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Vertical Tennis - A Common Problem of Beginner Piano Students - MusicOnline UK Podcast Episode 40

221 views · Published 22 February 2018 · 3:47 · Indexed 23 October 2026

Channel: MusicOnline UK · 2018 · Education

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Want a DISTINCTION in YOUR next ABRSM Exam? https://www.music-online.org.uk/2019/01/how-to-get-distinction-in-abrsm-exams.html Ramblings of a music teacher episode 40 Vertical Tennis - A Common Problem of Beginner Piano Students  

You may be wondering what the old arcade game Pong released almost 50 years ago has to do with playing the piano.  It has been the case, many times in the past, that I have taken over a student when they wanted to change teacher. Often this came with accompanying bad habits. Even with students that started from the very beginning with me, it could be easy to let bad habits start developing if they were not kept in check.

One of the main things I come across is a student's tendency to always look at their hands. This is a natural reaction when first starting out on the piano, but if left unchecked will lead to problems later, not least an inability to sight read music fluently. Even if the student is watching the music in between notes, this constant nodding up and down between hand and page becomes a bit like watching vertical tennis or this old arcade game of Pong 

I have been observing recently some of my students who have a tendency towards this habit, and noticed that they often make mistakes precisely at the moment they are looking down at their hands or at least, hesitate at that moment and to be honest, a hesitation in music is a mistake. To overcome this habit, I have often hovered a sheet of paper just above their hands so that they cannot see them and to their surprise, they often play better when hands are not visible.

But what about when you have large leaps of hand position. Surely you need to see where you are jumping to. Not necessarily. Can you find your mouth with a spoon lifted from a bowl? I rest my case. If we repeat any muscular action enough times, we can reproduce it accurately without thought or visual aids. Try it out. find a piece of music that you need to move your hand position and repeat the jump enough times so that you could do it with your eyes closed. At first, it is likely to be a bit messy if you are not used to doing this, but with time and perseverance accuracy will improve.

Related to this is the worst thing ever invented for beginner students - note stickers. They not only don't encourage students to learn the positions of the notes, but also actively encourage them to look down, rather than up at the page.

I would be interested to hear from you in the comments below, if you can identify with this habit of vertical tennis or whether at some stage you used note stickers and if you felt that they helped or hindered your progress. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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