A Collection Of Piano Secrets From Kyong Lee

Here’s an incredible collection of piano secrets, tips and tricks for piano students of all ages and levels. These can also be seen on our Facebook Page, as they are a small collection of Kyong’s insightful tricks she has developed over the years and posted on her Facebook Page.

1. Ability to read music only improves by doing a lot of it consistently. While there are some techniques to master reading music, nothing beats persistence. If you want to be good at reading, “READ”! There is no secret for this one. But, WAIT… A tip for you piano students! Work on reading Hymns or Bach Chorale kind of chordal music to get good at reading big chords fast. ALWAYS read from the bottom note first and next one up and read a measure ahead if possible. Read slowly and accurately!
2. Pianos should be kept in a nice environment, same as what would be comfortable to us, humans. If it’s too cold for humans, it’s too cold for the piano. So, piano should be place on an inside wall because outside walls get too cold/hot. Keep away from radiators or AC vents. Never store pianos in the garage or in storage where you don’t have temperature control.
3. My teacher told me if notes are silver, rests are gold. Rests are so important but often overlooked. Go find all the rests in your music and make sure they are expressed in your music!
4. When working out a coordination challenge between hands, it helps if you close the lid of the piano and work out the finger numbers silently. The ‘silent’ practice is a good way to focus on the coordination without being distracted by sound. There are many ways to “practice” away from the piano. You can listen to a recording while following with the score. Just going through the finger motion while hearing the music in your head. You can use your lap to feel the pressure level between hands for balance.
5. This is no secret but really important. Keep your heel on the floor when you pedal. Be efficient and economical with your leg movement. You don’t need to lift your entire leg for that one inch depth of the pedal. Also, make sure your bench is high enough that your elbow is at the same level as the keys. This will also allow your leg and foot to maneuver the pedal better. Happy pedaling! And don’t over pedal. Only use when you have to:)
6. The una corda ( the left pedal) is the name for the soft pedal. It works slightly differently on every piano but some pianists are not aware the the una corda should not be pressed all the way to the bottom. It really make the piano sound like it’s under water, muted, or dull. Instead, try out the pedal by pressing it down at different levels (literally a hair higher/ lower) and find the sweet spot! Don’t rely on the soft pedal alone to get your pianissimo. Build up your ear to be able to control your dynamics and use the una corda to color it.
7. Today’s technology allows us so many ways to be creative with our music learning and performing. A lot of our music training in conditioning our mind and body. Video record your pieces you want to perform everyday. If you get used to recording all the time, you will be less nervous and less self-conscious about your “performing”. Record with the confidence that you can always record it again. It’s only gonna get better next time.
8. Don’t teach yourself. Get a qualified teacher You can develop a lot of bad habits on your own. A good teacher will also keep you inspired! Did you know Beethoven taught Czerny and Czerny taught Liszt ? Liszt taught someone who taught someone … who taught my teacher who taught me! How cool!
9. When you are performing, don’t talk to yourself. As you form words and sentences, your musical brain cannot operate at its full capacity. Focus 100% on the music and how it sounds. Hang on to every note and the flowing lines. Your words have to wait until the performance is finished completely. Don’t think about who is in the audience. For more info on getting rid of performance anxiety, read the book “Inner Game of Music”
10. When you have long octave passages, save energy and work on accuracy by only playing the thumb notes. After mastering the thumb passages just add pinkie! So easy!
11. There are some basic things you need to keep in mind when you play the piano such as notes, rhythm, fingering, dynamics, etc. Once you have these basics, you will need to think about articulation, phrasing, voicing, balance, style, tone, tempo changes to mention a few. The most important element I believe is your feel and character of each piece you are working on. It’s totally normal to build your piece in small steps. As you become more advanced, these things will work together more at the same time. Find your own voice! That is the main goal in making music.
12. In Fur Elise, try pedaling on beat one when the LH comes in and lift the pedal on the 2nd note of the RH melody on beat 3 during the A section. Most editions have confusing pedal marks. Don’t pedal the RH melody when there is no LH. During the repeated E’s, keep the pedal down the whole time and lift after the first d #.
13. Get back to the basics… Make sure your bench is high enough and your elbows are higher than the key level. This ensures your wrist at the optimal height to make playing the piano easy and relaxed. Healthy wrists allow us to play the piano for hours without pain or injury. Stay happy and healthy! And DROP THOSE SHOULDERS!
14. Trying to play perfectly really takes away the joy of playing the piano. Relax and focus when you practice. One of my good teachers always said “precision by relaxation”. Make sure you breathe especially when you are performing.
15. Follow the weak hand. When playing parallel passages with both hands, follow the weaker hand to make sure you have a steady tempo and good even notes. You are only as good as your weak hand. (LH usually). Keep building up the LH. There are lots of exercises available. Czerny has a whole book dedicated to building up the left hand:) Op.718

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