When playing the piano are you supposed to look at the keys? Or try your best not to?

[imported_NOTORIOUS]

When playing the piano are you supposed to look at the keys? Or try your best not to look at the keys while playing. Or does it not matter either way?

I'm trying not to develop bad habits.

Thanks

 

[darkswordsman17]

I don't think it matters. All that should matter is how good you are at it.

I'm sure there'll be plenty of people who would say if you look at the keys then you aren't as talented as someone who doesn't even if you actually play better than them.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that not looking at the keys isn't a talent above just being able to play, but I don't think that should make or break you.

I would recommend learning to not have to look at the keys, as I would guess that it would help you learn it better, which could definitely lead to being a better piano player.

Really, your fingers/hands will probably be moving fast enough that if you're playing it correctly even looking at the keys isn't necessarily going to help you (of course if you're playing a really slow song then perhaps). I mean think of when you're typing on a computer keyboard. If you look at the keys you're probably going to be slower if you're looking at them to be able to know what one to press.

Also, for some reason I'm reminded of the piano quest from the first Resident Evil game.

 

[theprodigalrebel]

It's best to learn to play without looking at the keys: that will give you more time to learn the really hard thing...

singing while playing the piano

I still can't do it right...even with the few songs I am really, really good at playing (on the piano).

 

[0]

Watch Elton John.

 

[DAGTA]

It's best to not look at the keys, though you made need to in the beginning stages of learning to play.

 

[LordMorpheus]

eventually you'll be needing to read music as you play it, so you'll have to learn to not look at the keys, but for a beginner there is no real harm in watching your hands.

 

[Lazy8s]

I've taken 3 years of lessons. You do NOT look at the keys unless perhaps you mess up or you are very new (i.e. the first few months) because you have to learn where they are somehow right? If you are practicing as you should (an hour or so a day for casual learning) then you should easily ween yourself of this in a few weeks. Obviously every time you add new keys or complex hand movements you'll have to watch to get that down as well. If you're looking at the keys how are you reading the music you're playing?

Right now you may be able to emmorize simple toons but when you're playing 2 or 3 notes per hand there's no way you'll have it memorized.

 

[Ika]

It's much better to learn how to play without looking at the keys. If you don't look at the keys you can go all crazy-like and get really into the music by swaying and such. But that's for later.

 

[Descartes]

Originally posted by: Lazy8s
I've taken 3 years of lessons. You do NOT look at the keys unless perhaps you mess up or you are very new (i.e. the first few months) because you have to learn where they are somehow right? If you are practicing as you should (an hour or so a day for casual learning) then you should easily ween yourself of this in a few weeks. Obviously every time you add new keys or complex hand movements you'll have to watch to get that down as well. If you're looking at the keys how are you reading the music you're playing?

Right now you may be able to emmorize simple toons but when you're playing 2 or 3 notes per hand there's no way you'll have it memorized.

That's silly. I have dozens of sonatas, concertos and random songs that I play without music. Have you ever seen a concert pianist with sheet music? Not very often.

 

[DrPizza]

Originally posted by: Descartes

Originally posted by: Lazy8s
I've taken 3 years of lessons. You do NOT look at the keys unless perhaps you mess up or you are very new (i.e. the first few months) because you have to learn where they are somehow right? If you are practicing as you should (an hour or so a day for casual learning) then you should easily ween yourself of this in a few weeks. Obviously every time you add new keys or complex hand movements you'll have to watch to get that down as well. If you're looking at the keys how are you reading the music you're playing?

Right now you may be able to emmorize simple toons but when you're playing 2 or 3 notes per hand there's no way you'll have it memorized.

That's silly. I have dozens of sonatas, concertos and random songs that I play without music. Have you ever seen a concert pianist with sheet music? Not very often.

I was thinking the same thing... Sometimes, it's almost impossible without looking at the keys, especially for really complex music where you're frequently moving back and forth over 2 or 3 octaves.

 

[Descartes]

Originally posted by: DrPizza

Originally posted by: Descartes

Originally posted by: Lazy8s
I've taken 3 years of lessons. You do NOT look at the keys unless perhaps you mess up or you are very new (i.e. the first few months) because you have to learn where they are somehow right? If you are practicing as you should (an hour or so a day for casual learning) then you should easily ween yourself of this in a few weeks. Obviously every time you add new keys or complex hand movements you'll have to watch to get that down as well. If you're looking at the keys how are you reading the music you're playing?

Right now you may be able to emmorize simple toons but when you're playing 2 or 3 notes per hand there's no way you'll have it memorized.

That's silly. I have dozens of sonatas, concertos and random songs that I play without music. Have you ever seen a concert pianist with sheet music? Not very often.

I was thinking the same thing... Sometimes, it's almost impossible without looking at the keys, especially for really complex music where you're frequently moving back and forth over 2 or 3 octaves.

Right, exactly. Of course, there's a difference between looking at the keys to get a coarse look at hand placement and looking at the keys thinking, "Where is middle C again?" If you're looking at the keys trying to find the notes then that's a problem, but otherwise not, imo.

 

[Otaking]

There's nothing wrong with looking at the keys. When I studied piano performance in my undergrad days, my professor told me that one of her colleagues took so much pride in herself on her finger memory that when she performed on stage, she would often close her eyes and just "let her fingers flow."

We both thought that her colleague was fairly naive in doing this because while playing piano does require some finger memory, it seems ultimately suicidal to rely purely on finger memory for piano performance, especially when there's no harm in looking at the keys. Visual anticipation + finger memory FTW. Closing your eyes may help you "feel" the music better, but it certainly won't help you when there's so much more risk from fudging through a quickly-moving passages or from moving around the keyboard a good bit with either hand.

 

[Manuwell]

Real men don't play piano.

 

[MrChad]

Originally posted by: Manuwell

Real men don't play piano.

Real men don't worry about what activities are or aren't appropriate for "real men".

 

[SurgicalShark]

Or you can do this!

Text

 

[Howard]

Originally posted by: Manuwell

Real men don't play piano.

Dead wrong, you imitation.

 

[badmouse]

You do both.

 

[Lorax]

like learning how to type, i thought you shouldn't, since you'll likely be reading sheet music/computer screen.

of course i don't play piano and have a 70wpm, so what do i know.