I am the queen of transfer students. I live in an area where there is a lot of moving in and out and, of course, college students are inherently transfer students. So, I have put together this list of essential skills that most middle intermediate to advanced transfer students would do well to develop. Here are the first three.

Time is Time

Don’t neglect technical/musical warm-ups no matter how crowded your schedule is. If you neglect warm-ups your practice will not be as effective. Do keep the amount of time you spend on them proportional to your total practice time.

Study the score away from the piano. In the words of Frances Clark: Think what the piece is about and how you want it to sound.

Know how the piece should sound. There are great resources on the internet; iTunes, YouTube (Yes! There are wonderful performances by great artists here), & Pandora to name a few. A friend told me that her teacher told her if she just listened to one performance she might as well not have listened at all. I agree– 3-4 performances minimum.

Loop small sections and on each repetition make one thing better.

Don’t always play slowly. You use your body differently when you play fast. If you practice only slowly you will find you hit the wall at a certain tempo. Much of the time you spent practicing slowly will have been wasted and you will have to put in even more time to make the technical corrections needed for a successful performance.

Advanced Geography

Learn to picture or visualize what you are doing on the keyboard

Anticipate hand shapes. Chords, scales, intervals, etc. all have unique hand shapes. Play a little air piano and learn them.

Use linking gestures. Circular motions allow recovery and movement from one motion into the next. Non-circular motions mean you have to gear yourself up for each new sound–in other words, you will have to work much much too hard. Using circular motions also brings a buoyancy to your playing.

Physical Balance

Sit with your weight half on the bench and half on your feet. Never feel rooted on the bench.

Feel like puppet strings are supporting your head, hands, and feet as your balance shifts up and down the keyboard. Learn to play your scales etc. all the way up and down the whole entire keyboard. Do it one hand at a time if you must. Tune in to how it feels to shift your balance from one side of your body in a flowing manner.

Practice with a large balance ball away from the piano and while you play. This is a great way to help proper balance at the instrument become automatic.

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