As we conclude our 5 Tips for Better Piano Practice blog series, I wanted to give you a bonus tip: some resources that could help you along in your piano journey!
Elementary Hymns for Sight-Reading
If you are fairly new to the piano and sight reading is difficult, one of the best things you can do is practice sight reading one new song each day. I know, it sounds ambitious, but let me explain.
When learning to sight-read, it is important to have new songs frequently to continually challenge your reading skills. As an example, let's say you practice one song each week. The song is a challenge at first, but as you play it over and over again it gets easier, you start to build muscle memory, and you start to memorize the song. If this happens, you will not be working as hard to sight-read the song. This will make progressing in sight-reading very difficult. However, if you have a new song each day that you play through a couple of times (even if it's an easy song), your brain will be forced to read the notes and remember what they are instead of simply playing the notes by memory.
There are many websites online that offer free easy sheet music to help improve sight-reading skills. In fact, we offer free elementary hymns on our website specifically for this purpose. My grandpa, Steve Howard, actually put these songs together! They have only one note in each hand, so they're great for playing a new song each day! You can find our FREE Elementary Hymns for Sight-Reading here.
Free Metronome Apps
Though I highly recommend using a real metronome, there are several free metronome apps for both Android and Apple devices. I grew up using a traditional metronome, but when I haven't had access to it, a metronome app has been really handy to have. The one I have used is a metronome app by ONYX Apps, available here. As I don't have Android products, I can't speak for which ones might be best for those devices, but here is a list from online which lays out some of the best free apps for both Android and Apple devices: https://www.musicianwave.com/best-metronome-apps-f...
Posture Tips for the Piano
Making sure you have good posture will make a huge difference in your playing. Especially if you spend a lot of hours at the piano (for instance, if you perform or practice long hours), posture will change everything! I have a blog post that goes into detail on some of the things I have done to my set-up, technique, and posture that I hope will help you at the piano as well! You can read the post here.
In Conclusion
I hope this series has been a blessing to you! If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, please contact us and let us know! We would love to hear from you!
Blessings,
Lily
Read the whole series, "5 Tips for Better Piano Practice", here