS of practice a day. That is a mind-boggling amount of time.

I shoot for an hour a day and miss some days - some days I'm just not feeling it and will only play for 30 minutes. It's a labor of love for me but it will never be my career.

I think if you are naturally talented with the physical dexterity combined with an innate understanding of music theory, and can put in 5 hours a day of practice, the world is yours.

 

[saundersbp]

Looking at the keyboard while playing is not a good idea for obvious reasons.

I think this is a topic is a bit like saying how do you eat a meal without working out how you are going to digest it!

I simply can't see the buttons on my accordion even if I wanted to, so I just feel where they are. I do like the little indentations and ridges because it helps transfer between different instruments with sometimes slightly different spacing between buttons too.

 

[Ffingers]

I think this is a topic is a bit like saying how do you eat a meal without working out how you are going to digest it!

I simply can't see the buttons on my accordion even if I wanted to, so I just feel where they are. I do like the little indentations and ridges because it helps transfer between different instruments with sometimes slightly different spacing between buttons too.

Another little 'trick' that this old man learned very early on taking up music seriously for the first time on my 80th birthday is to know, without looking or referring to any other means, where the sound that you have in your head is located on the keyboard.
As always that comes with practice, but for me it was little/short bursts at random times; too many repetitions for too long spoilt the 'instictiveness' of it.