At the time of recording the world is still going through lots of COVID cases. It's really sad and I
send kind thoughts to all families who are dealing with this hardship right now. A lot of us are
stuck at home this may not be ideal but it also means in a good way there's more time than ever to
upskill ourselves such as to practice piano. This video is split into two parts. In the first part,
I want to share with you what I've been working on in piano for the past 12 months
and how I have been able to in just a year improve something ridiculous like three or four years
worth of improvement because of the lockdowns and staying at home and practicing. In the second part
of the video, I want to share with you practical tips and goals that you can work towards so make
sure you watch through the video. Before we get into it all, my name is Jazer, I play the piano.
Make sure you like and subscribe to this channel to make sure you stay in touch with these free
piano lessons and tutorials. Ever since the lockdown started, I practiced piano more than
I ever did. The first reason was that well there was more time in the day. Here in Australia, there
are different lockdowns happening. The pandemic happening outside means we have more time indoors.
So I've just used that time to practice piano more. The second reason, and this is a deeper
reason than the first, was that I felt like piano practice was something I could control in my day.
As we go through this difficult time, there are many COVID cases out there and different lockdowns
happening all around the world. And those things I thought were things that I can't control
but the piano practice this was something that I could do in my time and that I could control. So
last year, I signed up to do a music graded exam. Now depending on where you live in the world,
music rated exams may or may not be familiar to you. There are organizations such as
RCM or Trinity College or the biggest one ABRSM. I'm in Australia, so in Australia we have AMEB.
These exams they do essentially one thing which is they provide a guided syllabus so that people
can progress in music. Depending on which of these exam boards you go with there usually is about 10
levels. You have your Grade 1 to your Grade 8 and these are the grades that people are more
familiar with. And then generally when you get to that Grade 9, 10 or 11, usually these exam boards
call them diplomas and these are those high tier most difficult pieces that you'll find.
Last year, I decided there was so much time during lockdown I may as well practice a nice repertoire
and go for an exam. So I went to do something called the Licentiate and I was very lucky to have
passed the Licentiate. So I did it with the AMYB which is the Australian Music Examinations Board.
And they give you a nice certificate like this If you pass the exam. So depending on where you stay
in the world, there are different examination boards. Go and look up your local one and see
if there's a grade that you can work towards. Just to give you a rough idea of what the grades are,
for example, when you're in Grade 1 or 2 you might play something like this...
Okay and then towards maybe the Grade 4 or 5 you might play something like this..
And then towards about 6 or 7 you might be playing something like this...
And then towards the higher grade, so we're talking like the Level 9, 10 ,11
or what a lot of these exam boards called the "DIPLOMAS", you might play something like this...
So go check out some local exam boards, they shouldn't be the "be-all-and- end-all"
of pianists. But they do provide some kind of tangible syllabus and program to work towards
so you can achieve something great with piano. I will put some links in the description so you can
check out some of these different exam syllabus. Now let's talk about some practical tips that's
really going to help you to improve piano in this COVID time. The first tip I have for you is to
use piano as your screen free time. Now whether you are at school or you are a full-time worker,
it's likely that you are staring at a computer screen for a lot of the day. Personally speaking,
practicing piano has been just a wonderful way for me to get away from the screens.
These days, I'm actually trying hard to stay away from the screens as much as possible because
screens they make me extremely tired. And the annoying thing about it is when I get tired,
I then try to go to sleep. But then because I looked at screens the whole day (and the
science is that you know it emits a certain kind of light that actually makes it hard to sleep)
so you get into this vicious cycle of you look at a lot of screens you get tired but then you
can't really sleep well. So try to take some time off the screens and just play some piano.
Get off the social medias, get off the screens and just rejuvenate your soul.
The second tip I have for you today is to figure out when in the day is your optimal practice time.
For the past few months. because of lockdowns and staying at home, I could experiment with
the different parts of the day to practice. And I found that, for me personally speaking,
mornings are the best time. Mornings are the times after my coffee, I feel very awake. I
feel my brain is at 100%. And I just feel like my brain practices and retains more things when i do
it in the morning. For example, when I'm learning new music I find that I retain more in the day
and also when I'm doing something like metronome practice...
I'm finding that I'm so much more able to keep and beat at this time of the day if you're wondering
what the heck was Jazer wearing on his wrist there click on this video here. I will explain it all.
Let me know in the comments, too. Do you prefer to practice in the morning, afternoon or night time?
Comment below. And a third tip I have for you today is to use some kind of practice tracker.
I personally use the app "Forest'. So what does this app do? Basically, you set a timer for how
long you want to stay focused, for example, 30 minutes. You click on START, and when you
click on START the timer starts counting down. And what the app does for you is it plants this seed.
After the 30 minutes, it will blossom into this beautiful flower or tree. Now the catch is you
are not allowed to exit this app because when you exit then this tree dies. So,
the point of it is you want to activate the timer and you just leave it alone. Right, you put your
smartphone somewhere else for half an hour. It grows into a tree so that you can get some
focused work done. This has been super helpful for me. I am much less distracted and then I can
also see and track how many hours I've worked throughout the weeks and months. It's a great
tool. I really recommend go to your app store and look for "Forest". In conclusion, I have two more
thoughts I want to share with you today. The first thing is to challenge yourself in this pandemic
with regards to piano. Really make it a point to improve. Really make it a point to work on
repertoire you love but also play pieces that are slightly above your comfortable range. Really try
to push yourself a little bit. I've been doing this a lot in this pandemic - always pushing
myself a little bit outside my comfort zone and can I just say it feels amazing when you're on
the other side and you've achieved your goal. The second thought I have for you is a goal challenge.
So here's my goal for you in this pandemic, let's have you learn 5 pieces throughout this pandemic,
5 pieces. Let's call it the "5 Lockdown Pieces Challenge". So by the end of the pandemic,
you should have learnt and mastered 5 pieces that you want. So just before we sign off today,
why don't you comment below one piece that you are working on right now. I'm very interested
to find out what you're playing and working on right now. Comment below one piece that you're
working on right now. That's it for this video. Hope you stay strong. Hope you stay motivated.
And don't forget to practice every day. Have a wonderful day and I'll catch you in the next video