Music with Ease > Beginner Piano Lesson: Five Tips on Playing the Piano or Keyboard in Public for Students of All Ages

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Playing the piano in public can be one of the greatest challenges facing a beginner piano student. Perhaps your teacher has asked you to do a piano recital, or maybe you are playing for a concert or for friends and family.

The nervous jitters set in! Your hands shake! Your palms sweat! Yet playing for an audience can also be one of the most rewarding parts of being able to play the piano. Here are five tips to help boost your confidence and maximize your performance.

Five Tips for Playing the Piano in Public

1. Take a few moments to settle yourself comfortably at the piano or keyboard.

2. Even if you are very nervous, try to make a good start to your piece. Make a good first impression!

3. If you get tangled up in the middle of your piece, don't stop, look aghast and throw your book away! Instead, keep your cool and keep on playing. Keep in mind that often many of the people who are listening won't know the piece you are playing and may not even notice your mistake.

4. Make a good tidy ending to your piece. Finish with a flourish!

5. Afterwards, if people compliment you on your performance, don't say, 'Oh, I made an awful mess of that part...' This only fixes the mistake in people's memory. Instead say, 'Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it.'

By using these five tips to increase your confidence, you will soon become skilled at playing in public and will find it a pleasure to entertain your friends, family and the general public with your music performances.

(Warm thanks to Sister Agatha who originally taught me these five golden rules for playing the piano in public!)

About the Author:

Betty Wagner of Music With Ease has been teaching music for over 30 years. Her unique multimedia ebooks make learning to play the piano fun, easy and affordable! Children can learn to read piano notes (with the help of quirky cartoon characters, embedded sound clips and flash cards) or they can master those tricky ledger notes the easy way. And adults can easily learn to play the piano with chord theory and slash chords: /play-popular-music.html


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